Netflix heads far east with new documentary drama on "The Age of Samurai"

Netflix announced the launch of the documentary drama series "The Age of Samurai: The Battle of Japan", starting on Wednesday, February 24th.

The series depends on the graphic drama and testimonies of researchers and experts in the history of the Japanese Middle Ages to review the journey of the samurai fighter "Masamune", to unify the northern Japan region at a stage in the history of the Middle Ages in Japan, specifically in the end of the 13th century until the middle of the 14th century.

A chapter from the history of feudal Japan

The series "The Age of the Samurai: The Battle of Japan" deals with the stage of the feudal history of Japan and the rise of the clans in what could be considered "the Battle of Thrones" but in a realistic version of Japanese history, focusing on one of the most prominent characters in this stage, "Masamune" or "the one-eyed dragon."

Masamioni is considered one of the most legendary figures in Japan, and one of 4 other warlords who put their ambitions to unify the entire Japanese state under one banner. The young general fought and made his way to the top of power in the period of feudal Japan, after getting rid of his brother to ensure the succession of his descendants.

At only 17 years old, a Masamune assumed the leadership of his father's clan, and within a few years he conquered neighboring clans to unite most of northern Japan.

He earned the nickname "the unicorn dragon" after he lost an eye after contracting smallpox.

The influences of his personal legend continue to this day.

It is believed that his helmet design was the main inspiration behind the design of the head of the "Darth Vader" character from the popular "Star Wars" series.

The series reviews more details of life, politics, and conflicts that took place between families and feudal clans in that period of Japan's bloody history, in a dramatic, representative framework accompanied by comments from researchers and specialists in Japanese history who played a role in preparing the scientific and documentary material for the series.

But a question arises, are this type of documentary series a source of historical information?

Illustrated history in 4K

"The Age of the Samurai" is not the first experience of Netflix in the field of historical documentary drama, as during the past year only 3 documentary drama series have been shown that deal with critical stages of global human history, in different times and places, as it presented dramas about historical empires such as the Ottoman Empire, the Roman Empire and Caesarea Russian.

3 assassinations in 3 seasons

In November 2016, it showed the first season of the series "The Roman Empire" entitled "Commodus: Reign of Blood," which came in 6 episodes that dealt with the dying stage of the golden age of the Roman Empire, which ended with his assassination after his obsession with becoming a popular star. In the arenas of gladiatorials, to the alliance of his victims against him and the many plots and intrigues that prevailed in his palace in the second century AD.

It was followed by the second season, "Julius Caesar: Master of Rome", which recounts historical facts about 200 years older than the events of the first season, as it revolves around the struggles of the first emperor, Julius Caesar, and the intrigues taking place inside his palace that ended with his assassination also in 44 BC. .

A third assassination from the era of the Roman Empire, which is told by the third season of the series "Caligula: The Mad Emperor", who was assassinated by stabbing with a dagger in the middle of the first century AD.

Is everything it offers reliable?

Despite the vivid scenes of the Governing Council and ancient Rome, the battles fought by the emperors and even the wrestling arenas that the series presented in 3 seasons, depending on the drawings, historical plans and artificial intelligence techniques, the final version appears to have not been subjected to sufficient review before its presentation, in the final episode of the second season the commentator mentions That on “March 14th in 44 BC, Julius Caesar was stabbed 23 times” and died as a result.

However, historical sources confirm that he was stabbed on the following day, 15 March of the same year.

Perhaps the mistake in one day will not affect the historical context and will not make a difference with Julius Caesar, his assassin, or the defunct Roman Empire, but it indicates to what extent the producers of the series took care to mention details and information and review them before they are presented to the public, and thus forces the viewer not to consider the information contained in their performances , He may need to review reliable historical sources if interested, but he provides a stunning visual representation of the details of the periods covered.

The series "Rise of Empires: The Ottomans" deals with the history of the conquest of Constantinople at the beginning of the 15th century (communication sites)

3 angles of historical conflict

On January 24, 2020, "Netflix" released its series "The Rise of Empires: The Ottomans", which deals with the history of the conquest of Constantinople at the beginning of the 15th century, the bloody struggle between the conqueror's army invading Constantinople, Romanian siege, battles and much blood, depending on history professors and historians from Both sides, Turkish, European and even the University of American Massachusetts.

The viewer can know the story from the two angles, "Muhammad Al-Fateh" from the eastern corner or "Muhammad al-Qaher" from the western corner, or "Muhammad II" from the neutral angle, but the result is the same;

The rise of the Ottoman Empire and the imposition of its control over the jewel of the cities "Constantinople" at the expense of the Roman Empire, "because for an empire to emerge, another must fade", as the commentator's voice tells us in the introduction to each of the six episodes of the series.

The series strives not only to highlight the nature of the ongoing battles, their effects and their historical events, but also to highlight the forms of clothing, the nature of weapons, and even the mythical prophecies that governed the viewpoint of each side of the battle.

But it is definitely necessary to review its events and information received, and adhere to the age classification set by Netflix due to the ferocity of the conflict and the horrors of war that the series shows in a bloody and clear way.

We do not know yet what the series "The Age of the Samurai", which will start airing on Wednesday, will look like, but according to the previous two experiences, it can be dealt with as a dramatic series that restores vivid scenes of a bygone history, but it is not recommended as a verified source of historical information, but as key words for research and investigation about the history of these The ancient empire from far east.