I finished watching episode one of the newest FX show Shōgun, and I feel so though all of my pre-show hype has delivered just in episode one.

Obviously, as a huge Star Wars fan, I’m a big sucker for an opening crawl of any sort. I really liked the show opened up telling us what was going on, putting us right into the action, and didn’t need to waste further dialogue on what the world setup was.

The set-up of the show is relatively straightforward. The Taikō has died, and his son and heir is too young to take power. Four of the five daimyō regents left in power until the son comes of age behind plotting to impeach and sentence Toranaga and all of his clan to death, because they fear him.

Elsewhere, a Protestant Englishman survives a terrible trip to “hidden” Japan. Apparently, the Catholic Portuguese have kept Japan secret from the rest of Europe for some time. Now, John Blackthorne looks to be becoming a pawn in everyone’s game.

So far the show looks amazing. Obviously, there’s a lot of heavy CG to make the wide, expansive shots look like Japan in the 1600 , but it’s done really well and I love the way everything looks.

I honestly feel like this is the first show diving into the history of Japan, even in the historical fiction genre. Right? I can’t remember anything like this before. It’s really cool to be able to learn about other historical cultures even if it’s a fictional setting.

The first episode was great, and the show looks amazing. I can’t wait to get into episode 2 and see where this takes me.