Ôoku: The Inner Chambers, Vol. 8

In this 17th Century Japan the Shogun is a woman...and the harem is full of men. In Edo period Japan, 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 by seventy-five percent. 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 Chamber... Reads R to L (Japanese Style) for mature audiences.

Fumi Yoshinaga is a Tokyo-born manga creator who debuted in 1994 with Tsuki to Sandaru (The Moon and the Sandals). Yoshinaga has won numerous awards, including the 2009 Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize for Ôoku, the 2002 Kodansha Manga Award for her series Antique Bakery, the 2006 Japan Media Arts Festival Excellence Award for Ôoku. She was also nominated for the 2008 Eisner Award for Best Writer/Artist.