For all of the effort and money that went into this, the results were meh. Maybe the complicated plot went over my head, but to me, you could remove Anjin from the story and it basically wouldn't change anything. He really didn't do anything. And when the main protagonist isn't really important to the storyline, it feels unsatisfying.

But the episodes moved along OK and were watchable, so I never felt tempted to drop the show. It's been a very very long time since I saw the old Richard Chamberlain version, but I remember being much more emotionally engaged in that one.

Also, even though the production went for Japanese authenticity, I thought the acting, directing, and editing had a very western feel. But the acting overall was very good, although some of the actors I felt had a strong contemporary vibe, such as Hira Takehiro, Asano, and especially Anna Sawai, who not only seemed to me like someone from today, but I thought she had a very Nikkei aura.

In contrast, I thought Hoshi Moeka did a fantastic job as Fuji, and I really believed she was a woman from that setting. In fact, she was by far my favorite thing about the whole production.

One last observation is that the opening credits sequence was clearly copying Game of Thrones, and I didn't like that.