It's really very, very good. A bit of cod acting from Anjin-san can be forgiven given the rest of the cast are fabulous and it looks so good on the telly.
The series with Richard Chamberlain was epic and seemed to go on for ever. I once rented a movie length version on video. It was only a couple of hours long and had been bodged into what seemed to be fast moving endless plot dialogue and there was a lot to explain.