Finally finished all 48 episodes of Ryomaden and what a journey it was! I have watched so much bakumatsu stuff especially all the Shinsengumi shows. I knew that Sakamoto Ryoma was the mediator between Satsuma and Choshu and and Shinsengumi was after him but Ryomaden really went into what society was like in this era, how incredibly difficult what Ryoma did, especially with every clan having their own objectives and how forward thinking he was in a society so steeped in tradition.
My favourite line is episode 47 were Kinpachi sensei playing Katsu sensei said that if the shogunate restored the emperor, 20000 people would lose their jobs and Ryoma replied that he could not care less because the 20000 people will just have to work for a living like the merchants, artisans and farmers.
The shogunate was in power for 280 years but society was rigid, people were discriminated based on their birth and Japan had fallen behind the rest of the world. The world of the samurai was over and there were many people who were not happy and Shinsengumi in Ryomaden were not portrayed as honourable people but killers who did not know any other way to live.\
The second half of Ryomaden is so good, watching him convince Satsuma and Choshu to team up and later Tosa to pressure the shogunate. Everything had to be done in secret and Ryoma had to stay alive because he was the witness who could verify the terms of the deal. I liked that everything Ryoma went through allowed him the standing and trust to get the two clans together and the show really showed the difficult steps he had to do getting different clans with their own agendas to work together and getting them to trust him and each other while evading the watchful eyes of the shogunate was very difficult.
The most important thing is that Ryoma did not work towards overthrowing the Shogunate for power. He did seek any positions in the new government nor did he profit from selling weapons when everyone was fearing war. He realised that he could not have any vested interest in what was happening so that everyone from Satsuma to Tosa could trust him.
Ryomaden has been the most educational taiga dorama for me and I loved everything set in Nagasaki with all the merchants local and foreign and the clash of cultures for a country that has been closed off for so long. Unfortunately, I don't Rise of the Ronin has Nagasaki, only Kyoto, Edo and Yokohama. I would definitely like to go to Nagasaki and visit historical sites there.
Ryomaden is a must watch for me, especially from an educational perspective. So many things I like are set in the bakumatsu period like The Last Blade (Gekka no Kenshi). Its such a romantic period because it is the end of the samurai and the beginning of modern Japan and it is such a clash and we all have Sakamoto Ryoma to thank for it.