Shogun Released on Disney+, it features a dark political conspiracy set in 17th century Japan: Is the series entirely in Japanese?
Adaptation of James Clavell's 1975 novel, Conspiracy Shogun It will follow the journey of two ambitious men, from different worlds, as well as a noblewoman with many hidden talents.
John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) is an Englishman shipwrecked in an unknown land. As for Lord Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada), despite his power, he must face dangerous political rivals. The series also features Lady Mariko (Anna Sawai), a noblewoman whose origins are overshadowed by her relationships with her disgraceful family.
The production is keen to present the novel's story in authentic feudal Japan, mixing fantasy and history. Since then, casting has been a subject of particular interest, and the choice of language used has been crucial: Serial Shogun Is it entirely in Japanese?
What language is used in the series? Shogun ?
The series Shogun The main cast speaks Japanese well, but the rest of the cast speaks English or French depending on which dub you choose on Disney+. But be careful: even if you activate VF, the samurai language will not change.
What may be surprising in the first episodes is that the characters mention Portuguese on numerous occasions: however, the language is never used, except for some orders from Vasco Rodriguez (Nestor Carbonell) who enjoys mixing all styles. When the cast announced that they were translating Japanese into Portuguese, the speech was actually transcribed in English.
What producer Eriko Miyagawa said City and countrysideHowever, it is great progress. She points out that if the series had been produced 10 to 15 years ago, English would probably have been preferred.
“I think that in this day and age, audiences are more open to reading subtitles and seeing actors speaking their native language while they perform. The time was right for this level of authenticity“.
For director Justin Marks, who was present at the same interview, using Japanese was also a way to expand the cast to include other actors, and to stay consistent with the goal of the story: “It's a series about translation. The story shows how much we miss this process, and what we don't fully understand when we watch someone else translate our words and give their own perspective. We couldn't have achieved all this using only English.“
The first episodes of Shogun Available on Disney+.
