Oooku

I Will Write Write This Review Spoiler Free

I feel very conflicted on how to rate this, on the one hand, it doesn't leave you feeling good in the end, its like My Lie In April but more depressing. On the other hand, very few anime make me feel such emotion even if that emotion isn't a good one. Oooku: The Inner Chambers is only worth watching for a very specific type of person. If you like a Tragic Romance anime that is very dark than this may appeal to you. If you are person who would like to watch an anime and not feel like ... crap than I would avoid this one.

Feels like something that would be much more enjoyable if you are familiar with the source material. Watched this because someone online said Miyano’s acting was really good in it. And it was.

The acting is great. The animation is good. Only a few scenes had that obvious CGI that takes you out of it. Very much a Josei. That’s the audience it’s made for. Not probably going to like it if you really don’t jive with Josei.

It falls into that common alternate history trope where the characters are written more like historical figures than like fictional characters. They grow and change but not in ... a way that’s really in service of a character arc. Things just happen to them and they have to respond. The world isn’t shaped to facilitate rewarding payoffs and character moments. And the narrative is very focused on the progression of history. This works great if you’re primarily invested in the lore, but not as much if you are really getting invested in the characters.

Not really spoilers, but the premise is that a plague that only effects men has decimated the male population, forcing women to take up male roles including that of the Shogun. The first episode takes place well into this era, and even though you know what kicked it off, it’s not entirely why things are presently the way they are. It’s an interesting stand alone story. The remainder of the series goes more into how things got here and it sufficiently explains it. Sometimes it over explains but that could be due to condensing the source material.

Netflix flagged it for nudity but I think it’s only because of a fisherwoman in traditional fishing attire that shows up once. The sexual violence tag is the one to take seriously. Little is actually shown but it is really clear what will/has taken place, and this could be a big issue for some viewers. They really should’ve flagged it for violence and gore too instead of “smoking”. Lot more katana action than smoking.

It’s been called feminist but it’s not really pushing an agenda here. Things suck so much for men and women in this story and we see both men and women inflict pretty brutal stuff on the other sex. It outright states that the new status of men isn’t really anything like that of women previously, so it’s really not direct commentary. It just asks a lot of questions and leaves it up to the viewer. It can be very sympathetic to the unique struggles of both sexes.

I went in expecting to like this, but eventually had to drop due to repetitive rape and glorification of abusive relationships. These go beyond basic tsun anime tropes, and straight into sexual violence and executions as a means of control and denigration. If these themes are triggering, this is probably an anime to walk away from, despite the intriguing premise.

Storytelling is ok, but a bit haphazard. Presents intriguing concepts but drops them without resolution, seems to be more interested in spinning out ideas as an excuse to cause pain and suffering to it's characters rather than for narrative cohesion or genuine character ... growth. While Oooku has some creative ideas that are worth watching for on their own, its themes lack cohesion that would provide a greater sense of meaning to the work as a whole.

The first episode is an '1 hour 20 minutes long film that will introduce us the main character of the anime: The Ooku. It was for me a nice choice, telling a hole story to show us the manner that place works and make us wonder how thigs get to this point, as it did it to the xogun. At same time most of the people showed in theis first episode (and was a lot), make the viewer more confused than bringing something to the table.

In the following episodes the characters hasn't the maniqueist aprouch we used see in most anime, they have depth ... and meaning to the story telling and meke the audience sympathize, and hate them at the same time. Tho, so much subjetcts are introduced that they lost the capacity to keeping tracking, losing the meaning and make the anime looks like a soap opera.

In short, Oooku has a good story, but it's so complex that they couldn't bring the way it deserve and turns tacky. Could be such a great work, but at the and of the day it's just ok(ish).

This show literally felt like a #NoBetaReaderWeDieLikeMen or w/e tag on Ao3 put in anime form. It had an interesting concept but went about it so backwards it was honestly a hot mess.. and yet I binged it in a day so like it was semi entertaining to say the least. The ending was so disappointing it honestly felt like it just ended in the middle of an episode, no resolution or cliff hanger or anything, it just ended full stop which bothered me.

If you're looking for a classic romance, look somewhere else. However if you're looking for something more akin to a greek ... tragedy, this might be more your style.

No spoilers review-

If you’re looking for something even remotely cute, heartwarming, or happy romance, this is not for you. This is a fair warning as to what kind of story it is so you don’t have different expectations going in. It’s definitely not wholesome or uplifting. This is on the morose and depressing side. Personally, I wouldn’t even categorize it as a romance even though it technically is. I wouldn’t say it’s a court drama about consorts either (examples of what it is not like in terms of court drama: Apothecary Diaries, No Doubt in Us, Psychic Princess).

It has several dark themes. Content warnings for ... sexual violence (throughout the show), violence (many overt murders), and suicide. Sexual violence is done by both genders and often in same gender situations.

It left me feeling empty. I wasn’t expecting a sugary show, but definitely not this either. Immediately after I had to watch a cute romance with a happy ending to cleanse my palate (Tonikawa).

Fans of Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju will get a taste of something they may enjoy again, but may be left wanting for more.

Many of the best of Deen's longtime VA talent join together and give perhaps their most emotional and heartfelt performances in a decade.
But the story almost seems hostile to the viewer in that it wants you to get invested over and over again only to never give any payoff, aside from a few moments.
That describes much of every episode, but also the series at large.

I wanted to LOVE it, but I come away just liking it. Not bad, not ... amazing.
The voice acting is what makes this worth watching at all to be frank.

While the direction was overall phenomenal, the sound design aside from the spoken words was extremely lacking, and the story was just plain awful.

So much they could have done with a premise that interesting and they just had to commit to forcing it to play out as lame as possible, all the while trying to give these sly winks and nods to the audience that come off as extremely cringe and kind of moment breaking.

Overall, If you were a fan of the works that put Deen on the map for many people, you will find something to enjoy in this series. But unfortunately it fails to live up to, or surpass, the works and performing history that lead to it.

As a story, this has a fascinating concept. It was impressive how the most common omitted subjects/themes discussed in historical anime are daringly used in the series. And, it is quite dark and political. Those who are interested enough to watch this should tread carefully.

It's an alternate history of Japan which instead of leading a patriarchal society becomes quite matriarchal, reversing circumstances from what happened. For the pandemic, it should be logical to have doctors, researchers, and medical personnel working on it to prevent more infections and isolate the infected. They should at least have an idea of how such a disease spread so fast ... and wide over 80 years, yet we don't even see a doctor or an apothecary to help care for the sick in the castle. How are samurai to know how to treat the sick when all they know is swinging a sword? Medicine should be administered by medical practitioners but what we see is a samurai and the head of state convincing the sick to take it instead. They neglected people dying as if there was nothing else to be done than watch and despair. Even the Black Death during its time only lasted half a decade in Europe where it never discriminated against age and gender killing up to around 200 million people compared to this. The timeline of this series even happened a few centuries after the Black Death. News of such widespread disease should have reached eastern nations and influenced their medicinal technology and knowledge which could be used as a reference to this pandemic. What kind of shogun do you let your people die while you sit and wait for your country's demise?

I was hoping they'd come up with some sort of treatment or miraculously a cure for the disease but they certainly did nothing all those years.

Worldbuilding is necessary in every story and it is difficult to create a perfect one. Every worldbuilding, even if it is based on Earth and our universe, should at least be feasible and realistic enough to effectively create a suspension of disbelief from the audience's perspective. Illogical concepts present in a story could serve only as plot holes reflecting poor writing.

Nevertheless, it is interesting which is why I gave such a rating.