Has any one seen this show? Or have it taped?

EGJ wrote:

Has any one seen this show? Or have it taped?

I've heard of it but never seen it... Have you tried checking out The Ninja Dojo site (http://blofeld.qbranch.se/~maal01/ninjadojo.htm)?
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EGJ wrote:

Has any one seen this show? Or have it taped?

Hmm, I did a forum search and this was the only thread about Abarenbo Shogun. It's not listed in the Dramas section ... Is this show not really considered a dorama?

Anyway, I've d/l'ed a few episodes from Usenet, and I just have to say, Matsudaira Ken kicks ass and takes names, and I think he's a very charismatic actor.

Yes, the show is extremely formulaic ... but if you drink that coolaid, I think it can be very addicting fun. I love the buildup to the final fight scene, which is virtually always the same. "Oshioki!"

There have been 10 series of Abarenbo Shogun, the first actually ran from 1978 to 1983 I think, when Matsudaira (Yoshimune/Shinnosuke) was in his 20's. Since then the seasons have become shorter (Abarenbo Shogun 7 and 8, which aired in 1996 and 1997, ran about 24-26 episodes each I believe). They ran translated here in NY, the seasons of an enka/actors triad (Matsudaira, Saburo Kitajima who played his townsman friend [albeit with different names per seasons] and Joji Yamamoto). Kitajima generally sings the main themes of AS (e. g. "Hidamari Ninjo" in AS7), Matsudaira sings sometimes a middle tune (such as "Nukumori" in AS7).

Abarenbo Shogun 7 had as main storyline Yoshimune/Shinnosuke's friendship and courtship with Chizuru/Princess Tsuru (played by Azusa Nakamura), who is the scheduled fiancee of Yoshimune but loves Shinnosuke secretly. AS 8 goes back to Yoshimune being a loner. The two series' final episodes always have a fight with distant cousin Muneharu Owari of some sort or another.

I don't think the Webmaster considers it a taiga dorama (I mean the Webmaster does include Hagure Keiji Junjoha, the cop show which since 1988 has run 26 or so episodes per season), but it deserves a honorable mention. So do Gokenin Zankuro, the series which introduced me to Ken Watanabe, and Zenigata Heiji, which had Kinya Kitaohji and Azusa Mano.

EGJ wrote:

Has any one seen this show? Or have it taped?

This series is currently airing in Hawaii on KIKU-TV. The series airing is season 1, first aired in Japan in 1978.

I actually recorded the first 3 or 4 episodes of the series onto MPEG-2, then stopped to focus on other things.

Hydroxy is also posting episodes of Abarenbo Shogun on the alt.binaries.multimedia.japanese newsgroups. I'm not downloading them, so I can't upload them via BT or anything like that. All the eps are Keal captures.

--- groink

The first season of Abarenbo Shogun (1978) is airing once again on KIKU-TV starting with episode 1 tonight. I'm going to capture this rotation, so I'll get a good DVD quality capture this time (1st pass, I only had 480x480 MPEG-2 )

--- groink

So how did the cap go groink?

This is the first time I ever watched the very first ep of this series! Very interesting! Matsudaira Ken looks soooooo young!
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"Abarenbo Shoyu"? that used to be the ONLY show that the metropolitan DC area gets that is JPN related. To me that show is VERY formulamatic(?) to the point where it is a parady of itself. I especially like it at the end when they show "shinno-suke" letting people know that he is the emperor/daimyo and everyone kowtows to him, but trys to kick is a$$ anyways.

My fav part is when the 2 ninjas come to help out. the girl ninja is just 2 hot!
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LOL! I grew up watching this show. Brings back lots of memories.

Even after all these years, I can still hum the theme song...know it by heart.