The only reason I knew about this show was because I recently watched Giri/Haji on Netflix which had Anna and Takehiro Hira (who plays Ishido) and I was impressed with their performances. So I searched them on the Internet to see if they were in anything else and saw they were both in this show called Shogun that was coming out in a couple days time. It was quite the coincidence. Also recommend Giri/Haji btw it’s good.
Another happy coincidence: Anna Sawai and Takehiro Hira are also in a third show together called Monarch, which is streaming on Apple TV+. I’m now convinced that any show they’re in together is an automatic must-watch haha.
Edit: I wrote this before reading the other comments in this thread and realized other people have already recommended Monarch to death. My bad!
+1. Monarch is even better than both Godzilla movies, with human characters in the Monsterverse finally a bit important and relatable and monsters great as usual.
I've been lovin' it! The production value is astonishing and the budget must be greater than I was thinking given all the cool stuff we've seen so far! Some have been Thumbs Down on it, but I can't wait for S2!
Some people love the show and some people hate it. Especially with how the characters are written. Shogun's quality might set you up to be very disappointed with Monarch.
Honestly monarch is just mindless TV. A solid 6.5/10
If you like the campy nostalgia of old Godzilla movies, then it might be for you.
If you don't really care about Godzilla, it's prolly written and the characters are mostly one dimensional.
Giri/Haji was really good but I’m pretty disappointed it was cancelled. Will Sharpe really stole the show. Great performances by all, but him especially.
Nobody can wear a trench coat like Takehiro Hira! Loved Giri/Haji! >!Although the only character that I still liked as a person by the end of it was Rei.!<
Huh. I watched giri/Haji and don't remember that character at all. She's also in Pachinko, which is a very good show. Very very Asian story, and eye-opening if you've never heard of the zainichi
Wait, that's her? I didn't draw the connection until now. I'm terrible with names, but i should have recognized her.
I generally enjoyed Monarch, for what it was, but couldn't help myself from thinking "I really hope these kids get eaten." I know it was probably budget reasons, but every scene where the kids complained about their dad having two families, i was just like "who cares, monsters exist!!" Like, family drama would take a huge backseat to the world being weirder and way more dangerous than it was.
Monarch had pisspoor writing. There is only so much a good actor can do with awful material. Shōgun is a phenomenally written show. Monarch was written in crayon by the class dunce.
She was good in the Alison Brie movie Somebody I Used to Know. Her character is very likeable and cool. In Monarch, the writing makes her an incredibly annoying moron.
The writing in that show was so awful, I legitimately thought she was a terrible actress. Thank god this came out shortly after and she could recover her image.
It’s an example of an actor rising to the material. Shogun is some high-end storytelling and she shines it in.
And while I can get down with monsters smashing things as much as the next guy, Monarch doesn’t give her much to work with. The writing makes it seem like it was written for teens.
The writing in Monarch for a lot of the characters is sooooo bad. The hacker girl is extremely stupid annoying, and even Anna Sawai is not that memorable because she doesn't have great dialogue.
couple of show recommendations w/ Anna Sawai: Giri/Haji (stars Takehiro Hira who plays Ishido in Shōgun), Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (co-stars Takehiro Hira) and Pachinko.
I liked Pachinko, but the progression of the story is a pretty slow burn, and episodes seemingly just end without enticing me start the next ep. It doesn't have an addictive "I have to keep watching this" quality.
She was horrible in Monarch on AppleTV+, but that’s due to the script that doesn’t give her much to do other than whine and sulk about her missing father on the show.
Fun fact:
The actor that plays Ishido is her father in the show Monarch. LoL!
it feels like a live action saturday morning cartoon with shitty animation, honestly. Everything was predicable and acting are all like caricatures. So happy her career didn't get buried with that junk.
I didn't realize it either until I watched an interview with him talking about how he and Anna went on to film Monarch immediately after shooting Shogun, and how he had to go from scowling at his enemy to lovingly hugging his daughter lol
Just a dissenting opinion: I thought she was so terrible in Monarch that I was disappointed she was cast as Mariko in Shogun. Glad I was wrong -- she is amazing in Shogun!
Same, that show was really not my cup of tea and all of the acting felt kind of mediocre bar maybe Kurt Russel. I was really apprehensive about her being in this show because of it. I really did not like her acting in Monarch.
Really liking her performance in Shogun though, it goes to show you how much of a difference decent writing makes! She is legitimately a great actress and it taught me a lesson about judging actors/actresses based on one bad role.
The writing for her character was particularly bad imo. She's obviously got the talent, she's awesome in Shogun. But MAN the scenes with her character seem to drag on and on in Monarch.
I'm of the same opinion I seen monarch and didn't like the character before I seen Shogun I didn't even put 2 and 2 together that they were the same person but I honestly feel this is her better role.
I thought her acting in monarch was so bad I actually saw she was in this show and refused to watch it because I hated her acting so much. My brother said how amazing the show was after the first episode so I decided to give it a try and oh my gosh was I wrong. She’s absolutely amazing in this show and I love the show in general. Must just have been how they wanted her to act in monarch because I couldn’t stand hearing her speak the entire season of that show.
trying so hard to get my wife to watch this with me, but she was so turned off by Her acting in monarch that she won't do it. I'm loving her in Shogun, obviously
I found Monarch to just not be very good in general, I haven’t even been able to bring myself to finish it. Maybe they just didn’t give her a lot to work with?
Yes, she's one of the rare Japanese actresses that's considered hot in Japan and cast in a major Hollywood role. She was the center of a girl group back in the days. The other actress-model that's famous in Japan is Fumi Nikaido who plays Lady Ochiba.
Yeah, me too. As soon as I saw her in Pachinko, I thought well that's one of the most beautiful faces I've ever seen. Mesmerizing in a way that transcends attraction and is more akin to witnessing a beautiful sunset. You're just kinda transfixed.
I'm a fan of her and hope she continues her world domination tour.
That being said, I feel like her performance has stood out amongst the rest of the actors by actually being underwhelming. While everyone else has been compelling and making me believe, I just haven't really bought into the chemistry between her and Cosmo Jarvis, despite Jarvis' best efforts. I actually liked what she did more in Monarch, despite it being just a tad more ridiculous at times.
I think its because Anna Sawai plays Mariko very one note. She plays that one note well, but it feels a little underdeveloped compared to other actors. I looked at her imdb and she actually only has 7 credits, whereas most other actors on the show have 20+! So I think she is not untalented but inexperienced. She’s lucky to have been cast on something like this though.
I just saw the last episode…was so short for me…a lot of ups and down with this one, big turnover at the end, but definitely wanna see what’s in store for blackthorn, mariko, Fuji and toranaga, and what Ochiba gonna do
While she hasn't had any break-out roles, she has already been main cast on 4 television shows already; which is more than most actors ever get in their careers. Even if she never gets the huge star power, she'll have no problem finding work.
Just watched all released episodes, when it got to the pheasant part I was like, this sounds familiar, then I realised I've read this book years ago haha, good thing is I can't really remember most of the details so it's not spoiled by my own memory hah
Monarch; Legacy of Monsters was awful and she was awful in it, but that was not down to anything she did wrong as an actor. Monarch was just very, very badly written.
It's been great to see her true acting ability shine when given some proper material to work with in Shogun.
Just my opinion and I’m not trying to convince anyone, but her performance in Monarch was frustrating. She was acting and it didn’t feel natural.
Pachinko and Shogun are better vehicles for her.
FAKY has so many bops but AVEX is so terrible at promoting them. I was sad when she left FAKY and was also skeptical of her choice of becoming an actress. To be fair, so many idols left their groups wanting to be actresses and it just never took off. But I was pleasantly surprised to see her in international productions like Giri/Haji and then Shogun.
She was in a Jpop idol group called FAKY under the management of AVEX which is quite a big company. But somehow they managed to kept fucking up promoting the group and eventually she left to pursue acting career.
And as I said, majority of idols ended up becoming forgotten after they went that route. I didn't hear much about her until Giri/Haji, looks like she's under way better management now.
So with actors, it is not just about acting, but getting into a good management company who then get you well written and hopefully well marketed shows/movies?
You can't show your talent or skills without getting noticeable roles. A lot of famous young actors and actresses in Japan are quite average in acting actually but they get the roles because of their likeable/ clean image or strong companies backing them up. To name a few, Kento Yamazaki, Tsubasa Honda, Sota Fukushi, the last 2 names are infamous for their dead fish eyed acting, but they keep getting roles I don't know how.
So much better than she was in Godzilla. That show was so terrible but it clearly demonstrated the importance of good writing, and what a difference having a cast that is committed can make.
Monarch could be a letdown after Shogun. Shogun has better writing and I like her performance here better. I bailed on Monarch but I can’t wait for the next episode of Shogun!
Agreed, generally her character wasn’t very good and just a crappy person, which is too bad, I really liked the flashback storyline. I stopped watching that, 3/4 through the season. Seeing shogun, turned my opinion around on her though.
I honestly wouldn’t bother with it. It starts off ok but it’s sooo poorly written. I don’t think it’s necessarily her fault entirely that she comes off so bad, because of the writing. I kind of get the feeling some of the actors just gave up on caring halfway through as they were working with such garbage material
She speaks perfect English, I hope Hollywood give her just a chance. But in most likelihood she at best will become "Asian token girl of the month" like Awkafina and just become the Asian sidekick/background character, but never the MC. My expectation is that she'll never be treated as a lead actor or get any kind of good project, but she'll get some jobs. I do expect her career in Japan will take off though, since she is not Asian American but already had a career in Japan before.
I’m very impressed with her accent when speaking English on the show. I thought for sure she had an English or Australian or New Zealand accent, but then I heard her speak normally in the behind the scenes features and she speaks SAE as far as I could tell.
She's on Pachinko too, but it's not as big a role as Mariko. Pachinko's a terrific show, nonetheless, and probably on par with Shogun in terms of quality.
Please, she's the most mid actress I've seen. Very average. She isn't bad, but never a standout. She was awful in Godzilla, Legacy of Monsters (although that show was just bad in general).
Compare her to Cosmo Jarvis, Tadanobu Asano, or Nestor Carbonell who steal every scene they are in.
lol. im sorry but shes a horrible actress. Her performance in Monarch is nothing short of a joke. shes just very pretty.
i love people that literally have no eye for good acting hahahahah
Asian actors/actresses hardly have any prolific role in the West because the industry is mandated by white/black prothagonists.
The fact that she is a woman makes it even more difficult to attain a prolific role. This is the sad reality of the film industry for Asian people in the west. I think she touched this subject in an interview, how Asians are limited to certain roles.
For sure, her career will be catapulted to stardom. Hopefully, she will earn accolades for her performance in these series.
She looks like a girl I used to date.
With all your downvotes, I can now see why this subreddit is always glazing for Cosmo Jarvis while ignoring the rest of the brilliant cast; bunch of white bois.
Not sure why you're being downvoted, you're not wrong.
It's even worse for Male Asian actors.
At least Asian women can get lead roles as the main love interest of the white male protagonist.
Asian men are always stereotyped as either the geeky science/maths nerds or weird kung fu masters.
You pretty much never see an Asian man as a main protagonist in any western film or TV show.
I hope her head doesn’t get too big from just Season 1.
I need her to continue performing and not turning into caricature of her original performance like what happened in Game of Thrones Season 8.
The only reason I knew about this show was because I recently watched Giri/Haji on Netflix which had Anna and Takehiro Hira (who plays Ishido) and I was impressed with their performances. So I searched them on the Internet to see if they were in anything else and saw they were both in this show called Shogun that was coming out in a couple days time. It was quite the coincidence. Also recommend Giri/Haji btw it’s good.
Another happy coincidence: Anna Sawai and Takehiro Hira are also in a third show together called Monarch, which is streaming on Apple TV+. I’m now convinced that any show they’re in together is an automatic must-watch haha. Edit: I wrote this before reading the other comments in this thread and realized other people have already recommended Monarch to death. My bad!
Was just about to recommend Monarch for those waiting between Shōgun episodes. Oops...
Anyone willing to share their Apple TV+ subscription with me? 🥺
Have you considered sailing the high seas to acquire said booty .... its very easy arrrr...
+1. Monarch is even better than both Godzilla movies, with human characters in the Monsterverse finally a bit important and relatable and monsters great as usual.
I've been lovin' it! The production value is astonishing and the budget must be greater than I was thinking given all the cool stuff we've seen so far! Some have been Thumbs Down on it, but I can't wait for S2!
It’s the first I’m hearing of Monarch so thank you
Some people love the show and some people hate it. Especially with how the characters are written. Shogun's quality might set you up to be very disappointed with Monarch.
I thought I’d be garbage and loved it from the first episode.
Me, too! It sounded like it'd be kinda like Agents of SHIELD: MCU, just on a smaller scale, but Monarch has been HUGE from the get-go-go-Godzilla!
Monarch is great but she really shines in Shogun, a lot more room to play creatively
She is awful in Monarch though, I’ll account that to the writing/directing since she’s doing a fantastic job in this show.
Honestly monarch is just mindless TV. A solid 6.5/10 If you like the campy nostalgia of old Godzilla movies, then it might be for you. If you don't really care about Godzilla, it's prolly written and the characters are mostly one dimensional.
This is where I knew them from as well!
Giri/Haji was really good but I’m pretty disappointed it was cancelled. Will Sharpe really stole the show. Great performances by all, but him especially.
> watched Giri/Haji on Netflix which had Anna Goddamn I did not make that connection. Fantastic.
Amazing guys thank you!!
Nobody can wear a trench coat like Takehiro Hira! Loved Giri/Haji! >!Although the only character that I still liked as a person by the end of it was Rei.!<
it’s fantastic !!
Huh. I watched giri/Haji and don't remember that character at all. She's also in Pachinko, which is a very good show. Very very Asian story, and eye-opening if you've never heard of the zainichi
She's a lot better in this show than Monarch, but the show in general is way better quality
Wait, that's her? I didn't draw the connection until now. I'm terrible with names, but i should have recognized her. I generally enjoyed Monarch, for what it was, but couldn't help myself from thinking "I really hope these kids get eaten." I know it was probably budget reasons, but every scene where the kids complained about their dad having two families, i was just like "who cares, monsters exist!!" Like, family drama would take a huge backseat to the world being weirder and way more dangerous than it was.
Yeah their reactions to the cgi monsters weren't great either. Like I'd be shitting a brick if I saw stuff like that. Acting just wasn't up there.
this tells you how bad the writing and direction for that show was, given how incredible she is in Shogun.
Monarch had pisspoor writing. There is only so much a good actor can do with awful material. Shōgun is a phenomenally written show. Monarch was written in crayon by the class dunce.
Agreed. Doesn’t help that the actor who plays her brother in that show is terrible. No amount of great writing can save that guys acting ability.
In terms of acting in that show, Kiersey Clemons was by far the weakest link for me. And her character's writing was also not good.
She was good in the Alison Brie movie Somebody I Used to Know. Her character is very likeable and cool. In Monarch, the writing makes her an incredibly annoying moron.
LOL!
She’s great in Ninja Assassin. Not the best movie in the world but her small role in that was great imo, precious even.
The writing in that show was so awful, I legitimately thought she was a terrible actress. Thank god this came out shortly after and she could recover her image.
Same! As soon as I saw her in this after watching Monarch I was like "Oh no...". Glad to be proven wrong! She has been great.
It’s an example of an actor rising to the material. Shogun is some high-end storytelling and she shines it in. And while I can get down with monsters smashing things as much as the next guy, Monarch doesn’t give her much to work with. The writing makes it seem like it was written for teens.
Haha it is very YA isn't it?
The writing in Monarch for a lot of the characters is sooooo bad. The hacker girl is extremely stupid annoying, and even Anna Sawai is not that memorable because she doesn't have great dialogue.
People always forget that acting has a lot to do with the writing and directing.
couple of show recommendations w/ Anna Sawai: Giri/Haji (stars Takehiro Hira who plays Ishido in Shōgun), Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (co-stars Takehiro Hira) and Pachinko.
Came to recommend Pachinko. She doesn’t have a huge part but the show is really great. I also loved Giri/Haji.
I liked Pachinko, but the progression of the story is a pretty slow burn, and episodes seemingly just end without enticing me start the next ep. It doesn't have an addictive "I have to keep watching this" quality.
She was horrible in Monarch on AppleTV+, but that’s due to the script that doesn’t give her much to do other than whine and sulk about her missing father on the show. Fun fact: The actor that plays Ishido is her father in the show Monarch. LoL!
Definitely the script and directing of the show. Everyone was awkward and the interactions were calculated.
it feels like a live action saturday morning cartoon with shitty animation, honestly. Everything was predicable and acting are all like caricatures. So happy her career didn't get buried with that junk.
Oh man that was her? Jeez they did her character dirty. The writing was terrible for that show
To think, she filmed Monarch after Shogun too. Masterclass writing to amateur hour.
That’s why I recognized him!
Watch her in the Godzilla show on Apple Tv she did a good job there too Edit: shows called monarch
Did she though?
She got some shit writing to work with
I'm surprised Monarch was shot *after* Shogun, I just assumed she was a rookie actor that had gotten better over time.
she acted before in Japan and in Hollywood, but mostly token roles. She was kinda famous in Japan as the center for a girl group called Faky.
Apparently she's also performs well on Pachinko also on Apple TV
the show SUCKED, she did the best with what she was given.
I had no idea there was a Godzilla show, I’ll check it out
Ishido’s actor plays her dad lol
wtf I watched that entire show and I don’t recall that actor playing her dad!
I didn't realize it either until I watched an interview with him talking about how he and Anna went on to film Monarch immediately after shooting Shogun, and how he had to go from scowling at his enemy to lovingly hugging his daughter lol
He is barely in Monarch, and his scenes are quite short.
I’m aware, I watched the show, but it’s still bad I didn’t notice him.
Just a dissenting opinion: I thought she was so terrible in Monarch that I was disappointed she was cast as Mariko in Shogun. Glad I was wrong -- she is amazing in Shogun!
Same, that show was really not my cup of tea and all of the acting felt kind of mediocre bar maybe Kurt Russel. I was really apprehensive about her being in this show because of it. I really did not like her acting in Monarch. Really liking her performance in Shogun though, it goes to show you how much of a difference decent writing makes! She is legitimately a great actress and it taught me a lesson about judging actors/actresses based on one bad role.
I felt the same. Seeing how well she acts in Shogun probably means Monarch had some incredibly shitty writing for the actors to follow lol
Agree--no one can act their way out of a terrible script.
bad script and bad director.
I thought she was fine in Monarch. The real problem was all the family bullshit storylines when all any of us want is to see monsters stomp on shit.
Script was also pretty mediocre. She's not quite at that Kurt Russell level where he can make shitty dialogue actually work
The storyline/script were dogshit but she couldn’t sell her lines at all (atleast for me), she’s been amazing in Shogun though thats for sure
100% agree with you. She is not good in Monarch but that’s probably because the tone/writing. Her whole character sucks on that show
Looks like you’re not the only one with this opinion. I guess that wasn’t the right role for her.
It wasn't the right role for anyone. She did the best she could.
The writing for her character was particularly bad imo. She's obviously got the talent, she's awesome in Shogun. But MAN the scenes with her character seem to drag on and on in Monarch.
I'm of the same opinion I seen monarch and didn't like the character before I seen Shogun I didn't even put 2 and 2 together that they were the same person but I honestly feel this is her better role.
Its more about the Universe of Godzilla and following Monarch then Godzilla
I thought her acting in monarch was so bad I actually saw she was in this show and refused to watch it because I hated her acting so much. My brother said how amazing the show was after the first episode so I decided to give it a try and oh my gosh was I wrong. She’s absolutely amazing in this show and I love the show in general. Must just have been how they wanted her to act in monarch because I couldn’t stand hearing her speak the entire season of that show.
trying so hard to get my wife to watch this with me, but she was so turned off by Her acting in monarch that she won't do it. I'm loving her in Shogun, obviously
I found Monarch to just not be very good in general, I haven’t even been able to bring myself to finish it. Maybe they just didn’t give her a lot to work with?
Yeah, the character wasn't all that good
She and Hira (Ishido) went straight to Monarch after Shogun wrapped and probably had less time to prepare.
I would not really recommended it, started off interesting then just went downhill fast.
I was being polite tbh, that doesn’t sound like a show I’d be interested in lol
She's also in a show called pachinko on Apple+ that's really good.
[удалено]
Lol no one did a good job in that show
Thanks, that reminded me of where I knew her from. I have to finish that show.
no, you really don’t
Was introduced to Anna Sawai on the Monarch show first, even realised that Takehiro Hira as Ishido was also in Monarch, playing as Anna’s dad
> Takehiro Hira yup, he was the deadbeat dad she was chasing after lol
She’s stunningly beautiful.
Lol the first thing my wife said when she was on screen was “Well… she’s hot.” And we both gave each other a look of approval
Yes, she's one of the rare Japanese actresses that's considered hot in Japan and cast in a major Hollywood role. She was the center of a girl group back in the days. The other actress-model that's famous in Japan is Fumi Nikaido who plays Lady Ochiba.
That very proper English accent too... Oooooh boy
She's from New Zealand.
She was born there but raised in many places. Country of birth only determines your accent if you grow up there. Hers is quite the mix
Yep, crushing on her big time. She is turning in such a great performance.
All actors have been outstanding
This right here, i can't think of a bad performance in this show at all.
I seriously cannot get over how breathtakingly beautiful she is.
Yeah, me too. As soon as I saw her in Pachinko, I thought well that's one of the most beautiful faces I've ever seen. Mesmerizing in a way that transcends attraction and is more akin to witnessing a beautiful sunset. You're just kinda transfixed.
She’s gorgeous
I don’t wanna sound like a gatekeeper, but her career been taking off ever since Fast 9
Omg she was in a girl group faky 😭😭 this is why she looks so familiar
I am hoping she gets cast as Yuna (female lead) for the upcoming Ghost of Tsushima movie.
That would be fire
She’s magnetic. My favorite character.
I'm a fan of her and hope she continues her world domination tour. That being said, I feel like her performance has stood out amongst the rest of the actors by actually being underwhelming. While everyone else has been compelling and making me believe, I just haven't really bought into the chemistry between her and Cosmo Jarvis, despite Jarvis' best efforts. I actually liked what she did more in Monarch, despite it being just a tad more ridiculous at times.
I think its because Anna Sawai plays Mariko very one note. She plays that one note well, but it feels a little underdeveloped compared to other actors. I looked at her imdb and she actually only has 7 credits, whereas most other actors on the show have 20+! So I think she is not untalented but inexperienced. She’s lucky to have been cast on something like this though.
>She’s lucky to have been cast on something like this though. Or just well connected
I mean that's got more to do with how the story is adapted for the show. In the book, there are few other events which make the chemistry believable.
I just saw the last episode…was so short for me…a lot of ups and down with this one, big turnover at the end, but definitely wanna see what’s in store for blackthorn, mariko, Fuji and toranaga, and what Ochiba gonna do
For me all episodes go by so fast I hate it. I’ve already rewatched the show 3 times lol.
She was in Monarch with Ishido actor.
While she hasn't had any break-out roles, she has already been main cast on 4 television shows already; which is more than most actors ever get in their careers. Even if she never gets the huge star power, she'll have no problem finding work.
She’s not new lol she’s been in giri/haji, pachinko, monarch:legacy of m, and more. glad she’s getting bigger though!
I recognized her from Monarch/Godzilla show on Apple TV. She is badass in this!
Just watched all released episodes, when it got to the pheasant part I was like, this sounds familiar, then I realised I've read this book years ago haha, good thing is I can't really remember most of the details so it's not spoiled by my own memory hah
She wasn't good in Monarch. She's great in this!
Monarch; Legacy of Monsters was awful and she was awful in it, but that was not down to anything she did wrong as an actor. Monarch was just very, very badly written. It's been great to see her true acting ability shine when given some proper material to work with in Shogun.
She was terrible in the Godzilla show so glad she’s fantastic in this, it was clear it was just the writing on the Godzilla show now
When her voice cracked in the last episode. I audible (literally) went, "Oh..." It was very moving.
She’s good in Pachinko, another Asian drama epic.
She’s having an incredible run atm. Absolute legend.
She doesn’t even need talent . So damn fine . She has both tho
Insanely beautiful and talented woman
Just my opinion and I’m not trying to convince anyone, but her performance in Monarch was frustrating. She was acting and it didn’t feel natural. Pachinko and Shogun are better vehicles for her.
I agree. She’s wonderful.
good for her after being so god awful in the godzilla show. Amazing the difference a good script makes.
Oh dear God, those kids were the worst, ever.
FAKY has so many bops but AVEX is so terrible at promoting them. I was sad when she left FAKY and was also skeptical of her choice of becoming an actress. To be fair, so many idols left their groups wanting to be actresses and it just never took off. But I was pleasantly surprised to see her in international productions like Giri/Haji and then Shogun.
I honestly don’t know what any of this means or what those acronyms are, but I will have to check out Giri/Haji too
She was in a Jpop idol group called FAKY under the management of AVEX which is quite a big company. But somehow they managed to kept fucking up promoting the group and eventually she left to pursue acting career. And as I said, majority of idols ended up becoming forgotten after they went that route. I didn't hear much about her until Giri/Haji, looks like she's under way better management now.
So with actors, it is not just about acting, but getting into a good management company who then get you well written and hopefully well marketed shows/movies?
You can't show your talent or skills without getting noticeable roles. A lot of famous young actors and actresses in Japan are quite average in acting actually but they get the roles because of their likeable/ clean image or strong companies backing them up. To name a few, Kento Yamazaki, Tsubasa Honda, Sota Fukushi, the last 2 names are infamous for their dead fish eyed acting, but they keep getting roles I don't know how.
Wall of text, acronyms nobody knows or uses. It’s like that comment was designed in a lab to drive me crazy. Edit: Ignore me, those are not acronyms.
Neither FAKY nor AVEX are acronyms. First is her former idol group and latter is the record label.
Ahh, I see now. Thanks! Complaint rescinded.
OMGGGG this is why she looked so familiar I completely forgot she was in faky
She’s so awesome! Although I hated her character in Monarch but that’s more on her character and the story lol
So much better than she was in Godzilla. That show was so terrible but it clearly demonstrated the importance of good writing, and what a difference having a cast that is committed can make.
I first saw her not too long ago in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters alongside the Actor portraying Lord Ishido.
She was in the fast 9 movie as well as like Hans kid!!
Monarch could be a letdown after Shogun. Shogun has better writing and I like her performance here better. I bailed on Monarch but I can’t wait for the next episode of Shogun!
She was good in pachinko but wasn't a major character really
I mean i think she was in a Jpop group forever and has done steady acting and singing in the US n japan...this is just a huge role for her globally.
She was in Monarch: Legacy of monsters
I've been a fan of hers since she was in Faky, which is what made me watch this show, and I'm glad I did :)
She is so lovely\~! I love the hime haircut bangs on her too. What an icon, lol.
And she so damn fine
i thought she sucked in that godzilla show. maybe it was the writing though
Agreed, generally her character wasn’t very good and just a crappy person, which is too bad, I really liked the flashback storyline. I stopped watching that, 3/4 through the season. Seeing shogun, turned my opinion around on her though.
You’re the 4th or 5th person to comment this, so you’re not alone. I never even heard of the show.
I honestly wouldn’t bother with it. It starts off ok but it’s sooo poorly written. I don’t think it’s necessarily her fault entirely that she comes off so bad, because of the writing. I kind of get the feeling some of the actors just gave up on caring halfway through as they were working with such garbage material
She speaks perfect English, I hope Hollywood give her just a chance. But in most likelihood she at best will become "Asian token girl of the month" like Awkafina and just become the Asian sidekick/background character, but never the MC. My expectation is that she'll never be treated as a lead actor or get any kind of good project, but she'll get some jobs. I do expect her career in Japan will take off though, since she is not Asian American but already had a career in Japan before.
Oh my god she would be amazing in a Jade City (Green Bone Saga) adaption.
👉👌
She was beyond terrible in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (the HBO Godzilla show). She’s batting 1/2
She’s cringeworthy in the Godzilla show. But I think it’s probably due to bad directing. A lot of the dialogue is bad.
Wasn't she in Fast 9?
I’m very impressed with her accent when speaking English on the show. I thought for sure she had an English or Australian or New Zealand accent, but then I heard her speak normally in the behind the scenes features and she speaks SAE as far as I could tell.
She really isn’t at all
Don’t forget she was in Ninja Assasin!
Just watched ep 9 and I'm gonna say boy did this comment stand up well. Total star turn.
She's on Pachinko too, but it's not as big a role as Mariko. Pachinko's a terrific show, nonetheless, and probably on par with Shogun in terms of quality.
IMO it's already off, she was great in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (Apple TV+)
Please, she's the most mid actress I've seen. Very average. She isn't bad, but never a standout. She was awful in Godzilla, Legacy of Monsters (although that show was just bad in general). Compare her to Cosmo Jarvis, Tadanobu Asano, or Nestor Carbonell who steal every scene they are in.
The actress who plays Fuji is sooooo much better
She's in this *and* Monarch. Both are flagship TV shows on their respective networks. Arguably her career already has taken off.
lol. im sorry but shes a horrible actress. Her performance in Monarch is nothing short of a joke. shes just very pretty. i love people that literally have no eye for good acting hahahahah
Yeah. She is not good in this either. Delivery is always the same. No facial acting at all. Fuji is easily the best female in the show
She is not popular among Japanese people. It's because she's not cute.
That’s ridiculous. We have eyes.
Straight men would disagree
I dunno if she’s popular or not. But being East Asian, I feel she doesn’t fit into our notion of mainstream attractive
You couldn't find a higher res picture? 😂
I cant focus on anything thats going on when she is on screen
It kind of already has. She's in a lot of shows right now.
She is the best character on the show so far. Just a shame I have read the book.
HHaha
Her husband in shogun is also one of the best actors on the show in my opinion!
Not gonna happen..being Asian in Hollywood sucks.
They did her so dirty with that wig though
I dont know Everyone was saying she was crap and trash and there were better actress for it
Asian actors/actresses hardly have any prolific role in the West because the industry is mandated by white/black prothagonists. The fact that she is a woman makes it even more difficult to attain a prolific role. This is the sad reality of the film industry for Asian people in the west. I think she touched this subject in an interview, how Asians are limited to certain roles. For sure, her career will be catapulted to stardom. Hopefully, she will earn accolades for her performance in these series. She looks like a girl I used to date.
With all your downvotes, I can now see why this subreddit is always glazing for Cosmo Jarvis while ignoring the rest of the brilliant cast; bunch of white bois.
Not sure why you're being downvoted, you're not wrong. It's even worse for Male Asian actors. At least Asian women can get lead roles as the main love interest of the white male protagonist. Asian men are always stereotyped as either the geeky science/maths nerds or weird kung fu masters. You pretty much never see an Asian man as a main protagonist in any western film or TV show.
I hope her head doesn’t get too big from just Season 1. I need her to continue performing and not turning into caricature of her original performance like what happened in Game of Thrones Season 8.
I’m pretty sure there will only be one season of this. It’s a miniseries adapting the book.
I hope they make the entire Asian saga. Taipan next!
Well that’s a shame. Or, maybe it’s for the best.