Reviews

Ōoku: The Inner Chambers, Volume 1 by Fumi Yoshinaga

ferzemkhan's review

challenging emotional informative reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Could have just been a gender-reversal gimmick but Fumi Yoshinaga crafts such a compelling character-driven historical drama full of politics and complex relationships. Kind of amazing how time after time Yoshinaga is able to develop characters from scratch, make us fall in love or hate them, and almost all times deliver a satisfying ending to their lives.

mrswythe89's review

4.0

Oh god the translation why whyyyyy. Or should I say, "Wherefore???" I can't imagine why the translator/editor thought this medievaloid "cometh back for dinner in time, hearest thou?" schtick was a good idea. If the diction is formal and archaic, which I'm sure it is, couldn't they have conveyed that in a way that didn't make everything sound absurd?

Anyway. Apart from the translation, this was great! I love how Yoshinaga totally fakes you out -- at one point I was like, huh, it is clever how she has constructed a matriarchal society in order to tell a shounen ai story that is all about the dudes. But I was wrong! It is not really all about the dudes! I'm curious to know how the series progresses; I thought it was going to be all about Mizuno, but it must not be, so perhaps it's gonna be episodic like Antique Bakery.

I love Yoshimune *__* And her plump friendly "yes do please underestimate me" right-hand woman. I'm definitely going to read more, though I have no idea how I'm going to deal with the dreadful English.

krys1993's review

4.0

Can't wait to read the rest of the series !!

percystjoan's review

3.0

wild

mahiyaa's review

challenging emotional reflective tense

5.0

first manga i've ever read and i am absolutely blown away. ōoku is a breathtaking world of alternative history and i finished the first volume in one sitting. eighty years after a plague ravages medieval japan and causes its male population to be far more scarce than its women, ōoku does not shy away from its discussion of sexism, gender roles, and the classist barriers of feudal japan.

this is not a world with simple politics: while matriarchs now rule their families, they do so with a "male" name—it sounds more proper—a remnant of society from eighty years past. men of the ōoku are in a dog eat dog world, simultaneously victims and benefactors of their station. the poor are still, well, poor, and those unable to pay a groom price must find other ways to continue their families.

far from some other genderswapped histories, ōoku is thoughtful, engaging, and brutally honest in its dissection. i could not recommend it more!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault

chihinoke22's review

4.0

Very interesting perspective of a secret world ruled by women in a time period where women were limited in practically everything. Men are scarce so they now become a rarity for those that can afford them as a luxury just to have a companion, and some men are prostituted as a way for lower class women to be able to conceive a child. It was a bit hard of a read because it was a older Japanese language being translated to an older English language and the translations were interesting to say the least. Near the end the brief moment of a foreign trades leader visiting the current leader brings a whole new perspective which you don't really see coming but completely makes sense as a method of national survival

fallingaster's review

dark emotional tense

4.75

dngoldman's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative tense medium-paced

4.0

This book is the first installment of a 20-volume manga series set in an alternate Edo period Japan, where a mysterious epidemic called the Redface Pox has decimated the male population. Women have assumed all the roles of power and authority, including the shogun, while men are kept as precious breeders and concubines. The story follows two unconventional characters: the shogun, who wants to reform the stagnant and decadent society, and Yunoshin, a young man who voluntarily joins the shogun's Inner Chamber. Through various court intrigues he becomes the Shogun’s concubine.   The book explores the themes of gender, power, love and identity in a richly detailed and imaginative world. The author skillfully historical facts with fictional elements, creating a compelling and original narrative. The book is well-written, engaging and provocative, and it sets the stage for an epic saga.

sup3r_xn0va_maya's review

dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The twists and turns in this were just too good. At one point I even started crying, and this was all within volume 1. Ooku is the story of an alternate Edo-period Japan where there was an outbreak of a disease that killed off 3/4th of the men. The men are revered and protected since there aren't many of them. The Shogun, who is always female now (because women took up all the "male" roles in society) has an inner chamber with societies 800 most beautiful men. 

There is so much drama in this one story, I really loved it. There was one thing that I didn't like and that was how

the characters in the book knew about the attempted rape of the main character and they just gloss over it because it's apparently a thing that happens often. That pissed me off, this needed to be handled better.

Overall I'm giving this 4.5 stars out of 5
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

pagesofpins's review

5.0

An alternate 1700's Japan in which a deadly disease affecting only men has caused a role reversal in which women are the matriarchs, and the few surviving men often bought and sold either as marital property or, among the poor, for reproductive purposes. Mizuno enters the inner courts of the now-female Shogun because he cannot be married to his love, and a life of celibacy serving under the seven year old Shogun seems better than being married off to a stranger. Many unexpected changes ensue.