What does Shogun have to do with Lian Hearn’s Tales of the Otori? I went into Book 1, Across the Nightingale Floor, not knowing if it was based on real history like Shogun, or a second world fantasy. Not to mention, a waste of Toshiro Mifune’s talent. It wasn’t until I lived in Japan and started watching Jidaigeki (period dramas, which, to be fair, are probably as true to history as Spaghetti Westerns) that I realized what a travesty the American miniseries was (For a stories covering the same period, I highly recommend NHK Taiga Dramas, and specifically Toshiie to Matsu). To say the least, the miniseries didn’t do the original novel justice. In high school, I read Shogun at a time when the only thing I read for pleasure was fantasy. Japanese cinema titan Toshiro Mifune owned each scene he was in. Besides being the first time I ever saw suggestion of the hanky-panky happening on television, what struck me the most was the exotic customs and culture of Feudal Japan. I was first drawn to Japanese samurai stories as a nine-year-old, when the miniseries based on James Clavell’s Shogun graced the little screen for five straight nights. Tales of the Otori (originally posted on Fantasy-Faction)
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