Ooku

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Ōoku: The Inner Chambers is an ongoing Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Fumi Yoshinaga. The plot follows an alternate history of medieval Japan in which an unknown disease kills most of the male population, leading to a matriarchal society in which the Ōoku becomes a harem of men serving the now female shogun.

When the story begins, people forgot once upon a time men were in charge.

A young man, Mizuno Yunoshin, from a poor family resolves to give his sister a dowry by joining the inner chambers of the shogun, a seven-year-old girl, leaving his childhood sweetheart behind to hopefully find a husband.



He adjusts to the life of the Ooku despite many difficulties, including the advances of his superiors there. The shogun dies and a new shogun, who is thrifty but who does not know the customs, takes power.



The new shogun, Yoshimune, is a very practical woman who believes the Ooku is a waste of resources.



More over, she is interested in the opening of Japan to the West, against her councillors' opinion. But she then becomes aware there aren't women in western delegations.



Yoshimune becames suspicious and she decides to investigate about the past. She seeks out the oldest member of the Ooku, who she suspects may know more about the strange customs, and he gives her a book called "Chronicle of a Dying Day".



So, she discovers Iemitsu's story, the first female shogun.



And her sad love story with a monk, Arikoto.




OOKU is fairly interesting, and "alternative historical timeline" savvy... but it becames more and more tragic every shogun we past. XD

Comments

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[skjam]

Here's my review of the manga up to volume 9 (Warning, spoilers for earlier volumes!) http://www.skjam.com/2014/07/16/manga-review-ooku/

It looks like the story will be wrapping up in Volume 12.

[informationgeek]

Ooku is a terrific series. It's something so out of my comfort zone, being a period piece in Japan with a heavier focus on politics and homo erotic subtexts. But man, is it amazing.