FEUDAL JAPAN MANGA IS BACK ON THE BOARD

>In Edo period Japan (1603 to 1868), a strange new disease called the Redface Pox has begun to prey on the country's men. Within eighty years of the first outbreak, the male population has fallen to a quarter of the total female population. Women have taken on all the roles traditionally granted to men, even that of the Shogun. The men, precious providers of life, are carefully protected and the most beautiful of the men are sent to serve in the Shogun's Inner Chambers.

>>279656094
last

>>279694021
>Sir Ejima is straight
Not so sure about that.

ovaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

>>279695733
Let's pretend it all ends here. Eijima won, goodnight!

>>279694606
Shoguns don't last very long, do they

>>279694052
he didn't get to finish did he

>>279694333
Foreshadowing

>>279694837
Man

>>279695208
I like Ejima

>>279695268
Goddamn

>>279695302
>she said she liked me bro

>>279695480
A disaster is brewing

>>279695618
Nice pillow

>>279695733
Goddamn

>>279694405
It's extremely funny to reread the prologue at this point.

Matsushima is the groom of the bedchamber who introduced Mizuno to life in the inner chambers. Kashiwagi was his prettyboy rival of sorts. Yoshimune dismissed most of the young men and staff when she took over.

>>279695771
Thanks thou saucy fellow

>>279694837
OOF

>>279694999
>>279695049
the frivolous maidens of the present era only have eyes for pretty, slender, hairless boys, and care not for the virile warriors of yore

>>279695379
>ara ara, of course you would not want a wrinkled old lady like me

>>279695733
>This was the happiest night of Ejima's life
please no

>>279694817

>>279695733
...the happiest night so far, right?

Women

>>279697245
lol. lmao.

Investing in Ejima stock was the right choice. It just hit an all-time high, and is holding steady. Good prospects for future growth too! Fujinami does not have the market share to contest Ejima's dominance. Looks like this upward trend will continue.

Investing in Ejima stock was the right choice. It just hit an all-time high, and is holding steady. Good prospects for future growth too! Fujinami does not have the market share to contest Ejima's dominance. Looks like this upward trend will continue.

>>279699110
You did well, but you might want to sell right now. I know this manga well enough at this point to recognise when everything's about to get fucked fucked

>>279699191
No way. Ejima is a stable, long term, investment. I don't remember him being in the prologue chapter so presumably soon he retires from the Oooku, starts a family, then grows old in comfort. What could possibly go wrong.
>>279697245
Naturally.

I'm a little confused, so maybe I wasn't paying enough attention
The last shogun who died after a short reign was the one we saw right at the beginning of the series, and the current five year old is that seven year old girl we never saw that died in volume 1 and was replaced by Mizuno's shogun
But Ienobu was Nobu's sister or cousin or something right? Despite the manga stating that Nobu would become a shogun. I think I just lost track of who was killing who for a while there

>>279700057
No, you've got it right. The Lord of Kii domain, Yoshimune, formerly named Nobu, who will become Mizuno's shogun, is a cousin of Ienobu. It will all be clear in a chapter or two I think.

>>279700375
Ahhhhhhhhhhhh
I had misdirected myself, thought Nobu was on track to become Ienobu

>>279700394
Yeah, name aside it doesn't help that Yoshimune/Nobu was plain-looking, frank and stingy as a kid too. She and Ienobu were quite alike.

>>279693948
Too smug

>>279694082
>Thous hast got it the wrong way around
Even here I can't escape it.

>>279694722
>>279694781
Strictly professional

>>279694864
He was gay, sir Fujinami?

>>279701841
Doing it with pretty pages is not gay at all.

>>279656094
I love how they just effortlessly exude dominant aura

>>279701891
quoted the wrong post, damnit
>>279656564

>>279695145
Phenomenal panel.

>>279695268
Never too old to spill spaghetti

>>279695339
Literally me

>>279695733
Poor guy. All that and he has to masturbate anyway because he won't indulge in twinks.
Who knows what disaster is waiting next chapter.

>>279702033
Is he jerking off? I thought he was just crying

>>279695449
>It was because they built unrealistic expectations from their escapism media
...I feel called out.

>>279695480
She got him hooked good
>>279695522
But he is still no sucker!

>>279695771
Thx mate.

>>279702052
why not both?

>>279695771
Thank you for posting.

>>279694837
He's gone mad from love.

Bump

>>279702033
>>279702052
He's crying, but hiding under the covers to cover the noise because their walls are made of paper.

>>279694052
Anon? From the 4chan clan?

>>279695449
This totally isn't supposed to be an analogy for anything real, no sirree!

>>279706235
Alright.

>>279695049
The Ainu blood flows thick in our lad.

>>279695522
This man is too based! Fuck history!

>>279700057
There are 3 branches of the Tokugawa house, Ienobu was from the eldest house while Yoshimune is from one of the other 2

We need to see Ejima in STRIPES

STRIPES mark a good end

give my boy some STRIPES to wear!!

>>279695115
Having a hairy back seems like such a curse

>>279695177
Does she wear a wig offstage or is she wearing a bald cap here? Which of her appearances is closer to reality?

>>279710460
I think we saw her removing a bald cap backstage before

>>279693840 (OP)
Bump

Akifusa best girl

>>279694432
>Certes
Funny this is still a word in french

>>279695449
>unrealistic expectations
Uuuuuh

>>279694293
>Kashiwagi and Matsushima
The boys are back in town! How long before the prologue is this? I thought Kahiwagi would be a little younger. Wasn't he about the same as Mizuno? And this is a few years before that.

>>279716112
I think Kashiwagi was around 25 and Mizuno around 18~20

Buuuump

>>279716112
I think it's just a couple of years before the prologue, the infant shogun died at 7 or so.

>>279720274
wait what? what about the other guys who did this every day?

>>279720337
that's really a low blow

>>279720307
"but others do it all the time!" is never an excuse you can use before the cops/court

>>279720473
sasumata!

>>279720608
uh oh

>>279720635
I can hear Novak sighing

>>279720694
the fool believes she will get to stand on the stage again either way

fuck you, feudal japan. fuck you.

>>279718845
Yeah, the shogun who is currently 5 is going to die in two years, which is when Mizuno shows up

>>279720856
I hate this smug bitch.

>>279720856
show some fucking shame

>>279720887
the rumor doesn't even make sense, if he could just smuggle her in a chest he wouldn't have stayed out late

>>279720947
this crone looks like the old consort in a wig

>>279720921
kek
if I remember right this time woodblock prints were still at their infancy in japan.

>>279721035
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

>>279721035
you regret not being able to implicate the shogun's father as well, you mean
this fucking bitch

>>279721066
I have a question, what were these guys doing the whole time? just sitting in their rooms/chambers? did they at least have a garden to stroll around?

>>279721146
he's a real fox, unlike his bumbling right hand man Fujinami with his petty schemes that just ruined his own reputation
he's been nothing but humble and amiable all this time
the art of doing nothing

>>279721182
MY BOY

>>279721182
at least he lives, poor guy.

ovaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

>>279721001
>>279699110
WHAT? my stock in Ejima is crashing! Even though he remained so tough. How could this happen? I'm ruined! It's over.

>>279721679
Poor Shingoro and Ejima

>>279721746
s-surely there's still some value left, at least he wasn't killed and everybody remembers him as handsome, right?

>>279721270
lmao
in the prologue she got dismissed about 5 secs after Yoshimune took power, she's the stuck-up bitch who insisted on her wearing costly robes

>>279721464
>he's such a good fellow even his enemies take pity on him

>>279721679
I like to imagine some of the wenches in the area bribed the guards to sneak into his hut

>>279720809
Oh fuck I actually recoiled in my chair

Thanks once again for posting O-OP
>>279721489
I love it when a plan comes together.
>>279722381
Anon... Be realistic. Those guards are keeping him for themselves.

>>279720189
So what do they do if the important person keeps going back and forth? Do they just keep putting the stuff they are grabbing down and kneeling?

>>279720337
>>279720367
This is ridiculous. Even if they were in the wrong the looks of this can't be good.

>>279720473
Respect the jitte!

>>279720635
Glad we moved past these days. Now you just put them in custody for over a month without any justification!

>>279720809
Oh god, it's the Kaiji finger trap again.

>>279720856
What are those two even doing while he's being tortured?

>>279720928
Assuming that the average folk will care for truth more than gossip is too much from them.

>>279721679
She likes them hairy.
>>279721713
Thx mate. This was a sad episode.

>>279721001
Wenches

>>279723419
jitte status:
[ ] unrespected
[X] RESPECTED

Bump

>>279720367
Time to rage with that man strength

>>279720554
>politicians fucking celebrities has led to national incidents for centuries
As miserable as it is, it's good to know we've always been human

>>279720580
He didn't even get to fuck her, actually
This fucking blows

>>279720827
I honestly find it fascinating how Japan basically had a medieval police state
Shit's horrifying

>>279720921
Man
That's just cruel

>>279721035
It's a unique kind of evil that they didn't just kill him but tried to break him mentally and justify it first

>>279721204
>1,500
What a waste

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ejima-Ikushima_affair

>>279721464
I like to imagine this guy isn't particularly bad by nature, he's just so fucking bored by being stuck in that shithole he schemes for something to do

>>279721679
It's something for our guy

>>279721713
Thanks thou saucy fellow

>>279722265
That's fucking tragic

>>279723275
Welcome to the inefficiencies of a society obsessed with respect

Mizuno's story made a pretty good hook, but if the author didn't need to worry about getting axed I wonder if she'd have started it with Arikoto

>>279727086
mayhaps, mayhaps not
starting in media res like that is pretty classic even outside of serialized works

>>279727086
Axed? The manga in their early days was a gigant in awards

>>279727401
I'm saying that when you start a serialisation, you have to have a real grabbing first few chapters so you don't get axed
You can slow shit down later
>>279727204
I do think it works quite well, just makes me wonder

bump

>>279721679
only the first dude in the series got to be happy. Fucked the shogun and went home to his childhood friend wife

>>279730575
>no glasses

>>279730623
He won in the end but he had to live apart from his sisterwife and their kid for like 20 or 30 years

>>279730670
He lived proudly and happy, i dont see any problem with that

>>279727538
Only in shounen magazines, and even then it's really just Jump, where you have to worry about that. Almost all publishers give the author enough leeway to establish themselves.

>>279721350
Are we supposed to recognize these fellows?

Bump

bumpppp

>>279721464
On the one hand we have:
>smart but unstable not quite lesbian
>lovesick shogun baby daddy
>his pure and upstanding servant
vs
>young but highly competent and ambitious woman
>her ruthless second-in-command
>their massive countrywide spy network
>a sly old veteran of court politics
>his retarded and petty servant
Not much of a fight indeed. There was a slight risk of Fujinami messing things up, but luckily for them he is far too lazy for that.

Test

wep i think i'll be busy later dumpin now

after 30 chapters

we finally come back to the present time

>>279737646
Boy, that was fast.

not so fas i guess

>>279737606
>>279737620
Our heroes
And Tsunayoshi

>>279737646
She's been reading along with us

>Connection error

Godamit not now

>>279737646
I'm not sure I follow, did all the political scheming of last chapter lead the child shogun to abdicate or something?

>>279737753
She died, anon

>>279737753
that kid die 2 years later

>>279737761
>>279737832
I must have speedread it because I don't remember it being said

fixed i guess, for now

>>279737864
>female shoguns are being recorded as male
So, is the ending going to be that the redface pox slowly fizzles out and people forget Japan was ever a matriarchy?

>>279737897
Rest in Peace, soldier

Most important chapter and im having problems, jesus

>>279737897
>Die so he won't answer
Now that is dedication.

>>279738035
My hero Mizuno is the dad
I have decided

>>279738050
It's been so long that I don't remember her fucking this guy.

>>279738050
lol

>>279738132
OUR FUCKING GUY
Living up to his name now

>>279738156
Men are happy they can finally get some action.

>>279738295
She's a good woman

>>279738218
>>279738233
The eternal merchant is a universal plague.

>>279738322
Sex

>>279738362
>>279738376
>ugly bastard's daughter is a smokeshow

>>279738396
Dad, your taste is shit!

>>279738500
Surely this will last forever

>>279738487
No one is more lustful than Tsunayoshi.

>>279738527
>however

punished by god 4 times

>>279738557
Oh Christ
Maybe she isn't my hero's daughter

>>279738557
That's actually a good cliffhanger.

>>279738557
uhhh maybe she's just physically fucked up but actually a secret genius, like emperor claudius

ovaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

i need this page in color

>>279738557
Mmmmm would

>>279738615
Thanks thou saucy fellow

>>279738615
Thx mate.

>>279738087
Took fucking
8
Generations
To someone do something

Christ

>>279738904
Women are evil and will uselessly latch onto power forever if given the opportunity

>>279738156
>>279738132

Hell fuckin yea he is back

>>279738074
why do this in secrecy?

>>279738610
Ieshige is not retarded if my memory serves me right, however he suffered from some illness that didnt let him speak properly.

>>279739040
A. to avoid public uproar from the ignorant masses due to the expectation of a cure
B. to avoid it being sabotaged by power hungry hags

>>279738610
Kinda. She's not retarded, and even shows some good political instincts. But she's undermined her entire reign by looking like a drooling retard, being taken for an actual retard by most people, thus giving her a massive complex about it, and the fact that Yoshimune abdicated in her favour to prevent a succession crisis upon her death, but only managed to undermine Ieshige's own reign, since no one took her seriously while her mother was alive. Her sisters and nieces didn't help either.

>>279727086
>>279727538
>freeze-frame
>kabuki "yooooooooo"
>yep, that's the shogun, you're probably wondering how fuedal japan ended up in this situation
Given how competent the writing has been all-round I think the manga would certainly have opened the same way even without the need to generate interest and sales early. Starting with the setting already like that gets people asking questions. Just look back at all the discussion in those early threads. That makes all the subsequent chapters more impactful because they are filling in blanks the reader is already aware of.

>>279737846
Did this guy get de-aged since his introduction at the end of the first arc?
>>279737897
Nevermind. I think he was trying to bow and give a respectful answer, but couldn't physically handle bending that low. Tragic.

I recently finished the anime and saw these threads. How is the anime compared to the manga? Did it cut many things?

>>279742207
We've already read about twice as much as was in the anime I believe, and we're not even halfway done

>>279738436
>guy looks like my older brother, who I always end up looking like a few years later
>O-Anon calls him an ugly bastard.
Fie, fie upon thee!
>>279742207
The anime was great. Visually it didn't capture all the subtleties of the manga art but it portrayed the story of the arcs it covered very well. Don't recall it cutting anything, but like >>279742328 said, it only adapted the first two arcs.

>>279742207
Not really

>>279738615
thank thee O-OP-sama

>>279737864
>I depicted you as a 6' tall gigachad, hope you don't mind
good scribe

>>279737883
I had the same thought too, it just makes more sense. That's why quite a few societies were matrilineal even if men dominated otherwise.

>>279738010
>muri muri muri
cute

>>279738107
Wasn't he that random menial she jumped in the bushes?

>>279738132
>>279738156
OUR BOY MIZUNO... I mean, "Shinkichi"

>>279738169
goddamn moneychangers)))

>>279738247
Her first child and she's barely paying attention to it, lmao

>>279738308
A-ADVERTISER-DONO, PRITHEE TAKE COVER AT ONCE

>>279738470
maybe such an agreement could have been reached without purging sir Ejima

>>279738557
She named Unokichi as the father, but I do see the resemblance. It might have been him after all.

>>279747233
*She named Unokichi as the father on a whim, but

>>279737859
It was at the start of the series that the kid died

>>279737883
>>279737864
That's why women were so protected, to the point of incarceration, and why eunuchs

>>279738050
Adidas?

>>279738132
Oh no! he's gonna die in a fire

>>279738132
She cucked him with an ugly man? What is this troll?

>>279738169
You can't solve inflation controlling the money exchange rate.

>>279738295
>catches his tuberculosis or something
>dies

>>279738527
lol this is just Über all over again

>>279738557
Are they feeding the shoguns mercury or nothing but white rice?
They don't even do inbreeding but their children are always fucked up and dying.

>>279749096
We all know that stripes signify fashion

>>279750206
One of the shoguns literally developed beriberi

>>279750757
Lol, retarded japs

Yoshimune best girl

>>279750206
I guess its similar to how so many nobles in Europe ended up getting gout - they ate nothing but luxurious fatty meats. White rice was considered luxury that only nobles could afford, so high jap nobility gorged themselves on it to the detriment of their own health.

>>279754055
Bump

I hope we can get another chapter tonight

>>279737646
PROLOGUE OVER

Bump

hie, OP! make haste!

>>279737900
Well, it's gotta get resolved before the black ships show up, or else Japan gets conquered before they kill 3/4s of the males in the rest of the world

Came across this storytime and read the backlog, it's quite fun

>>279762687
Good to see you aboard

>>279762687
Glad you like it, anon.

>>279738615
Thank you for posting.

>>279722265
No wonder he made this face >>279721287, he realized she hadn't learned anything from the whole ordeal and he wouldn't be able to save her the next time. She loses her position as Baron of Echizen soon >>279738102.

>>279768125
Yeah, she was doomed given her elitist attitude.

>>279749289
Sometimes recessive genes kinda kick in, just look at Iemitsu's 2nd daughter who had totally-not-arikoto as her father

>>279749289
>>279771064
It might also be a worker

bump for anons reading

Would you join the shogun's harem for your family's sake? (even if you had to become a father)

>>279749347
I think it's a money supply issue. A lower valuation of Silver Monme against Gold Ryo could effectively 'decrease' the money supply by devaluing one part of the currency in circulation. Or to put it another way, (relatively) overvalued silver encourages people to save it, and spend gold instead. But that means there is overall more money (by value if not weight) in circulation, which partially has the same effect as an increased money supply. But because they are trading a physically limited quantity two metals, there can be price inflation without a corresponding rise in the availability of currency.

>>279776550
hell no, I'd be a wandering whore giving babies to any cute girls in the villages I pass through for bellow market rate.

>>279776550
Depends on which era

>>279776550
>had to
That's literally the only way to make it work, unless you manage to become the senior chamberlain

>>279738615
Best I can do.

>>279779575
Good job

Soon

test

>>279782828
Welcome Aonuma. Grandfather of the Redface Pox vaccine.

>>279782828
A filthy GAIJIN!?

ENTER

>>279782965
My SHOGUN!

>be an actual smart person
>nobody takes you seriously because you look like a retard

>>279782828
GAIJIN???

>>279783015
Surprised our pragmatic shogun hasn't done away with that

>>279783119
Japan is doomed

ieashige period was the more politial, economical, social corrupted btw

ovaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

>>279783151
Would you fuck a retard if the shogun commanded? If you were getting paid?

>>279783401
Very surprised Yoshimune tolerates this shit

>>279783551
Surely she'll make the right decision

>>279783593
Unless she's pulling the greatest con of all time, I'm deeply unconvinced

>>279784331
It's there to prevent wars of succession. You don't change a running system. And she expected to keep a hand in things after "retiring" as well.

>>279784468
>Very surprised Yoshimune tolerates this shit
She's a great ruler, but a meh mother. Even considering that she barely raised her daughters herself. You'll see the effects for generations to come.

>>279783873
Very well
She's still completely unsuited to the post

>>279783954
Sneaky sneaky

>>279784314
This is a bad fucking idea

>>279784346
That was a bad fucking idea

>>279784408
Thanks thou saucy fellow
Honestly can't believe Yoshimune did that

>>279783845
Man...

>all her progress will be lost after one generation

>>279784314
>>279784806
Was this the case with the real history? A retard drunk was shogun?

>>279785271
Yep

>>279785271
They later exhumed his body and the teeth were all fucked up, so he also had a physical deformity.

>>279784468
I doubt any of her daughter's servants dares to tattle, even to her mother. They're not councilors or anything, they can't just go see the ruler to complain about how her heir is a bitch, it'd be the height of impudence. (Yoshimune would probably be grateful for the honesty but they're not going to predict that, especially since she probably has a reputation for having a short temper)

>>279783686
pissing yourself in public must be a nightmare in this context

>>279785420
>>279785649
Delightful, the wonders of royalty

Tsunayoshi did nothing wrong

>>279787159
The Taisho emperor (Meiji's son, Showa's father) was basically retarded too.

bump

So it's safe to say that the gardener was her dad and not Mizuno.

>>279782988
Genetics playing favourites with no shame.

>>279783042
>Realizing you might have accidently signed your death warrant.

>>279783151
What does this look convey?

>>279783579
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Bai
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Du_Fu

>>279783873
>Tsunayoshi still gets shitted on

>>279784346
This is some comedic revelations after the previous pages.

>>279784408
Thx mate.

>>279784346
Is this narration going to be a framing device around things that happen in actual Ieshige chapters where we see that it was possibly fake history or is that it and we're skipping over it?

>>279791011
I think it and the following page are setting up the next arc being about best girl actually running the country while Ieshige drinks and gets plapped by the most unfortunate men in Japan

>>279790613
Unfortunately a hug and some comforting words from your mom are not going to magically fix a lifetime of being deformed and developing bad habits to deal with it.

>>279784621
Yoshimune is a pretty deadly combination of "too busy being a great ruler to pay attention to her kids" and "doesn't actually understand people".

She's repeatedly shown as not understanding that the people around her want direct human affection and even if she recognizes this as a flaw, her efforts to fix it are always too little, too late. Add to that the fact that being this great dynamic ruler means she doesn't have time to raise her kids and none of her kids are coming out all right.

>>279785271
>A retard drunk was shogun
For your information, some say that the unfavorable reputation about Ieshige is merely superficial. First, he may not have had any notable achievements as shogun, but that does not mean he was incompetent. He continued many of Yoshimune's policies and promoted additional reforms. He had no control over the poor harvests caused by bad weather, and the frequent peasant uprisings were essentially the result of the tax increases imposed during his father's reign.
Okitsugu Tanuma, whom Ieshige appointed, is often described as a corrupt person, but some say that this was merely a fabrication spread by his political opponents who ousted him, and that he was actually rather fair by the standards of the time.
>>279785649
>the teeth were all fucked up
The face reconstructed from his excavated skull is said to be well-formed and noble. His appearance as described in historical sources and the dental wear found on his remains are speculated to be related to symptoms of cerebral palsy.

Bunp

>>279787963
>The Taisho emperor was basically retarded
This rumor also seems to be greatly exaggerated. Although he was born with poor health and a mild disability, he was a friendly man who spoke French fluently and enjoyed writing poetry. However, his personality did not fit with the expected characteristics of an emperor at that time, and he did not get along well with authoritarian politicians.
In short, people have always been judged by their appearances.

Yoshimune my beloved

>>279783401
You don't have to be a nigger about it, geez

>>279793886
>The face reconstructed from his excavated skull is said to be well-formed and noble. His appearance as described in historical sources and the dental wear found on his remains are speculated to be related to symptoms of cerebral palsy.
Damn he really was just like emperor Claudius (who was said to look like the very picture of a dignified Roman man, as long as he stayed perfectly still and didn't say anything)

Is there a curse in noble families where at least one member has an horrible illness, its a cliche

>>279796814
When nobles only marry other nobles, even in cases where they aren't explicitly marrying their cousins and nieces, they still have a much, much tinier gene pool than the general public. That's why hemophilia is endemic among people descended from European nobility.

>>279782828
MY GOAT

>>279796987
True, but Ieshige's father was a random servant, which should've helped. It's mostly random bad luck in the manga universe. Apparently the real O-Suma was the first cousin of none other than Hisamichi, so inbreeding could've contributed to the historical Ieshige's condition.

>>279796814
I think it's more notable because having a health issue is worse as a noble than as a peasant.
A peasant with a bad problem is often ignored because as long as he does his job then everything is good. A noble has too much expected from him even if his needs are met.