The podcast that I listened to was by Samurai Archives Japanese History Podcast, and it covered the differences between media adaptations of the famous 47 ronin and the historical reality. The podcast can be found here.
I think that the main ideas that the podcaster wanted to convey to the audience in this podcast were that historical media are not always accurate to historical events, and that sometimes media can twist a person’s view on what happened. The story of the 47 ronin is popular because of adaptations such as the 2013 film that Keanu Reeves starred in, among others. Though the story may be well-known, whether the modern adaptations are accurate is debatable. Though he does not directly state the second of these main ideas, he firmly points out that based on historical accounts, it seems like the person who is usually glorified in media adaptations of the story was actually a bit of a slacker. Similarly, the villain in the film was likely just a guy doing his job the best he could.
From this podcast, I learned to take historical films with a grain of salt. Personally, I enjoy the adaptations of the story of the 47 ronin. In a Japanese history class that I took, we watched one of the film adaptations for a visual representation of the time. During that time, I knew that not all aspects of the story were true, but I think I believed more of it was true than it really is. Though I still would like to do more research on the matter myself, I learned that some of the characters were less honorable, and others likely more so, than the film makes them seem. I also learned that, though the adaptations make it seem like revenge in multiple instances was the best option, the reality was that both of the primary examples of it in the story hurt more people than it was likely worth.
I have very few critiques for this podcast. I liked the laid back atmosphere that the podcast provided, and I think the podcaster clearly did his research and explained his points well. He even summarized the plot of the more modern film, and explained where it likely diverged from reality. Additionally, unlike some content creators, this person pronounced Japanese words and names correctly and in a natural way. My only critique is that he should state his qualifications, or at the very least tell us his sources or where to find them. He said that he had 40 pages of notes for this podcast episode, but whether those notes came from reliable sources is yet to be revealed. I would like to know whether his words are trustworthy, or if they are as fictitious as he claims the 47 ronin media adaptations are.
I decided to listen to this podcast in the same way that I would listen to any other podcast, which is while playing games. I spend most of my free time playing videogames, and when there is a podcast that I want to listen to I usually do it then, assuming it’s not a game that relies on listening. For this listening experience, I decided to get my daily quests, rewards, and battle pass tokens for Swords of Legends Online. I turned the in-game music down and listened to the podcast instead. I did find it quite amusing, given that I was playing a game based on Chinese history and cultivation while listening to a Japanese history podcast. That amusement aside, it was a relaxing experience. I found it much easier than reading or viewing the history, and I felt like I was being more productive since I could use my eyes to do mindless daily activities in my game while listening.
Rumsey Digital History 