Toshiie to Matsu: Kaga hyakumangoku monogatari (2002– ) User Reviews

Shiny Happy People in Sengoku Period

[dmakman · 9/10 · 30 December 2019]

The more samurai movies I see, the more I find that the NHK Taiga Dramas are my favorites. They are consistently informative, are often well written and well acted. They also have, in part, the goal of teaching some history, so even the ones I don't like leave me feeling better educated than if I had not seen them.

In addition, I can count on NHK not to be too violent for my taste, and not to include inappropriate sexual content of the sort that mars so many of the older samurai movies.

With that in mind, this is one of the best Taiga Drama I have ever seen. The characters are well developed and the depiction of Maeda Toshiie's family and his friendship with Toyotomi Hideyoshi works well.

If you are going to spend your time watching a 50 part series, this is definitely one to watch. The stories are a touch on the "genki" side, by which I mean that they overstate the simple pleasures and happiness in life, but that can be overlooked as they have a smooth transition from public to private sphere and therefore give one both the historical highlights and a (probably unrealistic) look into the private lives of these important historical figures.

In addition, the names are relatively easy to follow. In some of the Taiga Drama the names of the characters in a family are so similar that I can't easily follow. That doesn't happen with this one.

My Favorite Series

[enkiduu · 21 December 2005]

This show remains my favorite. There is something wonderful about watching the characters in this series grow up and grow old as they struggle to transform the world in which they live and love. At its core Toshiie and Matsu is a story about love - Love between husbands and wives, Love between friends, and love for an idea.

Toshiie is an interesting character in that he never attains the power or stature of his companions and rivals and yet he is a better man for it - and as such the object of respect and reverence from those who would otherwise have treated him as a dangerous enemy. Toshiie is naive, but he is also the embodiment of all that is best in man. His wife Matsu, is certainly wiser, no less kind and is in fact far stronger than her husband. Together they are able win the hearts of those around them and often change the course of history.

AS an interesting bit of casting, The actress who plays Matsu is actually married to the actor who portrayed Nobunaga ( the best Nobunaga I have seen on screen yet ).

If you can find this series on DVD or see it in re-runs, don't miss the chance