Shogun: A guide to the hit Japanese samurai epic as its finale cuts deep

Jarvis aside, the cast is majority Japanese. Writing for The Ringer, Daniel Chin said the new series’ three-pronged structure, with Toranaga and Mariko holding similar focus to Blackthorne, whilst speaking in their mother tongue, helps the show escape the “white saviour narrative” of the source material – a trope heavily prevalent on screen in 2003’s The Last Samurai, for instance.