Genso Gynaecocracy (Fantasy Gynaecocracy) is a collection of 12 manga short stories by Blade Of The Immortal artist Hiroaki Samura. Each of the shorts were first published in the manga magazine “Rakuen Le Paradis”.
In general the mood of the stories are lighter in tone as compared to Blade Of The Immortal, dark comedy, if you will. Some of the stories take references from Japanese folklore ( like Kaguyahime, for example ), while others take on a more ambiguous setting, and no specific period/era is indicated. Some nudity/graphic violence is to be expected, as with most of Hiroaki’s works.
Fans of Hiroaki Samura will want to check this out. It is quite unlikely that this will be picked up for an English translated version. Actually, are any of Samura’s comics (besides Blade) available in English ?
“Genso Gynaecocracy – Hiroaki Samura Manga 幻想ギネコクラシー 1 沙村広明 漫画” details :
– Dimensions – 7.1 x 5 x 0.9 inches
– Softcover, 85 pages
– Black & White, in Japanese
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Genso Gynaecocracy 2 – Hiroaki Samura Manga Book Review
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Samura Hiroaki Manga Exhibition – Angoulême International Comics Festival 2024
Spring Breeze Snegurochka – Samura Hiroaki Manga Review
Manga Erotics f vol 81 : Samura Hiroaki Special Book Review
May 29th, 2014 at 3:34 am
Dark Horse actually Rereleased Ohikkoshi and Sister Generator (renamed Emerald & Other Stories) in English. I would say they stick pretty close to the spirit of the Japanese versions, too; it seems the era of hard editing for the English language versions of some manga is basically over. In the past it was an attempt to relate to a wider US audience, but now manga has become both mainstream and niche enough that the audience usually knows what they are looking for already. I honestly wouldn’t be too surprised to see this in English, but it’s still very unlikely unless Dark Horse decides to take a full swing commitment to Samura’s other works and translates Halcyon Lunch or Beageruta as full series as well. I feel like DH has used those short story collections as stop-gaps in between BOTI volumes, though , so who knows!
Also here is where I talk a little bit about the English version of Sister Generator:
http://foreigndemon.blogspot.com/2013/03/new-old-books.html
May 29th, 2014 at 2:07 pm
Zack – As always thank you for the heads up. I’m guessing there must be quite a substantial Samura fanbase for Dark Horse to publish his other comics, which is a good thing, of course.
I read your article and very much agree that BOTI is still his magnum opus. When he takes on material in a western setting something just doesn’t gel. I do prefer his more detailed and intricate work in the earlier BOTI issues though. Also, I believe he has enough art work to release a 2nd BOTI art book, really hoping for one.
BTW, I’ve watched both Blue Is The Warmest Color & Young & Beautiful, loved both of them. I’m waiting for the special edition of Blue to be released on Criterion and will pick up Young & Beautiful when it hits blu-ray too.
May 29th, 2014 at 7:13 pm
Yes, there is Ohhikoshi; collection of three stories – first is about uni students (love comedy), second deals with story of greatest female manga artist (i like this one) and the third is a short life-story of Samura and his collegues.
May 30th, 2014 at 4:37 am
Oh, great, I’m glad you liked them. I’ve been waiting for the Criterion special edition of Blue Is The Warmest Color, too. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve almost bought the regular edition anyway; what a beautiful film. I would love to see Criterion release Young & Beautiful also, or make a commitment to releasing any of Ozon’s other films. I know this isn’t the place to talk about him, but I don’t think he’s made anything I wouldn’t stand by.
I would love to see another BOTI art book, too. Dark Horse just released vol 29 last week, so wwe have a little longer before we can catch the conclusion, and maybe they’ll have something by then. Dark Horse also released and English Language version of his first art book for that series. so we’ll see. I think the book has a pretty regular audience here in the ‘States (as regular as a bi-annually published book can be), mostly from BOTI being a carryover from when Dark Horse used to serialize it monthly in single issue format. By the time it’s finished being published here it will have been almost 20 years running, and things just don’t last that long in the US without a solid readership. Our versions have, in the past, come with pinups by other American illustrators as well, and it’s won several Harvey and Eisner awards as well, so if DH could keep up a decent relationship with Samura san, I wouldn’t be so surprised to see some more.