Gou: Hime-tachi no Sengoku

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I'm writing this review through the lens of nostalgia, but I really enjoyed reading this manga. I'm a huge history nerd, so a decent portion of my enjoyment came from the period of history it was depicting and the events it was trying to address. I appreciated looking at this time period through the lens of a woman and some of the real considerations a noblewoman had to make at that time were discussed too. The art was competent, and I especially liked the kimono designs. If you want a primarily historical manga during the period of Nobunaga, this is a fun little read. It's ... also a nice departure from Dessert magazine's typical fair of contemporary romance titles.

Lots of history, lots of drama and a tiny bit of romance.

Personally I did not trully enjoy reading this, but to some degree I found it interesting. As a historical drama in its own right, it focuses on the life of a female character from a prominent family in a time of intense strife in Japan. I think the story tries to follow historical events more or less accurately, thus there are many many characters and many locations and it gets a bit tedious. I did not find reading it to be pleasant because most events are quite tragic, but I think it gives a ... glimpse into how those times were. There are a couple of moments were you can enjoy some romance, but they are brief.

The story failed to convince me that the main character, Gou, was trully influential in the political outcome of the conflicts. To me most of the time she seemed tossed around by fate and the will of others like most other characters in this story. I agree she is strong and brave to some degree, but I do not consider her to be inspiring, at least not based on the dialogues in this manga. I am though being harsh, because if this manga teaches you one thing, it's that just staying alive in those times was very difficult and you cannot judge them by current standards.

The art and the character design are very beautiful, although I did not find them innovating in any way.

If you like historical dramas, give it a go, but don't expect warm fuzzy feelings nor female emancipation.