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 Shōwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjū (Showa and Genroku Era Lover's Suicide Through Rakugo) Upon his release from prison, a man seeks out the famous comedic storyteller Yakumo after falling in love with his rendition of a story called “Shinigami.” Yakumo accepts the ex-convict as his apprentice, nicknaming him “Yotaro.” As Yotaro gets acclimated to his new life, he meets Konatsu, a girl in the care of Yakumo who wants to become a performer as well, but is unable to because she is a woman. Official Site Streaming on Crunchyroll OP - Usura Hi Shinju PV 1 PV 2 PV 3 Characters:  Yotaro VA:Tomokazu Seki Former thug. Touched by the Rakugo performed by Yakumo the 8th while he was serving his prison sentence, he immediately heads to see Yakumo after being released from prison and begged to become an apprentice. A naïve person with a side of him that doesn't know the world and is idiotic, Yakumo names him "Yotaro".  Yurakutei Yakumo VA:Akira Ishida Called "the last master of Showa", a Rakugo storyteller who has led a half-life full of suffering and now keeps to himself. Inherited the name Yurakutei Yakumo and is the eighth man to wield the name. Had not taken any apprentices until now, but accepts Yotaro who suddenly appeared before him.  Konatsu VA:Yuu Kobayashi A woman who is under Yakumo's roof due to a certain incident. Sukeroku's daughter. Strong-willed and short-tempered, but actually is very honest and straightforward. Loves her late father Sukeroku and his Rakugo from the bottom of her heart. Seems to have some sort of grudge against Yakumo..?  Sukeroku VA:Koichi Yamadera Konatsu's father. Led the post-WW2 Edo Rakugo industry together with Yakumo, and was a Rakugo storyteller dubbed "the extraordinary genius". His passion for Rakugo was stronger than anyone else, and was a hearty fellow in stark comparison to Yakumo. But, due to a certain incident, he passes away at a young age.  Matsuda VA:Shigeru Ushiyama Attendant serving Yakumo from the 7th wielder of the name. Gentle and mild-mannered, he is kind even to Yotaro who jumped into the world of Rakugo with no knowledge or experience.  Miyokichi VA:Megumi Hayashibara A mysterious woman who suddenly appeared before Yakumo and Sukeroku in their youth. Previously a geisha. The show adapts the manga by Haruko Kumota, which received the "Best General Manga" prize at the 38th Kodansha Manga Awards, the Excellence Award at the 17th Japan Media Arts Festival Awards and was nominated for the 17th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize. A 2-episode OAD was released with the manga as well. 
Everything Burrito fucked around with this message at 04:09 on Jan 9, 2016 |
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Jan 9, 2016 03:35
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What is rakugo?Rakugo: Japanese Sit-Down Comedy posted:Rakugo can be best described as Japanese sit-down comedy of comic story telling. Just as there is stand-up comedy in the western countries, there is sit-down comedy in Japan. Most obviously, the difference is that the performer sits on his knees when he performs. It requires some training to sit like that for a long time without letting the legs fall in sleep. The performer wears traditional formal Japanese clothes (Kimono) and sometimes wears a pair of long wide pants (Hakama) and/or a formal jacket (Haori). Rakugo and Japanese Culture posted:To what American form might rakugo be compared? “Rakugo is like a sitcom with one person playing all the parts,” says Watanabe. “It is verbal art and a humorous entertainment at the same time. It’s not just a series of jokes, in discrete segments; it’s a continuous story. Rakugo is interesting because when you think about Japanese culture you don’t think about humor—and rakugo is all about humor.” (source) Videos Gonsuke's fish 圓生 雁風呂 圓生 双蝶々 志ん生 おかめ団子 Everything Burrito fucked around with this message at 20:03 on Jan 12, 2016 |
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Jan 9, 2016 03:36
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do you need to watch the OAD first
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Jan 9, 2016 03:41
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I have no idea what it even covers tbh, so I'm gonna say no. I'm going to track it down and watch it though. e: I don't think it's even subbed though, but possibly the show coming out will make someone interested enough to do it. Everything Burrito fucked around with this message at 03:44 on Jan 9, 2016 |
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Jan 9, 2016 03:42
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Just saying that you should watch this, because it's excellent, masterfully-produced character drama, and that you shouldn't be put off by not knowing much about the obscure premise, because the show eases you into its little slice of Japanese culture very comfortably.
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Jan 9, 2016 04:42
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Real hyped for more of this. Master is suss af tho.
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Jan 9, 2016 04:43
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I was really impressed by the rakugo shows in the first episode. You get pretty much an entire performance and then most of another (which probably account for the episode being ~50 minutes) and they were really entertaining. I can tell the VAs are putting a lot into this, but the gestures and mannerisms were well animated as well. I hope that keeps up for the rest of the show. It's not something I was very familiar with beforehand but as already stated you pick it up quickly.
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Jan 9, 2016 04:50
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It reminded me a little of watching Chihayafuru, in that I had no idea why everyone is starry-eyed about this thing, but it managed to draw me in anyway.
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Jan 9, 2016 05:47
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This show is super cool! I love the sound of it, both the music and the acting! Nice art style too even if it's pretty ...understated, clean maybe, I don't know, there's probably a more accurate word  The Devil Tesla posted:It reminded me a little of watching Chihayafuru, in that I had no idea why everyone is starry-eyed about this thing, but it managed to draw me in anyway. Yeah! Kyoshi's performance for the Boss was really entertaining and really helped showcase what exactly rakugo is for me. And wow, the expulsion scene in the snow was very effective considering we had only been with these characters for like 30 minutes or so Awesome show!
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Jan 9, 2016 10:28
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One thing I find quite fun and interesting about this show is how unusually... filmic? ... it feels for an anime? Like, the whole thing feels very artificial and heightened, like the rakugo stories its characters tell (which I'm pretty sure is a deliberate choice - the end of the episode in particular, where Yakumo kicks off his tale of the past almost like he's beginning a rakugo, stuck out to me), but more grounded and natural than your average anime. I sort of feel like Konatsu's a good example here. She's a very recognisable tsundere, with the classic narrative role (a short-tempered but kind-hearted potential love interest for our hero who warms up to him as we learn more about why she was such a cranky sourpuss in the first place), but feels like a very different beast from the tsunderes of, say, your standard teen light novel adaptation, and not just because she's an adult and they're teenagers (or ancient monsters that just so happen to behave like teenagers). It all just feels like a different kind of stylisation, one you don't often see in an anime TV series but might see in a film or play. That resonating with anyone else? On another note, Kyoji and Konarsu make a cute couple, and I hope things work out for them.
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Jan 9, 2016 12:13
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This was pretty interesting, I originally gave it as pass as having no interest in the subject matter and the last rakugo based thing I attempted to watch mostly went over my head. Unfortunately, unlike Chihayafuru it didn't mange to make the make the subject interesting enough for a layman like me, Yotaro's monologue was amusing enough but the masters stuff was horribly dry. Fortunately outside of that everything else was pretty good and enough to hook me for now. It is always going to be double length episodes or back to the usual 20-odd minutes next week?
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Jan 9, 2016 17:18
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Sakurazuka posted:It is always going to be double length episodes or back to the usual 20-odd minutes next week? I've been wondering that myself. Mostly I've only seen the first episode listed as double length, so it wouldn't surprise me if the rest were more standard, but that's just a guess because I haven't seen that info and I looked at a bunch of ANN and CR posts to find stuff to steal for the OP. Guess we'll find out next week!
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Jan 9, 2016 17:47
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I'm loving this anime based on the first episode. I actually laughed when Yotaro did his schtick with the thief thing. I didn't know Rakugo was a thing before now. How awesome. I think that Yakumo accepted Yotaro as his apprentice because he realized that, coming from prison like Yotaro has, that Yotaro has no where else to go and no other interests. He can be purely focused on the Rakugo. I like the mystery behind the death of Konatsu's parents. Learning about that is something to look forward to as we see Yotaro develop his skills and craft regarding Rakugo.
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Jan 9, 2016 18:24
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Dan7el posted:I like the mystery behind the death of Konatsu's parents. Learning about that is something to look forward to as we see Yotaro develop his skills and craft regarding Rakugo. Yeah I like that there's already been a good setup for a whole bunch of different stuff for the show to resolve. The present has Yotaro's growth as a performer and his developing relationships with Konatsu and Yakumo and how adding him to the mix shakes things up for them, then on top of that there's all the stuff that happened in the past and the truth about her parents' deaths. Also I love that Sukeroku is such a strong presence that even though he's only been talked about in the first episode and glimpsed briefly he's just as established as a character as any of the others already. I don't know how much it's going to cover but the manga has 8 volumes so surely there's plenty of content for them to work with. Of course, this is a josei manga so none of it translated 
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Jan 9, 2016 18:41
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I saw this on Anichart and thought it could be pretty neat, then I saw it was a Deen show and gave up. But apparently it is not only not poo poo but good? ... Holy crap, that was really good.
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Jan 9, 2016 23:15
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Crosspost from the season thread since it answers a question asked earlier here as well:darkgray posted:TV guides show it as being a 1h special for the opener, then regular 24m episodes the rest of the series (at least 12 eps).
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Jan 11, 2016 23:46
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I'll give it a shot, from the synopsis it sounds a bit like Barakamon, and that turned out to be awesome, so hopes are moderately high going in.
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Jan 12, 2016 07:56
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So this is basically old fashioned Japanese stand-up comedy? Well, Yotaro is good.
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Jan 12, 2016 08:33
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Maybe not exactly like standup as we'd be accustomed to it but something in the same neighborhood but more theatrical? The rakugo wikipedia article says the monologues are comedic and complicated with dialogue from multiple characters. It's a pretty good overview (I assume it is anyway) and I'll add a link and maybe some quotes from it to that reserved second post sometime when I'm not phone posting. Everything Burrito fucked around with this message at 20:09 on Jan 12, 2016 |
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Jan 12, 2016 08:41
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Everything Burrito posted:Crosspost from the season thread since it answers a question asked earlier here as well: Honestly I'm glad, usual anime length episodes are a lot more easy for me to swallow when it comes to shows like this
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Jan 12, 2016 08:46
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Yeah I think the rest being regular length will make it a lot more approachable.
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Jan 12, 2016 08:52
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Ok I did some half-assed research and found some non-wikipedia information and a few videos which are now in the 2nd post, enjoy.
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Jan 12, 2016 20:09
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Rakugo is the type of thing that i think makes perfect sense once you've actually seen it. It sounds strange in theory, but works well if done by someone who is skilled.
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Jan 12, 2016 20:39
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I think the best description is "one-man/woman comedy play". The main conceit is that one person is able the voice various different characters equally well
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Jan 12, 2016 21:12
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ViggyNash posted:I think the best description is "one-man/woman comedy play". The main conceit is that one person is able the voice various different characters equally well Well, that and that they can create an immersive story with an absolute minimum of props and physical action.
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Jan 13, 2016 01:29
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i did really like the first ep, but have to agree with Sakura that the "master" isn't given a whole lot of material to show off why he's so great. up until he got expelled, i genuinely expected Yotaro falling asleep to be a sort of "this Master is actually just overblown" moment, and for Yota to go off and study Sukeroku style. but otherwise the characters are super interesting, especially seeing the gradual layers of Yurakutei. the thief story was a good way to sell rakugo to the audience i think, i enjoyed it despite Yota's inexperience.
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Jan 13, 2016 01:41
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Yeah, Yotaro's performance got some genuine full-body chuckles out of me. I think the master's performance was meant to be a much more serious one, and to help illustrate why the art form needs someone to shake it up and bring in a new golden age. I feel like bringing a "golden age" means you need to radically change things to make them much better than they were before, so I think his big change might be a two person Rakugo performance  . The safer path would be a pairing of two consecutive and linked performances along a similar theme, or with callbacks/story links between the two, and ideally with Konatsu as well.I think the most potential in Rakugo is obviously as a comic storytelling method though, I've been listening to a lot of comedy improv podcasts and I drew some pretty clear parallels there, though obviously it's all pre-written. I suppose that's another possible way he could shake things up, bringing in some improvisation, but that seems like it'd be really tough. So far so good though, great animation and voice acting and I can't wait for more.
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Jan 13, 2016 01:45
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dogsicle posted:i did really like the first ep, but have to agree with Sakura that the "master" isn't given a whole lot of material to show off why he's so great. up until he got expelled, i genuinely expected Yotaro falling asleep to be a sort of "this Master is actually just overblown" moment, and for Yota to go off and study Sukeroku style. but otherwise the characters are super interesting, especially seeing the gradual layers of Yurakutei. the thief story was a good way to sell rakugo to the audience i think, i enjoyed it despite Yota's inexperience. I think I got it - Yakumo just has an incredibly precise, refined style, conveying the maximum effect with the minimum of movement. He's an artist's artist. Kyoji/Yotaro's style is broader and messier, with more mugging - he feels like he's having to work more and harder to draw the audience in, and is more restricted in the kind of stories he can tell - he can do the standard rakugo comedy, but Yakumo can branch out into drama and horror as well. Of course, it deserves noting here that the animation and direction deserve mega-props for conveying this sort of thing so well.
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Jan 13, 2016 01:50
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dogsicle posted:i did really like the first ep, but have to agree with Sakura that the "master" isn't given a whole lot of material to show off why he's so great. up until he got expelled, i genuinely expected Yotaro falling asleep to be a sort of "this Master is actually just overblown" moment, and for Yota to go off and study Sukeroku style. Notice the point that Yotaro fell asleep was also the point where Yakumo's story was about falling asleep. Yotaro was so into his story that he fell asleep himself. While I didn't find the story that interesting either, little details like that sucked me into the story anyway. It made the rejection heartbreaking.
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Jan 13, 2016 02:07
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The Devil Tesla posted:Notice the point that Yotaro fell asleep was also the point where Yakumo's story was about falling asleep. Yotaro was so into his story that he fell asleep himself. ah, i had probably stopped absorbing anything from the subs at that point because it was so dull to me. if we're meant to think of rakugo as more general storytelling (like DW interpreted) then it's my bad for expecting all the performances to resemble the thief story.
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Jan 13, 2016 02:14
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The poor guy found out he was going to perform the day before, probably didn't get a wink of sleep that night, and was keyed up and nervous through his performance which you could actually see on the broadcast which I thought was pretty neat. Just being done with it was probably such an enormous relief that he couldn't help passing out, on top of being lulled by the story. I can understand being pissed at him for snoring during the performance but part of what that scene did for me was show the master in a pretty unflattering light because of the way he yanked Yotaro around then just ditched him.
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Jan 13, 2016 02:15
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Yeah, my impression was that Yotaro was just exhausted from his own performance immediately beforehand. He was neither bored nor enthralled by Yakumo's performance, he was just tired. Yakumo's little improvisation for the snoring sound was pretty clever though.
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Jan 13, 2016 02:45
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It's neat how the rakugo in episode two is like the inverse of the first. I like how Yakumo's lack of confidence and no talent for rakugo is juxtaposed with how he is in the present. That and his relationship with Sukeroku is The jazz tracks are my favorite parts of the background music. Strange Quark fucked around with this message at 23:38 on Jan 15, 2016 |
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Jan 15, 2016 23:36
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https://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=Rakugo show must be popular
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Jan 15, 2016 23:46
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That's cool! I hope it does well. I'm going to watch the new ep when I get home this evening but I'm excited. I was already kinda wondering if Yakumo might have had a never-realized crush on Sukeroku just from the little glimpses in the first episode.
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Jan 15, 2016 23:51
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in another world, Sukeroku and Yakumo raise Konatsu and teach her rakugo, together
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Jan 16, 2016 00:25
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We have clear hints about what happens next but I am not prepared. This show is going to break me.
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Jan 16, 2016 02:35
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Yeah, my heart isn't ready  Second episode was great, it was over before I knew it. Really liked the tension the music created while Yakumo was dying on stage and Sukeroku's was really funny.
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Jan 16, 2016 07:03
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Everything Burrito posted:That's cool! I hope it does well. I'm going to watch the new ep when I get home this evening but I'm excited. I was already kinda wondering if Yakumo might have had a never-realized crush on Sukeroku just from the little glimpses in the first episode. Literally every other work the mangaka has written is yaoi. She knows what she's doing here.
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Jan 16, 2016 11:05
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Haha yeah there is that. I had originally planned to do some write-ups on her other manga in that reserved post but never got around to it. However, I talked up Nobara in the dad manga thread and Itoshi no Nekkoke is a great slice of life that several people around the forum have recommended. I love her art style and how distinct it is, and she's really good at making her characters into distinct, realized people you want to care about. Everything Burrito fucked around with this message at 18:14 on Jan 16, 2016 |
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Jan 16, 2016 17:33
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