Shinsengumi! (2004 NHK Taiga)

gaijin mark wrote:I'm guessing doch had a heavy load of curry for lunch :shakehead:

I wish.

Ever think about using the search engine or noticing that there's already a Shinsengumi thread in existence???? :grumble:

Locking.

Hello everyone
I would like to make a sincere apology to those I may have offended over the Shinsengumi matter. I didn't know anything about "threads" or whatever you call it. I just got internet service, my knowledge of computers isn't that intellegent as the average websurfer. The thing is though is that I LOVED Shinsengumi and I want it on DVD with Region 1 format. If anyone has wrote a similar post, then I'm sorry. I really didn't know. After the Shinsengumi-Faithful read my apology post, I hope you all will continue to support not just me but the manufacturors who produce the Shinsengumi DVD's. I say again, I'm sorry and I apologize deeply for offending anyone.

:shamefulcry: Pinoyboy

The internet is SERIOUSBUSINESS :nut:

wow, never noticed this thread. i've sorta forgotten shinsengumi for a while. i've watched it all and now it's at the bottom of my desk somewhere. it was a good taiga drama. it didn't bore me and it was pretty funny but i guess that sometimes it was a little slap-stickish in the beginning. when i saw it, i didn't know WHO shingo was so i didn't watch it for him obviously. i even thought that he looked like he was constipated in the beginning. lol.i didn't even know that odagiri joe would appear in it but it was a nice surprise. i was honestly just drawn in by the story.

now that i've read through this thread, i realize that there were actually different versions uploaded so i want to ask, which version was better?

No offense taken.

We'd just like it if people would read the posting guidelines here before going off into a posting frenzy... :)

I am looking to buy taiga drama "shinsengumi" dvd with english subtitle.
please advice, where i can get it. i found out it at ebay, but it too expensive.... thank you very much.

jiroca wrote:I am looking to buy taiga drama "shinsengumi" dvd with english subtitle.
please advice, where i can get it. i found out it at ebay, but it too expensive.... thank you very much.

Someone showed me this site
http://animedivxonline.com/digisub3.html
Prices are quite reasonable I think.

Okay, so I'm completely ignorant and need some help.

I'm watching this drama, I need to figure out what's happening.

So there's the Emperor, and the Shogun. The Shogun is... the army? Or like the military that has a lot of power, I'm assuming.

The Emperor was against opening Japan's doors to foreigners... but the Shogun wasn't, and supported the door opening concept.

The Shinsengumi, then, was created to enforce the Shogun's plans? They wanted the doors to be open and therefore went against the Emperor's wishes...

I'm only on episode 4 of the TV series, but I wanted to make sure I had things straight before continuing, since it IS a historical drama. lol

Wynter wrote:Okay, so I'm completely ignorant and need some help.

I'm watching this drama, I need to figure out what's happening.

So there's the Emperor, and the Shogun. The Shogun is... the army? Or like the military that has a lot of power, I'm assuming.

The Emperor was against opening Japan's doors to foreigners... but the Shogun wasn't, and supported the door opening concept.

The Shinsengumi, then, was created to enforce the Shogun's plans? They wanted the doors to be open and therefore went against the Emperor's wishes...

I'm only on episode 4 of the TV series, but I wanted to make sure I had things straight before continuing, since it IS a historical drama. lol

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinsengumi

After reading your post and some of that, it appears that Atsu-hime is set in an identical period. So you'll know all about it when you get to Atsu-hime :)

Wynter wrote:Okay, so I'm completely ignorant and need some help.

I'm watching this drama, I need to figure out what's happening.

So there's the Emperor, and the Shogun. The Shogun is... the army? Or like the military that has a lot of power, I'm assuming.

The Emperor was against opening Japan's doors to foreigners... but the Shogun wasn't, and supported the door opening concept.

The Shinsengumi, then, was created to enforce the Shogun's plans? They wanted the doors to be open and therefore went against the Emperor's wishes...

I'm only on episode 4 of the TV series, but I wanted to make sure I had things straight before continuing, since it IS a historical drama. lol

Long story short- The Tokugawa period (also called Edo, for the military capitol, now Tokyo) was when Japan was under the military rule of the Tokugawa family. The rulers were called shoguns. Japan still had an emperor in the imperial capital of Kyoto, but he didn't do anything. Pretty much like today.

marspeach wrote:

Long story short- The Tokugawa period (also called Edo, for the military capitol, now Tokyo) was when Japan was under the military rule of the Tokugawa family. The rulers were called shoguns. Japan still had an emperor in the imperial capital of Kyoto, but he didn't do anything. Pretty much like today.

Ohhhhhhh okay. That makes sense. I was wondering why the Shogun had power even with an Emperor. I see I see.

Thank you!

Btw, I'm really enjoying Shinsengumi. I don't know if it's because I just started, or because I don't have the historical knowledge to back it up, but I'm not hating it as much as people said I would. :victory:

Wynter wrote:
Btw, I'm really enjoying Shinsengumi. I don't know if it's because I just started, or because I don't have the historical knowledge to back it up, but I'm not hating it as much as people said I would. :victory:

That's cool Sensei. I always looked at Shinsengumi as being kind of like a John Wayne movie. They use all the correct names and places, but they don't follow the historical facts real close. And as far as just entertainment, I liked it. The biggest gripe I had was showing them as these kind of happy warriors. The real Shinsengumi were NOT nice people. [/list:u] Edit: That's the good part of Taiga's is you have such a huge cast there's bound to be some really good actors in there. You already mentioned Yoko Nogiwa, but you've got Ken Ishiguro, Fumiyo Kohinata, Odagiri Joe lots of others. Probably my favorite in the whole drama is Sawa Suzuki as Yamanami's girlfriend. I think she shows up somewhere in the late 20's episodes. She's only in it for a few episodes but she was real good. :applaud: [/list:u]AD wrote

it appears that Atsu-hime is set in an identical period

Yeah, these two cover roughly the same time frame. All the events depicted in both lead up to what they call the Meiji Restoration when the emperor took power back from the shoguns. [/list:u]

Well as the story progresses, you'll find out that the Shinsengumi people will become NOT nice later...

gaijinmark wrote:Edit: That's the good part of Taiga's is you have such a huge cast there's bound to be some really good actors in there. You already mentioned Yoko Nogiwa, but you've got Ken Ishiguro, Fumiyo Kohinata, Odagiri Joe lots of others. Probably my favorite in the whole drama is Sawa Suzuki as Yamanami's girlfriend. I think she shows up somewhere in the late 20's episodes. She's only in it for a few episodes but she was real good..

O definitely!

I've got a few glances of Odagiri Joe, whom I'm a huge fan of, as well as Tanaka Kunie and Ishiguro Ken. Eguchi Yosuke is hilarious, and it helps that his hair isn't getting in the way. lol

I can't wait to stumble on a few other familiar faces I recognize in the cast.

gaijinmark wrote:Edit: That's the good part of Taiga's is you have such a huge cast there's bound to be some really good actors in there. You already mentioned Yoko Nogiwa, but you've got Ken Ishiguro, Fumiyo Kohinata, Odagiri Joe lots of others.

Yasuko Sawaguchi

gaijinmark wrote: Fumiyo Kohinata

I think I'm going to have to find this drama... :beaten:

sadacori wrote:

I think I'm going to have to find this drama... :beaten:

He's also in last years taiga Fuurin Kazan http://jdorama.com/drama.1050.htm But IIRC he has a pretty minor role in both. I doubt if he's in 10 episodes of each one. [/list:u]

Wynter,

The Shinsengumi were at times, The Emperor's Bodyguards, A Death Squad, Vigalantes, The Shogun's bully boys... They were a bunch of poor, small time, country Samurai who came to the big city, looking to make some money, and hoping for the chance to be "real" Samurai, after 250 years of peace.

In one of the most turbulent periods of Japanese history, they were a ping pong ball bobbing and floating on the surface of the ocean during a gale.

From one day to the next they never really knew who's side they were on... because no one really knew what was going on.

The reason I didn't think much of the series was the spin the writers and producers decided to take with it. They wanted to make it sort of a happy go lucky Three Musketeers cum Tragic Hero saga.

Whereas the Shinsengumi were basically a Death Squad. It was a bit too large a step for me.

But the show did have a pistol of a cast.

Wynter wrote:Okay, so I'm completely ignorant and need some help.

I'm watching this drama, I need to figure out what's happening.

So there's the Emperor, and the Shogun. The Shogun is... the army? Or like the military that has a lot of power, I'm assuming.

The Emperor was against opening Japan's doors to foreigners... but the Shogun wasn't, and supported the door opening concept.

The Shinsengumi, then, was created to enforce the Shogun's plans? They wanted the doors to be open and therefore went against the Emperor's wishes...

I'm only on episode 4 of the TV series, but I wanted to make sure I had things straight before continuing, since it IS a historical drama. lol

Just to add to what's been already mentioned, the Shogunate was actually also against opening Japan to foreigners; they just knew it was impossible to do that, unlike the emperor who never left his palace. The intent of allowing it was to modernize until they could force foreign powers out. The opposing factions used that as an excuse to illegitimize the Shogunate for their own power grab(while dealing with foreign powers themselves).

My feelings for the show are similar to Geezer's, but I also found it to be written as an obvious vehicle for the lead actor, Shingo, who is quite possibly one of the worst actors the entertainment world has ever crapped out. The blatantness of that just made it painful to watch.