あかね噺

Its definitely harsh but I totally get what he's saying Best line to sum up Issho's stance, like Akane, I'm glad he actually has a logical reason pulling that expulsion stunt rather than being some grumpy old man thats comically evil. In fact Shiguma basically confirmed what was never mentioned which is the expelled Arakawa Rakugokas could just go to a different school instead and continue their careers there but Akane's dad clearly had so much respect for Shiguma he'd rather just end his career as it is than find a new school. The writing in this series is so grounded yet so engaging.

The writing in this series is so grounded yet so engaging. It's one of the reasons the manga has been so popular. The writing finds a way to be very shounen in nature without ever overstepping. It's part of the reason why I firmly believe Issho is one of the best villains in WSJ in the modern era: The man isn't evil, he's passionate. He's an antagonist because his philosophy clashes with our protagonist. However, because his reasoning is grounded you can understand why he makes the decisions he makes and can even see yourself agreeing with him in certain cases. It just makes the series shine!

Yeah, I was really excited to get more on Issho cause man does this guy have a presence and actually hearing his reasoning for the expulsion it's like. Yes it's drastic but you can tell that it comes from a strong passion for the art of rakugo. And then him being happy at Akane's response really sealed the deal for me like. It feels like maybe he thinks Akane could be someone who can carry the torch and bring rakugo into this modern era. Very excited to see where this goes!

I will say, without any spoilers for obvious reasons, that this specific chapter in the manga is what solidified me as a fan of the series for the reasons you listed. It was such a grounded reason for an antagonist that you couldn't help but understand him even if you disagreed from Akane's perspective and her response resonated in just the right ways. It has not disappointed one bit, absolutely one of my favorite series of all time and the anime has not failed to deliver. Glad you're enjoying it!

and it's organic too because Issho's perspective is realistic and relatable. He has a perfectly valid point and one she actually agrees with to a degree. Her father's performance that day wasn't Shinuchi worthy and she was being blinded by her bias and love for the man. That meeting alone helped her grow as a rakugoka. But like you said, she's unwavering in his vision of rakugo and she's going to shove it down his throat which, from how the scene ended, is exactly what he wants. God I love this series

It's one of the reasons the manga has been so popular. The writing finds a way to be very shounen in nature without ever overstepping. Yes indeed. I often prefer to compare Akane-banashi more with Shokugeki no Soma (before it went off the rails post-Cultural Festival), both WSJ series in the similar vein of intense and intensifying competition over their respective unconventional "sport", the curveballs thrown at their protagonists and how they triumph by improving the "self". But on the subject of "grounded" and overstepping, what's great about Akane-banashi over Soma is that it manages to escalate while truly remaining grounded in reality, without needing outsized things like big money to serve as the protagonist's competition. Mostly because it succeeds in portraying the existing Rakugo society, their practices and values in a Shonen-light without needing to invent them from the ground up. It speaks to the mettle of the authors.

Part of the reason why it's able to stay so grounded, if I'm remembering correctly from some of the manga threads, is because some of the things that happen in the series are based off real events that happened in japan. Not specifically within rakugo but manzai, like the expulsion event. So there is actually a basis in reality for what the series is drawing from which helps give a solid grounding for the plot and the characters motivation. Like I believe Issho is based off of an actual person.

I got what he was saying, but personally, I still don't feel the banning was an appropriate punishment for it. Just not getting the rank of Shin'uchi should have sufficed. Especially since this kind of punishment did not seem to be typical. Even for Issho. Otherwise this moment wouldn't have made such big waves. So while I understand his reasoning for not making Akane's father Shin'uchi, like Shiguma said, the punishment was just not right. And it feels weird that he went to these lengths this one time only.

This episode's discussion thread makes me feel like I'm taking crazy pills. Issho's justification is dogshit. Having standards is fine, but maybe as the head of your school you could help those students? Maybe I see too many parallels with my time as a PhD student. My advisor was great, but of course there were horror stories about a few other advisors in the department who treated their students harshly. And they get away with it because people venerate their achievements and their talent. Even their students continue to take their lumps because they believe so strongly in their advisor. Surely this harsh treatment was necessary, for their students to be at the top of their game, to be tomorrow's great scientists, right? Fuck no, it's just people abusing their power and/or not knowing how to mentor their students. I watched grad students who were smarter than me get pushed out of the field.

Nah, I'm with you. To add to that... doesn't his reasoning sound contradictory? He's looking at the future of Rakugo, and wants Rakugo to have a place there. Sure exceptional talent is necessary, but why expel the "mediocre"? Why reduce the numbers of active practitioners? P.S. I think a lot authors present "tough love" and "learn it yourself" mentors without actually experiencing this practice. At the very least, for me, it was a resentful experience. I still look forward to the day I could lay into these "mentors".

I think it's more so that Shinta's pleads at the start before starting the story were something that fundamentally Issho could not stand. Shinta's introduction not being perfect would be fine. But Shinta in Issho's mind defaced the Arakawa school by not being confident that his Rakugo would be enough that he was insulting the art. "tasteless test on such a glorius day", "with one vote from you my life will change". That's really saying that you don't think your Rakugo is good enough. If you start a PhD presentation with talking about a tasteless test and talk about how much it will change your life to get your PhD rather then focusing on showing your research to make them realize you should have a PhD it's going to be off.

Sure exceptional talent is necessary, but why expel the "mediocre"? Why reduce the numbers of active practitioners? Because mediocrity was spreading like a plague. Many considered that all's well as long as the audience has fun, but Isshou disagreed. He can't directly control the standards that every rakugo master across the country imposes on their students, so he took this extreme publicity stunt approach to strike fear and awe into their bones to make them take their art more seriously.

That is why they are professors who conduct research rather than teach. Many of them simply minmaxed in science and research. Charisma and personality are a dump stat. They are simply not good at dealing with other people, not good at being mentors. I have had professors directly telling me I am have biases in the way I think. Of course I took it the wrong way but upon reflecting, it was a honest critique rather than them intentionally being mean and harsh. They just don't know how to get the message across in a nicer way. Since then I have seen professors who are worse at lower tier universities. Professors who just treat students as extensions of themselves. Their students just conduct experiments designed by the professor and strictly follow his instructions without deviation. They learned nothing. Their thesis defense is them memorizing stuff prepared by the professor and they graduated without actually conducting any real research of their own. But Issho isn't quite like that. His reasoning is rational and valid, though everyone would agree his actions to disbar Akane's father is over the top.

That is why they are professors who conduct research rather than teach. Many of them simply minmaxed in science and research. Charisma and personality are a dump stat. They are simply not good at dealing with other people, not good at being mentors. I'd like to challenge the assumption that this is just the way things are, though. I've known many professors who have been adept at research, teaching, and mentorship. Or at the very least, not harsh and abusive to their students. Toxic professors are that way because we excuse it, because we do not demand better of them, not because doing better would diminish their research.

I think the comparison between soldier and artists doesn't quite fit. Issho doesn't want more people practicing the art, he wants the people practicing the art to be higher quality. He explicitly wants symbols, pillars of the community who don't just perform, but actively turn heads towards that performance. And it's working. You can argue Akane would be into Rakugo regardless, but Hikaru was getting scouted this episode, and without Issho's towering presence in the space, she wouldn't have given Rakugo the time of day.

Probably. Cuz every Exam is now way harder to show the Rakugoka are fit for the position. There's still some from Akane's father gen who were expelled and got another master and eventualy became Shinu'chi. I wouldn't call those good examples of this standard. It's more about the Zenza and Futatsume of that time and the next gen of Zenza (Akane after Karaku Cup) and Futatsume that probaly got to deal with the hardships that came as a consequence of Akane's father and his group being expelled. They're tested even in the way they deal with unexpected stuff. Pressure and so on. Those are trully harsh Exams. So Akane's gen and Those close to It have ir set for them in hardships. But Akane's gen is a lot better at least than what her father delivered in his expulsion Exam. That's something at least. So yeah, i believe Akane's gen is way better. Be It Karashi, Hikaru or Kaisei and Akane herself. They're the cream of The crop.

Yeah. I wouldn't say they're above Akane's dad by a whole lot. Except Kaisei probably. But they're better overall. None of them let any kind of pressure affect them like Akane's dad. So, in just this aspect alone they're way better than him. Yeah, It would be awesome for something like that to Happen. Akane comparing the dad she always loved and admired to a person from her generation and realizing the her rival was a better Rakugoka than her father would be too shocking.

Yeah, Shinta was good enough to be a Shinu'chi, but only on good days. Any days he had self doubt or felt too much pressure, he would perform as bad as a zenza on their first performance. Yeah, he had the skill, but doubted himself too much to show them. And for the art of Rakugo, at least in Issho's eyes, he wasn't at the Shinu'chi level. Cuz Issho's the kind who believes skill should dominate the audience. So If you're nervous and such and let it show. You're not on the level you're aiming for.

But he didn't even do that. Because Akane's teacher said that some of these became Shin'uchi later on anyway. So he wasn't even able to gatekeeper properly despite such a harsh punishment. The thing is, I could see the justification being that he wanted them to go to a different teacher as a form of learning something new and therefore getting better. But then, when Akane said she wants to show him with her father's Rakugo technique that this is what he always wanted. But if Akane's father had changed teachers, he would have changed his Rakugo style as well. So it's really weird.

Just because he's got his reasons with some logic behind it doesn't mean they are good reasons and logic. Also, he knew that if he did that way, the media would become crazy and people would go to his performance and other rakugokas', too. Now, if we go to the meta story: the authors probabably developed the main idea behind the expulsion some chapters later. In the first one, we just heard Isso saying "that's not Shibahama". And in this chapter, he denied (confirmed by Akane) that it was for a whim or some technicality in Shinta's performance.

has a logical reason pulling that expulsion stunt I think I'll go against the grain in this one. Though I understand the passionate purism to preserve the art of Rakugo, it boils down to being just the whim of an old fart who acted as judge, jury and executor without any other peer in the same ranking supporting his own demise. I know that the whole "be perfect" in everything you do among Japan's population is spread around with pride among themselves. But at the same time, I often hear more often than not of people being sick of this extremist line of thought to the point of becoming a huge burden and tax on their own mental health. Lastly, I wished someone had made a supportive notation on Akane's irrefutable fact, that her dad killed it in his last performance and the whole audience was joyfully satisfied with his rakugo. What matters are the results, not the perfect 10 steps of folding the creases.

While I agree that expulsion was going too far and was mostly a publicity stunt Issho was right to fail Akane's dad. He wasn't just taking an exam to prove he was skilled he was doing it to prove he was good enough to stand among the other leaders of the school and take on his own students. Cutting out the scenic section of the story was an automatic fail even if the performance got applause because he's not showing he can properly pass on the full story.

I understand and disagree with the decisions and motivations of both issho and shinta First Issho, setting the bar that high sounds good when explaining it on paper but its also something i dont find sustainable in the long term and would ultimately kill the art. Even ignoring that, how he went about it by expelling a whole batch serves little purpose than weeding out the weak of heart instead of just failing them and then they come back better. Holding people to a standard is fine, but expecting everyone to be the same talented individual that you are, which im guessing is what Issho is basing his decision on, is unrealistic Second Akane's dad, I know customs and traditions matter but it would be ignorant to say they're perfect and flawless. While its not common, retiring instead of just switching schools exemplifies the problem of being too stuck on the norm instead of committing to the goal. In hindsight while its also not the most reasonable decision of its own Issho's decision did weed out the weak of heart. Rakugo is on a fragile state and it needs people who are willing to commit, even if doing the uncommon but still within the bounds of whats tolerated

Best line to sum up Issho's stance, like Akane, I'm glad he actually has a logical reason pulling that expulsion stunt rather than being some grumpy old man thats comically evil. Good versus evil is one thing, but the best conflicts are pitting the legitimate resolve/ideals between two people against each other in a fight for validation. Akane's dad clearly had so much respect for Shiguma he'd rather just end his career as it is than find a new school. It would've been a betrayal to his Rakugo dad and his Rakugo family to just jump ship to another school. Luckily Akane is skilled enough to carry the spirit of her father and her Rakugo grandpa.

I feel that way too. He could have denied his promotion but not crushed him with expulsion and cut off his desire to grow and improve. One could argue that a properly driven performer should not be crushed by anything but I don’t think it’s healthy to demand and enforce that kind of obsessive compulsion. He hadn’t done anything deserving such a smack down. Very good episode and show though. Great job with do many memorable characters with distinct styles and personalities. And quite enjoyed the growth arc of our main character. She managed to be fiery while also being respectful to the elder masters. I’ll look forward to seeing more.

Yeah, he relied a bit on the audience getting invested in him struggling, but it still takes genuine skill to be able to bring the audience together and make them genuinely enjoy the performance. He wasn't perfect, he may not have been Shin'uichi level, but he had the potential to get better and improve his Rakugo. Of course it's not like Issho knew that he'd never try again at another school but the expelling was still excessive.

What's he doing was actually counter-productive, if one thinks about it. He could both train new apprentices with new methods, and reformed the traditional methods with the old apprentices. It's actually easier to create a better artist with someone who already had the experience than starting from scratch. The old apprentices probably know more about what to change, since they can serve as a bridge between the master who has spent most of their life steep in tradition and the outsider who's not familiar with the art form. And if an art form stagnants, if it's usually the fault of the masters. They are the ones who determine the direction the art form is taking. Plus, it's not his call to make. The man was not his student!

I love how consistent Issho's character is in his explanation. The reason why he expulsed Akane's dad, the reason why he disliked the performances of the students and gave them backhanded praise and even why he respected Akane's performance. It all ties together and it also reveals his key flaw: He defends the art, but not the people involved with it. His reasoning is, as other characters put it, inhumane. And what good is an art that serves no human being? Sure, Shinta's perfomance wasn't perfect. Perhaps he is a bit pitiful. But it's not just a weakness. His pitifulness, his honesty is endearing. It's what Akane's mom likes of him, it's what makes him charming. And it's what the audience liked. He got people cheering for him. Isn't that a skill? Sure it is, and it's a very human thing. For me, however, the key is that he didn't recognize Akane. He instantly recognized who her master was. He repeated it, several times, as if it was this key piece of information. And yet, even when she was sitting in front, he didn't know she was his Shinta's daughter. They said that the relationship between a master and his apprentice is like that of a father and a son. Well, who is Akane if not Shinta's daughter? Who made her into a Rakugoka if not him? Issho has such an idealistic view of the art that he fails to recognize what he has in front of him. After all, he does not realize one thing: His own school failed at raising a new generation of Rakugoka yet the man he so harshly dismissed succeeded at it.

Performance art is a very subjective matter, whether you like it or not. I wouldn't say there's a right or wrong between Akane and Issho, simply two people with different points of view, although I still think the expulsion was cruel. I loved seeing the celebration and dance (especially with the drunk guy lol). Rakugo goes beyond a hierarchical relationship; it's about building a family and the teachings passed down among them.

And as we saw, Akane's passion is contagious. No way would Hikaru and Karashi be considering training with rakugo masters if they hadn't been completely dominated by Akane's performance. Isshou expels Tooru -> vengeful daughter becomes obsessed with mastering rakugo to vindicate her father's rakugo -> a new generation of rakugoka are inspired by rivalry with the vengeful daughter. All according to keikaku.

Akane sees Kaisei as her rival, then comes Karashi and Hikaru and sees her as their rival. They were using Rakugo to further their goals, but then comes Akane and shows the depths of the Rakugo world. Akane utterly defeating her using the most Basic of Rakugo stories is humiliation in Itself, bringing forth the motivation to dive deep in the art. While they would otherwise give up on the art. Specially Karashi, since he was basically playing with Rakugo before getting bored and giving It up. And Hikaru was Just trying to prove she had talent and wasn't Just a pretty face thru Rakugo. Now they became obsessed with Rakugo.

Performance art is a very subjective matter, whether you like it or not. I wouldn't say there's a right or wrong between Akane and Issho, simply two people with different points of view This is why Issho, and the series in general, are so amazing. It's not a story of cartoonishly evil villains doing bad things. It's a story of clashing world views where both sides have valid points. Like in their meeting, Issho gets Akane to acknowledge that her father's promotion performance wasn't worthy of a shinuchi. You don't get that if the villain is some evil guy doing evil things for the sake of being evil. You get that because he was rational in his assessment. Where she disagreed with him was the expulsion though, as we saw at the end of their meeting, her fury and fire is exactly what he wanted to see. Man has plans on plans.