History Series / Shogun2024

* CavalryBetrayal: [[spoiler:The end result of Toranaga's Crimson Sky gambit; Mariko's shameful death while in Ishido's care fractures the Regents and, most importantly, sours Ochiba on her alliance with Ishido, so when the time comes for the climatic battle of Segikahara the Heir's army doesn't arrive to back Ishido against Toranaga, eliminating whatever legitimacy he had and giving Toranaga the victory he needs to become Shogun]].

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: At one point Blackthorne is reluctant to eat some Japanese food, particularly sushi, that most modern viewers would find delicious. To further reinforce this, he decides to try natto to demonstrate that he isn't incapable of eating Japanese food, and declares it to be not bad. Natto generally tops lists of least-appetising Japanese food for Westerners today.
* DiesDifferentlyInTheAdaptation: Ishido's henchman [[spoiler:Jozen]] gets one of the source novel's grimmer deaths, one that appals Blackthorne - bayoneted repeatedly by Naga's men, hamstrung, gutted, then mauled to death by the village dogs. [[spoiler:He still dies in the same time and place in the show, but is allowed a little more dignity; badly wounded by cannonfire, he defiantly curses Nagakado for not fighting like a samurai before the latter decapitates him.]]

* DoubleMeaning: "Anjin", meaning "pilot" is the title given to Blackthorne by the locals as they cannot properly translate/pronounce his english name, in reference to [[TheNavigator his role]] aboard the ships, but it is also the title of the first episode, aka the series Pilot.

** In "Crimson Sky", Mariko demands to be allowed to escort two women from Toranaga's court back to Edo, per Toranaga's orders, and when Ishido refuses her request, she declares her intention to commit ''sepukku'' for failing to complete an order from her liege lord. This puts Ishido in a bind; on the one hand, allowing Mariko to kill herself within the castle walls would enrage the Catholic regents, especially since Mariko has requested that Kiyama be her second. On the other hand, allowing her to leave would open him up to requests from the other liege lords to return all the hostages he's taken.

* WeUsedToBeFriends: When they were both growing up in the previous ''taiko'''s, court, Ochiba and Mariko were as close as sisters. However, Mariko's father killing Ochiba's father, Ochiba being forcibly married to the new ''taiko'' as a result, and Mariko becoming a loyal retainer of Toranaga (whom Ochiba considers responsible), slammed the brakes ''hard'' on that friendship. [[spoiler:Ochiba still has some deep-buried empathy for her old friend, however, and subtly implores her to surrender peacefully in "Crimson Sky".]]

** Blackthorne is officially summoned for an audience with the heir, with Mariko accompanying as a translator and Ochiba as the Heir's guardian. In reality, Blackthorne doesn't say a single word to either, as Ochiba wanted nothing more than to speak directly to Mariko face-to-face.

* PuppetKing: In his first meeting with Toranaga, Blackthorne accuses the Portuguese of plotting to install one in Japan. On Blackthorn's telling, they have a long-term plan to dissolve the Council of Regents and install one of the Christian Regents, likely Kiyama, as the new ruler so that they will have de facto control over Japan.

* PuppetKing: The Portuguese have a long-term plan to dissolve the Council of Regents and install one of the Christian Regents, likely Kiyama, as the new ruler so that they will have de facto control over Japan. Blackthorne's arrival has thrown a wrench into those plans, though.

BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Toranaga's manipulations lead to a shut-out victory over Ishido's faction, and with Lady Ochiba's tacit backing nothing remains to stand in his way to becoming Shogun. However, many loyal retainers (most notably Hiromatsu and Mariko) died to grant him that victory, and unbeknownst to John Blackthorne Toranaga has arranged things so [[YouCantGoHomeAgain he will never return to England]] and will remain in Toranaga's court for the rest of his life]].

''Shōgun'' is a 2024 American historical drama miniseries in 10 episodes created by Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks. The show is produced by and and airing on Creator/FXNetworks. It is also streamed on Creator/{{Hulu}} (US) and Creator/DisneyPlus (outside the US). It stars Creator/HiroyukiSanada, Creator/AnnaSawai, Creator/CosmoJarvis and Creator/TadanobuAsano. It is the second adaptation of the novel of the same name by James Clavell (the first installment of his ''Literature/AsianSaga'') after the 1980 miniseries. The story is loosely based on the life of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Adams_(pilot) William Adams]], the first Englishman to reach UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}.

* AChildShallLeadThem: '"A Stick of Time" opens with a flashback, the aftermath of Toranaga's first victory in battle as a fresh-faced 12-year-old. The opposing warlord Mizoguchi compliments him that not many people win a war victory before they've lost their virginity, soon afterwards requesting the young Toranaga be his second as he commits ''seppuku''.

* WeUsedToBeFriends: When they were both growing up in the previous ''taiko''s, court, Ochiba and Mariko were as close as sisters. However, Mariko's father killing Ochiba's father, Ochiba being forcibly married to the new ''taiko'' as a result, and Mariko becoming a loyal retainer of Toranaga (whom Ochiba considers responsible), slammed the brakes ''hard'' on that friendship. [[spoiler:Ochiba still has some deep-buried empathy for her old friend, however, and subtly implores her to surrender peacefully in "Crimson Sky".]]

* AdaptationDeviation: In the novel Toranaga tasks Blackthorne with teaching his forces to use Western muskets; when developing the show, one of the historical advisors pointed out that matchlock muskets had already been introduced to Japan by the Portuguese several decades before, so Toranaga's forces would be very familiar with them by this stage (Mariko does point out that they already know how to use and care for the muskets, and the Japanese actually want more knowledge of European battle tactics instead). Instead, the show has Blackthorne teaching the Japanese soldiers how to use the ''Erasmus' '' '''cannons,''' which would be far more of a game-changer in warfare. This in turn leads to a different fate for [[spoiler:Jozen and his troops; while in the book Jozen was gutted and his followers committed ''seppuku,'' here they're ''shredded'' by cannon fire]].

* AllThereInTheManual's FX's Youtube page and website provides more backstory/story details on Shogun. The podcasts also provide more story details and worldbuilding.

* BilingualBonus: In "Crimson Sky", Mariko comes up with the beginnings of a poem at Ishido and Ochiba's request -- ''"While the snow remains / Veiled in the haze of cold evening / A leafless branch..."''. While this demonstrates her long-established penchant for poetry, it's also a subtle dig at Ochiba, whose name means "fallen leaves".

* RegentForLife: The titular office of ''shogun" is essentially this for pre-modern Japan.

* UndignifiedDeath [[spoiler:Nagakado]] spoke about his desire for a [[DyingMomentOfAwesome beautiful death.]] [[spoiler:He ends up tripping and splitting his skull open on a rock during a botched assassination attempt against his uncle Saeki.]] Saeki bitterly remarks, [[IronicEcho "Where's the beauty in that?"]] as the younger man lay dying.

-->'''Yabushige:''' Who ordered [[spoiler:those cannons to be fired?]]
-->'''Nagakado:''' I did.

--->'''Toranaga:''' Did really use the word "belongs"?

-->'''Toranaga:''' Did really use the word "belongs"?

* RuleOfSymbolism: [[spoiler:Nagakado's]] death in episode 7 is the embodiment of his inability to wait patiently, learn from past mistakes and [[WellDoneSonGuy commitment to proving himself]] contrasted against the reality of the world he lives in. [[spoiler:He tries to assassinate his traitorous uncle Saeki for betraying Toranaga to the regents, but is too focused on killing him to properly observe his surroundings. He slips on the same wet rocks Saeki did fleeing from him and cracks his head falling down, giving himself an UndignifiedDeath in contrast to his romanticism of an horrible death eh discussed with his uncle before. Furthermore, it's heavily implied that Toranaga is ''deliberately'' [[BatmanGambit counting on Saeki's betrayal]] as part of an UnspokenPlanGuarantee to catch his enemies off-guard after the landslide devastated his army too much to win outright combat, with Nagakado's unsanctioned assassination attempt threatening to undo that, showing how he was too short-sighted to the end]].

* WeUsedToBeFriends: When they were both growing up in the previous ''taiko''s, court, Ochiba and Mariko were as close as sisters. However, Mariko's father killing Ochiba's father, and Ochiba being forcibly married to the new ''taiko'' as a result, slammed the brakes ''hard'' on that friendship. [[spoiler:Ochiba still has some deep-buried empathy for her old friend, however, and subtly implores her to surrender peacefully in "Crimson Sky".]]

** Much later, in episode nine, [[spoiler:more than a dozen ninja storm Edo castle to assassinate Toranaga's retinue and their families. They wear dark clothing and attack in groups from multiple directions, quickly overwhelming the unprepared guards. Once the alarm is raised, Anjin and Mariko's bodyguards are able to put up some resistance, but they're eventually worn down and cornered.]]

* SpitefulSuicide: Mizoguchi's seppeku during the {{Flashback}} in episode 7 has elements of this. He requests the inexperienced child Toranaga to be the one to actually decapitate him, forcing him to bloody his hands directly as payback for the humiliating loss against such a young commander, and his last words to him are contemplating if they meet again in the afterlife, [[SeeYouInHell he could be the one holding the sword that time]], before gutting himself. Years later, Toranaga notes that Mizoguchi's decision was [[DidntThinkThisThrough very poorly thought out]]: by requesting an inexperienced child to decapitate him rather than a proficient soldier, it took nine blows of the sword before his head came off rather than a single clean one, giving himself a more painful and messier death just for the sake of avenging his {{Pride}} a little.
** In Episode 9, [[spoiler:Mariko declares that she will be taking her life in protest of Ishido holding the regents' families hostage.]] At the end of the episode, [[spoiler:she chooses to stand in front of an explosive, allowing her the honor of [[DyingDeclarationOfHate calling out Ishido's treachery with her last words.]]]]

* SuicideIsShameful: In ''Crimson Sky'', Mariko, unable to leave Ishido's castle per Toranaga's order, decides to commit seppuku to atone for her shame. However, since she is Catholic and knows suicide is a mortal sin, she asked Kiyama to be her second. The Council are well aware about the church's opinion on suicide and believe Mariko won't commit seppuku for fear of her soul. Though, Ochiba believes Mariko will go through with it regardless. [[spoiler: Sure enough, when Kiyama doesn't show up, Mariko is still determined to continue the ritual but is now shaken with fear and removes her rosary.]]

* XanatosGambit: As Ochiba points out, Toranaga ordering Mariko to escort two ladies of his court from Osaka to Edo results in a win for him regardless of what Ishido does:
** If Ishido allows her to leave, the other hostages will start demanding to be allowed to leave as well, weakening his leverage over the other noble houses.
** If Ishido refuses her request, Mariko will [[spoiler:commit seppuku in protest of not being allowed to fulfill her liege lord's order]]. This would effectively be an admission that he's holding the hostages by force, a hugely dishonourable act that would also cause him to lose support from the noble houses, not helped by the fact that he grew up a peasant.
** Ishido attempts to TakeAThirdOption by [[spoiler:sending shinobi to kidnap Mariko]], but this backfires when [[spoiler:she and Blackthorne fight them off. During their escape, Mariko sacrifices herself by placing herself behind a barricaded door the shinobi are about to blow open. Her death then disgraces Ishido, as he will be accused of either killing a noble lady or failing to keep her from being killed in his castle]].

* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: In episode 9, [[spoiler:Mariko declares that she will commit ''seppuku'' in protest of Ishido holding her and the other regent's families hostage.]] At the end of the episode, [[spoiler:Mariko fulfills the trope by choosing to stand in the path of an explosion, [[DyingDeclarationOfHate again declaring that she does so in protest of Ishido's dishonorable ways]], rather than risk capture.]]

** Christians not only regard suicide as cowardly -- while Blackthorne [[LeaveBehindAPistol does leave a pistol behind]] for the despairing captain of the ''Erasmus'' once it becomes clear he'll be of no more use, he obviously disapproves -- Catholics believe it to be a mortal sin. For the Japanese and especially the samurai class, certain types of suicide like ''seppuku'' are integral to retaining or restoring one's honour, or as a form of protest. This all culminates in a massive problem for [[spoiler:Mariko: as a woman of the samurai class and a retainer of Toranaga, she vows to commit suicide to protest his refusal to let her and the other hostages in Osaka leave, while as a Catholic convert she believes that killing herself would condemn her soul to hell. She plans to TakeAThirdOption by stabbing herself and having someone else deliver the fatal blow, and when she realises that assassins are planning to blow open the doors of the storehouse where she and several othrs are hiding, she deliberately stands in the path of the blast and uses her last words to condemn Ishido, which allows her to die ''without'' officially taking her own life.]]

** The {{Flashback}} in episode 7 has the enemy commander Mizoguchi requesting the young child commander Toranaga to assist him in his Seppeku, mostly as a means of sharing some [[SeeYouInHell spiteful last words]] and [[SpitefulSuicide forcing the young boy to bloody his hands himself]], to assuage the humiliation being defeated by a 12-year old child in battle. By the present, Toranaga notes that Mizoguchi's decision was [[DidntThinkThisThrough a poor and short-sighted one]]: by requesting an inexperienced child to wield the blade, it took nine blows of the sword to cut his head off, giving himself a more painful and drawn-out death just for the sake of soothing his pride. [[spoiler:This foreshadows Nagakado's own death in the episode's end, as he likewise impulsively acts to try and assassinate his traitorous uncle Saeki when he betrays Toragana and prepares to hand him over to the regents, only for him to be too focused on killing him to take notice of his surroundings, slipping on the same wet rocks Saeki did fleeing from him and giving himself an UndignifiedDeath from short-sightedness. Adding insult to injury is the hints that Toranaga has a secret plan in mind to take advantage of his enemies thinking they've defeated him, which Nagakado's assassination attempt threatened to undermine]].
** During an early conversation in "A Stick of Time", it's established that amongst the Japanese phrases and statements John has learned during his time under Torananga, he's able to understand the words for "Crimson Sky", a codeword amongst Toranaga's retinue referring to [[spoiler:the theoretical invasion and occupation of Osaka Castle, should it become necessary to liberate it from his power-hungry rivals]], a last-ditch move that Toranaga has been vocally against until recently. During the closing moments of the episode, when Toranaga is forced to [[spoiler:surrender to his traitorous brother and be escorted to Osaka for summary execution]], he admits in Japanese that "Crimson Sky... was a mistake" with a MeaningfulLook at John. John immediately leaves the meeting whilst disparaging Toranaga's [[spoiler:apparent failure of his plans and leading his loyal followers to their doom]], referencing Crimson Sky arbitrarily in portuguese as he stalks off ignored by the high-ranking Japanese as a mere barbarian, showing that he picked up on that reference amongst Toranaga's dialogue. [[spoiler:This hints at an [[UnspokenPlanGuarantee unspoken plan]] between John and Toranaga to take advantage of the latter's hopeless situation and the former's disparagement amongst the natives to execute Crimson Sky under different circumstances, with John acting as the lynchpin whilst being BeneathNotice]].

* {{Gorn}}: The seppuku performed by the defeated samurai Mizoguchi in the opening flashback scene of "A Stick Of Time," has the camera focus on his stab wound and his intestines spilling out as he drags the knife across his belly.

** Per the official podcast, this was the real reason [[spoiler:Hiromatsu committed seppuku. When he saw that three of Toranaga's generals about to commit seppuku in protest (which Toranaga expected), he unexpectedly speaks out against Toranaga on their behalf to spare them. As Toranaga's closest and most loyal vassal, Hiromatsu's suicide makes Toranaga's fake surrender convincing and allows the three generals to serve Toranaga in the fight to come.]]
* HolierThanThou: The Christian Regents believe themselves to be more enlightened than their non-Christian peers.
* ICannotSelfTerminate: As a Christian, [[spoiler:Mariko believes suicide to be a mortal sin, and so when she declares that she will commit suicide in protest of Ishido's treatment of his hostages, she asks that Kiyama be her second. When Kiyama does not rise to the occasion, Mariko is visibly unnerved at the prospect of needing to follow through on her own, until [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy Blackthorne steps up to fill the role]]]].

* LighterAndSofter: Dark as the series is, it still has a (marginally) lower body count than the book, where Toronaga ordered many of the household guards to commit ''seppuku'' after they failed to catch the assassin that infiltrated the palace and nearly killed Blackthorne, and Fuji (after her initial breakdown) wanted to kill herself after losing her husband and son as opposed to becoming a nun. In addition, several of the deaths that remain are far less gruesome; Tadayoshi, Fuji's husband, is allowed an honorable suicide in the show whereas in the book he was ''crucified'', and [[spoiler:while Jozen's fate of being ripped apart by cannonfire and then beheaded is pretty grim, it's ''still'' a better end than the book, where he was stabbed several times, hamstrung, gutted and then torn apart by dogs]].

** Christians not only regard suicide as cowardly -- while Blackthorne [[LeaveBehindAPistol does leave a pistol behind]] for the despairing captain of the ''Erasmus'' once it becomes clear he'll be of no more use, he obviously disapproves -- Catholics regard it as a mortal sin. For the Japanese and especially the samurai class, certain types of suicide like ''seppuku'' are integral to retaining or restoring one's honour, or as a form of protest. This all culminates in a massive problem for [[spoiler:Mariko: as a woman of the samurai class and a retainer of Toranaga, she vows to commit suicide to protest his refusal to let her and the other hostages in Osaka leave, while as a Catholic convert she believes that killing herself would condemn her soul to hell. She plans to TakeAThirdOption by stabbing herself and having someone else deliver the fatal blow, and when she realises that assassins are planning to blow open the doors of the storehouse where she and several othrs are hiding, she deliberately stands in the path of the blast and uses her last words to condemn Ishido, which allows her to die ''without'' officially taking her own life.]]

** Christians regard suicide as cowardly and a mortal sin; while Blackthorne [[LeaveBehindAPistol does leave a pistol behind]] for the despairing captain of the ''Erasmus'' once it becomes clear he'll be of no more use, he obviously disapproves. For the Japanese and especially the samurai class, certain types of suicide like ''seppuku'' are integral to retaining or restoring one's honour, or as a form of protest. This all culminates in a massive problem for [[spoiler:Mariko: as a woman of the samurai class and a retainer of Toranaga, she vows to commit suicide to protest his refusal to let her and the other hostages in Osaka leave, while as a Catholic convert she believes that killing herself would condemn her soul to hell. She plans to TakeAThirdOption by stabbing herself and having someone else deliver the fatal blow, but it never comes to that.]]

** Christians regard suicide as cowardly and a sin; while Blackthorne [[LeaveBehindAPistol does leave a pistol behind]] for the despairing captain of the ''Erasmus'' once it becomes clear he'll be of no more use, he obviously disapproves. For the Japanese and especially the samurai class, certain types of suicide like ''seppuku'' are integral to retaining or restoring one's honour, or as a form of protest.

* SuicideIsShameful: In ''Crimson Sky'', [[spoiler:Mariko, unable to leave Ishido's castle per Toranaga's order, decides to commit seppuku to atone for her shame. However, since she is Catholic and knows suicide is a mortal sin, she asked Kiyama to be her second. The Council are well aware about the church's opinion on suicide and believe Mariko won't commit seppuku for fear of her soul. Though, Ochiba believes Mariko will go through with it regardless. Sure enough, when Kiyama doesn't show up, Mariko is determined to continue the ritual but is utterly shaken and removes her rosary.]]

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: At one point Blackthorne is reluctant to eat some Japanese food, particularly sushi, that most modern viewers would find delicious. To further reinforce this, he decides to try 'natto' to demonstrate that he isn't incapable of eating Japanese food, and declares it to be not bad. 'Natto' generally tops lists of least-appetising Japanese food for Westerners today.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: At one point Blackthorne is reluctant to eat some Japanese food, particularly sushi, that most modern viewers would find delicious. To further reinforce this, he decides to try *natto* to demonstrate that he isn't incapable of eating Japanese food, and declares it to be not bad. *Natto* generally tops lists of least-appetising Japanese food for Westerners today.