あかね噺

I think I must be in the minority then because I feel the episode kinda struggled in conveying Akane’s skill compared to her compared to the other performances. Or maybe it’s more that what apparently is considered a “skilled rakugo performance” isn’t exactly what I in my uninformed opinion would consider as such. I guess I don’t vibe with the whole “performance so good you forget it’s a performance” style.

For me it was the opposite: Akane's personality-type is the same as that of her breakout role, Ushio Kofune of Summer Time Rendering, so that wasn't a surprise. (Ushio was a dynamic piece of work) But Koyun... while Ushio had her kinds of sensitive depressed moments too, I wasn't able to catch that it was her with the way she held back the fire I knew her for, so an icy role like that was the surprise for me. Seiyuu are truly monsters

I am interested to see where they go with Issho's answer. You could go the route that he is "justified" through his explanation. But honestly, I feel this would be hard to do. Even if he had genuine reasons to dislike the performance, not granting the title and banning someone are two different shoes. Similarly, him giving a nonsense answer just to fuel Akane's anger would feel odd as well. While there is still the question why Issho even bothered to be a judge for this competition, he still knows Rakugo, so it just being some form of pettiness (or worse he wanted someone to be angry at him for it) would feel really artificial. I think the only way to make this work is by giving some props to Akane's father for trying to create his own style, but ultimately failing because he was still held back by something which didn't make it his own. Like copying too much of his master. This would give Akane an idea where to go while still having the goal of showing Issho that her father's style of Rakugo can be done.

No idea since I haven't read the manga, but if I were to guess Master Issho's earlier question already set the tone. From Master Issho's perspective, he asked if Akane knows she is already a pro. Because she answered his question with a definitive "Yes", Issho believes Akane should have already figured out for herself why her father's Rakugo did not cut it. Whereas Akane still thinks of herself as a mere student who is in need of guidance. Because of her biases, she believed Master Issho was asking her if she knew she did not belong on the Rakugo stage. That is why she answered with "Yes". Despite being really good, she still feels like she does not belong. And that is her issue. She has been so obsessed over why her father got kicked out that she had never looked critically at her father's performance. There are several ways the conversation can go, but the hope is at the end of it Akane would break out of the obsession she has over her father's past as it is irrelevant to her own future. I hope she realizes she is actually good at this.

I don't think that Akane actually thought he meant she wasn't meant to stay on the Rakugo stage. That would go entirely against her whole character. She participated because she knew she could win. Even with Jugemu. That was the whole point last week that her "brother" realized. So going back on that would feel really weird. Akane never struck me as feeling she doesn't belong on the stage. Similarly, Akane's Rakugo is not driven just by wanting to "avenge" her father. Again, this was a big point last week because her "brother" thought this was all she was after and therefore misjudged her chances. She was always in it for the fun of Rakugo first and foremost. And Akane even acknowledged Issho's Rakugo talent, so it's not like her admiration for the art is judged by her goal of wanting to avenge her father either. Lastly, I also don't think it is an obsession. Akane's father being exiled had a lot of effects on the Rakugo community. It was mentioned this week. He master never took a new student. For over 10 years. And he is one of the biggest in the business. Issho's decision wasn't just a personal blow, but a blow to the whole art form. And that is not even taking into account how it affected his other students. Similarly, it's not like we only saw the sequence from Akane's POV. In this case, one might argue that it was just Akane's childish view of her father's performance and it wasn't actually that good. But that is not the case. Several people were shown who did not understand this decision. So his answer should be somewhat justifiable after being set up like this.

Just to clarify, I meant to say the professional Rakugo stage, not just any Rakugo stage. This is supported episodes ago when Master Issho's top apprentice Kaisei Arakawa tried to praise her for having the better performance but she just brushed it off, thinking she lost lost to him. Fundamentally, Akane has yet believe her Rakugo is really good. Or perhaps it is just me. I kind of see my young self in Akane because my mother is narcissistic. She told me multiple times I was stupid and would amount to nothing, and as a kid I believed her. It took till I was in my mid-20s, after receiving I don't know how much praise and admiration from friends, teachers, and professors before I realized my mom was the one who is wrong and my circle of friends and mentors were right. I see Akane as being heavily impacted by that childhood event from 6 years ago. She believes Issho view her dad's Rakugo as bad. Therefore her own Rakugo, which is based on her father's, is also bad Rakugo.

I believe early on, when the competition first came up, there was some mention that this was a competition for amateurs, with an implication that she was not really the kind of "amateur" the contest was aimed at attracting. She may not yet be a full professional, but she is also not an amateur -- she has been undergoing professional training for years. So I think she understood him as chiding her for shooting fish in a barrel.

I think it's meant to be the other way around. This wasn't a stage for professionals in the first place, but amateurs. Students who do Rakugo as a club besides their studies, not ones that are trained by a real Rakugoka like Akane. Akane doesn't have business in competing with them because quite frankly, it's just unfair. It's like a chess grandmaster beating every person at a school tournament. Sure, their chess is way better than the rest of the competition, but that's why they shouldn't be there in the first place. And Akane knows that (though she did learn something, but that's nothing Issho can really know). That's why she agreed with him. It wasn't about her acknowledging she is better than the rest or that she is not allowed to be a professional Rakugoka, but the opposite. She isn't an amateur and shouldn't smurf their competitions.

Whereas Akane still thinks of herself as a mere student who is in need of guidance. Because of her biases, she believed Master Issho was asking her if she knew she did not belong on the Rakugo stage. That is why she answered with "Yes". Despite being really good, she still feels like she does not belong. And that is her issue. She has been so obsessed over why her father got kicked out that she had never looked critically at her father's performance. What? No this is not what happened at all. It's not that deep. Akane answered yes because she knew she is not supposed to compete in this competition for amateurs as someone receiving professional training under a famous master. This was something her peers all mentioned to her and she's doing this competition for her own reasons despite knowing that it's an inappropriate thing to do. She definitely thinks she belongs to a Rakugo stage otherwise and has not shown to not believe that. She does know she's talented at Rakugo, which again other characters also commented on. Issho was basically calling her out for being a pro punching down on less skilled performers, and Akane answered "yes" because that's what she was doing.

Yep. Kaisei as the only one present who knew Akane would win. He didn't have any doubt about it. Not even her senior brothers were so confident. And some even showed doubt. But not Kaisei. He already knew Akane was good and had a better performance to show in the finals. The only Thing he didn't know was How good she would perform. But he never doubted she would win. Karashi on the other hand. Couldn't even see the qualities Akane was showing and was always arrogantly saying she would only lose. He should have taken a hint from when she didn't say anything back to him. But as he's so self absorbed, he didn't notice.

Real it was pretty crazy to watch his world view crumble, he kept questioning himself. "Does this mean she's good?" "I got more laughs so I'm good and she's bad" I personally think he needs to rethink his approach to rakugo, because it isn't a comedy skit and laughs only mean as much the audience values it. I feel he has free styled for so long he actually needs to genuinely get back to classical stuff to enhance his free styles more.

The problem with Karashi, is that he took Rakugo too lightly. Thinking It was super easy to master. Then he didn't put any real effort Into It. Only barely touching the Surface of The art. Then comes Akane and shows him what a true performance is. Karashi only ever saw Amateurs like himself perform and thought he knew everything about It. He had shallow knowlege of a centuries old art. And paid the price for It. Another of his problems was, he thought humans were easy to deal with. Then comes Akane to shatter his worldview. He's a Genius so he always had It easy with anything he did. But then he touched upon an art that's been developed and made better for centuries, only to find. Anything human related can be super complex. For a Genius, he fell short there. But it's for his good. He will only ever grow from there.

To add to what you said (which I agree with), he seemed to think he found a shortcut through modernizing the stories. It is work but not the same amount of work as the sort of mastery Akane has achieved. I will say taking some of that and applying it alongside her skills, carefully applied, could be killer. But he needs to learn the lesson Akane did earlier in the season. Know what the particular audience wants. He forgot he had judges to impress not just the audience.

Totaly. Again, Karashi only touched upon the Surface of The art and thought he knew everything. And his reference for the performances were bad performers. Not even at his level. So he went about It The way you mentioned. He did indeed put some effort Into It. But he was self taught, so basically, that was his only path really. And him dominating the two previous years made him even more sure he was doing the right Thing. He barely knew anything about Rakugo, save for the stories he performed and his adding his stuff to It. He was always gonna be an amateur King of a little Island thinking he was The greatest. Until Akane came and showed him what a true performance was and what he was losing out by not diving deeper Into the Rakugo world.

What I like about this moment is that it accomplishes a few things with so little: Shows that Isshou recognizes Akane's skill in a way Kaisei had not. Kaisei realizing that he needs to take Akane seriously as she could become a threat to his goal of being the best rakugoya. Humbled both Hikaru and especially Karashi, both knowing from that moment they were going to lose. Showed the Isshou everyone in the crowd expected to see yet hadn't since the event started. The intimidating, harsh kind. For the reasons you stated above, but also a "you'd better have a good reason for this.".

I think the Japanese makes it clear that it can only be taken one way. Since he uses the word for "understand" (I'm not gonna even try to write the Romaji I just know it by ear lol). The sentence turns from more accusatory to more mutual understanding. "You know" can carry the hidden meaning of "You should know" which can be interpreted as both someone doing something beyond their means (like "you should know you don't belong here") but it could also be "you should know this isn't your stopping point." But when it is "you understand" to me it sends clearly "You are already aware that none of these people could match you." Having experienced teachers say this to me before in various ways, I think what I like most about this scene is that it was clearly seen as a show of respect. In my experience, this phrase was usually used to represent "you aren't living up to your potential."

Now hold on, don't do Hikaru dirty like that. She isn't goofing around for publicity. She's doing rakugo because she wants to prove that she's more than just a pretty woman. She's aware that the main reason why she got her voice acting role is because she's attractive and that burns her deeply because she values her own skill. With rakugo she believes that her appearance won't matter there which allows her to prove herself as equals with others. Everyone else thinks its for publicity but for her it's about recognition.

Agreed, but at the same time, u/omarous_III is somewhat correct in that she sees the competition as some sort of stepping stone to gain recognition (which would come in the form of publicity). She doesn't treat the art seriously enough to get any genuine recognition from someone like Issho. She thought that this would be an easy way to showcase her voice acting skills while overlooking the deeper layers of rakugo. Much like Karashi, she comes off as arrogant.

She's using it to prove herself, not gain recognition. She isn't doing this for her career, that's the whole reason why her agent tries to persuade her away from doing rakugo. This isn't a gain for her career in any way, shape, or form. She is doing this because she wants to prove her worth as an actress and nothing else. She does this because she's a woman from rural Japan who came to the city to make it big and the idea that she is successful because of her looks is insulting to her. Not that she is going to look the gift in the mouth, but as a professional that stings. She wants to be acknowledged for her skill, not her body/face. Not only that but she does treat it as seriously as an amateur without a master can. That's kind of the whole point of why Akane styles all over them. Karashi and Hikaru are practiced, they just aren't trained. But they did practice, we even see it in Hikaru's episode when she was practicing late into the night. So I don't agree at all with the assessment.

Been waiting all season for this episode and it did not disappoint. As Akane's performance continues, we lose more and more of her until the story plays out like a film. I find it interesting how Karashi's has a similar effect, but his face was plastered on every character hence the comedy act criticism. Hikaru wasn't able to take herself out of the characters she was trying to depict, leading to the monologue criticism. Her reliance on her voice acting ability puts her behind Akane and Karashi in that respect. The past three episodes really shows the difference and gaps between the three, given that they're being set up as rivals to one another.

I think what makes this so remarkable is that the show had a really hard thing to do. Akane had to win over the audience with her Rakugo. But at least, this audience had no idea of what to expect. The anime on the other hand had to win over us. We expected a great performance. In a story we already knew and where they already explained a bit what is important about it. For all intents and purposes, this should not work. And yet, Akane's VA makes it work. Sure, the presentation does its part as well. Showing the actual story, but it's still remarkable that this 10-15 minute performance never felt like it outplayed its welcome. Even when the name got repeated several times.

For all intents and purposes, this should not work. And yet, Akane's VA makes it work. It's fascinating that you say that (and btw I agree with you), given that the point made in the episode is that the best rakugo happens when the audience stops focusing on the performer and focuses instead on the performance. The fact that we see that the performance in the episode achieves that, but the performance to us as viewers watching the episode doesn't, is a fascinating thing.

As you said, except for Karashi, we have never really seen the stories fully animated before this. It really hammered home that this is the moment where Akane has fully grasped how to tell a story. Not to say that she has mastered the craft, but she has finally put all of the necessary pieces together to start working toward that goal. Then there was also the beginning of the episode, where Akane described the underlying meaning behind Jugemu. It’s a comedic take on a snapshot in time where child mortality rates were so high that desperate parents couldn’t do anything other than give their children names in the form of prayers for a long life. It actually made me quite emotional. Akane’s version of the story made sure to emphasize the meaning behind each part of Jugemu’s long name, which further highlighted the desperation of the parents instead of just the comedic aspects of the long name. At first, it looked like she really wanted to bring forth the tragedy in Jugemu’s original ending, which made the switch-up and punchline of Jugemu surviving so much funnier and more relieving. Such a great episode!

I don't think I've ever seen a rakugoka actually open their sensu/fan What a way for me to find out you haven't seen my oshi Ryutei Ichiba singing yet. /j If you mean opening it completely to the fullest, there is just relatively few opportunities to use a completely opened fan within the story as compared to, say, a completely folded one. Partially opened fans get much more use than fully opened, that's for sure, especially as spoons like in Misomame .