2025 SAG Awards Red Carpet Armani Gown Turns Heads

When Toranaga hears about the arrival of a “barbarian” ship, he sees Blackthorne as a potential asset, both for the pilot’s knowledge of nautical warfare and for the irritation his presence causes the Portuguese — the country dominating trade in Japan — and their proxies on the council. Toranaga’s vassals, Yabushige (Tadanobu Asano) and Yabushige’s young nephew Omi (Hiroto Kanai), think they might be able to use Blackthorne for their own ends and shifting allegiances.

Perhaps the only person who isn’t hoping to take advantage of Blackthorne is Mariko (Anna Sawai), a Catholic from a notorious family assigned by Toranaga to serve as Blackthorne’s Japanese-to-Portuguese translator. We hear the Portuguese as English, which is less confusing than it sounds. Most of the rest of the series is in Japanese.

March 1, 2025 | 6:19 am