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+---- Thread: Abarenbō Shōgun 1978-2008 (/showthread.php?tid=7779)
Abarenbō Shōgun 1978-2008 - Drunk Monk - 09-01-2023
Abarenbō Shōgun is one of the longest running jidaigeki TV shows ever. It’s 831 45 min eps.
It was my grandfather’s favorite show. He turned me on to it when I used to visit him in Hawaii - I’m not sure that it ever played here on the mainland, but I have very fond memories of watching this show with my granddad in his beautiful house off Pali hwy. His TV was in front of some large windows that overlooked the jungle creek in his backyard. At night, large geckos would stick to the window screens catching bugs attracted to the living room light. I remember the muggy feel of that space and the chunky clicks of his tv remote, which was a new invention back then. Watching samurai movies and this are some of my fondest memories of my grandfather.
I just discovered YouTube’s Samurai vs Ninja channel which was a ton of vintage chanbara TV shows (with commercials). They have the first 180 eps or so. I’m thrilled to see this again because I loved this show too and would watch it incessantly whenever I visited my grandparents.
The story revolves around fictional tales of Yoshimune, the 8th Tokugawa shogun. He disguises himself as a samurai, accompanied by a male and female ninja. The male a classic ninja; the female is a shamisen player with a blade concealed in the neck of her instrument.
Each ep is pretty much the same. They investigate some sort of corruption in a village, then the Shogun reveals himself, confronts the culprits and orders them to commit seppuku. They don’t comply and a sword fight breaks out where the trio kill everyone. Yoshimune is a bad ass swordsman and plows through his opponents relentlessly. Sometimes he reverses his katana and smacks his disloyal subjects with the blunt end, only to knock them into his ninjas who stoically slay them always finishing with some cool pose looking at the camera, not their opponent, as they fall behind them. The fight choreo is solid for the 80s, classic vintage sword fights, and all the actors display a fine command of their budo skills.
I watched the first Ep just now for the first time, which is a creation ep of course. There was a subtle cool archery scene where the main character nails the bullseye in a clean shot where the camera clearly shows it’s real. It’s filmed from over his shoulder as he shoots, and they say he flips his bow afterwards is textbook kyudo. It’s a subtle scene but an impressive demo.
I’ll watch more. Highly D00M recommended.
Here’s that first ep.
RE: Abarenbō Shōgun 1978-2008 - Drunk Monk - 09-04-2023
I’m about 4 eps deep. It’s got some character progression, like the Shogun’s friend (the only commoner who knows his secret identity) becomes head of the fire brigade. Fire brigades were a big deal, very respected, still are I think.
There’s a lot of bitch slapping in this. More slaps than punches.
The choreo is excellent for its day. The only thing that bugs me is that when the Shogun strikes someone with the back blunt of his katana, they freeze just like they’ve been cut, then collapse. It’s a surreal affectation in chanbara in general - that ‘I’ve just been killed’ frozen pause - and I’m not convinced someone would do that irl; mush less if they were struck by the blunt.
The ninjette is my fav character. She kicks ass.
Luvin this show.