The Lady Shogun and Her Men (2010): cast, story & where to watch

Released in 2010, The Lady Shogun and Her Men is a drama, science fiction and history film directed by Fuminori Kaneko, running about 116 minutes.

What it’s about. In the year 1716 a mysterious epidemic stickens men in the country of Japan, dropping the population of men to 1/4th of its prior state. With the drastic reduction of men, the gender roles have become reversed in Japan. Woman become the dominant members of society and males are sought out for the ability to produce children. A young man named Unoshin Mizuno hopes to marry childhood sweetheart Onobu, but due to class differences realizes this is almost impossible. To raise his social status and also save his poor family, Unoshin Mizuno enters the Ohoku (inner chambers of the Shugun's castle) and attempts to vie among 3,000 other men for the affection of the female shogun. What Unoshin Mizuno quickly learns about the Ohoku is that the men there are all beautiful, but highly ambitious and conniving. In this environment, the 7th shogun Tokugawa passes away and the new shogun Yoshimune Tokugawa takes the thrown and enters the Ohoku.

Who’s in it. The Lady Shogun and Her Men stars Kazunari Ninomiya as Unoshin Mizuno, Ko Shibasaki as Yoshimune Tokugawa, Maki Horikita as Onobu and Tadayoshi Okura as Tsuroka, among others.

How it landed. With an audience score of 5.7/10, The Lady Shogun and Her Men has drawn a solid, mixed-to-positive response.

Where to watch. Streaming options change often. See the full, country-by-country breakdown on our where to watch The Lady Shogun and Her Men page.

If you liked it. Fans of The Lady Shogun and Her Men tend to enjoy The Shawshank Redemption, The Godfather, Schindler's List and The Godfather Part II.