What is “The Men’s Pavilion”, the next anime from Netflix that is already being talked about?

Announced for release on June 29, the adaptation of the eponymous manga brings a wind of change, in more ways than one.

The daily life of anime fans has never been so dense as in recent years. With the success of streaming platforms helping, demand from voracious media enthusiasts has pushed broadcasters to order more and more content. Inevitably, we find ourselves faced with an often stereotyped offer, very centered on shōnen and to a lesser extent various forms of isekai, with alternative realities.

The most popular of Demon Slayer To Jujutsu kaisen through the most recent chain saw man use more or less the same ingredients, certainly accompanied by a homemade sauce. Coming out of these archetypes and the great classics of the genre, it is difficult to see anything new in the mass of content offered.

checker the pawn

We must therefore welcome Netflix’s initiative with its release from Men’s pavilion. By asking Studio Deen (The Seven Deadly Sins) to adapt Fumi Yoshinaga’s manga, originally published in 2004, the streaming giant opens the door to a stunning and upside-down universe. In a total alternate history, feudal Japan saw, following a terrible epidemic, the male sex reduced to a quarter of the population.

The roles of men and women have therefore been reversed, with the latter now having all the power in society due to their omnipresence. The shogunate therefore also became feminine, and led to the constitution of veritable harems formed by the most remarkable men.

Praying mantis

From this starting point, the manga describes the rise of a young samurai, Mizuno, having left his secret love to flee a forced marriage. Within the Pavilion, he can support his family and demonstrate his skills as a swordsman. Noticed by the new shogun, the valiant fighter could well lose his life, the lovers of the leaders being executed “after use”… Power struggles, codes of nobility and of course relations with the opposite sex are the major themes here.

Classified as shōjo or josei depending on the case, categories reserved for a female audience, Ōoku of its original title, however, is aimed at all genres. By reversing the situation, it allows everyone to better understand the difficulties specific to each one. The special “Sense of Gender” prize, won from the Japanese Association of Science Fiction and Feminist Fantasy in 2005, was not mistaken.