NHK Taiga Drama

Since quite a few people on the list have apparently seen a few Taiga
drama, let's throw out a poll: What is your favorite Taiga drama,
and more importantly, why?

I'll start of by saying that i've seen (and i'm estimating the years)
1996's Hideyoshi, the Nobunaga drama sometime prior to that, 1997's
Mori Motonari, 1999's Tokugawa Yoshinobu, and the first 5 episodes of
Aoi ~ Tokugawa Sandai. I'd have to say that out of those, Mori
Motonari was my favorite - most of it was pretty new to me, and for
the most part it had some excellent acting, but above all else, the
makeup surpasses all the previous drama. I think they must have
added a little grey or a few wrinkles each episode, making the aging
look so natural. After it was over, and i went back and watched the
first few episodes again, i was surprised at how young everyone
looked. Apparently it was more or less a bomb in Japan, but one of
my favorites. Hideyoshi would come up #2 for the entertainment value
alone - Takenaka Naoto is one of my favorite Japanese actors. I was
also impressed by Sekigahara at the begining of Tokugawa Sandai,
although apparently others weren't as impressed as I was...

CEWest

Mori Motonari was one of the better ones recently. My all time favorite
would have to be SANADA TAIHEIKI about Sanada Yukimura. DOKU GANRYU
MASAMUNE, about Date Masamune was also a good production.
Overall I would have to say the "Soap-opera" factor, including as many
women characters as possible along with romances and comedy has detracted
from the historical atmosphere. Also the faces of the actors and the make
up on the actresses defies ones suspension of disbelief. They all look like
salarymen and office ladies, seems a good Edo or Muromachi period "kao" is
impossible to find these days.

Tom

>Overall I would have to say the "Soap-opera" factor, including as

many

>women characters as possible along with romances and comedy has

detracted

> from the historical atmosphere.

I'd have to agree with that, especially Mii in Motonari, although it
wasnt quite so bad in Hideyoshi, and was fairly believable in
Yoshinobu. although, as far as 'comedy' I did like Hideyoshi - which
was apparently the first stab at making it more available to general
audiences. although i believe the better the actors the less money
they have left over for battle scenes. That's why I liked Nobunaga -
King of Zipangu.


Also the faces of the actors and the make

> up on the actresses defies ones suspension of disbelief. They all

look like

> salarymen and office ladies, seems a good Edo or Muromachi

period "kao" is

> impossible to find these days.

I was thinking the same thing re-watching 'Motonari' - the army
seemed to be made up of 35 year old salaryment, huffing and puffing
thier way to battle.

CEWest