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Sorry,anjinposters, FXs adaptation ofShogunhas concluded.
Toronaga reluctantly followed his fate and will now lead Japan to a new age of peace.
The series managed to make you feel for so many characters with so many (often conflicting) motivations.
Then it made you watch that person you fell in love with get beheaded.
Theres always hopes for aShogunseason two, but none has been announced.
That leaves a lot of people feeling kind of wistful behind their eightfold fence.
The show was a great introduction for many westerners to the grand tradition ofjidaigeki, or Japanese period pieces.
ButShogunwas a book first.
I mean, of course youre going to read the source material.
It then became a best seller and a critically acclaimed miniseries (twice)!
May we all work through our trauma so lucratively.
If you saw the flashbacks to the previous Taiko onShogunand thought,Hey, whats that guys deal?
Who is he to Toronaga?
Why does he have so many consorts?, then read this series.
An abridged translation was released in English in 1992.
The book(s) tell the whole life story of Hideyoshi from his farm-boy childhood to unifying Japan.
Junichi Saga was a doctor in a small Japanese village.
But they are full of detail.
Confessions of a Yakuzais not dry.
Its wet with blood, with riverboat gambling, with sake, and with syphilis lesions.
The book covers one Yakuza bosss rise to power, starting with being a lookout for floating craps games.
Its perfect counterprogramming to the honor-boundShogun:a guy living for himself.
If youre sick of duty and fate but want to stay in Japan, read this book.
Speaking of fuck fate, this comedic fantasy book starts with Fate playing a game with Luck.
Lets face it:Shogunwas, in many ways, a bummer.
Maybe you need a palate cleanser.
This random foreigner becomes pivotal in the struggle between five noble families to rule the empire.
One of the best things aboutShogunis how richly realized the female characters are.
They attempt to dispose of a body, only to descend into infighting and blackmail.
Even in modern Japan, a woman is still simply at war.
But be forewarned: The book is intense.
Well, gnarly was the word my friend used when she cautiously recommended it to me.
Sayaka Muratas protagonist is unique, well-written, and what BookTok would probably describe as autistic coded.
If Lady Marikos faith was a compelling subplot for you, try the works of Shusaku Endo.
He was raised by a single mother who converted to Christianity.
He often called Japan a mudswamp in which the flower of Christ could not flourish.
So instead of Mean Daddy God, Endo wanted readers to see Jesus and go, Thats mother.
If you want a whole lotta content set during the Warring States period in Japan, Ive got you.
If you want a guy serving looks and luscious locks likeEvil Bro Saeki, Ive got you.
If you want a lot of well-rendered interiors of Sengoku period palaces, Ive got you.
If you want a story of romantic longing and enemies-to-loversthat actually works out, Ive got you.
If you want anything with the seriousness ofShogun,look elsewhere.
Mineko Iwasaki was interviewed by Arthur Golden to help him researchMemoirs of a Geisha.
Her involvement was contingent on anonymity, but Golden named her in the acknowledgments.
He also (according to Iwasaki) made up much about the world of geisha in Kyoto.
You play the daimyo of the fictional region of Aurora.
But more importantly, legendary Pokemon.
Meet the heroes of Japanese history and battle their Pokemon!
Toronagas main is Aggron.
How could you not want to play that?
