16 - Ooku The Inner Chambers by Fumi Yoshinaga
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
My Taste is Better Than Yours
Welcome to My Taste is Better Than Yours, the manga podcast with Samu and Guardian Enzo! Who are we? Two anime bloggers (Samu former, Enzo current - at https://lostinanime.com) who love manga.
We'll discuss some of our favourite manga series and let you decide which one of us has the better taste. Throughout this podcast we’ll be covering series we've both already read or follow, as well as series one of us recommends to the other to compare our opinions. From time-to-time we’ll also cover some general manga-related topics and discussions.
- No. of episodes: 34
- Latest episode: 2025-05-19
- Leisure Animation & Manga
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