Ōoku: The Inner Chambers

My thoughts

I am admittedly unsure how I feel about this series. It is beautifully intricate and not a light-hearted series; it delves into gender roles, power dynamics, politics, and even some tragic relationships.

The anime is set in Edo-period Japan and is a twist on history, featuring an illness called Red-Faced Pox.

The first episode is longer - almost a full film - which then leads to the character reading into the "chronicles of the dying days" - the history of the Red-Faced Pox outbreak and how the power struggles began, with each subsequent episode being effectively a book or chapter from the past.