あかね噺

Okay so to those of you who have frequented the r/manga Akane threads - it's been a while, and for those of you anime-onlies - it's a pleasure to meet all of you. As the resident rakugo expert (not a self-styled one) I'm glad to be able to enhance your experience. Just shoot whatever rakugo related questions y'all have, I have a lot of time to spare to answer them. There is exactly one creative liberty done in here in that IRL >!you cannot expel someone else's students!< but given how it kicks off the entire plot, it's forgivable really. Other than that, the manga has done a very good job at reflecting various nuances of the rakugo world (everyone say THANK YOU HAYASHIYA KIKUHIKO for the job he has done supervising it and even giving rakugo training to the VAs!) but that's all I can say for now without source related stuff 😊

>*We should both try to live up to our kids’ expectations, yes?* Tohru's got no chill. He seemingly was there to scold Akane and just defuse the situation, but added that sick burn. The mum had it coming though, for slagging him off. Yeah, her son wasn't entirely innocent either, but she's an adult. All was seemingly going well despite the earlier hiccups only for Issho to drop the bomb and expel everyone sitting the test, not just Tohru. What the hell was he thinking? He just made the move on his own, seeing as the rest of the masters were also caught by surprise. Now that Akane's already a teen, it's time for her to embark on a journey on her own. We're now ready for Akane's *banashi*. A solid premiere. In particular, great acting from the cast. You could hear how Akane & Tohru's voice changed in the middle of their performances. The cast have underwent actual rakugo training, so it's a delight to hear how it had paid off. This is a demanding series in terms of voice acting, kudos to the showrunners for going the extra length.

What a cute little Gremlin Akane was at the start. Now she's a big Gremlin! I can't believe Tohru fucking died. He will be missed, but it's the proper way to start the shonen protagonist arc for Akane after all. We might still hear his voice from time to time... At least her mom is a snack, the whole package of supportive partner and mother. And I love how hateble Issho's voice is. It's perfect.

Akane, my beloved, I am so glad to finally see you animated! As a fan who's been following this series since it first came out four years ago, that was an absolutely banger of an episode to start on! I think Studio Zecxs absolutely nailed the art and animation for this one! The scenes where Akane was trying to explain what happened through Rakugo and the scene where she was perfectly mimicking her dad were just so fun to watch. The animation for Tohru's performance was pretty damn good too. I'm already looking forward to seeing my favourite performances get animated in the future! What a brutal way to have your career ended, tho. The fact that Issho didn't even explain why he expelled them makes it even more painful. But this kicks off our plot and shows that this anime is actually a revenge story about Akane getting back at Issho for expelling her father. Now that we have the "dead" parent trope established, it's finally time for Akane to climb the ranks and kick Issho's butt using her father's Rakugo!

Been holding off on the manga since the anime got announced, but I fear after this season I may have to check it out as well. What an awesome first episode. Really liked how they managed to convey the intense feeling of the performance not just via body language but the entire animation itself, if that makes sense. Like you can Really feel it. Excited to see where this goes and to learn more about rakugo!

- She’s going straight into storytelling, huh? - He shouldn’t have been rude. - lol that’s one way to stop her. - Huh, kind of ominous… - Pre-performance jitters and all that, yeah? - Man, that first-person POV shot of Shinta walking up on stage followed by this shot of the eyes *really* sells how nervous he is right now. - I don’t know who this is, but he had a “sore demo”! - That’s cute. - Tohru himself *also* had a “sore demo”! - W…what… - Well now I definitely want to root for Akane.

Absolutely love the OP (or ED?) with the Ukiyo-e influence and Shoten background. The next week episode promo is also perfect. There were some beautiful moments during the actual episode as well. There will be a big 2-day rakugo event for Akane next month with many famous rakugoka including Shoten members and one of the rakugoka (Tatekawa Shinnosuke) inspirations for Akane’s father’s master. Akane was great and really sounded exactly like a child rakugoka virtuoso during her “apology.” I have high expectations for her VA this season. Her father’s performance really was poor, and lacked the rakugo cadence and spirit in the opening scene, as it should have been, but my heart still dropped a little and I was worried about how the VA would do later in the episode, not sure if he was just overdoing the poor performance.  He adopted the rakugo voice and was much more animated during his final performance, but Akane’s VA was still the stronger rakugoka. Sorry, Dad! I assume the father’s VA didn’t get the same amount of training due to the smaller role. Can’t wait for next episode.

I knew that Shinta was not going to become Shinuchi from the start due to Akane being the main character, so imagine my shock when Issho announced that EVERYONE from the test was getting expelled. And I'm sure someone said this before, but because they share the same VA, my mind imagines All for One and Issho having something of a baton pass to the next generation of Jump villains now that MHA is over. As for the episode itself, I'll just say that ZEXCS cooked.

**AKANE IS FINALLY HERE!!!** I first heard about rakugo when I started reading Akane-banashi, and it easily became one of my favorite manga, so when I saw an anime announcement, I was both happy and terrified about how it'll turn out... Thankfully, this first episode was absolutely perfect! Akane's *rakugo* at school, Issho's introduction, expulsion scene... It turned out even better than I expected and allayed my fears about this adaptation. And as Akane said, Shinta Arakawa died, but now it's time for Akane's story, and boy, can't wait to see it animated! Here my screenshot albums from the episode: * Akane * Group scenes * Tohru/Shinta * Others *EDIT. I added my screenshot albums.*

Until now, my only rakugo experience was watching Joshiraku. The buzz around this anime piqued my interest, so here I am! I really liked this episode! Very dynamic motion, and crazy good animation. Really enlivened the storytelling. The sequence of Tohru walking out on stage in first-person view followed by the eyes surrounding him was fantastic. Really sold how nervous he was. The characters are all fun! And very solid acting by the VAs. They really nailed voice changes between characters within the rakugo stories.

Copying over some thoughts I had from my post about the premiere this week: I love the moment early on where Akane suddenly went into “rakugo mode,” with her voice noticeably changing! We can already see the effect of the rakugo training she and two other seiyuu underwent. However, I wish we got to see more performances in the first episode. We saw some of Akane’s father’s performance, but it went to a lot of voiceover narration by him and other characters, more telling than showing the course of the performance. And the end of it, we see the punchline to the story and character’s reactions to it, but we don’t really get the earlier leadup to that punchline. This is an issue shared by a lot of manga adaptations, including ones I like (Nodame Cantabile), so it’s not a dealbreaker…but I do hope that future episodes will have more time on the performances themselves and will let the performances speak for themselves more often. I suspect that part of this in the first episode is because it is setup for the main plot: hopefully once that kicks in and we see Akane and the other main characters perform we’ll be able to see lengthier scenes of those performances! Animation-wise, I loved the scenes of Akane imitating her father’s movements. In terms of staging and direction, I felt there was an interesting use of one particular visual motif: a narrow band of light surrounded by darker parts of the frame. This, I think, is a repetition of Akane’s view as she sees her father from backstage or through a cracked door, and of a beam of light that shines through a cracked door. This visual motif appears in several ways, including not only the literal representation of doors but also through the horizontal vignetting of the frame in several scenes. The OP is very fun! I like how it uses an anachronistic mishmash of different aesthetics, including ukiyo-e style paintings and pixel art, to get across the idea of rakugo in the modern day. (Readers of the animation theorist Thomas Lamarre will note the use of animetic movement in the “flatness” of the ukiyo-e parts.) Akane's dance is also very cute. I’m looking forward to continuing to watch Akane-banashi!

Excellent episode to start this anime off. This episode focused on Shinta who is Akane's father. Who aimed to achieve the rank of Shin'uchi. The episode did a pretty solid job introducing Rakugo. It's hard to really say why Issho expelled Shinta. Especially when you consider Shiguma's reaction to his student being expelled. It feels like an unprecedented thing, considering the initial reaction was, "Wait, are you serious? Uh, ok." As Shinta exits the Rakugo world, we have Akane truly entering it. Excited to see her journey. Also, funny enough, we have the classic trope of the father dying in a shounen, but only Shinta the Rakugo performer, is dead and not the actual father, Tooru.

Okay I adore the art already, and as someone who writes sometimes an anime about a form of traditional Japanese storytellers has me crazy excited. I love the parents' relationship already and we've just met them. And the rank-up story is fun with how they're animating it and showing the judges. Though I find it interesting people of the middle rank help judge who gets promoted above them. I assume that is normal for the real life promotions as well, just a fascinating bit of how they handle it. I'm so curious wtf is going on with this expulsion, and will be interesting to see if it is ever revealed. But holy shit I am so in. What a fucking AWESOME first episode. God Saturdays are already packed for me between this, Daemons, and Agents of the Four seasons (assuming episode 2 holds up, haven't watched it yet).

Enter a world of Rakugo! A world where one Akane Osaki (Anna Nagase) was enamored with her father and his beautiful Rakugo! Tohru Osaki AKA Shinta Arakawa (Jun Fukuyam!) is a struggling Rakugo performer. He's not performing well in shows, he's barely making any money, but people still believe in him because they know he's got the talent. And he has to make it, for the sake of himself AND his family. Enter Akane! A tough little girl who won't accept ANY disrespect towards her father! She'll even put on an impomptu Rakugo performance to display how a kid crying to his mommy insulted him! She's a wild and talented girl, and the apple of her fathers' eye, and with good reason! And she can't take her eyes off of him when she watches him perform. Masaki (Shizuka Ito!) is a total MILF, but while she doesn't get Rakugo in the way her husband and daughter does, she still vibes and supports them, especially when she sees a transfixed Akane replicating her dads' performance to an uncanny degree. They really are a happy family. Rakugo begins with Zenza, upgrades to Futatsume (where Tohru is now) and then it leads to the Shi'uchi exam. Can Tohru make it? His master Shiguma (Tohru Ahkawa!) believes in him at least. And his family is there to support him, looking very snazzy in yukata's! But of course he would be a bundle of nerves with all those eyeballs on him, least of all Issho Arakawa (Akio Ohtsuka!) THE Rakugo performer of the era, and he starts bombing...until he hears Akane sneeze and realizes who he's doing this for. He can be as weak as he wants in front of his wife, but he has to be the coolest dad he can possibly can in front of his daughter! And as other rakugo masters voiced by Hiroaki Hirata and Fumihiko Tachiki watch his performance, they see him put out Shibahama, a nijo-banashi story. Does he skip over THE iconic scene? Yes, but that's because Shinta is a character performer and his acting is the key to his rakugo. If that means performing a wife and a husband talking together throughout, that's what he'll do! He'll even base it on his wife! He's doing this all for the wife that never told him to give up his dream and the daughter that respects him more than anything! He can't lose! Aaaaand then Issho just grabs a mic, EXPELLS (not fails, EXPELLS) every performer there, and just bails after apologizing to the audience. I'm sorry, what!? Akane doesn't understand, Masaki (who had been praying for her husband the whole time) is in shock, and Shiguma looks like he's about to beat Issho up for this. But nothing they do changes the facts...Tohru has been expelled. But this isn't his story. This is Akane-Banashi, and Akane's story started there as she seeks to avenge her father and his rakugo, now as a high school girl with pink tips and a ponytail! She's quite the wild beauty and more determined than ever! The OP is pretty fun and vibing! Featuring Akane as she travels through Edo Japan, breaks the glass ceiling, fights Issho 8-bit video game style, and dances Edo-style with her supporting cast! Thank you for the rakugo deep dive, Smol!Akane and Shinta! Imagine if she DID form change with multiple haori's!

I like the prologue being focused on dad and then we get a teaser for the next episode which looks like it’s picking up with daughter. That was some really great family feels right up until the end, which made the expelled bit hit harder. Good directing so far, and it’s going to be nice getting a new spin on Rakugo through the young vs old styles. She gonna fight that old master with her words. I foresee epic Rakugo battles.

It's been a while since I last saw a rakugo anime, hearing Fukuyama Jun in action was fun but I can tell Nagase Anna will be great at it too.  I was wondering how things would develop for Tohru, like would there be a tragedy after that amazing performance? But I wasn't expecting him to get expelled simply because the master was a conservative old man who didn't like that the traditional way of telling the story wasn't used. Such a pathetic reason for expelling someone with talent, and being what kills a rakugoka.  I'm liking the family, it's so sweet how much Akane loves her father, and Masaki's such a great supportive wife, I can see why she was so nervous for him. I'm curious to see what the family life is like now.

Very good first episode. I haven’t read the manga but going into this episode I already knew a few things. I like how the entire episode is just the prologue to the story. Akane and Tohru’s dynamic is cute. The animation in the episode was also really good which I wasn’t expecting for an anime about Rakugo. The voice acting was also really really good, as it should be since it’s Rakugo but I’m happy they cared enough to hire an actual Rakugo expert to train the voice actors. This shows that the studio actually cares about what they are making and are willing to put in actual effort, so I appreciate that a lot. Tohru was definitely the standout in this episode. I liked it a lot. Excited to see episode 2 next week!!

Was I worried about Zexcs animating the show properly? Yes. Am I worried about Zexcs animating the show properly? Significantly less so. I’m worried about animation drop off but they spent so much on this episode—Tohru’s POV entry shot, the story itself, even Akane’s retelling of the classroom incident—that I expect that even with half that budget, future episodes will be fantastic. And the voice acting was also top notch, insofar as I could tell. Certainly expressive and emotive. I’m very curious about the Netflix dub but this cast has been so much fun that I will definitely keep listening to the JP.

Wow the animation is amazing. The protagonist's eyes are especially striking. That one pov shot of her dad walking onto the rakugo stage made me slightly dizzy, though! Really bold storyboarding/composition/transitions or whatever in this series. It is a lot more fast-paced than that Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju series from ten years ago. Might be slightly tough to follow the rakugo stories at times for me. The animation is definitely a lot livelier.

i've always thought that an anime adaptation of akane-banashi would never work with bog standard production values, so i'm pleased to report after watching the first episode that this show is full of ambition and talent that elevates the story being told perfectly. what an amazing episode, the rakugo scenes were done justice, the direction was really great, and its just so great to watch a father who loves his daughter. great stuff. i hope the following episodes can keep up with the insanely high bar set by this first episode.

I'll admit that for as much as I enjoy reading the manga for this one, I'm not frothing at the mouth excited over this adaptation. Still, I am nonetheless happy that it has one. And the quality of it looks good too. Akane-Dad. Scolds in the proper places, but shows full well to all that he knows who the one at fault actually was. Looking at how Akane-Dad interacts and draws inspiration from her during her performance it made the "Do it for her" sign from the Simpsons come to mind not a few times. Ooo, these Akane Small-Talk segments look like they'll be fun.

For those interested in rakugo, let me introduce Katsura Sunshine, a Canadian rakugo performer. official channel RAKUGO - Katsura Sunshine The foreign rakugo performer’s description of the appeal of rakugo was absolutely amazing! Yanagiya Kyotaro, master-level rakugo performer : The Grim Reaper Rakugo Performance (with English subtitles) a parody of “Jugenmu” created by Koji Kumeta, the original author of “Joshi Raku” and “Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei,” specifically for a CD drama. \[Eng Sub\] "2-Dmu" \[Joshiraku\]