I'm just in a recc-ing mood i guess
GUYS! I have just discovered an amazing manga. It's called Ooku (or Oooku) and it's the coolest thing I've ever read. Here's the summary from Baka-Updates:
In an alternative timeline of feudal Japan, a strange disease that only affects men has caused a massive reduction of male population, thus women have to pick up men's jobs, changing the social structure. Now, after 80 years of the initial outbreak and current man:woman ratio of 1:4, Japan has become completely matriarchal, with women holding important political positions and men being their consort. Only the most powerful woman -- head of Tokugawa shogunate -- can keep a harem of handsome yet unproductive men, known as "Ooku."
Recipient of special prize at The Japanese Association of Feminist Science Fiction and Fantasy's fifth annual Sense of Gender awards (2005)
Right, so it's seriously as interesting as it sounds. It's kind of like a reverse of The Handmaid's Tale set in Edo-era Japan. The art is pretty and the story is really well-developed, not to mention the alternate reality itself. It's just really believable, especially once you get to the backstory in Volume 2. The only thing that detracts from it is the "Shakesperean" language they use in the english translation. Think old lady Kaede from Inuyasha, only ALL the characters talk that way. After the first few pages though, it just feels like part of the universe that the author has created, sort of like Regency language in romance novels or something similar.
Anyway, I highly recommend it to people who enjoy reading about dystopias or alternate historic realities.
You can read it at Manga Fox here: http://www.mangafox.com/manga/oooku/
In an alternative timeline of feudal Japan, a strange disease that only affects men has caused a massive reduction of male population, thus women have to pick up men's jobs, changing the social structure. Now, after 80 years of the initial outbreak and current man:woman ratio of 1:4, Japan has become completely matriarchal, with women holding important political positions and men being their consort. Only the most powerful woman -- head of Tokugawa shogunate -- can keep a harem of handsome yet unproductive men, known as "Ooku."
Recipient of special prize at The Japanese Association of Feminist Science Fiction and Fantasy's fifth annual Sense of Gender awards (2005)
Right, so it's seriously as interesting as it sounds. It's kind of like a reverse of The Handmaid's Tale set in Edo-era Japan. The art is pretty and the story is really well-developed, not to mention the alternate reality itself. It's just really believable, especially once you get to the backstory in Volume 2. The only thing that detracts from it is the "Shakesperean" language they use in the english translation. Think old lady Kaede from Inuyasha, only ALL the characters talk that way. After the first few pages though, it just feels like part of the universe that the author has created, sort of like Regency language in romance novels or something similar.
Anyway, I highly recommend it to people who enjoy reading about dystopias or alternate historic realities.
You can read it at Manga Fox here: http://www.mangafox.com/manga/oooku/