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A review by museoffire
Ōoku: The Inner Chambers, Volume 10 by Fumi Yoshinaga
5.0
This is the best manga series I've ever read. I know, I know, I know that's not much coming from a manga novice but seriously, this series is so good I don't know what I'm going to do with myself when its over.
In an alternate universe in Edo era Japan thousands of men die from a horrible illness known as "The Red Face Pox." Entire generations are decimated in a matter months and women, who remain entirely unaffected, take on the roles men leave behind including that of Shogun. The series concerns the goings on in the Ooku or harem of the Shogun where an ever changing bevy of young men must live out their lives behind its walls.
The series begins with the outbreak of the epidemic and travels through the years and reigns of different shoguns. Its a perfect combination of political intrigue and epic love story.
Fumi Yoshinaga is an amazing artist, you just want to stare at each panel for hours to drink in all the little details. Her real strength lies in her ability to convey heated emotion. The stories are rife with tragedy and star crossed love so there's plenty of passionate embracing and tears but Yoshinaga somehow manages to always steer clear of straight up melodrama.
Volume 10 finishes the story of the Dutch trained doctor Aonuma and his disciples who are very close to coming up with a treatment and vaccine for the pox. They have the support of the current Shogun but, powerful figures behind the scenes are actively working to end both her reign and any hope of stopping the pox.
Yoshinaga tackles a different kind of love in this particular volume. While we don't have the romantic drama between the Shogun and one of the samurai we do get a wonderful sense of the bond between Aonuma, who himself is an outsider with a Dutch father and Japanese mother, and his students who had no other purpose than to please the Shogun before he arrived. There's also a lot more emphasis on female identity with the continuing story of Gennai, who if I'm reading this correctly is actually a transgender character who lives as a man. In exploring Gennai's early life and relationships with the various women admirers he basically has on retainer Yoshinaga makes some very interesting points about what femininity actually is versus what being a woman is.
You really do need to start from the beginning to get the full impact of this story. Its very much a slow build as you move from the early days of the illness to a time when a world where women control everything is just how its always been. The focus changes too as both sexes in this society become much more comfortable with their new roles and the emphasis is put on maintaining the status quo versus curing the disease.
This series is a terrific starting point if you're largely unfamiliar with manga but I warn you that it sets the bar impossibly high.
In an alternate universe in Edo era Japan thousands of men die from a horrible illness known as "The Red Face Pox." Entire generations are decimated in a matter months and women, who remain entirely unaffected, take on the roles men leave behind including that of Shogun. The series concerns the goings on in the Ooku or harem of the Shogun where an ever changing bevy of young men must live out their lives behind its walls.
The series begins with the outbreak of the epidemic and travels through the years and reigns of different shoguns. Its a perfect combination of political intrigue and epic love story.
Fumi Yoshinaga is an amazing artist, you just want to stare at each panel for hours to drink in all the little details. Her real strength lies in her ability to convey heated emotion. The stories are rife with tragedy and star crossed love so there's plenty of passionate embracing and tears but Yoshinaga somehow manages to always steer clear of straight up melodrama.
Volume 10 finishes the story of the Dutch trained doctor Aonuma and his disciples who are very close to coming up with a treatment and vaccine for the pox. They have the support of the current Shogun but, powerful figures behind the scenes are actively working to end both her reign and any hope of stopping the pox.
Yoshinaga tackles a different kind of love in this particular volume. While we don't have the romantic drama between the Shogun and one of the samurai we do get a wonderful sense of the bond between Aonuma, who himself is an outsider with a Dutch father and Japanese mother, and his students who had no other purpose than to please the Shogun before he arrived. There's also a lot more emphasis on female identity with the continuing story of Gennai, who if I'm reading this correctly is actually a transgender character who lives as a man. In exploring Gennai's early life and relationships with the various women admirers he basically has on retainer Yoshinaga makes some very interesting points about what femininity actually is versus what being a woman is.
You really do need to start from the beginning to get the full impact of this story. Its very much a slow build as you move from the early days of the illness to a time when a world where women control everything is just how its always been. The focus changes too as both sexes in this society become much more comfortable with their new roles and the emphasis is put on maintaining the status quo versus curing the disease.
This series is a terrific starting point if you're largely unfamiliar with manga but I warn you that it sets the bar impossibly high.