Servants of Two Masters | SHOGUN [1x2] (REACTION) 

The Letters of Marque came from the Dutch so Blackthorn's ship is acting as a mercenary warship for the Dutch who are in the middle of their own rebellion to throw off Spanish rule over their country. The English had 12 years before fought off the Spanish Armada which was going to depose Elizabeth I. So there is a lot of Protestant vs Catholic politics going on in this scene. The flux is dysentery. A serious problem not understood in Blackthorn's time but they were aware aware of the correlation between public common water use like communal baths or water in crowded areas being connected to disease so people might avoid things like baths altogether. Especially if they lived in cities or tight communal spaces like a ship or army camp.

In Japan, ppl believed that the Emperor was a descendant of Amaterasu, a goddess of the sun, and he had this divine element in him. The Emperor was, in theory, the most important person in Japan but in real life, he held no power. But he could have done one thing, that no other could do: he could grant the title of the Shogun (that held all the power). Taking into consideration that receiving this title from the Emperor is like being anointed by the gods, being a descendant of the old bloodline of the Shoguns is a big deal. Especially since no other Toranaga rival has such a position. The bloodline is in this situation really important factor.

Maria is probably Mariko's Christian name. Spanish Catholic colonisers gave us Christian names when they took over our country, the Philippines. I imagine thats what the Portuguese are also doing; replacing Japanese names with Christian names. Protestants believe that the Catholic church is the original Christian religion but has been corrupted over time. Also, the head of the Catholic church is the Pope, whereas the heads of the English protestant church is the King/Queen and the Archbishop of Canterbury. Someone correct me if I got this wrong hahaha

The queen Blackthorn refers to is Elizabeth I. This is at the end of her reign.

"She's a terrible assassin.." as she assassinates 6 peoples lol

The mother of the heir was in their castle or village. The council wants her to be returned. Also he approved 6 marraiges which the council fears that Toranaga could be seeking allainces through marraiges. And also like you said because of his family lineage they fear him.

In 1600, Elizabeth (I) was the Queen of England

if they used portuguese it would be another language to subtitle and they decided not to.....and its ok....also the portuguese spoken at that time is very different from todays portuguese....they would have to do the same they did to the spoken japonese and that would cost more money.

6:41 so I can come back and keep watching :)

Queen Elizabeth I

"Christianity, ruins everything." Yup. The story of religion sadly.

They speak English because its easier for the audience, if this was an 100% correct the show would be fully subtitled, since only Portuguese, Japanese and Dutch were spoken. John is the only english in the show, so unless he was inner speaking, he wouldn't use english. Also the treaty refered in the episode was real, and it was called Treaty of Tordesillas, signed in Spain, on 7 June 1494, and dividing the world between Portugal and Spain. During this period Portugal, controled most of the African and Asian ports, and they were a global empire... soon to be replaced by the English and the Dutch.

lots of catholics have baptismal names. mariko's is "maria", hence the priest calling her lady maria.

The distinction between a pirate and a privateer is a piece of paper.

The reason Japan only traded with the Netherlands in Europe during the Edo period was because Japan had promised the Netherlands not to establish suzerainty over Christian missionaries. Although the country has a strong image of being isolated, it is not a completely closed world and has limited trade with most Western countries.

Je pense qu’ils savent que les américains n’aiment pas les sous-titres 😂 bon il y a des japonais qui parlent japonais donc estimons nous heureux 🎉❤

18:51 During that time, it's Queen Elizabeth I

Dude, you should go easy on the supposedly entertaining snarky comments, I'm sorry, but you're not funny enough to make it work. But it's no big deal, a good reactor doesn't have to be a good comedian.

This isn't show spoiler since it wasn't covered on the show but basically Goroda (who was based on Nobunaga) was the first to subjugate Japan and become the head honcho. Except he got assassinated by one of his own general. Suddenly there was a power vacuum and civil war. The 2 biggest successful generals out of it was Nakamura and Toranaga who were both master tacticians. Nakamura then offered Toranaga a deal to join him to take over the rest of Japan instead of fighting (this was the small tidbit about their meeting and talking about shitting in the same pot, since they shared so many war campaigns as allies under Goroda). So after the war Nakamura became the Taiko and not Shogun because he was born a peasant. Now that he's dead, Toranaga was still feared because he's rich, got a huge army, is a military genius and though the 5 reagents were suppose to maintain the peace, they all felt threatened by him because he actually had the bloodline to become shogun. It didn't help that Toranaga kept increasing his fief through marrying off sons and daughters and getting other noble houses to swear under him. So that's basically why, they wanted to kill him while they could before he grew too big for them to defeat even in a 4v1.

19:48 this is a real life thing, portugal and spain signed a treaty dividing the world in half for each country, accepted by the pope (the most powerful entity at the time) treaty of tordesillas is it's name.

As a Japanese I've always felt cringy towards Hollywood making 'Japanese samurai', it's never been this accurate!! but this one!!!! Thank you Sanada

the Queen of England at that time was Elizabeth the first. SHe was as colonial as Portugal lol, if not more. Oh and Mary/Maria/Marie is a catholic thing, alot of women in Catholic communities get it as a middle name.

You guys are actually great to watch with, keep trucking.

I can tell Bridget is really into this show, she was soo quiet lol but its alot to learn so i get it

You two are really clueless about world history.

I thought that guy looked like Justin Timberlake also 😂😂😂

Something not mentioned so far is... only Samurai have names, everyone not Samurai are called by what they do, Anjin= Pilot, Tusji=Transltor, the names called out in the prison are actually titels, Chef, Metal Worker, etc

I've enjoyed both the episodes so far, and it's really interesting how I can really see how even though John Blackthorne is our protagonist and Father Alvito is a lackey to one of the antagonists, both are very much ingratiating themselves to the japanese, and I can very clearly see that our protagonist is not a good person seeing as how he's killed, pillaged, and plundered all throughout Asia and his motives also being not so pure, he insults the portugese saying they're arrogant and criticizing what they're doing when the english at the time were doing much of the same, I find it so interesting when people I see react to this show are so against portugese supremacy, not realizing Blackthorne's want replacing it with english supremacy.

I'm loving how excited Cody is 😁

A good prequel to this show would be to watch the movie Silence by Martin Scorsese. It shows when Portugese missionaries first go to Japan to spread their beliefs. Really good movie

Please react to Sekigahara Movie (2017) if you liked Shogun

Just starting the series, myself. Why can’t they buy Anjin some more realistic looking lenses?

Twenty years before this show takes place, the King of Portugal died without an heir and Portugal with all of its colonies was absorbed into the Spanish Empire. Portugal, which had been an ally of the English for centuries, was forced into the war against them and they were none too happy about it.

I’m not sure if the treaty the Spanish and Portuguese signed split the world between them but they sure split up South America. That’s why Brazil (on the east side of the continent) speaks Portuguese while the rest of South America speaks Spanish

Shinto and Buddhism are Japan's two major religions. Shinto is as old as the Japanese culture, while Buddhism was imported from the mainland in the 6th century.

Back to back?!?!? Y’all are awesome

I like how @ 6:26 Martin’s voice fades out and just the two are left speaking, nice little detail and makes the scene less disorienting

europeans did not bathe often during this period , they found the customs of other nations like the arabs and japanese, bathing regularly to be weird lol

"Who is your queen?" ... wow ... normally I would have said: "you get 3 guesses", one for each infamous sole female ruler England has ever had (and the lastest one included, died recently about 2 years ago btw). But for anyone watching this, you would literally just get 1 freaking guess, who the frick it could possibly be. If you would guess wrong or have no idea, then first of all shame on you and then you should go and open up (literally) any global history textbook. Edit:( I know a lot of comments have already given you the answer, so of course you already know by now ... but come on guys. For fuck sake!)

Just found the channel and started watching some videos. You guys are fucking hilarious😂😂😂

You should check out Shaka Ilembe. Zulu empire series, Portugese were there as well.

Please watch Blue Eye Samurai. Also Americans think all Latin America speaks Spanish to this day, Japan didn't have internet in the 1600's what's yal excuse? 😂

Blackthorns is a English privateer

How can you live in the 21st century and not know about Catholics and Protestants

If you wanna know whos the Queen of Enlgand, you better watch this Elizabeth The Golden Age. Although Shakespeare sitll alive during the Shogun era. England and Spain are fighting each other a long time until the death of the Queen.

Shinto is the native folk religion of Japan but had not referred to itself as such until after Buddism was introduced from Korea to distinguish itself from that and in the book, Omi, the Samurai from the original village who cut the villager's head off, posits that the Anjin could be from a different sect of Christianity like there are different sects of Buddhism when the initial priest tells them that the Anjin is not christian.

I would love to see ya reaction to the blue eyed samurai if y’all are watching this ❤

A less dark episode. Pay close attention to the Game of Thrones vibe. It was real not dragons.