Dokugan-ryu Masamune

NHK used to buy time on an American Spanish language channel way back. I watched the entire series back then.

In the early 2000's, I was dating a japanese woman and asked her to contact NHK to purchase the series in VHS format. They quoted me a price well over $1000 for a non-subtitled version. Not being fluent in Japanese, this was unacceptable, not to mention the price.

I was told by NHK to contact the translation company. After so many years, I had & still have run into a dead end. I think NBC bought Univision, perhaps I should try them, I'm just shocked at the lack of response from google.

Totally awesome historical soap opera. Since Tokugawa killed off his line, it's understandable that modern Japanese historical sources portray him as a bumbling fool, but he conquered most of the clans, making it easy for Tokugawa to complete the process.

Yup, this is a very enjoyable experience from start to finish thanks to a writer (James Miki) who, albeit changing some stuff to fit the usual Taiga drama tropes of a main character being elevated in respect to other ones, non-historical elements or rumors treated like they were actual things and an insane amount of praise thrown at the idea of the japanese nation (it's the government-sponsored broadcasting company that produced this), entertains to start to finish without changing too much historical events in a ridicolous way and ending just boring on all fronts like the second part of the Hideyoshi Taiga from 1997 or, even worst, the terrible Ieyasu Taiga from 1983. Also the cast makes a very good job, particularly Ken Watanabe is great in the armour of the main protagonist and the rest is no slouch too. Of course you won't use this as a lesson in actual japanese history (I consider it more akin to an historically-focused tokusatsu than anything else, the presence in this of actresses who took part in some Gojira movies helps in that sense), but whatever this being the most highly rated taiga drama in Japan for once it has a good reason behind. Watch this and enjoy it in full, and thanks once again to the work of Hiroshi Tsuburaya (who I will ever consider the best Toyotomi Hideyori in any Taiga ever) in Sanada Taheiki for getting me interested in these dramas to begin with.