Sakuran

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Sakuran

さくらん (Sakuran)
Genre	Period Drama, Seinen
Manga
Authored by	Moyoco Anno
Publisher	Kodansha
Serialized in	Evening
Original run	200x – 2003
No. of volumes	1

Sakuran
Directed by	Mika Ninagawa
Starring	Anna Tsuchiya Kippei Shiina Hiroki Narimiya Yoshino Kimura Miho Kanno Masatoshi Nagase
Music by	Shiina Ringo
Release date(s)	February 24, 2007 (Japan)
Language	Japanese
IMDb profile

Sakuran is a manga series created by Moyoco Anno. The manga is about a young girl, Kyoya (though she undergoes through different names while growing up the hierarchy) who becomes a tayu or oiran courtesan.

A live-action film adaptation is set to be released in Japan on February 24, 2007. The film stars Anna Tsuchiya and marks the directorial debut of photographer Mika Ninagawa. Ringo Shiina is the music director; a new arrangement of her band Tokyo Jihen's song "Yume no Ato" was featured in the trailer.

[edit] Plot

A young kamuro (maid in a brothel) is sold into the red-light district in Yamaguchi and is put under the care of the current oiran, who names her Tomeki. The girl is very rebellious and does not cry when punished, is bad-mouthed and bad-mannered, and talks back and even hits the other kamuros. It is because of this that the more experienced people in the household begin to think that she will be one day a great oiran, since to be an oiran one needs only beauty and talent, and should also have the tenacity to maintain the position.

After that, we follow Tomeki as she becomes O-Rin, a hikkomi - or prostitute - in training, and later Kyoya, the most beautiful girl at the household, yet not the oiran, which creates great tension and jealousy between both of them.

But rivalry is not the main problem to overcome for young Kyoya, but rather the appearance of young Soujiro and the impossibility of love in the love-quarters.