I have discovered a great josei manga by one of my all-time favorite mangaka/storytellers, Yoshinaga Fumi. I love just about everything created by Yoshinaga-sensei and Ooku is no different from all my other faves by her. She always has such depth in her stories and her style when drawing people aging is really amazing.
I first fell in love with her when I read Antique Bakery (西洋骨董洋菓子店), and then I read Gerard to Jacques, which really solidified my love towards her work. She is absolutely brilliant and I have read every -- if not own every -- thing she's created (manga-wise) so far in either English or Japanese (or both). Right now I'm in the midst of reading and collecting Ooku. I bought one volume in English and I must say that the publishing is pretty amazing to me. Back in the day, they would have bound the thing cheaply, but now the companies are showing such care in trying to maintain everything as close to the original that it's pretty impressive to me. I can't say that I agree with all the translations, but I'm not too adverse to Viz as I used to be. I really wish it could stay a little truer in translation at times. But anyway, now that I've got a taste of Ooku, I suspect that I'm going to be buying the whole thing in Japanese from now on while waiting for the English versions to come out. It is worth owning in both languages.
I've always been a sucker for period drama or historical manga, and this alternate history-type of manga is really creative and interesting. For those who don't know what the Ooku is, it is basically the innermost chamber of the shogun's (top leading general) women during the Edo period in Japan. The shogun's wife, his concubines, his mother or the previous shogun's wife -- depending on whether the shogun is selected through hereditary means or through adoption -- and the servants for the women all live in the Ooku together, and it is locked so that no one can go in to touch the shogun's women or the women can't go out. There are tons of different strict customs for the women living the Ooku, and it is a place where olden day "office politics" among women happen ^_^;
In Yoshinaga Fumi's version of "Ooku," it is basically a retelling of history in which the truth of times is hidden. All the shogun in history have been male, but what if the truth is that they were actually all female whom took on male names in order to make it seem as though only men ruled Japan? That or one can assume this to be an alternate history, which seems to be what they're calling it. Anyway...
The story begins with a child in a village who gets mauled by a bear and is brought back into his village to die. With his death, a red pox epidemic arrives and kills mainly men, which then caused a shortage of men compared to women. Women would solicit men for sex in order to bear children, and only the most beautiful men are taken into the palace to be grooms for the shogun. All the shogun have been women whom assumed male names upon succession and the series is centered on these women.
This is probably by the far the most brilliant work I've read by her yet. I'm pretty floored by how beautiful the artwork is and how astounding her story direction is. I cannot say enough to describe how amazing this story is. For those who love Yoshinaga-sensei, this is a must-read. One should not miss out on it, it's really one of her best works to date. Highly recommended.
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