JAPANESE DRAMA DATABASE: Shinsengumi

Shinsengumi

[Excerpt from Japan Times, Philip Brasor, February 8, 2004]: In the week ending Jan. 11, NHK's new Sunday night historical drama "Shinsengumi," which stars SMAP's Shingo Katori, dominated the competition with a 26.3 percent share in the Kanto area. That number seemed unbeatable until the following week, which saw the opening episode of Fuji TV's "trendy drama" "Pride," starring Katori's colleague Ta kuya Kimura, take a whopping 28 percent. In fact, during the week ending Jan. 18 the top three rated programs were "Pride," the variety show "SMAP Å~ SMAP," and the premiere of the TBS drama series "Suna no Utsuwa (Vessel of Sand)," which stars SMAP leader Masahiro Nakai. Even "Boku to Kanojo to Kanojo no Ikiru Michi," which stars another SMAPper, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, premiered with a 19.3 percent share, placing fifth overall for the week.

The popularity of the idol boy group, whose members now range in age from 27 to 31, has ceased to be a phenomenon that demands analysis, and the high ratings were certainly no surprise. However, some people were surprised when it was announced more than a year ago that Katori would star in "Shinsengumi." NHK's "taiga drama" is a cultural institution, a yearlong serial about an important figure in Japanese history ("taiga" means "great river," as in the "river of time"). And while NHK always uses idols in taiga dramas, Katori is the first to play the lead role, at least while still an idol.
Like the commercial stations, NHK wants as big an audience as it can get. In that regard, the show's writer, Koki Mitani, whose suit is situation comedy and whose heroes are Billy Wilder and Neil Simon, is as important to the project's success as Katori is.

Taiga drama freaks and historical purists have flooded the Internet with gripes about the series, which is about a squad of young samurai sent to Kyoto to counter antishogunate forces during the period of civil strife just prior to the 1868 Meiji Restoration. Complaints have ranged from the contemporary lilt of the dialogue to factual inaccuracies.

Mitani thinks of himself as an entertainer, and on that count "Shinsengumi" is more successful than most taiga dramas, which tend to get bogged down in court intrigues, power struggles and battle plans. Mitani's comic ensemble style is well-suited to a story about a bunch of misfits who come together for a cause, and Katori, who has worked with Mitani before, fits the bill.

But he isn't much of an actor, and while ratings are the reason idols get leading roles in TV dramas while trained pros are relegated to supporting parts, NHK isn't supposed to care about ratings. For years now, NHK's relevance as the broadcast standard bearer has been waning, and for better or worse SMAP -- or, more accurately, the male idol personality represented by SMAP's management company, Johnny's Jimusho -- has dominated the TV zeitgeist in Japan. NHK has already announced that another Johnny's idol, the androgynous Hideaki Takizawa, will star in next year's taiga drama.

[Excerpt from Daily Yomiuri, February 20, 2004]: "History Buffs Decry NHK Drama"-While receiving praise from viewers for its "interesting" script, NHK's yearlong taiga drama Shinsengumi (Sundays, 8 p.m.) has received growing complaints from history buffs who contend that many of the scenes are too fictionalized for a period drama based on a real story.

The saga focuses on the shogun's private police force during the last years of the Edo period (1603-1868), a force known for murdering those opposed to the Tokugawa shogunate.

The Yomiuri Shimbun received a lot of mail from viewers who watched the first episode on Jan. 11. About 30 percent of these correspondents complained about the historical accuracy of the script, written by renowned playwright Koki Mitani.
" The cast doen't seem to know how to use a sword," one 49-year-old man said.
A 23-year-old woman said: "TV viewers tend to believe that historical dramas depict the truth. The producers should recognize that they have an influence on viewers' historical perspective."

However, on the positive side, a 15-year-old boy said, "The drama created a new image for a group thought of as killers," while a 54-year-old man said, "Probably due to Mitani's script, I was able to watch the drama without getting bored as there were not only violent scenes but also amusing ones."

The first episode of the saga depicted the youthful days of the man destined to become commander of the group, Kondo Isami (1834-68), played by SMAPster Shingo Katori. In the drama, young Kondo becomes acquainted with Sakamoto Ryoma (1836-67), a Tosa clan samurai, and Katsura Kogoro (1833-77), a Choshu clan samurai, even though there is no record to back this up.

Young Kondo, accompanied by war strategist Sakuma Shozan, is even seen visiting Uraga Port, now part of Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, to see the U.S. fleet led by Commodore Matthew Perry. The episode also portrayed scenes showing Sakamoto and Katsura, who later became enemies of Kondo, eating soba together with Kondo and wrestling with each other. However, there are no documents to prove any of these events took place.

Koji Yoshikawa, producer of the drama, said: "It is a fact that Kondo and Katsura were trainees at separate dojo in Tokyo. Some documents show that Kondo requested Katsura's help in having samurai from Katsura's dojo make up for the shortage of samurai at his own dojo when he received a dojo-yaburi challenge (mock fighting between a samurai from one dojo and samurai at another). As Kondo and Katsura knew each other, Kondo and Ryoma could have met through Katsura."

However, the scene showing Kondo gazing at the Perry's Black Ships was fictionalized. Defending the scene, the producer said: "We can say that all three were of the same opinion that the nation would be invaded if nothing was done. Through the Black Ships scene, we tried to symbolize the mood of the nation at that time."

Akihiko Nakamura, a Naoki Prize winning novelist, said: "If they want to use real-life figures in the drama, they should respect the truth of the characters' lives. Ryoma would not have said, 'I want to board that ship and go overseas' while at the same time supporting the slogan of 'Revere the Emperor, expel the barbarians!'
" Furthermore, considering the distance between Kondo's dojo and the port, he would never have said, 'I'll be back in the evening' as he did in that scene."

According to NHK, experts have spent several hours checking the scripts of each episode, but the network admitted that "it can never be perfect." Yoshikawa said there were too many documents to describe the time, compared to the number of those from the Kamakura period (1192-1333) and the Warring States period often featured in taiga dramas. That made checking work Shinsengumi for historical accuracy more complex.

NHK reportedly told Mitani that his script should not give an incorrect impression of the general mood of the last years of the shogunate.

STARRING: Katori Shingo
DURATION: January 2004 -
THEME SONG:
NETWORK: NHK
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