Creative Staff
Story: Moyoco Anno
Art: Moyoco Anno
Translation/Adaptation: Not Available
What They Say
Kiyoha may wear the fancy kimono-dresses, but she is not your every-day geisha. The hairstyle may be the same, and she may have some of the finest clientele, comparable to those of the most refined women in all of Kyoto, but she is not in the home of geisha and their maiko assistants. Instead, Kiyoha is in Yoshiwara, the infamous red-light district located in northeast Tokyo. And instead of being a respected geisha artisan, she is an oiran, a courtesan.
Kiyoha didn’t choose this life. She was forced into this world at an early age for one reason… she had spunk. A fire burned within her as a child. She would rather fight than cry, and she caused her caretakers so much grief their best solution was to give her a purpose to be strong and maybe a chance to develop a life on her own. But getting to that point would take years of heartache and misery. Kiyoha’s entire life has been in chaos, and she has blossomed in it.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Back when I was reading Happy Mania from Moyoco Anno, she was pretty much one of my favorite creators at the time due to her writing style and artwork. That series was one I really looked forward to when I was into manga heavily and it was always at the top of my pile. So when the self contained volume of Sakuran came in from Vertical, I had to juts dig into it as soon as I could, especially with her artwork given such a shiny, beautiful cover with the foil style approach that really made it shine all the more. Originally released in 2003, the thirteen chapters here finally find a really solid home in the English speaking market at last.
The book revolves around the Edo period of Japanese history and introduces us to the courtesan houses in the pleasure district. The focus is on a courtesan named Kiyoha who see in her present time is finding her life about to change. While she’s a solid performer overall for the house, she’s also a difficult personality because of how she interacts with some of the clients but also some of the other girls as well. She’s rough around the edges and doesn’t take much from people. While she’s an excellent courtesan in many ways, it’s her unpredictable and more than honest nature which draws in her clientele over time since it’s not more just of the same. And some clients need just that.
Kiyoha’s problem is made worse in the present by the fact that the Oiran, the top ranked in the house, is now leaving to get married to one of her wealthy clients and the house is moving Kiyoha up into that position. But it’s the last thing she wants and pretty much throws a fit about it. What this leads us into is where the bulk of the volume focuses, going into her past and bringing us back up to the present to give us the context. Over the couple hundred pages, we see her as young Tomeki, a girl whose parents were lost to her that ended up with a trader who has solder her into the house in Yoshiwara to be a maid. While there’s always a chance that maids can move up to the next level, it doesn’t happen all too often because of the skills that are required. And Tomeki is so angry and rough that it’s hard to imagine her going that direction, especially since she has quite the mouth on her.
Following this is something of a mixed result as some of her time as a maid is interesting as she sees the Oiran of the house and wants to be nothing like her. She does her best to screw things up and escape, which leads to her being mostly shaved to good effect. But as time goes on, she’s eventually drawn into it and is set for a debut as a Shinzo, an in-training courtesan. It’s here that things picked up as we see what goes into it, both in dialogue and sexuality, and the narration and events are certainly interesting to watch unfold. It’s mixed in with a fair bit of infighting and the like with some of the girls because of Kiyoha acts, but a lot of that tended to fall flat for me. Seeing her interactions with the clients, how she won some over and how she was tricked and screwed over herself was a lot more interesting.
Anno’s art is a big part of what sells this book as she has some very intricate and detailed pieces throughout it that really works beautifully. Her attention to detail and the complexity of hair designs and kimono’s and costumes is really very appealing. Sometimes the layouts suffer because of this, but the overall result is one where you do want to pore over the pages to look at how much went into it and admire the craftsmanship. One of the more appealing aspects for me with her artwork is the eyes and that doesn’t disappoint here either as they’re so engaging and draw you in, whether adult or child, male or female. Anno doesn’t disappoint when it comes to the artwork here.
In Summary
Sakuran, being an 18+ release, does deliver on that count in some ways but it also feels like it’s very much just a part of the material and not done gratuitously. When focusing on the brothels, it has to figure into it in some way and the rating is pretty spot on, though expectations may be higher. What Anno does here is to give us an interesting story about one young girl who grew up in a courtesan house and became one but didn’t completely because the beautiful flower that most stories would end up painting her to be. It’s a bit rough to get into at first since we’re thrown into it, but once it shifts to the back story and builds forward, it works well and is definitely a solid self contained read worth checking out for any Anno fan and those interested in this time period and situation.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: A-
Age Rating: 18+
Released By: Vertical
Release Date: July 17th, 2012
MSRP: $16.95
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