Asian Saga: Difference between revisions

 

The novels, in chronological order, are:

 

''Shogun'', ''Tai-Pan'', ''King Rat'' and ''Noble House'' have been adapted for film and television (with the ''Shogun'' miniseries/film starring [[Toshiro Mifune]] being the best known adaptation), and ''Shogun'' was also adapted as an [[Infocom]] computer game and a Broadway musical. Also there was a strategy game based on ''Tai-Pan'' for many platforms, including ZX Spectrum.

* [[Affably Evil]]:

** Quillian Gornt from ''Noble House'' is a primary antagonist, and yet somewhat charming in his own way - he's a son of a bitch, but he also has quite a way with women. In fact, {{spoiler|after he drowns (between ''Noble House'' and ''Whirlwind''), Ian Dunross retires from being Tai-Pan of the Noble House because life is just too boring without his archrival there to compete with}}.

* [[Author Existence Failure]]: The series was allegedly supposed to continue, but Clavell died in 1993, not long after ''Gai-Jin'' was published.

* [[Badass]]: Too many examples to list, but from ''Whirlwind'' the Finnish pilot Yokkonen who fends off a mob of protestors with a fire axe, punches his way through a road block, convinces his captors to follow him in storming a fortified compound and rescuing his wife. Also, the ''one'' commando who liberates the prison camp in ''King Rat''.

* [[Benevolent Boss]]: Dirk Struan knows all to well what conditions on ships are normally like, so he makes sure to pay wages on the day, in silver, and equips his ships with the best of everything. Sailors fight for the chance to work aboard one of his ships.

* [[Berserk Button]]: Asking whether or implying that Toranaga wants the Shogunate for himself is the only thing that consistently [[Samurai|gets an emotional reaction out of him]]. {{spoiler|[[Red Herring|That being said...]]}}

* [[Canon Welding]]: ''King Rat'' was originally not part of the Saga; although it's set in Asia, it's different in style (and much shorter) than the others. Then the protagonist showed up as a supporting character in ''Noble House''...

* [[Continuity Nod]]: ''Noble House'' has countless:

* [[Kangaroo Court]]: ''Whirlwind'' has a huge number of people executed by the hastily set-up and completely untrained religious courts, who often don't even understand their own religious laws particularly well. In one case, the victim was actually set free by the court, but the guard escorting him out applied his personal interpretation of God's will to a random occurrence and led him to the firing squad instead.

* [[Loads and Loads of Characters]]

* [[Me Love You Long Time]]

* [[Pretty in Mink]]: Venus Poon in ''Noble House'' complains about her lover promising her one, until he finally gives it to her.

* [[Soap Opera]]: The adaptation of ''Noble House'' plays a lot like the nighttime soaps that were popular at the time.

* [[Ninja]]: ''Shogun'' features a ninja attack at one point. {{spoiler|They fail to kill Mariko/Gracia Hosokawa only because she commits suicide.}}

* [[No Name Given]]

* [[Privateer]]

* [[Seppuku]]. Subverted by {{spoiler|Blackthorne}} who attempts it but lives to tell, still getting benefits as it raises other people's opinion of him. Played straighter by {{spoiler|Mariko, who commits suicide before being killed by [[Ninja|ninjas]], and before killing herself she states that her death shall be seen as seppuku. It does, and since her master Toranaga's [[Batman Gambit]] depended on her commiting suicide, he wins his bets and becomes shogun.}}

* [[The Tokyo Fireball]]

* [[Translation Convention]]

** The Noble House is based on Jardine House, and the events depicted in the novel as one week in the 60s were in fact several years in the same decade for Jardine.

* [[Yamato Nadeshiko]]: Mariko Buntarou both subverts it (refuses her husband in private instead of being subservient to him) and plays it straight ( {{spoiler|prefers death rather than renouncing to her ideals}}). Then again, she ''is'' an expy of Gracia Hosokawa who was an [[Ur Example]] of the trope.

* [[Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe]]: In the miniseries, used as a [[Translation Convention]]. Portuguese (and/or Japanese and Dutch, depending on the POV character) is rendered as contemporary English. When Blackthorne and Mariko slip into Latin, however, it's rendered as Ye Olde Butchered Englishe. "I say thou art beautiful, and I love thee!"

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Historical Fiction Literature]]

[[Category:Epic Movie]]