Too Many Podcasts and Netflix Surprises
I listen to too many podcasts and know even a little bit about this series. My small amount of knowledge comes from the Read Right to Left podcast. A podcast that looks at all sorts of manga from their tastes of different varieties and Ooku was something that appeared on it. One that provides a possible reason for the isolation period of Japan way back in the past because of a disease that wipes out 4/5th's of men and Japan never wanted the world to know about it. I didn't think that I would ever have the chance to indulge in any of it, but then Netflix said hi.
Having a Netflix subscription has been gaining a lot more perks recently. Especially since there are so many things that keep appearing. Sometimes it is disappointments like JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, the Godzilla films. Other times it's things like Gamera, Godzilla Singularity Point, Last Hope, Spriggan, and Ooku. Oh, there are some live action shows that appear too that I enjoy, but I am mostly around for the unexpected things that show up on the service. The worst part is the random quality thrown into the mix and never knowing when they would appear.
Important, but Long Prologue
I do not enjoy the latest trend of having 90 minute prologue episodes. Or should I say growing trend because there have only been three series that have those movie long prologues at the moment and one hasn't started airing yet. But in this case, the prologue wasn't a part of the rest of the series so it works here. I'm still not sure about Oshi no Ko and Frieren at least had it so it was four episodes instead of one long movie. By which we see the legendary Ooku or harem of men for the emperor before it gets taken down.
The story starts years after a red pox plague wiped out 4/5ths of the population of young men. Now women have taken over every corner of society with men being kept in protection or sold out to different families to profit the family or so many other things that minimizes them. So we see where the world is now as our main boy Mizuno Yushino joins the Ooku to send money to his family. He, of course, quickly moves through ranks as the new Shogun Yoshimune comes in to move in for a reform of the OOku.
The biggest change comes from Mizuno being the first one to sleep with Yoshimune after wearing his less fancy kimono during a time period when the Shogunate was going through financial trouble. Mizuno is tossed aside as the first sacrifice for violating the Shogun. Then the dismissal of young men from the Ooku because of the Shogun's clear taste in men being a little older. So we do know that Yoshimune is very sexually active as well as wanting to reform the Shogunate and figure out why the Ooku exists while trying to destroy it. This is when we start to see where it all comes from.
When The Red Pox Emerges
After the 90 minute prologue, Yoshimune finds the oldest man in the Ooku who is the record keeper and the rest of the show is a flashback to seeing how everything happened. So first, let's start with the world around the Ooku because it is very important in the grand scheme of everything. Mainly because this is how we see the reversal of gender roles in the Ooku. A lot of shifts need to happen in order for women to start taking over in a place where men disappear off the face of the earth by suffering from the Red Pox.
When not facing the drama and politics of the court, we continually see glimpses of that shift. When all the men disappear from the rice fields, women need to take over that role and have to find ways to deal with it or else everyone dies. Same with the fishing industry and so many other places. A lot of the older generation of men is still around trying to make decisions to keep things where they are while each one of them is overturned or pushed aside for the current reality. Technology has also expanded a bit too in allowing women to take over in a sustainable way. The scarcity of men making them more valuable to keep society going is worth it here.
Fighting Forced Traditions
If there is one person I haven't mentioned yet in any sort and that is the old woman Karasu. Since the beginning of the series where Lemitsu Tokugawa, the first woman who takes the role of shogun when the red pox appeared. She has been guided by Karasu all her life. Then on top of that is Arikoto, an attractive monk that is forced into becoming one of Lemitsu's sleeping partners in the Oooku in order for Japan to have a male heir in the future. None of these two chose to be in the prepositions they are stuck in and traditions slowly dwindle as Karasu dies.
So a lot of time in the Ooku is focused on Lemitsu and Arikoto only doing what Karasu demands. Especially after Arikoto settles into the Ooku by being Lemitsu's chosen male and becoming some sort of greater warrior with wisdom from experiences he didn't have as a monk. There is a lot of interesting internal politics in the Ooku that we see a lot just for some level of succession while others get jealous. It's court politics that I enjoy because it's a good human drama. Lemitsu has her own as a result of trying to find a male successor.
Both Lemitsu and Arikoto have faced such hardships from being forced into their current roles. Especially with Lemitsu being assaulted and then becoming a mother to a child that died very quickly after it was born and also being forced to have a male name. Then similar things comes from Karasu forcing Lemitsu to sleep with other men because Arikoto is infertile. These two finding each other and starting something new at the end of the show and seeing where those traditions ended up is such an interesting thing. I hope we get to see more stories of more shoguns soon.
Mature, Talking, and Conclusions
I feel like this is obvious at this point considering how I mentioned characters being sexually active, but the show genuinely is. When we first see Lemitsu from Arikoto's position, he only sees a whiny brat who demands everyone to be at her own whim. Then there are heavier realities of Lemitsu going through the pain of childbirth after a sexual assault and finding out there is so much being every single action that Lemitsu does. Same with Arikoto who started off as already being somewhat worldly with his interactions and that carries with him as he comes into content with other people in the Ooku. Arikoto is never truly hot headed, he is an intellectual.
On a visual level, there is not much to really go on here. It's people sitting and talking in rooms and the whole series is held together by really good writing that makes the court drama very interesting. The direction of the show is above just showing what is happening on screen to give it an edge of specialty. In general though, all scenes and plot points are carried by how well the writing and voice acting is. All smaller actions from sexual assaults to quick action scenes are more implied or only given a short scene to show what the implication of who was behind the action and why it happened. That is kind of why I consider the series to be mature too honestly.
This series was a very good prologue to the many other stories that are probably in the manga. We only saw the beginning of Yoshimune's reign as she takes the role of Shogun when she took control of the Ooku and then the stories of Lemitsu Tokugawa and Arikoto to see how the Ooku and Japan started to end up where it all came through to the current time period. This was a well done and well paced prologue to the rest of the story and I hope that it was successful enough for us to get more seasons of the Ooku. But for now, I really enjoyed the whole experience and if that is all I get of it, then that is fine. This first part did have its own conclusion while having an opening for more if they are created. The writing wants to make me come back for more.
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