First, let's start with the more recent promotional collabs.
Of course, the first one is with videogame Shin Nobunaga no Yabou, the famous simulation game in its smartphone incarnation:
Another cute collab involved the multiplex chain T-Joy.
In their cinema complex it was possible to order the special drink "Legend & Butterfly":
As for the movie, the first day "big event" with the talk-show was obviously reserved to Marunoichi TOEI in Ginza.
The day before, the press could enjoy a preview screening, and many contributed with articles on the contents and vibes of the movie. This article in English feels like the most balanced review out there.
From what I got, this movie pays a huge tribute to the most recent taiga drama in terms of "free interpretations of historical events", an attempt to break the "dullness" of historical chronicle and focus on the circumstances of the characters from a more intimate view, adding new perspectives to the actual events.
Not sure if as a history enthusiast I like this, but I can understand it from the stance of the consumer. This approach has its winning point in the fact that more and more people got interested in the actually historical events as the first thing they do after consuming such products is grabbing some history book or browse through Wikipedia to check on them.
If anything, being a fan of Nobunaga since a good deal of time, by now, I realized that his fictional crap is part of the "actual character", so I'm getting more and more used to this custom...
Speaking of character's interpretations and more or less vocal inspirations, this Nouhime seems taken straight from Kirin ga kuru and made "better". And when I say "made better" I mean that she didn't support Mitsuhide in eradicating Nobu from this world!
Kimura Nobunaga still shines with his charisma, but I have the impression that his role was somehow "downsized" by the intention of 1) Portray a human "Demon Lord"; 2) Reinvent the character of Nouhime-- So I need to actually watch this to offer my verdict to you guys-- If I got the end right (it's too early to catch some spoiler online), a huge tribute was paid to Onna no Nobunaga, too, if you got what I mean.
One thing is for sure: everyone is praising the acting and role of Haruka Ayase, looks like her modern portrayal of the princess from Mino was quite convincing.
So, in the next days I'll keep talking about some aspects of the movie production that got some relevance online-- meanwhile, let's wait and hope to watch this soon!
--So, everyone? Which "old man" portrayed the best "young Nobunaga" 😁 ? #どうする家康 #レジェンドアンドバタフライ #レジェバタ pic.twitter.com/c7wUWqHw42
— Daeva 😈 (@signora_daeva) January 28, 2023
I may be slightly biased against free interpretations to begin with, but I feel like these attempts at creating "feel-good" Sengoku stories relatable to modern audiences have more to do with laziness and lack of courage on the authors' part than a supposed creative intent.
ReplyDeleteThe protagonists possibly outliving their historical end is something I'm seeing almost just as often as proper portrayals of their death these days (the ending of Kirin Ga Kuru was something I would have expected more from a Koei game than a taiga drama).
Nouhime's dream of travelling oversea with her husband like a modern day Japanese woman also seems ludicrous to me without even considering how it's not the first time I'm seeing it.
Still, I'm definitely in for any big budget Nobunaga movie, I hope Kimura was able to bring out the charisma to carry it.
I agree with you, generally speaking, but rather than lack of courage/laziness, I think that these stories came from the (wrong) idea that "history can be applied to modern times, too", so they just take an historical figure or historical event, and relish those with a modern vibe to suggest some connection between the people of the past and the people of today.
DeleteThese stories keep telling us to live fulfilling lives, cultivate relationships and follow our dreams/instinct rather than rushing for competition, money or material stuff-- The exact opposite of what society impose to people, expecially in Japan, where you have to show off your ability to make money to be considered "a proper person" as soon you are done with your studies, that must be impeccable by default since primary school.
So this is pure and simple escapism relished with hypocrisy. The last way out for a stressed out society.
And being aware of this, I look at this with some kind of "piety", rather than anger... And I prefer focusing on the acting of the characters, the vibing, costumes and settings rather than the "proper application of the sources", because that's not the point of this kind of works.
I agree with anonymous. This new brand of "wild" adaptations seems more like utilising emotional cliche and shocking clickbait rather than actual creativity.
ReplyDeleteIn my personal opinion, "being faithful to true history" is actually something that has not been done properly before. The old movies, dramas, and novels are all running based on outdated research materials that are not very good. And sometimes, even when there's historians on board to say "this is not correct", the writers will overrule the historian in favour of the cliche because "it's more interesting".
Newer research has produced a lot of new narrative to work on, but I haven't seen many of the mainstream big productions utilise them.
I'm resigned to authors being too afraid of "change" to embrace the new research, because sometimes it completely turns the "standard" story upside down. Kirin ga Kuru got under fire just because the women's sitting pose is "different", even though it's based on historical material, for example. They might be afraid of audience being angry/refusing to watch because the new research narrative is unusual.
I just wish someone would have the courage to foot the bill to create something that's actually based on the brand new research.
Looks like you guys really love the sound of your voice, I said that I agree with you, but the point of such works is not talking about the historical events themselves, but provide a commentary to modern society through the lenses of fiction.
DeleteDo you understand what I'm talking about?
Also, lol, the famous "brand new researches", the so very important "discoveries" about what they ate during Sengoku era or how they sat, but did those say anything about what ran through Nobunaga, Mitsuhide or whoever's mind during crucial historical events? Do we know something more precise about how or why such events happened in the first place? Then there's room for everything, as long as a product for the masses is marked as "movie", "fiction" or "novel" and not like an "historical essay".
--FFS, even actual historical essays are filled with stuff made up by researchers--! Discussing the gender of angels is more fruitful!
You're completely misunderatanding me. My point is that the old tropes have been debunked, but the "correct narrative" is relatively unknown. What I wish is these big productions to start using the "correct" research, so that it will be informative to the audience. Reusing the same old tropes over and over will only reinforce the idea that "this story is actually true" in the audience's mind. Even though it's actually not. Not everyone can afford to do the research, and big producers like Toei and NHK has the resources to do it.
DeleteAlso, new documentation are not worthless. I'm specifically talking about important letters and genuine artifacts being found.
One of the newer document finds says that the Honnōji attack was only led by vassals, and Mitsuhide himself wasn't present. That's new info.
One other recently resurfaced chronicle surprisingly yes, does mention Mitsuhide's thoughts on the rebellion. It's still under investigation because it seems too convenient, but if it was certified legitimate, it's another angle to consider.
You are misunderstanding me. I'm not talking abut the educational purpose of such series but its entertaining purpose.
DeleteI don't really think that watchers would take what happens in the story for granted, OBVIOUSLY, everyone knows that Nobunaga died at Honnoji and Nouhime were somewhere else entirely.
In my opinion, which is also seconded in the review that I linked, this kind of fiction, besides being light and "stupid", and entertaining because of this, s useful because it invites the random watcher to take a history book at look at the events themselves. Personally this is how I got into Nobunaga myself, so I find it extremely relatable.
I'm not even commenting on the "news", I'm quite sure those will be disproved in a few years or months by "new" documents... Like how it happened about "the real" mother of Nobutada a few years ago ^^;
Well, you know, the tropes that the movies and dramas like to use are so old. They're maybe from 50 years ago. I think a lot viewers that aren't kids would already know them (especially Japanese people, who probably actually read about these stuff in school).
DeleteThat's why my idea is to use the "brand new" research that is shocking and unfamiliar, because I feel that strange things would draw more interest. Even facts that are discovered 2010 is "new" compared to the old cliché the movies keep using.
And the reason for why I wish there's more "true to facts" movies is because all the new movies these days seem to be based on social criticism or modern aesthetics and I feel like there hasn't been a project that actually aims to be historically accurate for decades. I like all sorts of Sengoku manga and anime so I'm fine with random fictive storylines, really. It's just that I wish there's at least something that's actually historically accurate for once, just to have variety.
If you noted that peiople complained about how women were sitting in "Kirin ga kuru" I don't see how something "shocking and unfamiliar" would draw more attention, if not just on the haters side (talking about a "random" audience, of course).
Delete--Given that properly accurate historical stuff could ever be less cliché than fiction.
Anyway, as I'm saying since the beginning, I agree with you guys, I'm just trying to explain (desperately, by now!) why creatives and fans keep clinging to such stuff. It's a way to escape reality.
I was actually thinking of that sitting thing when I made my comment. I forgot if it's this movie or Dousuru Ieyasu or some other drama, but they made the women sit in the same kneeling pose again. They agree with that "historical fact" so much that they kept it despite receiving the backlash in Kirin.
DeleteAnd that's what I meant. If we want change, we need someone brave enough to face backlash and sponsors who are not afraid of the possibility of financial loss to fund it.
The reason why creators in Japan refuse to change is not because of fantasy. I have seen creative staff flat out admitting that they keep reusing cliches because it's what's people are familiar with. So to make a new idea become acceptable, someone has to be brave enough to keep making works to establish a "new cliche/new normal" for the general public.
I think you're making of a small issue a huge problem.
DeleteSpeaking of those "irrelevant things" that historians do while working as dramas staff, the website of the movie offers some articles and interviews of Oishi that offer insight about their contribution--Going to make some posts about it.
I feel like there's still a miscommunication here. The issue is not about little things like sitting positions or clothing. It's me being unhappy that directors never seem to have the courage to truly try something different.
DeleteEvery time a movie or drama advertise themselves as "doing a refreshing/unique take", it's never actually true. They always still keep repeating the same old cliche from the past, and they don't even have the excuse of "it's unavoidable fact", because some of those cliche are not history fact.
This Legend and Butterfly particularly makes me frustrated because the director actually said he wants to make a movie that is realistic as much as possible (by taking into account Sengoku era culture, traditions, beliefs, etc). Not viewing the era through a romanticised modern POV. And as it turns out, I feel like he failed to do that and he's still trapped in the same old tropes from the past.
Anyway, well, I should've mentioned this earlier, but I would not be so unhappy about a cliche movie if only the PR didn't try to advertise it as some sort of a "uniquely realistic take" or "never before seen" or whatever. It makes me feel like I've been lied to.
Delete--Why are you talking as if you watched the movie? Is it out already? Where did you find it..?
DeleteIf you didn't watch it how can you judge the efforts of making this historically realistic..?
About the usage of certain tropes, I already talked about this and I'm not going to repeat myself further. I just take such productions for the fiction that they are, just enjoy the pretty things and -in case- pontificate about the message that the authors wanted to get through.
Yeah, I wouldn't mind if they would just say that they want to tell a good story and not try to talk about "history" in the PR. Then I would just enjoy it as a good fiction and ignore historical accuracy.
DeleteThe entire problem is because if I hear someone say "historically realistic", it makes me expect the bad cliche to be not used. I guess that's a wrong expectation to have.
What can I say? Hopefully you'll manage to enjoy fiction for what it is, history for what it is, and read through both, someday.
DeleteWell, that's what I said in the end, actually. I'm okay with fiction being creative and different from reality.
DeleteI just wish the advertisement would just honestly say "this is creative fiction" and not mention history or research.
Excuse me but-- I don't remember anyone saying that this movie was a documentary about Sengoku warfare, it's always been PR'ed like "a new retelling of the life of Nobunaga and Nouhime as a couple, OMG!!", it was IMPLIED that it's FICTION.
DeleteOf course THEY HAVE TO MENTION HISTORY AND RESEARCH, because the staff, history consultants included, worked quite hard to offer an adequate rendition of items, mannerism and settings to immerge the story in a CREDIBLE environment, historically speaking.
--Are you really telling me that you can't DISTINGUISH this much?
My god, you bunch of self-absorbed wannabe scholars are really a pain o_o; !!