Watching Sanada Maru
I knew about this Taiga drama coz I was looking up Takagi Wataru (seiyuu of Nijimura Okuyasu in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Diamond Is Unbreakable) last time and saw that his first onscreen debut was in this. After watching Tsumi no Koe & MIU404, I'm falling into Hoshino Gen's filmography and saw that he was in Sanada Maru and I was like, wait... Sanada Maru... I know this one. Looked at the cast list and saw more familiar names and I'm in. I had surprisingly less trouble finding this series than the other Taiga drama I watched previously (Onna Joshu Naotora)!
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Ep 1: Takagi Wataru! Already?! I wasn't expecting to see him so soon!
A rare seiyuu-turned-actor
Ep 5: Uesugi = fief of the deep voice
Ep 12: I screamed when I finally realize Tokugawa was played by Uchino Seiyo, the same guy who played the hairdresser in Kinou Nani Tabeta!!!!!
Apparently Tokugawa Ieyasu is really a nail biter in real life
Ep 15: Ishida & Ootani! Finally got to the part where they're introduced and I can't stop thinking of that Murakumo samurai blog recital and Sugita & Nakamura as Ishida & Ootani. Can't believe that production was from 9 years ago... TT_TT All the feels... This is the 2nd time this year I thougth about that production. If I still can't stop thinking about it next month, I'ma really drop some serious cash to get that Bluray...
Ep 18: he’s telling childhood stories to his older sister who lost her memory after she jumped off a cliff to escape from their pursuers & me (an older sister) knew exactly what I was doing when I sent this to bro lmfao
said every younger sibling
Ep 19: 大泉洋＆吉田羊真的很配
(20210602 Edit: Just found out they did a short series during lockdown last year! And they're husband and wife again. Divorced ones though.)
Ep 25: 「洋羊コンビ」、夫婦漫才みたい
Ina is not amused
Ep 26: eh... I thought he was looking big. He really did gain all that weight for this role huh...
I'm really curious about that scar under his belly button
Ep 28: 怎么又翻白眼了呢？ Early bird preview of Hoshino Gen as Tokugawa Hidetada and first thing he did was roll his eyes at his father is such a mood lol...
Ep 31: Hidetada's wife is a troublesome woman named Go? Not Ayano Go? lolol... I may have been reading too much MIU404 fanfic lately ufufufu...
The sight gag of him hiding behind Oizumi Yo in the background while his father hides behind his right hand man in the foreground was so funny! They're really cut from the same cloth huh...
Tokugawa Hidetada hiding behind Sanada Nobuyuki
Tokugawa Ieyasu hiding behind Heihachirou
Ep 36: Takagi Wataru! Him & Matsu's love is the best
Matsu + Shigemasa = OTP
The way Hidetada quietly asked if he can be mad at the situation before tearing up the letter in anger speaks so much to the type of person he is and how he was brought up.
Ep 39: Sasuke talking shit about Nobuyuki is hilarious... after so many episodes of him being the silent but deadly shinobi, we find out he's actually a chatty chap (but only to Kiri)
Ep 42: うわー 悪い顔
what a scheming smirk lol
Ep 49:
high praise coming from his father
Nobuyuki yelling the same thing at the son of the guy who kept yelling at him as a throwback to earlier episodes lmfao!! 黙れ、こわっぱ！
Ep 50: oh Sasuke... one last levity before the very serious final seppuku of the series
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I hafta say, taiga dramas have a lot more hugs and tears and affectionate face patting and hand holding than modern jdrama. Why is that?!
Ep 6:
head pats from Ideura
face pats from papa Sanada
Ep 24: enemies to friends (hand holding edition)
Tokugawa to Hojo: i promised to save your life
Ep 25: rivals to friends (hug edition)
Nei & Chacha
Ep 29: sanada bros
Click to viewEp 31:
papa Sanada worrying over a badly injured Ideura
Ep 35:
Ishida & Ootani's legendary bromance (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%8Ctani_Yoshitsugu#Yoshitsugu_and_Mitsunari)
Ep 36:
TAKAGI WATARU!!!
Ep 39: ex(?) rivals to friends (hand holding edition)
she asked her to stay... for her
Ep 44:
more hand holding!
Ep 49:
face pats from his uncle
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I got into the series surprisingly quickly! Not sure if it's because I'd watched more jdrama so I recognized more of the actors (Oizumi Yo, Sanada's mother, Tokugawa, Nobunaga, Uesugi, Kuroki Haru, Ishida, Chacha, Yoshida Yo, Toyotomi, Nakagawa Taishi, Nagano Mei, that guy who went to jail for sexual assault... that's pretty good for someone whose facial recognition fail all the time lol) so I got invested quicker than when I watched Onna Joshu Naotora.
It's a minor thing but I wonder if it's because I watched this on a higher quality video than Naotora but the wig work in this is poorer than the ones I remembered from Naotora...
PS. I can't stand the lead actor's pinched stiff upper lip face... He's the main character so I hafta see his pinched stiff upper lip face all the time. Good thing there's so many other things for me to focus on.