Kirin ga kuru (2020)

Months later I can finally take my time to review with you guys one that could have been my favourite taiga drama EVER but-- But let's go in order. It's the turn of Kirin ga kuru, the taiga drama dedicated to Mitsuhide, and the analysis of the Nobunaga portrayed there!

As you know, this is not the first time I talk about this compelling drama. My first post about the "first impression" of Nobunaga could be found here, and on my Twitter account I reviewed the drama over this thread.

This said, let's start with a brief introduction of the staff and the likes.
Five directors alternated themselves during the shooting of the series; as I loved the angles of certain shots, the photography and colours of this drama I guess they are worth a mention: they are Taku Ōhara (episodes 1, 2, 3, 4 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, 22, 28, 35, 40, 44), Hideki Fujinami (episodes 4, 5, 38), Takashi Isshiki (episodes 7, 10, 15, 16, 20, 21, 27, 33, 36, 42, 23, 44), Yoshiharu Sasaki (episodes 18, 23, 24, 30, 34, 41) and Takashi Fukagawa (episodes 13, 19, 29, 26, 32, 37, 39).
The script was by Shunsaku Ikehata, who had his previous experience with taiga drama with "Taiheiki" in 1991; he was assisted by Maya Iwamoto (episodes 9, 17, 18, 39) and Mizuki Kawamoto (episodes 24, 31, 37, 39).
The historical check was left to Tetsuo Owada and the research to Yasushi Ooishi.

Talking about the cast, Mitsuhide was interpreted by a wonderful Hiroki Hasegawa. A really fine actor for a delicate yet intriguing portrait of a confused, righteous man thriving for peace, willing to offer his inspiration to a worthy lord-- And when he realized that he could be the creator of that very peace himself, it's too late.
--Or maybe he just misinterpreted the concept of "peace", you know.

Kichou was Haruna Kawaguchi. Her portrayal of the character was pretty decent, not very sure about the portrayal of the historical character... Joining the Oda, she looked way too manipulative and eager, outshining Nobunaga himself. It was interesting how she tried to prove herself by shadowing her husband, and the final resolution, with her and Mitsuhide realizing that they are the cause for Nobunaga's change of character was an interesting take...
Some complained that the role of this Kichou was way too "overbearing" compared to the classic portrayal of the character, and I can see from where this came from, even if in the end I found this character enjoyable.

Masahiro Motoki as Saito Dosan is definitely worth a mention! I loved this actor and I loved the character. Probably the true "soulmate" of Nobunaga in this whole thing.

Kuranosuke Sasaki was an excellent Hideyoshi: I'm not a fan of the portrayal of Hideyoshi as an opportunist who wanted to get rid of Nobu and profitted of Mitsuhide's intervention to put his plan in place... Yet the development of this character was interesting and credible. I loved how he was the "nemesis" of Mitsuhide on so many levels.

The rest of the cast worth a mention is Shunsuke Kazama as Ieyasu, Yūsuke Santamaria as Yoshiaki and Bandō Tamasaburō V as Emperor Ogimachi. I liked how this drama explored the events through the various perspectives of all the levels of Japanese society: gamblers, doctors, merchants, but also the Imperial palace and its functionaries. In this sense, the portrait of the relation of Nobunaga with the Imperial court offered interesting insights.

Let's talk about Nobu, now.
As you know, he was interpreted by Shota Sometani, a curious choice for such a character.
Sometani was indeed young and his features looked way too "soft" to incarnate our "Devil King", and the peculiar choice of the scriptwriting didn't really help to make him a credible Nobunaga... Or at least this is the opinon of my peers. Personally, I found in Sometani an excellent actor who could pull the enigmacity and the elusivity of this Nobunaga impeccably.

What people found weird was the choice to portray Nobunaga in such a really unique, ambiguous way. During the drama Nobunaga managed to offer some original opinions that were considered revolutionary among his peers, and the line between genius and lunacy faded, as the interpretation of this character-- Was he really "a fool", a mentally impaired with no idea of how to survive, was he just affected by the lack of love from his parents who made him striving for recognition and appreciation, or was he just so unfanthomable that even we, the audience, couldn't grasp him 'til the end?

His first appearance in the drama was exciting and baffling enough.
Enjoying his time as a fisherman, Mitsuhide found him while selling fish to his fellow countrymen. His reaction was indeed peculiar; he "felt" that this weird guy in front of him had some really charming aura, yet, as the simple, "orthodox" guy he was, he had no doubts about describing him as an utter fool to Dosan.
One of the most interesting things of this drama is that Mitsuhide was not portrayed as an heroic, smart protagonist, on the contrary, he's quite average and simple-minded, probably a hint to suggest in the audience that one didn't need to be extremely smart of extremely skilled, but just kept his morals and values in place. Mitsuhide was indeed surrounded by extraordinary people: Dosan, Matsunaga, the Ashikagas-- Even Koma and that Iroha Dayū woman had deeper insight and audacity than him-- Which placed Mitsuhide in a though spot while reviewing his relationships during the series.

Nobunaga, on the opposite, was relentlessly growing and developing himself.
His turning point was the battle of Okehazama, where it's shown how he actually relied on math rather than mere luck, a really original take. In the turbulent moments of Imagawa's advance, the "Atsumori" of Kirin ga kuru is whispered solemnly as Nobunaga was perfectly aware of his position.

As Mitsuhide became more and more confident in his values, Nobunaga, in his personal quest to impose his worth, started to lose sight of his original aim, throwing his ranks in confusion in his attempts to see "how far" he could test the loyalty of his subordinates. His original curiosity and open-mindness was easily misplaced, shifting from the governance of his country to superficial issues, as collecting stuff just for the sake of it.

Two episodes are focal in this; the deals with the Ranjantai and the Hiragumo: Nobunaga didn't care about either item; he just cared about the reaction that those two items triggered in his subjects. If it's an awe-inspiring item and he could get it, it meant that he's awe-inspiring too, that he's a worthy human.
It's not the object who had value, but he himself as his owner. A radically different perspective from Matsunaga's, who placed value in the Hiragumo because of its affinity with his being.

Nobunaga suffered unspeakably for the low consideration that he received from his relatives. Both Nobuhide and lady Dota considered this first born a serious issue for the safety of their clan, and the first honest appreciation that he received came from the young Takechiyo (played by a lovely Ryusei Iwata), whom he considered nothing less than a sibling his whole life, Kichou and ultimately Dosan. These three preople were the ones that he recognized as "family". Once Nobunaga reached this first safe step, he started to work harder and harder to be recognized further from his peers. Kichou is a constant influence in his life, and her place is taken on the field by Mitsuhide, who's perceived by Nobunaga as an "emanation" of his wife in many episodes, probably because of the special relationship that he developed with the people of Mino in his best years of government.

If Mino represented the "ideal", the "tenka" as it should be, both a rich city and a "country" that you can recognize as your own (a costant of Japanese historical drama, by now), Kyoto led to the corruption of Nobunaga, with pointless exotic fanciness and empty rituals. It's also the moment where Nobunaga started to grow "estranged" by his surrounding, as if he realized how empty and naive this world was, how everyone was so easily replaceable (even the Emperor!) or useless (like the shogun)-- Distracted by that "moon" that now appeared in his reach, he could only advance forward blindly, removing whoever he sensed an obstacle.

This behaviour was exemplified in the architecture of Azuchi.
An enormous castle "filled with emptiness", not a "home" but a huge metaphor of the "lack of a home". Compare it with the tiny, domestic residences of Mitsuhide or Hideyoshi, where it's all about proximity and intimacy.

As Nobunaga grew more and more estranged by reality, Mitsuhide started to grow more aware of reality, holding onto his solid values. This resulted in a literal "collision" with Nobunaga. Now that Kichou abandoned him and Mitsuhide followed suit, he turned his insecurity into violence.

The top scene of this radical change was the infamous banquet for Ieyasu in Azuchi.
Again, Nobunaga favoured the apparence over the consistency, and Mitsuhide was punished by an intense Ranmaru: This scene was so kabuki-like, ahah! It felt like coming straight from an ukiyoe!
This beautiful yet cruel Ranmaru was performed by Mizuki Itagaki.

This growing frustration on Mitsuhide's part resulted in the Honnoji's Incident.
This was another part where Sometani's brilliance as an actor shone wild. Finally Nobunaga was where he felt better, in turbulent times. He looked as if he was having the time of his life --while fighting. One would wonder what this Nobunaga was thinking in his final moments. Was he regretful? Resigned? Relieved..? 'Til the end, this Nobu remained imperscrutable.

I was a bit perplexed by how the Honnoji's Incident was represented in the drama: it looked like just a few guys entering a temple and that's it, no fights on the streets, fires and the little apocalypse usually shown in this circumstance... A few hours later in the morning the people came to take a look around, as if this wasn't such an important deal. Well, thinking about the situation of the capital at the time, probably the citizens were used to these random rebellions and killings every now and then--!

'Til now the drama was more than perfect-- But the ending ruined it all for me: Mitsuhide surviving so he could live his peaceful times all he liked--? It was just ridiculous.

As a final comment to this review, two things that I'd like to point out.
First, the fact that during the whole drama Nobunaga NEVER wore any kind of Western clothing. Damn, that was so freshing, for once.

Secondly, the correct usage of the nobori; the Eiraku coin for Nobu and the Oda mon for the rest of his troops: This second pic is Nobutada's army.

And that's it for this Nobunaga's, hands down the most intriguing portrayal ever, easily one of my favourites.
Despite the bullshit of the epilogue then, this serie was full of interesting perspectives and food for the mind, so I feel like recommending it. Just approach it with a bit of humbleness, this is not the truth, but we don't know the truth either, my friends.