Ooku Wins Tiptree Award!

[chomiji]

Press release here.

"Fumi Yoshinaga’s Ooku: The Inner Chambers (volumes 1 & 2) explores an alternate version of feudal Japan, in which a plague has killed three out of every four boys. In this world, young men are protected and sheltered; women have secretly taken positions of authority and power. The Japanese ruler or shogun and the feudal lords are women and much of the story takes place among the men in the shogun’s harem. The title of the work refers to the living quarters for the shogun’s harem, contained within Edo Castle.

"The selection of Ooku: The Inner Chambers marks the first time that manga has been chosen for the Tiptree Award. Though no one on the jury is an expert on manga or on Japanese history, the jurors fell in love with the detailed exploration of the world of these books ... ."

Thanks to james_nicoll for pointing this out.

Comments

[samsarapine.livejournal.com]

Omg. That's so cool! Do you know whether she's scheduled to attend WisCon? If so, I'm totally going and fangirling her.

Damn I love that woman's manga.

[khatru1339.livejournal.com]

Do you know whether she's scheduled to attend WisCon?

We invited her as our guest, but she gracefully declined.

Jeff Smith
for the Tiptree award Motherboard

[samsarapine.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for the info! You guys rock (I knew WisCon and the Tiptree awards folks would be on top of it - talk about well-organized). I'm sorry she said 'no,' but the award is still amazing news!

[chomiji]

Thanks so much for coming by and letting us know!

[chomiji]

I really do love her stuff. She has that emotional intelligence that, in my mind, distinguishes the work of the better mangaka so clearly from most U.S. comics that I've tried reading.

The relationship between the two law students in Ichigenme is one of my favorite things.

[avierra.livejournal.com]

That's awesome!! I enjoyed that manga a lot. I wish Viz'd get a move on and print the second volume already :P Maybe now they have a little extra incentive.

[samsarapine.livejournal.com]

*butts in with apologies*

I don't know if you're aware, but the second volume is already out: http://www.amazon.com/%C3%94oku-Inner-Chambers-Vol-Ooku/dp/1421527480/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268849361&sr=8-3.

Volume 3 is scheduled to be released next month.

[chomiji]

It's certainly the most visually rich of any of her works so far! (And as Pine says, the second volume is out, and the third is almost out.)

[avierra.livejournal.com]

ARRRG. I have had that on order from Amazon for a year and a half, and for some reason they dropped it from my list. Thanks for the update. That is really irritating.

[vierran45.livejournal.com]

That's great! I loved the first two volumes of the manga and have already preordered the third volume.

[chomiji]

The English in the translation gets on my nerves a little bit. But I love the artwork, and the emotional relationship that's built up in the second book has real weight and impact.

[vierran45.livejournal.com]

I agree, the archaic English in the translation just didn't work that well for me and kept jarring me out of the story every once in a while. Still, once I got sort of used to it, I did enjoy the story and the artwork a lot.

[kinsugi.livejournal.com]

Funny, I posted a rant about the pseudo-Shakespearean English somewhere or other, but ended up buying and pre-ordering everything anyway because the art and characters and story are pure gold! I still wish I could read the Japanese, or an alternate translation, but the books are beautiful.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

AWESOME.

[chomiji]

ISN'T IT?

[devikun.livejournal.com]

One of the few mangaka I know that makes me glad I ever discovered manga in the first place. This is great news!

[chomiji]

Isn't she great? (But I actually feel that way about several of the mangaka - they rescued me with things to read when current SF&F got too depressing for the most part.)