How is anyone watching this without subtitles? I tried it for a little bit and missed probably 25% of what they were saying. All of the Japanese characters, esp hiroyuki sanada, are cast well compared to the 80s miniseries. Mariko is pretty enough to be believable without being overly gorgeous. Buntaro and ishige aren't caricatures. The way they depicted the leprous lord is interesting. I'm disappointed in how they're telling the story by changing the event order from the books though. I thought the original miniseries made a good decision in faithfully keeping that storyline. By changing the events to emphasize the geopolitical storyline they're losing what is to me the also very compelling stories of several characters, both primary and secondary. The cinematography and historical accuracy of architecture, etiquette, fashion, and armor is pretty great. The only thing I have issue with there is the natto. Ain't no way he finishes that [emoji3046]