Age of Samurai: Battle for Japan (2021– ) User Reviews

Solid Intro Gateway Into To Japanese History

[mack1971 · 8/10 · 26 February 2021]

While it is easy to get swept up into a sea of negativity and pick apart the fine details of a series, the reality is I feel this is a good gateway show. Could there have been more? Yes, always. However the director and production were not looking to create a flawless recreation, and openly state that they used creative costuming and sets for many scenes. The creative costuming and set designs were based on period accurate research, and then given a creative spin.

There are Japanese historians who appear in the series and speak, and a number of professionals who provide great quick info about the various events and battles. In truth, there was so much that happened in this period, a whole series could be made about just -1- historical figure such as Oda Nobunaga. Instead there was a broad review of the period that touched on many points.

I hope that the success of this series will prompt studios to take a more serious look at Japanese historical productions, and properly budget and dedicate more research and resource to them. This period in Japanese history, as well as many others, is ripe for film and deserves to be taken seriously.

So, if you enjoy Japanese history and want to quickly sink your teeth into this period, or introduce someone to this period this is a great series for you. LEt's hope that Hollywood in the future will take a serious approach to this kind of topic, and better fund and research their work.

Interesting watch

[adaptor · 6/10 · 18 March 2021]

I don't know anything about this subject so I can't speak to the veracity of the information. However, it is overall quite engaging and the mix of dramatized scenes, information from their experts, and narration is good. However, I feel like there could have been better diversity in their "experts". I find it odd that they're essentially all British or American. I can't believe that they weren't able to find more Japanese subject-matter-experts to interview. That strikes me as a real issue with their production decisions.

Not a lot about samurais. Flashy language.

[martinmelladog · 6/10 · 1 March 2021]

All Japanese history is new to me so everything exposed sounds truthful, as a starting point it was an interesting show and a more dramatic approach, mainly focused on iconic people and their motivations. Context and culture are underdeveloped in my opinion and just linked to war and conquests. It doesn't go deep on samurais persona. It could be any other soldier executing the same wars and it would be irrelevant to the show. When they faced japanese an chinese armies it felt the same, they were just more experienced warriors.

Considering there are big differences in the strategic approach of some japanese clan leaders it also doesn't go deep on why they took their approaches. It is reduced to something like "there is an opportunity to take control, i want to take control to be the lord of Japan". I think one of the things that make the show feel flat is that, the motivation is kind of always the same, and even when there is a more stable approach, it doesn't explain how that specific warlord came up with his view and his strategies. There's a few times where education is mentioned but not a lot on what are their principles or logic. In the China's invation campaign, some other great warlords/emperors of other continents were mentioned, but not if the japanese warlords had some prior knowledge about their history or if they were some motivated by them. It was an open reference, and the only concrete one was that China was always a big goal. So i would say the show is a review of wars and control shifts monstly in the XVI century. The biggest principle to feel connected to the characters is the general sence of constant war, as a defensive nature, so they eat to not be eaten. It might be that way, so that is not something i consider so much to base this rewiew.

I enjoyed the show mostly (as a war documentary I think), however I didn't like how many times battles, decisions or anything important is stated as the "ultimate", "greatest", "biggest" and a lot of other flashy words. At some point we started joking about this with my wife because we actually got confused, to the point we couldn't compare turning points or battles. Is not a history class but as an informative piece it kind of takes away the importance of some historical moments trying to expose everything as epic.

Great docudrama

[Calicodreamin · 8/10 · 25 February 2021]

Well made re-enactments and relevant interviews. The episodes had good flow and kept an even pace. The subject matter was interesting and easy to digest. Interesting to learn about an era of samurai.

Gateway to Japanese history for me!

[ariane-boisvert · 9/10 · 2 March 2021]

So i went through the reviews and people are offended by the white historians and the dramatic acting/scenes in this series. (Lol)

None of it bothered me, but i know nothing of Japanese history and i enjoy content over presentation. I don't mind a bit of dramatic flair in a scene at all despite it being a historical inaccuracy, i think it broadens the audience to keep more people interested. Plus the series is not going in the details, it's just giving an overview of complex events and politics. At this point acting inaccuracy is not on my mind.

I loved the way this was edited and split into episodes, i watched the series in one sitting it kept me interested! I was delighted to learn more about Japan history, especially since i went to japan not too long ago.

I found it super informative although i couldn't say if it was accurate because i have no prior knowledge. I thought the historians presented it well and since im guessing this is made for a non-Japanese audience it doesn't bother me at all that the historians were Occidental. But to be fair, having more diversity would've been great! I would've loved a Korean or Chinese historian.

The acting was fine in my opinion and so were the sets considering this is made on a documentary budget. The blood added in post looks like they used the little budget they had left but so what, this isnt the point of this documentary.

Honestly watching this made me want to learn more about Japanese history and that's a win in my book!

Very enjoyable but a few too many inaccuracies

[There-I-Said-it · 7/10 · 2 March 2021]

This time in Japanese history is fascinating and Age of Samurai does a very good job of conveying that. The production values are very high with plenty of re-enactments that are portrayed by strong and compelling acting, but that's also part of the problem. This emphasis on entertainment means that just like in biopics, there have been quite a few liberties taken creating a plethora of historical inaccuracies. The flip side is that the 6 episodes really fly by and keep you vested in the next one.

An enjoyable series that should come with a disclaimer.

Meets my entertainment needs

[ziema-29613 · 8/10 · 28 February 2021]

I primarily watched the first season of this documentary series for the viewing of costumes, interior design, and overall Japanese artistry / craftsmanship. The historical accuracy and narrative quality were secondary or less to me. Many reviewers criticized the historical "inaccuracies" (we don't know this and the reviewers did not provide any credentials) and injection of Western historians, but given the target audience of the series, i.e., Americans, this makes sense. When the series employed an "authentic" Japanese historian, we had to read subtitles, which greatly interrupted with the flow of background re-enactments, etc. If non-citizen historians can be trusted with world history, why not Anglo-American historians with Japan's history? Nevertheless, I give this series an 8/10 in light of all of the reviewers who screamed, "Inaccurate!"

Not really about Samurai.

[KhunKai · 6/10 · 1 March 2021]

It's OK to watch. Fairly good production as expected. However, the use of the word Samurai in the title is not really correct. The series is more about power and war between the various klans. Watchable. Especially for the ones interested in history.

Worth watching...

[jyotdin · 9/10 · 16 October 2023]

Worth watching but bit fast paced. More details were required about other war lords... Any techniques of war not explained.

Every battle was tagged as " most critical battle of Japanese History"

Also historians were all non Japanese.. Hence no perspective of Japanese PPL and their thoughts were not included.

Hard to trust non Japanese historians..

Role of emperor was not clear. Warload himself taking decision without consulting emperor was bit strange.

Battle were not shown in detail Actors were good.. but the madness of samurai and the anguish of losses were not shown very clearly.

Over all a good watch.

Good info, terrible pronunciation

[cantstopahapa · 6/10 · 26 February 2021]

The information is interesting and the story is a good listen especially if you are interested in battle tactics.

However, the white historians just butcher the Japanese names. It's so cringey.

Polished quality doc, maybe too polished

[ocacia · 8/10 · 1 March 2021]

This is a proper doc, polished too the nines. The problem with its polish is it glamourizes and dramatized the period to a Hollywood standard. I am not sure how historically accurate the scenes are. Looks like Last Samurai. But it all sells the story and you def need to stay on top of it because the names will throw you. I would love to now go and read a book about the subject for further details. I am no expert so I have to take the information as factual and thank the producers for one polished historical production. Very similar to the one on Rome which was epic!

Slick storytelling of bloody feuds

[dierregi · 7/10 · 2 March 2021]

Personally, my knowledge of Japanese history in the XVI century equals to not much, therefore I was interest in this documentary. I vaguely remembered the names of Hideyoshi and Ieyasu as the men who reunited Japan, but I missed a large part of the history.

The structure of the documentary is the usual: historians narrating the events, interspersed with acted battles and daily life scenes. The interior design and costumes look OK, but the narration (and battle scenes) go very much in the direction of "this strong samurai fought bloody battles" followed by even bloodier ones, won by the next fierce samurai.

I get that the point is narrating the reunion of Japan under a single ruler and that part of history is mostly the succession of samurais that it took to complete the task, but all the battle scenes look pretty much the same. Still worth to watch.

PS as to the criticism that the historians are mostly not Japanese... since when one should study only the history of one's own country? Which level of crazy is that even if I am interested in Japanese history, I should not talk about it because I'm not Japanese?

history telling

[veliaslan-54601 · 9/10 · 22 April 2021]

It is beautiful and historically good, sometimes it is good to tell us about the good Japanese history for history teaching, and the exciting samurai tell us who they are and tell us what they are doing.

I'm turning Japanese, (I really think so!)

[m_winship · 10/10 · 27 February 2021]

Wow! We are so lucky to get tis stellar show from Japan. Nobunaga and the gang are going to show us all about feudal Japan and their cultural historical references. The Age of the Samurai, ewwy yyaaaa! How exciting this series will be I'd hoped. I'm just starting out as a freshman tonight with episode One. Please watch along side me so all of you Japanese fans can comment as well! pax, Murf

Good, with distracting flaws.

[SomeDoood · 7/10 · 28 March 2021]

PROS:

• Dramatisations are good for the most part
• The brutality is not glossed over
• Good visualisations of events
• Subject matter is interesting and mostly maintains interest

CONS:

• The series does suffer from over-dramatisation and repetition. Play a game of 'historian bingo' with me:

'It was the most decisive battle in Japanese history' - 10 points per mention 'This was the most bloody battle in the history of Japan' - 5 ppm 'It wasn't a battle, it was a MASSACRE' - 15 ppm 'There would have been battle cries and screams all around' - 5 ppm 'There was confusion among the fighting' - 10 ppm 'It would have been a brutal melee' - 5 ppm 'There were swords clashing in the fight' - 10ppm 'This would be the most important decision in all of Japanese history' - 10ppm

See how long it takes to beat 500 points...

• While initially a minor nitpick, these interjections become increasingly distracting and waffly as the series 'fills time' in the middling episodes.

• Music is nothing to write home about.

• Visible 'budget shortcuts' every now and then.

• Historians seem under-utilised as the series doesn't expore any topic in great detail, rather re-tells a storyline of events. How did these people live on a day-to-day basis? Can we see any of the sources/books/art on which these facts are based? How does the samurai armour protect them from attack? There is still so much I don't know about the samurai.

OVERALL: Good with some noticable flaws.

Excellent Historical Doc of Medieval Japan

[rachfrye-26487 · 10/10 · 3 March 2021]

The historians combined with the superb performances really bring the formative years of Japan to life, can't recommend enough!

A mini series with inadequate funding

[ykyyz · 6/10 · 27 February 2021]

Mediocre to poor acting combined with some recycled scenes. Be prepared for low-cost production feel incited by samurai and soldiers engaged in small scale fighting (scene wise). Didn't bother to portray the samurai with the accurate hairstyle or wig (maybe no hairstylist available to shave them during pandemic), Hideyoshi sitting on that weird looking throne borrowed from the next-door production filming some viking movie or was it an electric chair.... This docu-action-drama could have employed more help from computer to generate much larger scale fighting scenes to support a lot of the battles that involved 30000-60000 troops on each side. The narrative focused on a handful of individuals that shined through the history during that era assuming that the audience has prepared themselves well on the history of Japan and its feudal military system. All in all this mini series is a good entertainment to kill time during the pandemic, don't expect to remember anything from it unless you already have some basic knowledge of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and the Tokugawa bakufu/shogunate. Unfortunately, Tokugawa's accomplishments were compressed into a few minutes of summary towards the end, albeit the emphasis that the system had a 2.5 century worth of influence on the "age of samurai". Perhaps Season 2 should focus on just the details, but no, this is all there is for you. Takeda Shingen was a warlord worth elaborating and yet it was only briefly mentioned.

Excellent.

[Snow-White-Tears · 9/10 · 2 March 2021]

Very good overview of Japanese/Asian history.

I don't think we get enough history from this region considering how evolved and rich it was, which baffles me as we have Black History "month" forced upon us, which always confuses me, as apart from the African countries bordering The Mediterranean i.e. Egypt, Sub-Saharan Africa don't really have any notable history.

Recommended.

Not the one

[farhanhamid · 6/10 · 2 March 2021]

It's ok to watch. Good entertainment. But there was lot to improve in field of production,direction and historians

Educational

[JB10001 · 9/10 · 16 December 2021]

It was an educational documentary though it left a doubt if it is accurate as it is made by white people and talked by white historians. All the Japanese historians who briefly appeared do not even have PhD but somehow a professor at a very low ranked universities in Japan like 780 out of 800 in Japan.

Good show

[SolidYohanK · 6/10 · 7 March 2021]

I could enjoy watching the show. I called it 'a show' because there were so many historic inaccuracy.

Samurai blade had best solidity of the age? (WRONG) Samurai military strength had overwhelmed the age? (WRONG) If you want to make a documentary, refer to the historic record than the historic novel or comics.

Overall, It was enjoyable show. But, don't be so serious pretending it was a kind of documentary.

Too much fluff, too little history

[KaZenPhi · 3/10 · 25 February 2021]

Netflix productions tend to be more miss than hit but their documentaries are usually pretty decent, Age of Samurai very much ended up not being among them.

The show is presented through a bit cheap-looking but ok-ish reenactments (that honestly don't look much like japanese landscapes) filled with a myriad of historical inaccuracies, and a series of annoying talking heads, none of whom seem to be able to pronounce the word Samurai correctly. It's a bit of a nitpick really, but to me it's a telltale sign none of these supposed authorities on japanese military history even speak any Japanese. Their expert opinion thus mostly consists of old cliches that you already think you know about these mysterious Samurai of the exotic orient and very little of historical facts. There's one japanese historian who occassionally pops up and clearly knows his stuff, but he is unfortunately used very sparingly. His more nuanced and informed way of divulging information clashes wildly with the tone of the rest of the "documentary".

It's depressing really. The real Samurai, the real history, are so much more interesting, multi-faceted and gripping than the awful outdated cliches presented here. This has about the same historical accuracy as an episode of Naruto and feels like it was made decades ago, long before the wealth of translated research we have available now. You're better off reading the wikipedia articles or virtually any book on the subject, ideally not the ones by Stephen Turnbull though who shows up here as well to express his expert opinion of a 12 year old who has just watched his first Samurai movie and wants to tell you all about the cool stuff he saw.

Apart from the lacking accuracy of information it also offers surprisingly little thereof in a very drawn out and unengaging fashion to boot, despite its best attempts to entertain with its overly dramatic reenactments.

The only source of entertainment this show gave me is someone put the line "The episodes were filmed on a hill" into the imdb trivia section. Hats off sir or ma'am, spot on, that's my kind of dry sarcastic humour.

Binge watchable history - simplified and glossy

[imranahmedsg · 9/10 · 3 February 2022]

Samurais and ninjas: whi is not fascinated by that headline?

Well, they play a more significant role in Japan's history than Hollywood would have us believe. Some would argue the Samurai shaped modern Japan's in many ways.

This docuseries covers about 150 years of Japanese history (1550 - 1700). It provides a simple, glossy version of how three rulers (Nabunaga, Hideyoshi and Tokugawa) rose to power, including the many internecine power struggles and battles fought along the way.

Surely, a history textbook will provide more color and nuance but in today's 'instant gratification' culture this docuseries does the trick. The series contains six episodes with each episode a bite sized 40+ minutes.

The film makers did a great job in maintaining interest ... So much so that I finished watching all six episodes in one day!

The slightly sensational 16th century history of a WWII aggressor

[info-50283 · 10/10 · 6 March 2021]

I give this a 10 because I was entertained and have not the slightest interest in the ancient history of Japan. All these Japanese and Japanophiles braying about the inaccuracies of this series and the use of white historians. Give me a break. The white historians are there to appeal to white audiences in white countries. As for historical inaccuracies, this is Netflix, not National Geographic. Until Japan stops whitewashing their role in World War II in their high school history textbooks and celebrating their war criminals, they have no right in complaining about historical inaccuracies.

The greatest warriors of all time

[rogier-86785 · 8/10 · 30 March 2021]

Age of Samurai: Battle for Japan has one focus only: battle. As a documentary this means it skips a few historical facts, jumps through a few hoops and leaves a few loose ends. But this should not deter you from watching. The rise of Samurai in Japanese history is literary drenched in blood, so having a documentary focused on the wars, battles and strategies makes perfect sense. And it makes for a superb watch.

Besides, there is an argument to be made for the Samurai being the most skilled warriors in the entire breathe of human history. So why not focus on them entirely? There were however, so many great fighters and tacticians in that age, that sometimes the documentary goes over them a little too quickly. Thankfully, when they do slow down, the actors and the battle scenes paint a really competent picture of what it must have been like.

It also dives into a few of the most important players, meaning we can understand their motivations and can follow the setups without too much effort. And although more focus on details - such as on technological development, the weaponry or the laws and unwritten rules of Japanese society - would have been welcome, it is entirely forgivable, since it mostly ended up being hacked to pieces anyway.

The structure of the documentary also means it has a great finale. We get to understand why, during such bloodshed, the concept of honor was still so important, and how that paradox led to a long period of peace afterwards.

Cool documentary for sure. Give it a go.