Forum - View topicJason Thompson's House of 1000 Manga - Ooku: The Inner Chambers
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DuelLadyS
 Posts: 1705 Location: WA state |
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So, is this a complete manga or is it still being written? It sounds great, but my shelf space is insanely limited right now- to the point that I need to count volumes in new additions to make sure they'll fit.
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st_owly
 Posts: 5234 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland |
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Buy more shelves then!!
 Yes, it is ongoing. I'd been avoiding this so far because I'd heard so much bad stuff about the Fakespeare, but I might just give it a go now. My wallet hates this column...
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lys
 Posts: 1017 Location: mitten-state |
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It's still being written, though at a slow pace. The magazine it runs in comes out every-other month, and there are about 4 chapters/book? So a book takes 8 months, on average, to be serialized. If your limited shelf space is temporary and not an ongoing issue (as mine is...), perhaps it will resolve itself before the story does :)
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Aynslesa
Posts: 199 |
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Don't let the ye olde language put you off on this one - usually I have difficulty reading it for lengthy periods of time, but in this case it really is easy to get used to it, and they keep it limited mostly to thees, thous, and the occasional forsooth for the most part. The translator did a decent job, and the story itself paces *very* well. Sometimes there are word choices used, of course, that aren't what we'd use today, but the context is clear enough that there's no real reason to run for a dictionary. It really is worth it in the long run. That said...I need to get the next few volumes. |
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poonk
 Posts: 1490 Location: In the Library with Philip |
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I've read (and thoroughly enjoyed) the first 6 volumes but I found that they were released so far apart that I had trouble remembering who was who and their relationships to other characters as the story progressed. So for now I'm just going to keep buying it as it comes out and wait until I have a good stack of books to read in one sitting (vol. 7 is sitting on my shelf in its shrinkwrap).
To anyone who's interested, I'd recommend just checking out vol.1 because that's kind of a self-contained story. If at the end of it you find yourself intrigued as to how this society got to that point, then dive in. |
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lebrel
Posts: 374 |
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Typo (should be "affected"). The thing I find most interesting about Ooku is that it's much more rigidly science-fictional than most American readers realize. Almost all of the major players are real people (although usually of the opposite sex than the historical person, for obvious reasons), and most of the political and historical events mentioned (Yoshimune's cost-cutting, Tsunayoshi's animal-welfare laws) are also real, or at least legendary. The Arikoto / Ietsuna relationship, for instance, is based on a possibly apocryphal story of a shogun who fell in love with a nun and forced her to be come his concubine, keeping her in seclusion until her nun's distinctive shaved hair grew back and then installing her in his ooku. The historical source material for Ooku is obviously a lot more familiar to Japanese readers than it is to Americans, so all of this flies over our heads. But if you have a chance to look up some of the people or events, you can see how much of it is influenced by the historical record. |
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Petrea Mitchell
Posts: 438 Location: Near Portland, OR |
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And there are social and historical footnotes included in the US editions, so you won't be totally lost. (For instance, in the first volume, detailing where Mizuno's particular samurai caste stands in relation to the merchant class, to clarify why his marriage to O-Nobu is socially unacceptable.) |
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here-and-faraway
 Posts: 1529 Location: Sunny California |
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I'm in the same boat. I wish some kind soul would post a "who's who" chart online or Viz could create one. I really love the series though and pre-order every volume to help support it. |
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DuelLadyS
Posts: 1705 Location: WA state |
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Eh, yes and no- adding more shelves isn't currently an option- I've already done that a few times, my current space is maxed out. I have been working on a purge of various knick-knacks from the closet, so if I'm lucky, that might eventually lead to more book space. 
I'll just have to see what I can squeeze in... |
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marie-antoinette
 Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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I've also had issues remembering who all the characters are, especially since there are many who only appear in one volume. I really do adore this series though, even though it actually goes against a lot of my usual preferences (mainly in how it is more focused on theme than character, on a whole).
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fuuma_monou
 Posts: 1852 Location: Quezon City, Philippines |
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Fully Booked in Greenhills had the first seven volumes in stock last time I checked. Should pick them up next time I stop by, assuming no one else buys them during Christmas shopping....
(I'm avoiding GH until Christmas is over due to horrible holiday traffic.) Kept putting off buying the series since local stores usually only had volumes 2 and up in stock, so I couldn't start at the beginning. |
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Merida
 Posts: 1946 |
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I really, really love this series, even though the language can be a bit trying, especially for a non-native English speaker. And i have to agree with the previous posters that it's hard to remember all the different characters. So if this series ever ends (which will hopefully take a while), i'm planning to read it again back to back.
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Wow. This totally reminds me of A Brother's Price, which is also set in a world where men are so scarce that they are not allowed to do any manual labour for fear of injury or being kidnapped. Boys are sold by their sisters to other families of women; inbreeding is strictly frowned upon. Those women whose families don't have enough money to buy a man can either visit a 'whorehouse' where men are kept permanently drugged and compliant, or the women can form a group with unrelated women and pool their money, thereby becoming a family through a common husband. It's actually pretty believable, though it still comes off as a bit wish fulfilment.
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enurtsol
 Posts: 14889 |
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Wish fulfillment for which?
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Marzan
 Posts: 519 |
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I found a copy of Ooku quite by chance at an anime convention. I was intrigued by the premise and bought the first volume and then another. I ended up getting the rest of the volumes in one go. It's that good. And Viz gave it the deluxe treatment. The notes and even the quality of the paper and cover are better than with standard manga. I just hope enough people buy so that it get's released in its entirety in english.
The olde English is a bit hard at first, but you get used to it fairly quick. |
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