2025 SAG Awards Red Carpet Armani Gown Turns Heads

The book uses Blackthorne, quickly called “Anjin,” as its point-of-entry character. There are hundreds of pages of Mariko simply explaining things to Anjin, which double as opportunities for romance to bloom, all while slowly revealing Toranaga as the text’s true protagonist. The series, not unreasonably, makes Toronaga a topline partner from the beginning, though the characters are mostly separated.

Ditching Anjin as the introductory eyes-of-the-audience removes notes of condescension from the story, but at the same time it jettisons a fluid expositional device. If Japanese characters explain things to Anjin like he’s an idiot, it’s OK, because he is, at least when it comes to the culture and rules of his new home. If they have to speak to each other like they don’t understand rudimentary concepts? That’s just clumsy exposition.

March 1, 2025 | 6:19 am