Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu

Yotarou is a former yakuza member fresh out of prison and fixated on just one thing: rather than return to a life of crime, the young man aspires to take to the stage of rakugo, a traditional Japanese form of comedic storytelling. Inspired during his incarceration by the performance of distinguished practitioner Yakumo Yuurakutei, he sets his mind on meeting the man who changed his life. After hearing Yotarou's desperate appeal for his mentorship, Yakumo is left with no choice but to accept his very first apprentice.

As he eagerly begins his training, Yotarou meets Konatsu, an abrasive young woman who has been under Yakumo's care ever since her beloved father Sukeroku Yuurakutei, another prolific rakugo performer, passed away. Through her hidden passion, Yotarou is drawn to Sukeroku's unique style of rakugo despite learning under contrasting techniques. Upon seeing this, old memories and feelings return to Yakumo who reminisces about a much earlier time when he made a promise with his greatest rival.

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu is a story set in both the past and present, depicting the art of rakugo, the relationships it creates, and the lives and hearts of those dedicated to keeping the unique form of storytelling alive.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Yuurakutei, Yakumo Main

Ishida, Akira Japanese

Yuurakutei, Sukeroku Main

Yamadera, Kouichi Japanese

Yotarou Supporting

Seki, Tomokazu Japanese

Konatsu Supporting

Kobayashi, Yuu Japanese

Miyokichi Supporting

Hayashibara, Megumi Japanese

Matsuda Supporting

Ushiyama, Shigeru Japanese

Tsuburaya, Mangetsu Supporting

Yusa, Kouji Japanese

Ochiyo Supporting

Itou, Yui Japanese

Rakugo Association President Supporting

Shibata, Hidekatsu Japanese

Tsuburaya, Bansai Supporting

Chafurin Japanese

Kamei, Hiroshi Producer

Yada, Shouko Producer

Yamazaki, Yoshihiko Producer

Urasaki, Nobumitsu Producer

Reviews

Apr 1, 2016

Veronin

Recommended

Shouwa Rakugo is a story about life. It is a story about the art of Rakugo, of Japan's history during the Shouwa era, of friendship and family, and of sacrificing everything to reach one's potential, but particularly it is a story about life— the lives of two talented, troubled and yet ordinary men.

Shouwa Rakugo may only be thirteen episodes long, but it covers a period of years and decades, a turbulent series of ups and downs, much as life is itself. It depicts the rise, fall and redemption of Yakumo and Sukeroku, and many of those around them. The tearful reunion as Sukeroku returns ... from the war in Manchuria is powerful— powerful enough that I also felt myself choking up a bit— and yet it occurs just a few short episodes into the story.

This is due in part to the excellent characterisation of the two and their (oftentimes strained) friendship, but it is also a result of the story's nimble pacing. One might expect an anime covering such a large span of time in so few episodes to end up feeling rushed, but this is not the case. Shouwa Rakugo makes a careful balance between the smaller and the more important events in the characters' lives. It will transition from a hospital scene to a funeral within seconds, and yet it will feel entirely natural, as if no time has actually passed. Many times I found these transitions to hold more punch than the scenes themselves. If stories like Touch and Sakura no Uta have taught me anything, it is that a quick jump to the future can carry far more emotional weight than the events preceding it.

It can be hard to put into words what makes Shouwa Rakugo so special, as so much of its appeal is in what it leaves unsaid. It finds greater comfort in showing its story rather than telling it. The feelings of the characters— their frustrations, their struggles— are often left implied and seldom stated outright. A character will walk along at dusk, mumbling to themselves a rakugo scene depicting the difficulties of departing from one's lover, and it will be very clear what is going on in their mind. It takes a very special anime to pull something like that off, to develop the characters such that the audience can empathize with them without dialogue or gestures.

The story is primarily set during the post-war period in Japan, but it thankfully does not waste time lecturing the audience about the war's effects on Japan, how Japan fought the good fight and lost, and everything we have already heard countless times before in other anime. What Shouwa Rakugo does convey about the war, it conveys through the absence of dialogue: nobody ever says "I'm sorry" when they listen to another person's story, because they've all been there before.

From the first two episodes, it becomes very clear which direction the story is headed in and how it will end. Every major event is foreshadowed in some way, from the dialogue ("The next time I meet you it will be in hell") all the way to the very title of the series (心中). This effectively eliminates any sense of shock that the viewer might experience, but knowing what is ahead does not make the moments and the journey any less heart-wrenching. It actually makes it hurt more.

Shouwa Rakugo deserves special mention for depicting sexual, adult relationships. The heroine is not a cute, bubbly high school girl, but a geisha who makes her living by flirting with men. She is in many ways a despicable human being, and that is just fine. People often do not pick the most respectable or desirable person to be with; they come together and couple for a myriad of reasons, even if it may in the end be to their own harm.

Even if you have no knowledge of what rakugo is— and I suspect this is the case for most people, as it was for myself— Shouwa Rakugo makes it very easy to follow by animating a wide variety of rakugo performances, rather than bombard the viewer with explanations and unfamiliar terminology. While rakugo might not be especially entertaining to the world of 2016, through watching the many performances within Shouwa Rakugo it is easy to gain an appreciation for the talent and effort that is often poured into the art. The styles of Yakumi's and Sukeroku's rakugo are so different from one another that it almost feels as though they are performing completely different forms of art, despite rakugo very much being an art defined by tradition.

The lengthy, 10-minute Rakugo performance in the first episode— one of many amazing moments in the show— reminded me of the ending sequence in Whiplash (one of the best films I have seen), it feeling itself like a musical performance, starting slow and clumsy and gradually building into a thunderous crescendo by the end, Yotarou's sweat visibly running down his face all the while. While he may not be beating his instrument to the point of blood flying across the stage, rakugo is an inherently quieter, more subtle form of performance than concert, requiring nothing more than a person sitting and telling a story in front of a small audience, and so bloody theatrics are not necessary. Its performances are already plenty exciting.

At times joyful, and ever more so devastating, Shouwa Rakugo is a truly sincere and human story. It speaks a simple, raw tale of flawed existence. It does not fluff itself with philosophy, symbolism and other obscure subject matter. It speaks to the individual: it wants you to listen, and it wants you to consider the moments in life where you truly felt beating, breathing and alive. It is in that short moment that it has meaning.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Dec 22, 2016

Zerathus

Mixed Feelings

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu has been hyped to me as the best anime of this year. Mature historical drama with amazing voice acting and editing.

First lets tackle the voice acting which is truly spectacular. Especially during Rakugo scenes where voice actors shine at almost mindblowing levels. It really shows how great Japanese voice acting is. I am not japanese speaker so I can't really appreciate or criticize the rakugo perfomances but I can hear how the voice actors can jump between characters during the performance and it's pretty fantastic.

With that also comes the editing which smartly uses cuts and camera angles to enhance the ... rakugo scenes and I absolutely loved it. Really great stuff

The drama is good and not so good. I appreciate the maturity of the series and how it tackled themes of obsession loneliness and devotion, but the story itself is hardly original and at certain points it becomes kinda stupid. I am talking about the episode 12 in particular. The stuff that is happening here feels like forced end of the plotline because author wasn’t sure how to end it. It was just dumb.

The rest of production is okay. The music is great mix of traditional Japanese music and jazz. The animation is inconsistent. Especially when it comes to scenes with audiences. You have this beautifully drawn main characters and then the camera cuts to the audience and you see blobs with eyes. I know these characters are completely irrelevant but the difference of quality is truly striking.

Only truly interesting character to me was Kikuhiko who was greatly complex. Some people might say that Sukeroku was the best character, but to me he was just straight up Gary Sue. Sure he’s drunk and filthy and lazy but that’s about all that’s bad about him. He still performs godlike rakugo at the end of the day and everybody still loves him. He only has 2 interesting moments in the entire series, one comes out of nowhere but I enjoyed it, the other came way too late for me to care. Overall the cast is not bad per se and it obviously mainly focuses on the dynamic between the two main characters but there’s nothing notable.

I am glad this anime was created because it taught me about the great art of rakugo but outside of its setting the story is hardly original. Far from bad, and not so far from amazing but still far enough.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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May 20, 2023

MurasameKills

Not Recommended

Funny

I really don't understand why this anime get's such good reviews, it's average at best hence my rating of 5. There are some nice elements that make it watchable, but ultimately the anime is boring.

SOUND: About what you would expect. It's average, good enough, but not good enough to overlook the drastically detracting qualities of this anime.

CHARACTERS: The characters and character development is good. Their back stories and origins are good. It's nothing special, new, or particularly enthralling, but definitely better than your average Shounen character development by a longshot. In fact, this is the best part of the anime. If you like slice of ... life, or anime's that focus on characters, their interaction, their development, and their relationships, then you may really enjoy this anime.

PLOT: Interesting enough. Without going into spoilers you can see above under characters what to expect here. Character relations and interactions are the main focus. However, the plot is also not good enough to overlook the drastically detracting qualities of this anime.

ANIMATION and DIRECTION: I combine these two elements together because they are both easily the biggest issues that this anime has and are related to each other. THE BIGGEST PROBLEM WITH THIS ANIME is that it is boring. Specifically the Rakugo is boring. Other reviewers have discussed this as well and it's just bad. I took the advice of another reviewer and searched up Rakugo on an "unspecified video hosting site" (you know the one I just don't know if I'm aloud to advertise it on MAL), and saw a Rakugo performance of the Shinigami, which is one that is discussed and performed in the anime. The one on the video hosting site was 1000x better performed, voiced, and acted than anything in Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu. The characters are not animated (speaking figuratively here as they are obviously 'animated') when performing, the voice actors are boring and just speak faster. It is literally just the characters sitting there, talking fast in Japanese, with a laugh track over it. A real Rakugo performer takes on different postures, voices, and characteristics for the characters they portray. A real Rakugo performer will whisk you away to a different world and build imagery in your mind of the story they are telling. A real Rakugo performer is not even close to what is portrayed in this anime. There was so much that the director and animators could have done to really make this a fantastic anime. So, animation and direction get an F.

THINGS THAT NEEDED TO HAPPEN TO MAKE THIS ANIME JUSTIFY IT'S 8 ON MAL: First, it needed to have better voice actors, or rather, voice actors should know how to portray different voiced characters... Really no excuse for the voice actors on this one. I know they are not Rakugo performers but they are VOICE ACTORS! Voicing different characters in a Rakugo performance should be no problem for them. Second, the Rakugo performances would have benefited from some serious sakuga (for the characters characterizations during the performance) or just other animations. They play around with this in one Rakugo performance where we do cut to a black background and see some other images from the story being told, but it's sparce and underperforms. Three, I understand that they need to tell the Rakugo stories fast because there is only 23 minutes per episode (except the first one) and that a real Rakugo performance can easily be 30 minutes. So, if the director cut the stories down to the most essential parts, directed the voice actors to use different voices for characters in the Rakugo performance, and directed the animators to visually animate the world of the story being told, then this anime would justify it's 8 or even a 9. I know that Rakugo is not a visual medium, but anime is, so animation should have been a key factor in this show but instead, it's just garbage.

Overall: 5 Average. The only reason that I scored this as a 5 instead of a 4 is because 4 is "Bad" and this anime is not bad, it's just deeply flawed, had some very bad choices made by the director, and is just plane boring. If I had to sum up this anime in one sentence it would be "A missed opportunity for greatness."

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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