junny wrote:

I haven't been watching, so is Fujiki's character Saigyo still alive in there?

I'm pretty sure he's still around somewhere. The last two episodes there's been quite the bloodletting.
Two weeks ago (episode 22):

Click on button to reveal/hide spoiler:

Koji Yamamoto got the old arrow in the neck.

And last week (episode 23):

Click on button to reveal/hide spoiler:

Fumiyo Kohinata and Kosuke Toyohara both had their heads taken off.

I think the drama is very interesting. But perhaps because I have only seen the first 5 English-subbed episodes in dramacrazy.net. However, I'm already smitten with Kiyomori, Tadamori and Yoshitomo. Very happy to see my cute and talented Okada Masaki as Yoritomo, also him narrating the story. I think, despite his age, Masaki is doing a great job at that. Also want to see more of Anne Watanabe as Hojo Masako. Always been a fan of his father and now I want to see the daughter.

I can't get access to NHK World Premium here without paying. Not that I will be able to understand it completely with my very basic Japanese. But I am going to buy the DVD if it is ever subbed in English!

junny wrote:

Ratings are quite disheartening I hope they improve. I haven't been able to keep up with the episodes, but are they really that bad? Or are viewers just not used to the Heian period stuff?

Hi Junny, I think it's the second one. Viewers are not used to Heian Era. I talked about this series with my Japanese friend, and she said the same thing. Heck, before I started watching this, I didn't know whether Kiyomori, Tadamori, Nobunaga and Ieyasu belonged to the same era or not. I didn't even know that the Genji clan has 'Minamoto' as their family name.

So, I learned a lot just from watching the first 5 episodes. I'm willing to watch the rest of it. Alas, we have no English sub yet for the remaining episodes.

Say, any link where I can watch the rest of the episodes - even in raw Japanese? Arigato ne!

brad2 wrote:

Well the thing that makes it hard for me is that I can't understand why they have a man in his thirties or so, playing a 14 yr old boy. I know that at that time Japanese boys were regarded as mature once they had their name given officially. However Kiyomori is such a retarded person when it comes to his attention to his father and his family and what his future is going to be. He is forever rushing madly out of the house when something new is said or done. He just can't grow up yet. Why do they do this casting ?? Same with GOU. I hated that beginning stuff with Ueno playing a nine year old girl. They have plenty of really good child actors in Japan so it doesn't make much sense.

I didn't realise that Kenichi played a 14 years old boy during the first episodes. He did well portraying a young, troubled man, but I thought he would be in his late teens, 19 or 20 years old by then. Still, I like his Kiyomori so far.

Gothamazon wrote:

So, I learned a lot just from watching the first 5 episodes. I'm willing to watch the rest of it. Alas, we have no English sub yet for the remaining episodes. Say, any link where I can watch the rest of the episodes - even in raw Japanese? Arigato ne!

Hop over to d-addicts.com, they have it with Chinese/Japanese subs.
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藤木直人

Thanks. I will have a look. I also have subscribed to NHK World Premium to see ep 35 (last Sunday) and onwards, which coincides with Masaki-kun reappearing as Yoritomo. It works well, tho I have no Eng subtitles!

Episode 29 this weekend here. Looks like Riko Narumi will be the main character in this episode, so that's SOMETHING to look forward to.

So, now up to episode 33, and in this episode they celebrate Kiymori's 50th birthday. The thing is, he looks exactly the same as he did was he was a teen-age kid!!

How about some gray in the temples or something to indicate he's gotten older?!!?

I used to say "Yoshitsune" was the worst taiga ever, but unless a miracle happens in the last 16 episodes we will have a new champion.

gaijinmark wrote:

I used to say "Yoshitsune" was the worst taiga ever, but unless a miracle happens in the last 16 episodes we will have a new champion.

LOL.

Will we be chanting, "Yoshitsune is dead... Long live Yoshitsune!"

For me at least, things seem to have gotten a little more interesting once An:http://jdorama.com/artiste.3003.htm showed up as Masako. She's Ken Watanabe's daughter so she's obviously got the right genes for her chosen profession.

Unfortunately, that was right about the same time everybody shaved their heads.

gaijinmark wrote:

For me at least, things seem to have gotten a little more interesting once An:http://jdorama.com/artiste.3003.htm showed up as Masako. She's Ken Watanabe's daughter so she's obviously got the right genes for her chosen profession. Unfortunately, that was right about the same time everybody shaved their heads.

Thought Anne had already showed up from ep 1 - the opening bits with Masako and Yoritomo narrating a bit of the history and feud between the families. Those were just bit parts but I thought it was something that continued into later episodes.

I hope Saigyo is still alive?
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藤木直人

junny wrote:

I hope Saigyo is still alive?

Episode 46, Saigyo is still alive but the Genpei war has started and Yorimasa has just committed Seppuku.I think Saigyo did survive past the Genpei war so he should still be around when it all ends on Episode 50.

I saw this opinion given on another forum of 'Taira no Kiyomori':

"Taira no Kiyomori wasn't a train wreck. It was a train wreck that was hit by an airstrike, then run over by tanks, then beaten with sticks and finally looted before angry goblins peed on it."

That pretty much sums it up.

although it's really

gaijinmark wrote:

I saw this opinion given on another forum of 'Taira no Kiyomori': "Taira no Kiyomori wasn't a train wreck. It was a train wreck that was hit by an airstrike, then run over by tanks, then beaten with sticks and finally looted before angry goblins peed on it." That pretty much sums it up.

Pretty apt and -worthy comment.
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Kanjani8's 18th single, "365 Nichi Kazoku" out June 8th, 2011!


colorbar credits to nannandesuka@LJ

Sun_Shang_Xiang wrote:

Episode 46, Saigyo is still alive but the Genpei war has started and Yorimasa has just committed Seppuku.I think Saigyo did survive past the Genpei war so he should still be around when it all ends on Episode 50.

Yay, +1 for surviving the entire train wreck

Though it's sad that Fujiki's first taiga in yonks has to be so terrible
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藤木直人

junny wrote:

Yay, +1 for surviving the entire train wreck

LOL.

It's over!

Good riddance. One taiga that will not enter my collection.
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KSCI showed episode 49 last night. At least one positive came out of this, Ryo is made up as an old woman and if life imitates art her husband has nothing to worry about at 80 years old, she'll still be hot.