大河ドラマ初体験

Taiga drama is an integral part of the Japanese television culture. Despite having a strong interest in the ACG subcultures, I have yet to touch on the Japanese jidaigeki which includes the Taiga drama. Until today.

While anyone should be able to enjoy a show without any prerequisite, obviously one can only fully submerge in the experience when one has an understanding of the background settings.

I like to learn about a lot of things, but I'm also mentally very old fashioned. To me, modern warfare, with the myriad of remote and automatic weapons, removes the sensation and weight of taking another life. It's easier to overlook this burden when lives are just dots on the radar or numbers on the screen, rather than being face to face with the person in front of you dying due to the wounds you inflicted. It's definitely harder on the nerves, but it also makes people value the everyday lives more.

...*cough* I've veered off-topic.

What I wanted to say was that when it comes to history, I generally don't have much interest for anything post-19th century. But I also don't like to study history just for the sake of study history and usually just pick up additional reading if I encounter something interesting in popular media. As a result, I have a very limited knowledge of history, especially Japanese history, to be able to enjoy historical series fully.

Having said that, I recognize quite a few names for this particular Taiga drama from other ACG works, and I even know the lead female from another drama series, so I thought I'd give this one a try.

So, I present you my first ever Taiga drama series, 江～姫たちの戦国～ (Gou ~Himetachi no Sengoku)!

On a side note, today's been a history-themed day for me. I finished the Dong Zhuo arc for SDガンダム三国伝 (Three Kingdoms period), then saw the emotional turmoils of the many samurai as they pick themselves up to face the last boss in 戦国BASARA弐 (Sengoku period). Then I watched the 1st episode of 江 (Sengoku~Edo period).

Maybe I should watch something non-historical next. XD