Manga like Oooku

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu

Also known as Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama

This multi-generational epic dives deep into rakugo, a rich form of Japanese storytelling theater. Small-time crook Yotaro has never forgotten the rakugo tale "The God of Death," which the master Yurakutei Yakumo performed for Yotaro during his time in prison. After his release, he goes to Yakumo's theater and pleads to be made his apprentice. Yakumo reluctantly accepts, but Yotaro quickly finds the world of rakugo is complex and grapples with a growing bond with Yakumo's ward, Konatsu. Meanwhile, the two young people bring reminders of Yakumo’s own inescapable past.



Note: Won the 38th Kodansha Manga Awards for Best General Manga and the New Creator Prize of the 21st Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2017.

Tags: Rakugo , Josei , Male Protagonist , Tragedy , Primarily Adult Cast , Historical , Acting , Family Life , Love Triangle , Work , Afterlife , Suicide , Yakuza , Oiran , Tsundere , Crossdressing , War , Adoption , Heterosexual , Elderly Protagonist

Saiunkoku Monogatari

Also known as The Story of Saiunkoku.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Fantasy , Romance

Shurei Hong, destitute but of noble birth, has always dreamed of working as a civil servant in the imperial court of Saiunkoku, but women are barred from holding office. The emperor Ryuki, however, refuses to take command, leaving everything to his advisors. Shurei is asked to become a consort to the emperor to persuade the ne’er-do-well ruler to govern.

Shurei enters the palace as Ryuki’s consort, but he has yet to seek her out. It is rumored that men, not women, share the emperor’s bedchamber. Shurei must think of a way to stop the emperor from shirking his responsibilities, but she has to find him first!



Tags: Josei , Historical , Foreign , Unrequited Love , Ancient China , Kingdom Management , Work , Female Protagonist , Politics , Male Harem , Royal Affairs

Hyouge Mono

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Drama , Slice of Life

It was the Sengoku-era, when the warlords usurped each other. There was a man whose soul was overtaken by the ways of tea and material greed, as he worked his way up toward greater power and status. His name was Sasuke Furuta, a subordinate warrior of Nobunaga Oda. With his world broadened by Nobunaga the Genius, and his spiritual insight learned from Senno Soueki the Master of Tea, Sasuke drove the road to Hyouge Mono. To live or not to live. For the power of the art. That is the question!

Note:
Won the 14th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Award Grand Prize and received the Excellence Prize in Japan Media Arts Festival (2009).


Tags: Seinen , Historical , War , Educational , Politics , Philosophy , Male Protagonist , Swordplay , Primarily Adult Cast , Tragedy , Suicide

Saraiya Goyou

Also known as House of Five Leaves.

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Drama

Masterless samurai Akitsu Masanosuke is a skilled and loyal swordsman, but his naïve, diffident nature has more than once caused him to be let go by the lords who employ him. Hungry and desperate, he agrees to become a bodyguard for Yaichi, the charismatic leader of a group calling itself “Five Leaves.” Although disturbed by the gang’s sinister activities, Masa begins to suspect that Yaichi’s motivations are not what they seem. And despite his misgivings, the deeper he’s drawn into the world of the Five Leaves, the more he finds himself fascinated by these devious, mysterious outlaws.



Tags: Historical , Seinen , Samurai , Male Protagonist , Gangs , Primarily Male Cast , Primarily Adult Cast , Crime , Detective , Fugitive , Swordplay , Found Family , Oiran , Police

Asaki Yumemishi: Genji Monogatari

Also known as The Tale of Genji: Dreams At Dawn.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Romance

Prince Genji falls in love with his stepmother, and so begins a forbidden love that will make him suffer his whole life. Genji’s love story involves him falling for many women and begins with his love for Princess Fujitsubo—his father’s wife, and his stepmother. And Genji will cross that line which he should never cross.



Tags: Historical , Philosophy , Classic Literature , Shoujo , Male Protagonist

Yukibana no Tora

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Drama

The life of daimyo Uesugi Kenshin commanded authority and fear during the Sengoku period of Japanese history. In this retelling, the powerful lord is reimagined as a woman.

Tags: Historical , Seinen , Gender Bending , Female Protagonist , War , Politics , Heterosexual , Bisexual

Kaze Hikaru

Also known as Kaze Hikaru.

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Drama , Romance

In the year 1863, a time fraught with violent social upheaval, samurai of all walks of life flock to Kyoto in the hope of joining the Mibu-Roshi—a band of warriors united around their undying loyalty to the Shogunate system. In time, this group would become one of the greatest (and most famous) movements in Japanese history... the Shinsengumi!

Into this fierce milieu steps Kamiya Seizaburo, a young would-be warrior who, though lacking in combat experience, possesses a fiery enthusiasm to both aid the Mibu-Roshi in their mission and to avenge his wrongfully murdered family. One of the Mibu-Roshi's most gifted (and immature) swordsmen, the legendary Okita Soji, agrees to take Seizaburo under his wing. What no one suspects, least of all Soji, is that Seizaburo is actually a girl named Tominaga Sei in disguise!



Note: Volume 45 includes the one-shot "Oo-Edo Shinsengumi! Kaze Hikaru Another World".

Tags: Samurai , Swordplay , Shoujo , Historical , Coming of Age , Primarily Male Cast , Episodic , Gender Bending , Female Protagonist , Crime , Crossdressing , LGBTQ+ Themes , Primarily Adult Cast , Revenge , Assassins , Suicide

Karasu ni Hitoe wa Niawanai

Also known as A Raven for All Seasons.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Fantasy

In the land of Yamauchi, a world dominated by "Yatagarasu" instead of humans, it's time for the Crown Prince to choose his Queen. Four princesses are sent to the palace by four great noble families who are fiercely fighting for power in the Imperial Court. They all have their own reasons for wanting to become Empress, and many shocking developments happen along the way. In the end, who will be selected by the prince?

With over 1.5 million copies sold worldwide, discover the manga adaption of this super popular Japanese fantasy novel written by the youngest Seicho Matsumoto Award-winning author in history!



Tags: Seinen , Female Protagonist , Politics , Mythology

Sakuran

Also known as Sakuran.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Ecchi , Romance

The story follows Kiyoha, sold into a brothel as a child and forced to work as a maid and her rise to prominence as one of the top-ranking courtesans in Yoshiwara. The allure of the "flower and willow world" as it was called by artists in the day is underscored by the very real tragedy, heartbreak and difficult lives led by those seemingly glamorous courtesans. Will Kiyoha's fox-like wiles give her a chance to break free of her gilded cage? Or will her fighting spirit ruin her chances of ever escaping the brothel?



Tags: Oiran , Seinen , Historical , Female Protagonist , Tragedy , Prostitution , Time Skip , Orphan , Nudity

Taiyou to Tsuki no Hagane

Also known as Steel of the Celestial Shadows.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Action , Drama , Romance , Supernatural

It is said that a samurai’s spirit rests in their sword—and Konosuke can’t even pick one up thanks to a cruel curse that repels anything made of metal that gets near him. Destitute and hopeless, he decides to end it all. But when a beautiful and mysterious woman saves his life and his soul, it is the beginning of Ryudo’s journey into a strange world of magic that exists a step away from his own.



Tags: Samurai , Seinen , Primarily Adult Cast , Historical , Heterosexual , Male Protagonist , Urban Fantasy , Super Power