We’re continuing with recommendation mode, this time with Samu’s pick of an all-time favorite: Ooku: The Inner Chambers by Fumi Yoshinaga. This is tale as epic an detailed as they come, spanning over 200 years of the gender-flipped Tokugawa Shogunate as we follow the lives and trials of various rulers in an alternate-history Japan where a pandemic has wiped out majority of the male population, thrusting these women into the unlikely position of power with all the drama and court politicking that comes with it.
Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction - 19 volumes as dense as 19 novels
1:27 Fumi Yoshinaga’s other well-regarded works: What Did You Eat Yesterday and Antique Bakery
2:47 Ooku - an epic, award-winning retelling of the Tokugawa Shogunate with a gender-flipped twist
7:04 Enzo’s first impressions after years of Samu talking about and the anime adaptation
10:15 Anime vs the manga
10:54 A feminist story unafraid to show morally grey women in position of power
12:12 A rare approach of being a story-driven chronicle of history rather than character-driven narrative
17:40 Ooku: The Inner Chambers breaks ‘The Chrysanthemum Taboo’
20:47 Spoiler discussion begins
21:04 Did fiction and real history ever blur together at some point?
25:06 Eighth Shogun: Yoshimune - the most important ruler in the series, her daughters, and Hisamichi
30:06 Third Shogun: Iemitsu - a tragic story with Arikoto, and Lady Kasuga as the True Conservative
33:06 Fifth Shogun: Tsunayoshi - the unpopular, extravagant child of Gyokuei
35:58 Harusada, ASOIAF comparisons, other standout morally good characters
40:00 The Fourteenth Shogun: Iemochi - the kind inheritor of a failing dynasty, her relationship with Kazu
42:37 General overview of the course of the series; starting and ending with its best material
44:58 The series’ clever conceit is there to make observations about Japanese character and history
47:00 The ending - the ‘reveal’ that this could have been how history played out all along
50:47 What meaning are we supposed to take from men returning to power over women?
54:20 Samu’s Recommendation: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure by Hirohiko Araki
55:42 Enzo’s Recommendation: Hyouge Mono by Yamada Yoshihiro
59:00 Overview and final scores
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