Fumiko

Only next episode left (Episode 42) and then we will finally see Sekigahara (in episode 43). Hope that it challenges Aoi Tokugawa Sandai‘s Sekigahara (best to date).

All in all the second part of the Taiga has rised the tensions a lot.
I really like Matsuyama Kenichi as Honda Masanobu, concubine Acha no Tsubone who is the main female by Ieyasu‘s side in the last third is great as well.
Mitsunari and Ieyasu originally getting along fine and then having a fallout and Mitsunari succumbing under the pressure and the warriors not liking him was good as well.
Otani Yoshitsugu seems to be well portrayed going from today‘s episode 41.
Kitagawa Keiko’s Chacha is a master manipulator interested in how they will portray her during the Siege of Osaka.

Kang Young Seok is Sansang. He still has the name Yeon Woo pre ascension to the throne.

Arimura as Sena until half of the show she is the heroine of the first half.

Yamada as Hanzo has occassional episodes in which he is prominent (first and second half). He is recurring.

At least his role King Gogukcheon is a competent and kind/noble king (see anecdotes about him caring for his folk) whose death causes the whole succession crisis so I think that the flashbacks will emphasize that he is missing and that now the Queen has to see the throne as priority and choose what‘s best.

King Gogukcheon next to the youngest brother prince Gyesu (who aided him and later fought for the Queen and Sansang) was also definitely the most competent fighter of the brothers thus maybe we will also briefly see him in action scenes.

Danashiri was perfect as a villain since the actress did a really good job (interestingly she even was a villain whose motivation you can get behind sometimes since she barely was given chances).

It‘s very messed up to keep in mind that Danashiri in history was only 14-15 when she was killed though (likely through poison instead of hanging) after her brother started a rebellion. Probably why they cast her with a young looking actress.

I own the DVDs of Hana no Ran (they were not particular expensive).

A couple of years ago someone uploaded the entire series on YouTube with English subtitles but this seems to be removed (sadly since it's an excellent Taiga about an era not covered often and nowadays it's estimated way more highly then back then.) Hopefully someone uploads the subtitled version somewhere again so that more people have the opportunity to watch it.

I own the condensed version of Kusa Moeru on DVD.

Someone also uploaded all of the condensed version of Kusa Moeru on nicovideo and split it into parts.

https://www.nicovideo.jp/search/%E8%8D%89%E7%87%83%E3%81%88%E3%82%8B?ref=nicotop_search

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTultmCa62w

There you go :).

Chacha‘s first appearance is in episode 36. Now that she is properly introduced let‘s hope that when Sekigahara and Osaka take place that they give everything for the battles.

I would also advice reading Murasaki Shikibu's diary (Penguin Classic released it, it's short and not expensive). Characters that will appear in the Taiga are mentioned in it (since much of the focus will be on the Fujiwara clan and the imperial family and the political machinations of Fujiwara no Michinaga).

Reading the Pillow Book and Murasaki's diary also shows how Michinaga's two empresses for Emperor Ichijo plan basically split the court since Murasaki for example served Michinaga's daughter Empress Shoshi while Sei Shonagon served Empress Teishi who has already been married to Ichijo for several years.

Another famous character that will appear is Abe no Seimei a famous Heian onmyoji. There is a famous Onmyoji manga which also has two movies (starring Nomura Mansai). Seimei also is an important character in the FromSoftware game Kuon. Netflix is also planning a new Onmyoji anime centered on Seimei which will release soon.

Dailymotion or 9tsu is the best solution for raws.

As expected they released Sekigahara characters and Siege of Osaka characters today since today is the anniversary of Sekigahara.

https://www6.nhk.or.jp/nhkpr/post/original.html?i=39925&cid=orjp-ieyasu-posts

They also updated Chacha's profile but turned her screenshot into a silhouette so we will be surprised who will play her in one of the next episodes.

https://www.nhk.or.jp/ieyasu/cast/chacha.html

There was a break last Sunday, episode 35 will release on September 17.

Usually there are always two breaks during the run of a Taiga most of the time due to preparations for cast announcements.
Dousuru Ieyasu already had a break earlier this year now this is the second break and there are still quite a bunch of characters that are to be announced since the upcoming guidebooks would spoil the new cast members. Thus we might hear news in the next couple of days.

Upcoming characters:
Adult Chacha (most crucial new announcement)
Gou
Kobayakawa Hideaki
more Siege of Osaka characters

Sansang participated in a ritual which consisted of sacrificing a pig. The pig escaped and the girl caught it before anyone else was able to. It likely seemed like a sign to him.

I do think that King Gogukcheon will be portrayed as a virtuous/noble character and that we will be sad that that he was gone way too soon.

The girl was also apparently only a village girl and it's said that she was called the Little Queen later merely due to giving birth to a boy.

It's also said that Woo became angry when she found out (hence sending the armies) thus her approval wasn't there in the beginning.

I was also amazed that in the accounts on Queen Woo people were actually sent as armies to kill the other woman (she was only spared due to being pregnant already).

It shows though that Woo had lots of power. She decided the new king. A big deal is made of the king cheating on her despite the marriage being childless even. Her stepson still showed respect to her even though she disliked him.

I think she should be the favorite character due to being ruthless.
The other favorite should be Prince Gyesu for the action scenes.

Yes, Ji Chang Wook plays her first husband whose death triggered the whole succession dispute in the first place.
Kang Young Seok plays Sansang who is her second husband in history.

Lee Soo Hyuk as Balgi makes sense in the main cast since he is a key character in the fight for the throne since he got the rebel label due to Queen Woo/U not siding with him.
Prince Gyesu the general is a support character since he became active pretty late and supported Queen Woo and Sansang and defeated Balgi.
You would actually think that Sansang would be a main character or that Ji Chang Wook rather should have been brought in as Sansang instead.

However maybe this is intentional. Sansang only got the throne due to Queen Woo giving him preference. Then when they didn‘t have children he cheated and brought in another woman who gave birth to his successior. Queen Woo was then described as a Disney evil stepmother to her stepson.

My theory is that her first husband is her actual true love in the show and appears in many flashbacks. Then her true love is the throne itself since Sansang just ends up using her.
In history she however she is said to have preferred Sansang to her first husband since she wanted to be buried next to Sansang. I don‘t think that Sansang will be her main love interest in the show though.

After reading up what I could find on her and watching a 45 minutes documentary on YouTube on her I wonder how the relationships will turn out.

They could of course write that her original husband was her actual true love that she won‘t find true love ever again and that the throne is the main focus. Problem is that in history she wanted to be buried next to her second husband Sansang.
Balgi is the biggest obstacle to the throne in history. Maybe there are some scenes in which they will have tension but I doubt that they won‘t have a fallout.
Sansang doesn‘t seem to be that important in this drama and if you read up doesn‘t seem like ML end game material. She approached both Balgi and Sansang after her husband’s death to see who she should back. Sansang succeeded mainly due to her support. In the end he didn‘t cherish this all that much though if you read how this marriage continued (clue it‘s what happened during the pig sacrifice).

I am also curious why they created a sister character for her. Their bond according to description like I saw someone mention seems very Anne Boleyn and Mary Boleyn from the Other Boleyn Girl like.

It sounds so interesting since it's not only set in an era that doesn't have many adaptions it also covers characters that haven't been depicted so far.

I think that it will largely focus on the conflict with Bal Gi. Her first husband will be used to explore her backstory. Her second husband Sansang will join her with mistrusting Bal Gi, the oldest remaing brother. Prince Gyesu I assume will later become important with the battle scenes.

Manpukumaru is somehow never shown when the Azai clan is depicted I would have also liked seeing him for once a bit.
In Sanadamaru you just see a glimpse of Manpukumaru‘s face only shortly when Hideyoshi is dying and Chacha mentions him once. Sadly Sanadamaru was a really bad adaption of the Sanada family and Chacha when you compare to other Chacha depictions in retrospect weak and not intelligent.
The best Chacha depictions are the cunning and intelligent ones like Nagasaku Hiromi in Komyo ga Tsuji or Nikaido Fumi in Gunshi Kanbei.

The best depiction of Manpukumaru so far was in the Taiga drama Hideyoshi (a great Taiga in general).
Hideyoshi is too little involved in it though.

Newer Taiga almost always try to avoid violence towards children.

Some older did have scenes that go into this direction:

Taira no Kiyomori which depicted Yoritomo's son called Sentsurumaru (whom he had with Ito Yae) being killed by Yae's own father Ito Sukechika.

Mori Motonari also depicted Mori Komatsumaru (Motonari's nephew) being the heir of the clan at age 8, being dragged along in battles and being shown a severed head then dying shortly after this since it was too much for him (this actually happened to this kid)

Kusa Moeru has Hojo Yoshitoki's troups chasing after Minamoto no Yoriie's wife Wakasa and forcing her to kill herself and her young son Ichiman by throwing herself into flames.

In Yoshitsune Yoritomo orders the execution of Yoshitaka (12 years old) the fiancee of his daughter Ohime (9 years old).

While not a Taiga Sanada Taiheiki actually depicts Sanada Daisuke as a child soldier and shows his suicide when Chacha, Hideyori and Ono Harunaga all kill themselves.

Okada Junichi would have certainly eaten up the Nobunaga drinking out of Nagamasa's skull scene.