The historical series stars Hiroyuki Sanada, Anna Sawai, and Cosmo Jarvis.
Medieval Japan is attracting a lot of spectators according to the numbers reported by Deadline for FX’s newest buzzworthy show, Shōgun. Disney says that the premiere episode of the limited series amassed 9 million views globally across Hulu, Disney+ and Star+ in its first six days on these services. Internationally, this makes Shōgun the premiere general entertainment series for the company, surpassing The Kardashians Season 1. In the United States, Disney says that Shōgun shot past The Bear Season 2 to become the number one FX premiere on its streaming platforms. There is a distinction to be drawn here in that The Bear debuted on Hulu only, while FX now has Disney+ as a streaming partner.
Rarely does Disney release streaming numbers, with the latest numbers being for Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Disney and Netflix define “views” as total stream time divided by runtime. Shōgun has been a strong beneficiary of word of mouth, especially on social media. The show has been lauded for the storyline, writing, and technical aspects like lighting and action sequences. The limited series holds a coveted 99% rating on Rotten Tomatoes from critics and 94% from the audience. There is usually a huge discrepancy between audience and critics’ scores, making Shōgun a special case.
What Is ‘Shōgun’ About?
Set in Japan in the year 1600, Shōgun follows Lord Yoshii Toranaga as he fights for his life surrounded by enemies from the Council of Regents. A mysterious European ship gets stranded in a nearby fishing village and its occupants might be the only thing that saves Lord Toranaga. The series explores war, culture, leadership, and religion with different characters but with a strong influence from the Japanese people and culture.
The show features a historic Japanese cast led by Hiroyuki Sanada as Lord Toranaga and Cosmo Jarvis as John Blackthorne. Anna Sawai portrays Toda Mariko, Tadanobu Asano plays Kashigi Yabushige, Hiroto Kanai plays Kashigi Omi, and Takehiro Hira potrays Ishido Kazunari. Other cast members include Moeka Hoshi as Usami Fuji, Tokuma Nishioka as Toda Hiromatsu, Shinnosuke Abe as Buntaro, Yuki Kura as Yoshii Nagakado, Yuka Kouri as Kiku, and Fumi Nikaido as Ochiba no Kata. Shōgun is created for television by Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks, with Marks serving as showrunner and executive producer alongside Michaela Clavell, Edward L. McDonnell, Michael De Luca, and Kondo.
