What I Read: Ōoku v3

This volume continues the story of the first female shogun, Chie; her advisor, Kasuga, whom she inherited from her father, the last male shogun; and her lover, Arikoto, the former monk. The previous volume ended with Chie and Arikoto learning to accept and then love being pushed together by Kasuga, despite the barriers that they erected prior to entering and consumating the relationship.

The central theme of this volume seems to be the issues of succession and continuance of the family name. In particular the story deals with the difficulty that Lady Chie and Arikoto experience when he is unable to get her pregnant. The Kasuga has a solution but it is one that neither of the lovers likes. Accepting the gravity of the situation they learn to accept Kasuga's solution and eventually grow more closely together despite the wedge that Kasuga has places between them.

The larger context that the story takes place in is the destruction caused by the red pox plague, which not only kills people, mostly men, but also, more slowly, causes Japanese society to unravel. Chie is not unaware of the trouble the country is in. She knows something needs to be done but this is an unprecedented situation.

Paramount in Japan is the continuation of families and family names. With the loss of 80% of the male population, including the early deaths of most boys, this patriachal society begins to change. Women take over many roles previously reserved solely for men. Even the members of the nobility not struck down by the plague, all men, mostly older, are grudgingly forced to make their daughters their heirs.

Eventually the government headed by Chie and Kasuga accepts the need for change. Although this doesn't happen until one of her male advisors puts forth a proposal which eventually becomes law. The significance of the gender of the character who finally puts voice to what many others must have been thinking can be interpreted in a number of ways but what is most striking about it is that it shows that succession and preservation of the family takes precendence over other traditions, such as patriarchy. Thus, the law is changed and women begin to be legally recognized as heirs to titles previously held by male relatives and thus preserving their family lines.

This is not a comprehensive review. For a more in depth look at the series read Slightly Biased Manga's reviews of v1, v2, v3.

What I Read - Apr 19, 2010

Agnes Quill: An Anthology of Mystery - written by Dave Roman with art by Jason Ho, Xave Roman, Raina Telgemeier, Jeff Zornow, and Jen Wang. This is a collection of stories about Agnes Quill, an orphaned teenager who can communicate with ghosts. She lives in the city of Legerdemain where she follows in her grandfather's footsteps by solving mysteries for ghosts and the undead. This collection is printed in black and white.

There four distinct stories in this collection, each drawn by a different artist with a distinct style. I like all four artists styles, even though Agnes is not drawn consistently from story to story. I get the impression that the the printing process did a disservice to the art in the first and third stories. There is little other than black and white in those stories, very little in the way of gray. That's too bad.

There are a few extras in the back: excerpts from Agnes' journal, a field guide to the world of Agnes Quill, and a gallery of sketches and drawings of Agnes by various artists. Both the field guide and the journal delve into background material that is not covered or only mentikoned briefly in the stories. The gallery includes pages by the artists who drew the stories and a few others.

Ooku: The Inner Chambers v2 - written and drawn by Fumi Yoshinaga. For my description of the premise of this series see my posts about volume 1.

This story takes place a few decades before the one in the first volume. It is the story of the newly appointed abbot of Keiko-in who pays a visit to the Shogun in Edo. His plan was to pay his respects and then return to the monastery but the Shogun's wetnurse, who has a considerable amount of power in the court of the Shogun, thinks otherwise, after seeing how handsome the abbot is. This story is set at a point when the red face pox had not decimated the male population of Japan as much as it eventually would. The Shogun is still a man when the book opens, but succumbs to the mysterious disease in the first pages of the book. This isn't a spoiler. The description on the back of the book indicates that this volume contains the story of the first female Shogun.

At this point I've read the first two (of five) chapters. I like the tension. Its very different from the first volume. There is a lot of dialogue, which surprised me a bit. The notes in the back of the book explain the cultural references which would otherwise be uncomprehensible to many unfamiliar with Japanese history and culture of this era.

One thing that I do find interesting about this series is that the main character in the two big stories so far have been men. There are women that play important roles but given the fact that the author is a woman and the sort of world it is set in I expexted otherwise. This has not negatively impacted the pleasure I get from reading this series. It is just something that occurred to me since starting v2.

What I Read - Jan 18, 2010

Ooku: The Inner Chambers v1 - I'm not sure exactly how that title is supposed to be pronounced. I know what I like and I liked this story. The series looks like it will be a series of stories from different points in history.

What's it about? In the world this story takes place, at the beginning of the 17 century, most (75%) of the men of Japan have been killed by a plague that only affects men. Introduced halfway through the book, the Shogun, Yoshimune, is a woman. The first three of four chapters in this volume are about Mizuno, a young man who joins the Shogun's Ooku, which is essentially a harem. The last chapter seems to set a framing convention for telling more stories.

For more about this volume I recommend reading this review.

What I Bought - Nov 27, 2009

I went to a Black Friday comic book sale today at Cards Comics & Collectibles in Reisterstown, MD. It was a bit of a drive. It took me an hour to get there and another hour to get back, but the traffic wasn't bad at all and the discounts made it worth my while, even if I didn't spend as much as some of the other customers; the guy in line in front of me spent about $240. Me? I spent just $28.60.

The Good - I found some manga volumes that I've been wanting to read but that they don't carry at Barbarian. The discount on manga, trades, and hardcovers (for this weekend) is 50%.

The Bad - The selection of back issues wasn't bad but the prices seemed high. Even with a 70% discount it wasn't like you could get many comics for $10 or $20. There were no quarter, fifty-cent, or dollar bins. I wasn't too wild about the layout of the store. It is very boxy, spartan, utilitarian and didn't seem to have much character.

What I bought...

Ooku v1 - link - been wanting to try this for a while. I asked the guys at Barbarian to order it for me but they seem to have trouble getting manga after it is initially released. They told me to try elsewhere so I was very happy to find it today.

What's it about? From what I understand the series in set in Japan 400 years in the past, but an alternate past. A plague has wiped out 75% of the men in Japan. Women have taken over the leadership roles. That's about all I know at this point. I think the main character is a man who is part of the ooku, or the shogun's harem.

Ikigami v2 - link - I liked the first volume enough (it wasn't perfect) but there was enough there for me to give the second one a try.

What's it about? In order to instill fear in the population the Japanese government institute a policy of randomly killing off a very small number of people. The chosen ones are killed by a time-released poison which the victims were injected with when they were much younger. All citizens receive the injections but only a select few contain the poison. Sometime between the ages of 18 and 25 the people who have received the poisons will die. The process is regulated to the degree that the government knows exactly when people will succumb to the poison (which stops the heart instantaneously) and provide them with 24 hours notice. Each volume in this series contains two stories, each one about a victim both before and after they learn they are about to die. I'm not sure how exactly to classify the series but it certainly has elements of sciece fiction and psychological horror.

Oishinbo: Ramen & Gyoza - link - first food manga I've bought in a long while. I don't think that they are planning on translating the entirety of this series. It began in 1983 and is still running today. It also looks like they aren't going to try to number the volumes that they are translating. I couldn't tell which was the first one so I just grabbed this one since I am interested in learning more about ramen.

What's it about? According to the blurb on the jacket it is about the quest for the ultimate meal. Cooks going all out to perfect their craft, I guess.

Pax Romana - link - This mini-series has a cool sounding premise. I'm eager to see how it pans out. This book doesn't look or feel like most comic books but the idea behind it (which involves time travel) is something that one often finds in comic books.

What's it about? The Pope and/or the Vatican send(s) troops back in time (312 CE) to change the present.