Ooku: The Inner Chambers, Volume 1
16 journalers for this copy...
Manga / Drama
2008 Eisner Award Nominated Author
2009 Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize Winner
I had been waiting for this to be released by Viz for at least a year - and now they have - it's well worth the wait. This dark and beautifully printed first volume really shows Yoshinaga's style and drawing contrasts to their fullest. The story itself it an usual take on the Edo period and the idea that women run the government instead of men. There is more, but you have to read and see her ideas to be drawn into the lush world of this period.
Publisher Weekly article
Contact the author via postal mail: Fumi Yoshinaga
c/o VIZ Media LLC Publicity Department
Simon & Schuster, Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
USA
Book ring order: laevina (Denver, CO, USA); k00kaburra (San Jose, CA, USA); spacedog (Cambridge, MA, USA); azuki (Miami, FL, USA); hyper7 (Secunda, South Africa); iiwi (Utrecht, Netherlands); Nell-Lu (Edinburgh, Scotland); lils74 - (Kathmandu, Nepal); VeganMedusa (Invercargill, New Zealand); okyrhoe (Athens, Greece); Tsjara (Heiloo, Noord-Holland, Netherlands); Elddau1 (Gundaroo, New South Wales, Australia); D-face (Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia); Hotfrog (New South Wales, Australia)
LaPitchoune (Helsinki, Finland) <---- book is here
blueblack (United Kingdom)
Jonniboi (Birmingham, United Kingdom)
Lemon-Crisis (Birchington, Kent, United Kingdom)
727 (Rīga, Latvia)
VictoriaWagtail (Stockholm, Sweden)
2008 Eisner Award Nominated Author
2009 Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize Winner
I had been waiting for this to be released by Viz for at least a year - and now they have - it's well worth the wait. This dark and beautifully printed first volume really shows Yoshinaga's style and drawing contrasts to their fullest. The story itself it an usual take on the Edo period and the idea that women run the government instead of men. There is more, but you have to read and see her ideas to be drawn into the lush world of this period.
Publisher Weekly article
Contact the author via postal mail: Fumi Yoshinaga
c/o VIZ Media LLC Publicity Department
Simon & Schuster, Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
USA
Book ring order: laevina (Denver, CO, USA); k00kaburra (San Jose, CA, USA); spacedog (Cambridge, MA, USA); azuki (Miami, FL, USA); hyper7 (Secunda, South Africa); iiwi (Utrecht, Netherlands); Nell-Lu (Edinburgh, Scotland); lils74 - (Kathmandu, Nepal); VeganMedusa (Invercargill, New Zealand); okyrhoe (Athens, Greece); Tsjara (Heiloo, Noord-Holland, Netherlands); Elddau1 (Gundaroo, New South Wales, Australia); D-face (Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia); Hotfrog (New South Wales, Australia)
LaPitchoune (Helsinki, Finland) <---- book is here
blueblack (United Kingdom)
Jonniboi (Birmingham, United Kingdom)
Lemon-Crisis (Birchington, Kent, United Kingdom)
727 (Rīga, Latvia)
VictoriaWagtail (Stockholm, Sweden)
Wonderful! I can't wait to read this and get the BookRing started :)
The art's lovely! There's a familiarity to it that I can't quite place; I don't think I've read anything by this artist before so I'm not sure why this is so. Anyway, it's fairly stark - simple screen tones, often minimal backgrounds - but this only serves to emphasize the delicacy of the figures.
I think Yoshinaga came up with a really intriguing premise, and her exploration of reverse-gender roles in feudal Japan makes for great drama.
I do have a quibble with the translation. To replicate the ornamental, complicated language of the Japanese court Viz opted to have the characters speak in 'thee' and 'thou' and I found that rather distracting. I mean, I understand why they did it and I knew what the characters were saying, so it didn't interfere with my understanding of the story...but I would have prefered the translators to use modern English.
Thank you so much for sharing this, laevina! I had not heard about this series before I got your PM, but now I can't wait for the next volume to be released :D
I think Yoshinaga came up with a really intriguing premise, and her exploration of reverse-gender roles in feudal Japan makes for great drama.
I do have a quibble with the translation. To replicate the ornamental, complicated language of the Japanese court Viz opted to have the characters speak in 'thee' and 'thou' and I found that rather distracting. I mean, I understand why they did it and I knew what the characters were saying, so it didn't interfere with my understanding of the story...but I would have prefered the translators to use modern English.
Thank you so much for sharing this, laevina! I had not heard about this series before I got your PM, but now I can't wait for the next volume to be released :D
Journal Entry 4 by k00kaburra at By mail, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases on Tuesday, September 22, 2009
received last week. will be reading and sending along soon.
finally found time to sit down and read this. i'm a huge fan of yoshinaga, and this has a lot of her trademarks: drama, surprises, and humor, not to mention romance, bravery, and honor. it's fun to see her take on feudal japan, and the twist that the male population has been decimated plays out well. i'm definitely looking forward to reading the next volume and hope that we get to do a bookring of that as well (although it looks like it doesn't continue the main story but instead goes back to the time of the plague. too bad). by the way, if anyone's interested in joining a yaoi bookring (or two) let me know and i'll get something started.
thanks! will send on when i get the next address.
thanks! will send on when i get the next address.
mailed yesterday to azuki. thanks.
Book has arrived. I am reading another book now but have taken a sneak preview and it does look interesting. THanks for sharing.
It's a pleasure to come across a manga that is beyond the paranormal, fantasy and romance, especially one of this calibre that is so thought-provoking. Thank you so much for sharing this book. I do hope to continue the story.
I have pm'ed hyper7 but haven't heard fm him. I've sent another pm and hopefully will be able to send this on soon.
I have pm'ed hyper7 but haven't heard fm him. I've sent another pm and hopefully will be able to send this on soon.
Got it, thanks!
That was very interesting, thanks! It took awhile to get used to the reading format. It would be nice to read the reast of the series.
Journal Entry 12 by hyper7 at - Per post of in persoon doorgegeven , Utrecht Netherlands on Monday, December 7, 2009
Released 14 yrs ago (12/7/2009 UTC) at - Per post of in persoon doorgegeven , Utrecht Netherlands
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
Sent off to Iiwi in the Netherlands.
Sent off to Iiwi in the Netherlands.
It came!!! I thought it was lost, but knew from another book that books for South Africa can take a long while traveling, so was still hoping.
It's nice to read a grown up manga again. It's been a while so I had again get used to reading the other way around. After that I hugely enjoyed this book. I find it always trange to see that manga drawings with two picture can go from realistic to slapstic and go back again, without you losing grip o the personas.
12-03-10: Sent the book to Nell-Lu.
12-03-10: Sent the book to Nell-Lu.
This just arrived - thanks iiwi for sending it to me, laevina for setting up the ray and everyone else for passing it on! I should finish my current book in the next couple of days and will move straight onto this one.
Interesting scenario, well-paced, nicely drawn, with good characters - this was a good, quick read. Thanks for sharing!
I have lils74's address and will post this book on Thursday. It'll be going surface mail, so I hope it doesn't take too long to reach Kathmandu.
I have lils74's address and will post this book on Thursday. It'll be going surface mail, so I hope it doesn't take too long to reach Kathmandu.
Journal Entry 17 by lils74 at Kathmandu, Bagmati (incl. Kathmandu Valley) Nepal on Monday, June 7, 2010
Oh, I was so relieved when I found this book in my mailbox this morning! I knew it had been sent a while ago and I'd been afraid that perhaps it had been lost in transit.... :)
Anyrate, it is here, safe and sound and I'll be reading it soon--looking forward to it!
Anyrate, it is here, safe and sound and I'll be reading it soon--looking forward to it!
Journal Entry 18 by lils74 at Kathmandu, Bagmati (incl. Kathmandu Valley) Nepal on Tuesday, June 22, 2010
This was a fast, fun read. I read part two before this one, so I guess I got the order a little askew, but still, I think I liked this one best of the two. Found the story more fascinating. As with the other one, great art. Will be looking forward to the third installment. Is this really one of ten?
I've got the next address and will send it later this week when I'm at the post office.
I've got the next address and will send it later this week when I'm at the post office.
Journal Entry 19 by lils74 at bookcrosser, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases on Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Released 13 yrs ago (6/29/2010 UTC) at bookcrosser, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
Off to New Zealand today. Included a couple bookmarks and a postcard for you, VeganMedusa! Enjoy the book!
Thanks lils74 - for the book, the bookmarks, the postcard and the lovely stamps! My mum collects stamps and has never seen any from Nepal so she's very happy.
This won't take long to read, a shame it wasn't delayed a little longer - I'd like to bring it to my next book group in a month's time (we're doing short stories but I'm including graphic novels in that category!)
This won't take long to read, a shame it wasn't delayed a little longer - I'd like to bring it to my next book group in a month's time (we're doing short stories but I'm including graphic novels in that category!)
I think this is the first book I've read that goes from right to left so it was hard to get used to it. I liked the idea - feudal Japan is always fascinating, and the reversal of power is always fun (I loved Y: The Last Man, which was a really fun series along the same lines). I loved the idea of men being fragile creatures who mustn't overexert themselves.
I don't think my brain is very visually-focused, so as always with graphic novels (especially black & white ones), I found it hard to tell the characters apart. I also found the thou-language a little disorienting but not greatly.
I loved the new shogun stirring things up, and the power playing that went on.
Thanks for the chance to read this.
I'm going to try and persuade my local library to get this series in. :-)
Posting this afternoon to okyrhoe.
ETA: Well, I only made it to the post office today, so I posted it airmail to make up for that. 29/07/10
I don't think my brain is very visually-focused, so as always with graphic novels (especially black & white ones), I found it hard to tell the characters apart. I also found the thou-language a little disorienting but not greatly.
I loved the new shogun stirring things up, and the power playing that went on.
Thanks for the chance to read this.
I'm going to try and persuade my local library to get this series in. :-)
Posting this afternoon to okyrhoe.
ETA: Well, I only made it to the post office today, so I posted it airmail to make up for that. 29/07/10
Book finally arrived :-)) With laevina's beautifully artistic packaging!
Thanks, and Happy New Year!
EDIT March 27: I received a replacement copy from laevina when the original looked like it went AWOL, then the first copy showed up! So I'm now turning the extra one into a bookray, starting in Greece.
Journal Entry 23 by okyrhoe at book ring/ray, By Mail/Post/Courier -- Controlled Releases on Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Released 13 yrs ago (1/19/2011 UTC) at book ring/ray, By Mail/Post/Courier -- Controlled Releases
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
On its way by post to Tsjara. Enjoy!
Arrived here safely, thanks okyrhoe (and for the lovely postcard too)! The book/cover looks very nice :) I have read some manga by Yoshinaga before, and quite liked that, so looking forward to this one. Thanks for organizing laevina!
This was a fun and interesting read, I like the idea of the reversed gender roles. I did have to get used to the language use a bit at the beginning, but didn't mind it much. And the drawings were very nice.
I have Elddau1's address now, so this will travel on to Australia sometime soon :)
I have Elddau1's address now, so this will travel on to Australia sometime soon :)
Released 13 yrs ago (2/24/2011 UTC) at Assendelft, Noord-Holland Netherlands
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
Finally managed to get to the post office (before closing time :p).
The book is now travelling to elddau1 in Australia.
Happy reading!
The book is now travelling to elddau1 in Australia.
Happy reading!
Received with thanks on Monday. (It may have been sitting in the post office for up to a week? but it's here safe and sound.)
I've had a bit of a look already and it looks very good! I have another bookray here at the same time though but it's a quick-ish one so shouldn't be too long.
thanks to Tsjara and laevina.
I've had a bit of a look already and it looks very good! I have another bookray here at the same time though but it's a quick-ish one so shouldn't be too long.
thanks to Tsjara and laevina.
Rating: 9*
This was a wonderful reading experience. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I enjoyed the artwork, the history (or history turned on its head), learning about Japanese history and culture, and the new spin on all this. I enjoyed following the changing fortunes of Mizuno Yunoshin. (Though I did feel that the book should have ended before the last chapter - the last chapter seemed unconnected to this main story and more like it belonged to the next book.) I’ll be looking out for Book 2 to see what happens.
A hint: read the notes at the end of the manga first - they help to understand aspects of historical / cultural detail.
Thanks again for the opportunity to read this.
- Have PMed next on the list.
This was a wonderful reading experience. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I enjoyed the artwork, the history (or history turned on its head), learning about Japanese history and culture, and the new spin on all this. I enjoyed following the changing fortunes of Mizuno Yunoshin. (Though I did feel that the book should have ended before the last chapter - the last chapter seemed unconnected to this main story and more like it belonged to the next book.) I’ll be looking out for Book 2 to see what happens.
A hint: read the notes at the end of the manga first - they help to understand aspects of historical / cultural detail.
Thanks again for the opportunity to read this.
- Have PMed next on the list.
Journal Entry 29 by Elddau1 at Civic, Australian Capital Territory Australia on Saturday, April 30, 2011
Released 13 yrs ago (4/30/2011 UTC) at Civic, Australian Capital Territory Australia
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
I'm taking this to the Canberra April BC get-together this afternoon for one of the manga / graphic novel lovers, rmjwold or D-face to borrow.
laevina has kindly allowed this to go on a quick detour (4 weeks) before it goes off to the next on the ring list.
Enjoy!
;-)
laevina has kindly allowed this to go on a quick detour (4 weeks) before it goes off to the next on the ring list.
Enjoy!
;-)
Journal Entry 30 by RosieCanberra at Civic, Australian Capital Territory Australia on Saturday, April 30, 2011
Picked up today at the Canberra monthly meet-up. Looking forward to reading this one.
Journal Entry 31 by RosieCanberra at Monash, Australian Capital Territory Australia on Saturday, May 14, 2011
Wow, not sure what to make of this one. Wonderfully drawn and interesting characters but a bit confronting as well.
D-face is keen on having this next, will touch base with him. Thank you for sharing!
D-face is keen on having this next, will touch base with him. Thank you for sharing!
Journal Entry 32 by D-face at Canberra, Australian Capital Territory Australia on Thursday, May 19, 2011
Stunning artwork incuding beautiful clear lines, a focus on fabrics and architecture are a delight. As others have noted a very interesting twist on history - I understan that Western visitors at the time noted the number of women working in manual employment and the childish voice of the shogun. The bastardry was a bit if a challenge for the younger members of our family. I struggled a bit with the reading format nd the sudden shifts in location and actors. I also struggled to identify male and female players although this was intentionally confusing. A very enjoyable manga, I would be very interested to read the others in the series.
Journal Entry 33 by D-face at Gilmore, Australian Capital Territory Australia on Saturday, May 28, 2011
Released 12 yrs ago (5/28/2011 UTC) at Gilmore, Australian Capital Territory Australia
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
Canberra Book Crossing group meet up in May at the Rose Cottage
I hadn't heard of Manga before, and hadn't read a book "backwards" before. I was intrigued by Elddau's description, so asked to be included in the ring.
I have now become a fan, and will be looking for more of this genre. I enjoyed it all - the pictures, the story, the "history".
The language was a bit annoying at first, but I soon got used to it, and I think it really suits the setting and time frame.
Love how many countries this book has been to - and it's still in "as new" condition.
Waiting on instructions on where to send it next, and will do so as soon as possible.
Thanks laevina!
I have now become a fan, and will be looking for more of this genre. I enjoyed it all - the pictures, the story, the "history".
The language was a bit annoying at first, but I soon got used to it, and I think it really suits the setting and time frame.
Love how many countries this book has been to - and it's still in "as new" condition.
Waiting on instructions on where to send it next, and will do so as soon as possible.
Thanks laevina!
Posted to LaPitchoune in Finland on 30/06/2011
The book arrived in Finland a couple of days ago. I started reading with great interest, but I keep being interrupted all the time, so my reading proceeds in fragments. Anyways, thanks for sharing the book! It's really interesting and the drawing is beautiful.
Lovely! Now I'm expecting to receive the next participant's (Blueback) address, as slb453 prefers to be skipped.
Lovely! Now I'm expecting to receive the next participant's (Blueback) address, as slb453 prefers to be skipped.
