Hiroyuki Sanada

Scorpion.

Hiroyuki Sanada.

Yes.

[laughs]

So

that is Hiroyuki Sonata singing, and that is not Bobby Kim.

Which we found out during the break, Bobby Kim

is the Korean Charles Bronson.

While staying with his sister, he overhears his uncle's plans to find a 130-carat diamond named the Queen of Sheba and soon learns he may be behind other sinister schemes.

That's the uncle, not Joji.

Joji Hibiki is played by one Hiroyuki Sanada.

Now...

Sanada was actually supposed to play the Japanese lead along with Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai, but the role was eventually given to Ken Watanabe, who got nominated in the supporting role category at the Oscars and then went on to have a Hollywood career playing in Inception or Transformers.

It would take Hiroyuki Sanada at least 20 years to make a comeback with Shogun where he won the Golden Globe.

And by the way, Shogun and The Last Samurai have a similar story where we have foreigners helping the Japanese army become more modern.

For me, Sanada might as well have been nominated as well for The Last Samurai, along with Ken Watanabe, where he was incredible even in his minor role in the movie, and let's not forget about Tom Cruise, who also was incredible, and the movie itself, which got overlooked in all the important categories.

The text outlines these core themes of the narrative, loyalty, honor, interpersonal harmony, and human dignity.

And you see that tested in Lord Toranaga, played by Hiroyuki Sanada.

We establish he is mired in this succession crisis, quietly consolidating his power just to survive.

Right.

That is a huge departure from the '80s version.

Totally, and the scale of this authenticity is huge.

Star Hiroyuki Sanada calls it a very important step forward, and the technical supervisor, Toru Harada, notes there has likely never been such a full-scale production of a Japanese historical drama outside of Japan.

It's an unprecedented effort.

So let's get to our characters on the board, starting with our member of the Shirai Ryu and his descendant.

We have Hiroyuki Sanada as Hanzo Hazashi, a.k.a. Scorpion, and Louis Tan as Cole Young.

So what did you make of these two characters, Keith?

I mean, it's interesting and boring all at the same time.

...

Kari, Hi- Hiroyuki Sanada to come-

Yeah

... and be the guy, just like Mortal Kombat? That would be so good." And they've asked him and he's done it.

Yeah.

Love films, classics.

Uh, Cary- Hiro- Hiroyuki Sanada-

Yeah

However, later write-ups suggest that Stuber had already left the film over creative differences and clashes with director Carl Rinsch before shooting began, and Stuber would ultimately be credited as one of the film's executive producers, along with Walter Hamada and a handful of other people, while Abdy and McLeod produced the film.

Apart from Keanu Reeves, the film's cast were almost entirely Japanese, and included some real heavy hitters, like Hiroyuki Sanada as Oishi, and Tadanobu Asano as Kira.

And just 'cause it might be confusing, Asano isn't actually the actor's family name.

It is a stage name, and I assume he chose it to make this episode slightly more confusing.

Academy Award nominee Rinko Kikuchi was cast as the Witch, and J-pop idols Jin Akanishi and Kou Shibasaki played Chikara and Mika respectively.

And while 47 Ronin may have been Carl Rinsch's first film, he really benefited from the experience of the Japanese cast.

Hiroyuki Sanada in particular had already done loads of classical katana fight training, and Keanu Reeves specifically thanks him for his help in the film's behind-the-scenes features.

Thanks, Sanada-san.

that, you know, then you're I'm I watch fights on my on my phone.

I'm going through Twitter because Twitter, Twitter will show like, you know blood and things so i'm watching all these fights i'm like what am i doing why am i wasting my time scrolling through this shit just watching you know high school fights or whatever i'm like you know in i don't think you ever are breaking up fights in the school like it's you know crazy luckily no i haven't had in a while yeah they're in the they're in the bathrooms and they're fighting and then they're like teachers coming But anyway, Hiroyuki Sanada as Inu Shinbei Masashi.

He is really cool in this movie.

He was in, like you said, the new Shogun, the Wolverine.