Name: Ooku: The Inner Chambers
Manga-ka: Yoshinaga, Fumi
Volumes: 19 (Complete)
Licensed: Viz (Complete – Print and Digital)
Type: Manga
Genre: Historical/Drama/Slice of Life/Tragedy
Age Group: Mature
Summary:
In Edo period Japan, a strange new disease called the Redface Pox has begun to prey on the country’s men. Within eighty years of the first outbreak, the male population has fallen by seventy-five percent. Women have taken on all the roles traditionally granted to men, even that of the shogun. The men, precious providers of life, are carefully protected. And the most beautiful of the men are sent to serve in the shogun’s Inner Chamber.
–Manga Updates
Graphics Rating: 4/5
Plot Rating: 4/5
Opinion: The one thing I can say about Ooku is that it’s heavy. Above all else it’s a political drama that requires you to lock in to what you’re reading to follow along. Heavy monologues it takes me 3x as long to read a volume compared to other manga.
The art is great. I don’t think it stands out but it works well for the series and the manga-ka does a great job differentiating characters considering there are at least 100 different main characters throughout the entire series if not more.
Honestly this series is a masterpiece. It’s hard to get through, since it’s very detailed and THICK, but it’s so well written. You follow multiple generations through the matriarchy and even some side quest characters searching for the cure to the disease killing the men.
To be completely honest I made it to volume 17 and had to wait for some volumes due to them being out of stock. I haven’t finished it but it’s so heavy I’m waiting for the right time to dive back in.
If you like political dramas or historical series this is truly a stand out series in the Josei demographic.
Final Rating: 4/5
Extra: The first “generation” is captured in an anime series available on netflix.
Purchase:
