Ôoku: The Inner Chambers, Vol. 10 (10)

Ooku: The Inner Chambers has always been a difficult sale to English readers, since it’s an alternate-history fantasy steeped in Japanese knowledge. Americans in particular don’t have a good understanding of what it’s like to be part of a country with so many centuries of history behind it. (We only have two, and not even 50 leaders.) I’m sure the series reads differently to those who already had some idea of the various rulers being rewritten as secret women. For me, I know nothing about what will happen, keeping the leadership maneuvers fresh and surprising.Ooku postulates a terribly vicious Redface Pox that kills only men. The result is a country where women take over, although they take male names, and the men are rare properties to be sheltered and protected. The ruling shogun has her own harem, kept in the Inner Chambers. The book tackles three main types of story: 1) the political machinations determining who will rule and what they will do; 2) the life of the men in the Ooku, with plots among them as they struggle for their own rankings; and 3) later in the series, the struggle to investigate and fight the illness.That last plotline, which takes center stage in this book with important discoveries, centers on Gennai, a talented investigator and creative thinker who travels the country disguised as a man so he can better find out more about how to treat this malady. His work contributes to the formation of a vaccination program, leading to the first real hope the country has had in fighting the pox.Fumi Yoshinaga's characters are beautifully delineated, with an elegance that comes through regardless of the many and varied emotions they demonstrate. Her storytelling, winding together all these various threads, from large-scale country-wide events to individual passions, is masterful.Others have complained about the tone used for the translation, with the language given an aura of age with “thou”s and formal phrasing. I like it. It gives the reader a reminder of the historical nature of the events that fits with the formal costumes and imperial nature of the setting. It also suits the Shakespearean feel of some of the plots, as when family members love the same woman, leading to frustration from social rules, lovers kept apart, and eventually suicide.Jealousy also drives a key event for Gennai, set upon and attacked a way that ruins the rest of his life. No one in these stories is ever truly happy. Restrictions and demands prevent most couples from staying together, and political plots lead to poisonings. Yet the country continues. Ooku: The Inner Chambers is an amazing series like nothing else out there, strongest in its insights into the universality of love and desire. (Review originally posted at ComicsWorthReading.com.)

Tragic but satisfying conclusion for this alternate history series. Political machinations come to a head but I was most impressed by how three of the main characters persevered with no hope of personal success other than to help the Japanese people. Three separate ways to be selfless in a society where rank and honor were paramount. I was very moved by the resolution.

I'm reminded each time a mew Ooku manga is released at just how glad I am to see this professionally translated by Viz. This wonderfully layered, heartbreaking tale of a feudal Japan changed by the appearance of a pox targeting men truly is a marvel of storytelling. From political machinations to social commentary, author Yoshinaga doesn't pull punches. Life truly isn't fair - especially in feudal courts. Because so much of Ooku is reminiscent of the stories of British Kings/queens of the renaissance era (Henry, Elizabeth, Mary, etc.), there is a lot of appeal for those fascinated with history, Japanese or otherwise.Story: The Shogun is aging and her power weakening. When several natural disasters happen one after the other in the capital, desperate and hungry people look for a scapegoat. Tanuma, senior Councillor to the shogun, ends up as the easy target. Her efforts supporting the Hollander 'half breed' Aonuma have succeeded and an inoculation for the red plague succeeded. But her efforts to alleviate starvation through the draining of swamps did not come soon enough to feed the people devastated from flood, earthquakes, and the eruption of a nearby volcano. At the same time, Hiraga Gennai, the woman masquerading as a man, will be assaulted by a jealous lover's goons. Though he escapes with his life, an assailant suffering from a disease will pass it along to the unsuspecting Gennai and she will have to face her mortality.As with all the Ooku volumes, there is quite a bit going on throughout. Politics of the court greatly change and just as Bloody Mary began a great purge of protestants upon the death of Henry the VIII's son, so too will we see a similar situation at the end of this volume.Ooku is definitely a novel for adults - not so much for explicit content, of which there isn't much, but rather for the very detailed and intricate storytelling. So much is built upon so little - subtlety and machinations, greed and good, survival and plain dumb chance. The choice to use old English to give a feel for the world makes it a more difficult read but also a much more rewarding one.It really is very obvious why this title has won so many awards. And also the huge difference a professional translator makes. Highly recommended.Reviewed from an ARC.