Based on Fumi Yoshinaga's best-selling manga about a feudal-era Japan ruled by a fictional matriarchy, 2010's "Ooku (The Lady Shogun and Her Men)" was a typical Japanese costume film with gorgeous kimonos and a story of drama in high places.
The film's female shogun, played by Kou Shibasaki, swaggered through the bowing ranks of male concubines — who occupy the o￣ku (inner chamber) of the Japanese title — with a mix of mild erotic interest and barely disguised contempt. While finding the eye-candy on display tempting, she wanted to justly govern a country plagued by poverty and a man-killing disease (thus the rise of female rulers) — and had little use for a small army of male drones.
The sequel "Ooku: Eien — Emonnosuke ・ Tsunayoshi-hen (The Castle of Crossed Destinies)" has an entirely new cast, if the same director, Fuminori Kaneko, and looks back to the 17th century when the fifth Shogun and third woman to hold that exalted post, Tsunayoshi (Miho Kanno), was in charge.