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MANGA REVIEW: Ooku: The Inner Chambers volume 3

Jia — Thu, 13 May 2010 17:00:02 +0000

Story & Art: Fumi Yoshinaga
Publisher: Viz Signature
Rating: M for mature
Retail: $12.99
Length: 3/5+ volumes

Dear readers,

A few months ago I reviewed the first volume in this historical josei series by Fumi Yoshinaga. In it, we were introduced to an alternate history of Tokugawa era Japan where the majority of the male population was stricken with a fatal disease called the Redface Pox. Due to the lopsided gender demographics that resulted, the power hierarchy in Japan was forever changed: women held positions of authority while men, in scarce supply, were coddled and protected.

In volume 1, the last member of the direct line of the Tokugawa shogunate dies and a woman from a branch line, Yoshimune, ascends the title. In addition to instituting reforms that scandalize and shock the court, she delves into the history of the Redface Pox, kept meticulously in an archive called Chronicle of a Dying Day.

Volume 2 opens with that history, taking us back in time to just before the Redface Pox struck the population with devastating force. In that volume, we were introduced to the daughter of the last male shogun, Chie, who has been forced into a charade for the sake of maintaining peace and order. No one outside of the court knows that the last male shogun, Iemitsu, succumbed to the plague. Instead it is a combination of Chie-masquerading-as-a-boy and male retainers projecting their voices who continue the deception. A heavy burden has been placed upon Chie — denied her own name and now called Iemitsu — who, in the hopes of continuing the line, must bear a male heir.

Volume 3 continues the story of Iemitsu and Arikoto, the abbot who was brought to court to be a concubine, who have found an unlikely love despite their circumstances. But unfortunately, it is not meant to last. Despite the fact they have been lovers for a year, Iemitsu has yet to conceive. She remains certain that the inability is her fault; early on during her stay at court, Chie was raped by a retainer who didn’t know her true identity. Chie is convinced both the rape and the difficult birth of the stillborn child that resulted caused irrevocable damage to her womb. Lady Kasuga, Iemitsu’s attendant and the effective ruler of the Inner Chambers, is not so sure and brings other men to court, evicting Arikoto from his place in Iemitsu’s bed in the process.

I have to take back what I said in my review for volume 1. There is a romance here because the relationship between Arikoto and Iemitsu can’t be read in any other way. But for all their desire to remain true to their hearts despite everything thrown at them by fate, I can’t see this ending well. In fact, I’m almost 100% sure this will not end well so I still can’t recommend this title sans reservation to readers looking for a romance manga. It’s not one and it’s not meant to be, so expecting an HEA here is unreasonable.

What it excels at, however, is depicting people with realistic reactions and believable emotions in these circumstances. Arikoto and Chie try to fight fate and cling to each other as hard as they can which, considering the hand life has dealt them, is better than either could expect. I will warn readers, however, there is a lot of drama surrounding their now-starcrossed fates so if your tolerance is low for this sort of thing, the middle sections may try your patience. Or, if you like this sort of thing, you will find it riveting.

I did enjoy watching Chie come into her own, and become the Iemitsu she’d been masquerading as in truth. In this volume, we see the seeds of how the power in the shogunate switched genders. Remember, Chie’s sole purpose to bear the next male heir. I don’t think it’s a spoiler, considering what we first see in volume 1 and its female shoguns, to say that obviously didn’t happen. I really liked seeing Chie surprise the advisors with her intelligence and acumen. Her suggestions and ideas were often better than that of the advisors themselves. It makes what happens in the final pages of this volume even more momentous.

Despite the focus on the Inner Chambers and the shifting balance in the shogunate, we also see how the outside world begins to change with new gender spread. Even though the title of the series is ÅŒoku and as a result, its focus is on the shogunate’s inner workings, I do wish we could have seen more of the peasant characters and their lives. Of course, I do wonder if maybe the change in power dynamics grows more accepted when a female shogun rules openly.

While I wasn’t quite as spellbound by this volume as the previous two, I did enjoy what I read and I thought it was an excellent continuation of a stellar series. I thought it was an excellent transition into what we all know is soon to follow. I can’t wait to see what happens when a female shogun takes power openly without any masks or charades, and what it’ll mean for Iemitsu and Arikoto. B

My regards,
Jia

Book Link | Amazon | BN | Borders

REVIEW: Falling Through Glass by Barbara Sheridan

Jayne — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:00:05 +0000

Dear Ms. Sheridan,

When Tina submitted a list of new books to Dear Author for possible review, “Falling Through Glass” grabbed my attention. Hmmm, time travel to 19th century Japan in the waning days of samurai warriors. Can’t get much more different than that.

Since I’m feeling lazy this morning. I’m just going to steal the blurb at Liquid Silver.

Los Angeles
Present Day

Japanese-American Emiko Maeda set aside her film school studies following the sudden death of her father. At odds with her mother and burdened with the guilt over her role in the tragic accident, she moves in with her uncle Jake and comes into possession of an antique mirror. While accompanying Jake to Japan on a film shoot, Emmi is caught in a freak storm and plunged through time–into Feudal Japan and the world of samurai.

Kyoto, Japan
1864

The city of Kyoto is ablaze with violence and on the brink of civil war. Nakagawa Kaemon is a young samurai with a secret. He gathers information on those who claim to "Revere the emperor" but harbor their own agenda to control the country. Kae is honor bound to execute anyone who poses a threat to the throne even if it is Emmi, the unusual young woman he has come to love.

The first 50 pages of this book almost lost me. Way too much telling and not showing. I had actually put the book down at this point only to rethink it the next morning. I want to promote different times and places in books so I hefted it up and kept going. I’m not sure if it was my determination to finish the book or at this point you started more showing and less telling but it’s then that things started to pick up and become more interesting.

But I have to ask, what is with heroine casually accepting that her Uncle Jake has time traveled? I’d be all “WTF?!” but she just brushes it off in the conversation almost like Jake was merely saying he’d gone to San Diego for the day. Then when she tells Kae she’s from the future, he does the same. Or at least initially, though later he does think a little on what she’s said. But it’s more that he wants to see this future than any freaked out, “OMG! (or Japanese equivalent), she says she’s from the freakin’ future!” Emmi’s g-g-g-whatever grandfather is the same. His “visions” were never actually explained to my satisfaction. Ditto how Emmi’s mother’s monk works in the story.

Emmi is young – and she does act it at times. Pouting when Kae leaves her alone, excited about her wedding night – let loose your inner slut!, hasn’t had her maternal hormones kick in yet as seen when she takes Matsuhito out slumming through the festival, worries about possible STDs after her hot wedding night. Emmi also creates a ruckus whenever she’s let loose. I just wish she’d take a little more responsibility for the people she injured and the property she destroyed. Instead she pouts some more and tries to put the blame on everyone but herself. It takes possible deadly consequences to others (Emmi have you ever heard of seppuku?) before she finally does realize when she’s done something wrong.

Lucky for Emmi that Kae can look deep into her eyes and “just tell” that she’s not a traitor. Which he’ll believe until she does something – yet again – to make him rethink his position on that. At one point, Kae thinks that he wished he had more time to just sit with Emmi and get to know her. So did I. These two fall in love fairly quickly given all the unusual aspects of how they meet and get to know each other.

At first, I wondered if we’d get Emmi’s view of how things differ from her world vs 1864. Specific things and not just, “wow I’m in the past.” I loved her thoughts on the Shimabara brothel district, the palace, the hair gunk and face paint, the whole physical process of dressing for the wedding and actually walking in her outfit. This made the story more immediate and interesting to me.

Along the same lines, the scenes of the fair when Emmi and Kae attend as well as when she takes Prince Matsuhito there, are fun and a wonderful way to “show” the past and how Emmi views it.

The use of the historical actions as a way to decide whether or not Emmi’d stay in the past or return to the present is great. With TT books, I dislike any lingering regrets of “should I stay or should I go?” You remove all doubts about this. I was a little lost at times with regard to the historical action going on at this point in Japan but not enough for the story to lose me.

I hope that she and Kae work out their differing views on marriage and a woman’s place in it. But hey, at least he’ll buy her lingerie! Oh, loved the haiku poem but did you not want to include any of Emmi’s crappy poetry?

Like Mrs. Giggles, I also got the impression that this is a sequel to some other book. That I was missing some information that would allow some of the incidents in this book to make sense. There is a lot I like in the story and I wish I could give this book a higher rating but with all the issues I have with it, I’m afraid not.

~Jayne

FTC discloser – A free copy of this ebook was provided to Dear Author by the publisher for a potential review.

This book can be purchased at Liquid Silver Books.