© NHK
Singer Aimer’s official website announced on Tuesday that Aimer will perform the theme song “Shiroiro Kagerō” (White Mayfly) for the “Bakumatsu Arc” of Fumi Yoshinaga’s new live-action Ōoku series: Manga The Inner Chambers.
The second season will premiere on NHK at 10 p.m. ET on October 3. (9:00 a.m. EDT). The new season will focus on the manga’s “Cure Arc” and “Bakumatsu Arc” — the first screen adaptation of this part of the story.
Taku Ōhara, Sō Suenaga, Hideaki Kawano and Takafumi Kimura will direct the second season of the series. Yoshiko Morishita (live-action JIN) will return from the first season to write the script.
The first 10-episode season premiered on NHK on January 10. The series mainly focuses on the Iemitsu, Tsunayoshi, Yoshimune, and Imperial Restoration seasons. Kohta Yamamoto (Attack on Titan The Final Season, Kingdom) is composing the music. Lilas Ikuta performed the theme song “Tanpopo” (Dandelion).
Viz Media publishes the manga in English and describes the story:
In the Edo period, Japan, a strange new disease called Red Pox began to strike the country’s men. In the 80 years since the first outbreak, the male population has shrunk by 75%. Women have taken on all the roles traditionally assigned to men, even the role of Shogun. The men, who provided precious life, were carefully guarded. And the most beautiful man sent to serve in the Shogun’s Interior…
Yoshinaga launched the manga in Hakusensha’s Melody magazine in 2004 and ended it in December 2020. Hakusensha published the 19th and final manga in February 2021, and Viz Media published the final volume in English in October. March 2022. The manga won the James Tiptree, Jr. Award. 2009 and won the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2009. Its other honors include the 1st Anan Manga Award, the 56th Shogakukan Manga Award in the shoujo category, and the Special Prize of the Consciousness Award. 5th edition of Gender and most recently the Grand Prize in the 42nd Nihon SF Taishō Awards.
The manga inspired the previous live broadcast—the 2010 action film adaptation, the live-action television series titled Ōoku: Arikoto・Iemitsu Hen in October 2012, and the live-action film- The second action was titled Ōoku: Eien-Emonnosuke・Tsunayoshi Hen in December of the same year.
The manga is also inspiring an anime adaptation, which premieres on Netflix on June 29.
Source: website, Eiga Natalie