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mlindner's review against another edition
3.0
Grabbed off the shelf at DPL 24 January 2015 when there for Natalie Fletcher body painting event.
http://marklindner.info/blog/2015/01/26/anno-sakuran/
http://marklindner.info/blog/2015/01/26/anno-sakuran/
bluerose's review against another edition
4.0
Another great Moyoco Anno title. Her stories are something I never could have appreciated as a teenager--she makes her points subtly. (If you've ever had your heart put through a ringer, Anno is the author to turn to. ;) Also, if you enjoyed Memoirs of a Geisha, film or book, I recommend reading Sakuran.
garbo2garbo's review against another edition
4.0
Quick read.
I bought this manga at London Expo ComicCon 2014 because I have loved the film for many years now. Because it is a stand-alone manga, there are things that are explored more in the movie, but overall, the story was intriguing and entertaining. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and will definitely re-read it in the future.
The artwork is amazing. Although, at times it was hard to distinguish some of the artists apart, the artwork was glorious, and there were several full-colour pages that were just stunning. The front cover itself is beautiful, with such vibrant colours - love it!
Warning: this contains graphic images because, well, it's about Japanese courtesans in the Edo period. They have sex. A lot.
I bought this manga at London Expo ComicCon 2014 because I have loved the film for many years now. Because it is a stand-alone manga, there are things that are explored more in the movie, but overall, the story was intriguing and entertaining. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and will definitely re-read it in the future.
The artwork is amazing. Although, at times it was hard to distinguish some of the artists apart, the artwork was glorious, and there were several full-colour pages that were just stunning. The front cover itself is beautiful, with such vibrant colours - love it!
Warning: this contains graphic images because, well, it's about Japanese courtesans in the Edo period. They have sex. A lot.
memoriast's review against another edition
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This is a very specific kind of book that will appeal to a very specific kind of person. I am that person. If you like reading about iron-willed, "unlikable" women and don't mind unhappy endings, you might enjoy it like I did.
From the moment I picked up this book, I couldn't stop reading. Kiyoha is what some people would call a "bitch". She's spiteful, stubborn, intelligent, and absolutely ferocious (a little feral, to be honest). I couldn't help but love her. We watch her grow from a child to a young woman, and even though she eventually accepts that she'll never escape the pleasure quarters, it doesn't break her.
Kiyoha decries love, finds it absurd that her fellow courtesans are taken in by it, and yet falls for the same trap herself. Through just a few looks, and touches, and nights spent together. She knows that the men who come to Yoshiwara rarely mean it when they tell a courtesan they love her, but she falls for it all the same. To me, that's what makes that last arc so powerful. She knows better, but when she's swept up in it she finally understands.
The last page still haunts me. Her smile, the one she learned to use for O-Some, and her last words: "They didn't catch me. I came back of my own accord."
I feel like the manga ended earlier than intended, because the first chapter mentions she became Higurashi of Tamagiku house, but we never get to see that happen. Also her relationship (of some kind) with Seiji is hinted at in the first chapter, and they interact throughout the book, but I feel like there was supposed to be more to the story.
There is also a lot of same-face syndrome, so it's hard to tell the characters apart.
From the moment I picked up this book, I couldn't stop reading. Kiyoha is what some people would call a "bitch". She's spiteful, stubborn, intelligent, and absolutely ferocious (a little feral, to be honest). I couldn't help but love her. We watch her grow from a child to a young woman, and even though she eventually accepts that she'll never escape the pleasure quarters, it doesn't break her.
The last page still haunts me. Her smile, the one she learned to use for O-Some, and her last words: "They didn't catch me. I came back of my own accord."
I feel like the manga ended earlier than intended, because the first chapter mentions she became Higurashi of Tamagiku house, but we never get to see that happen. Also her relationship (of some kind) with Seiji is hinted at in the first chapter, and they interact throughout the book, but I feel like there was supposed to be more to the story.
There is also a lot of same-face syndrome, so it's hard to tell the characters apart.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Sexual content, Slavery, and Trafficking
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Bullying
Minor: Blood, Murder, and Torture
Kiyoha is confined to the pleasure district, and doesn't have any other choice but to become a sex worker. I'm not sure what's happening in her relationship with Seiji, but he's known her since she was a child, and she offers sexual favours to him.yokaiakito's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
catwithabook's review against another edition
2.0
3.5 I really liked the art. The story was okay; I don't like it when there is "instantaneous love" in a story, and I especially don't appreciate jaded-by-love stories. I think Moyoco Anno was trying to make a Kiyoha a sympathetic character; the story opens with Kiyoha being extremely cold and mean, and then flashes back to her beginnings as a maid and her upbringing in the pleasure house. However, we can't really pity Kiyoha because of her personality; she is strong-willed and stubborn. I did enjoy her character.
velocitygirl14's review against another edition
5.0
I had read "Happy Mania" and was familiar with her work. What drew me to this was the adult subject that isn't explored-The Pleasure Quarters of old Japan. Most of the manga that is translated is either too male oriented or simply too childish to read and this is a refreshing change of pace.
The story centers around a young woman sold into a brothel who ends up rising and becoming a very popular courtesan, but her yearning for love is what threatens to bring her down. That is until she becomes jaded enough to accept her place in the brothel and the Pleasure Quarters.
The artwork is very spare, but it conveys emotions well and is simplistic and uncluttered enough to not distract from the story, which I felt ended a bit abruptly. I wanted to know what else happened to Kihoya and whether she ended up leaving the Quarters or not.
I was not expecting anything and I'm glad that this book gave me more than I thought I could get from it.
The story centers around a young woman sold into a brothel who ends up rising and becoming a very popular courtesan, but her yearning for love is what threatens to bring her down. That is until she becomes jaded enough to accept her place in the brothel and the Pleasure Quarters.
The artwork is very spare, but it conveys emotions well and is simplistic and uncluttered enough to not distract from the story, which I felt ended a bit abruptly. I wanted to know what else happened to Kihoya and whether she ended up leaving the Quarters or not.
I was not expecting anything and I'm glad that this book gave me more than I thought I could get from it.
garbo2garbo's review against another edition
4.0
Quick read.
I bought this manga at London Expo ComicCon 2014 because I have loved the film for many years now. Because it is a stand-alone manga, there are things that are explored more in the movie, but overall, the story was intriguing and entertaining. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and will definitely re-read it in the future.
The artwork is amazing. Although, at times it was hard to distinguish some of the artists apart, the artwork was glorious, and there were several full-colour pages that were just stunning. The front cover itself is beautiful, with such vibrant colours - love it!
Warning: this contains graphic images because, well, it's about Japanese courtesans in the Edo period. They have sex. A lot.
I bought this manga at London Expo ComicCon 2014 because I have loved the film for many years now. Because it is a stand-alone manga, there are things that are explored more in the movie, but overall, the story was intriguing and entertaining. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and will definitely re-read it in the future.
The artwork is amazing. Although, at times it was hard to distinguish some of the artists apart, the artwork was glorious, and there were several full-colour pages that were just stunning. The front cover itself is beautiful, with such vibrant colours - love it!
Warning: this contains graphic images because, well, it's about Japanese courtesans in the Edo period. They have sex. A lot.
divineblkpearl's review against another edition
4.0
If you want your historical manga fix in one volume it might be up your alley, Anno's Sakuran follows the story on women in the Edo Period of Japanese history. Detailing the lives and customs and loves of courtesans and those who keep them, love them and pay for them, it's a good fit for manga-ka Moyoco Anno whose body of work ranges from cutesy Sugar Sugar Rune to more darker and psychological bodies of work that include In Clothes Called Fat (a fave of mine) and Happy Mania which for mature readers. A manga on sex workers in a time period in Japan written and illustarted by a Japanese woman. For older readers and those looking for more mature offerings in manga format.
coffeeandink's review against another edition
Anno was Okazaki's assistant and protegee before she began her own career; they both have a certain sharp strong line and a focus on girl-on-girl violence and cultural policing. Like Helter Skelter, Sakuran is a single-volume story focused on the career of a strong-minded, vicious-tempered woman who is abusive to the people around her and who yet has some appeal, or at least fascination, because of her ferocious determination to survive. Kiyoha is a prostitute in the Yoshiwara in the Edo era, which means that she was brought into the quarter by a man who sold her to a brothel and she will not leave unless and until she marries; gates lock the prostitutes into the district. This doesn't stop Kiyoha from attempting to escape.
Difficult to follow because you don't most of the usual hair and costume cues to differentiate characters, and because the narrative is not chronological; it's more rewarding on rereading, but like all of Anno's work that I've read, it's loosely structured. This surprised me in a single volume more than it does in an open-ended series, and I was also comparing it to the tight focus of Helter Skelter. I still want way more Moyoco Anno in English.
Difficult to follow because you don't most of the usual hair and costume cues to differentiate characters, and because the narrative is not chronological; it's more rewarding on rereading, but like all of Anno's work that I've read, it's loosely structured. This surprised me in a single volume more than it does in an open-ended series, and I was also comparing it to the tight focus of Helter Skelter. I still want way more Moyoco Anno in English.