あかね噺

# Rakugo Q&A desk I think I forgot to answer a few questions last time (because I've been listening to my faves in spare time instead of answering) so now is the good time to shoot as many of them as possible 😊 BTW: The anisan/neesan terms are NOT determined by age, but by seniority as in the date one officially entered their master's care (so yeah, it is absolutely possible for someone who became a hanashika straight outta junior high to be called this by a junior zenza that is actually over twice their age)

So, Kyoji used his more serious personality to his advantage precisely to make the Rakugo more interesting, and Akane, who has a much more laid-back personality, did this without realizing it. The Master truly deserves the title; it's not just about teaching, it's about creating bonds and showing what each person is capable of. It's quite funny to see Kyoji asking Akane to call him ani-san, firstly because he's too serious for that, and secondly because Akane still retains her tomboyish childhood traits; both have personalities where the use of honorifics in this way isn't common. But it was nice, lovely episode

Honestly, the free style part of Rakugo is probably the hardest aspect I would imagine. You can practice the normal routines several times, even plan to make adjustments to it or think what you could change mid-performance. But being able to react well to the audience is something that you just need a feeling for and only comes with experience. Akane did well here but I can assume this might still be a hard thing to do in the future. Not only was the audience just old people this time (usually an audience is more diverse) but she also knew that fact beforehand. And also, I can feel this might become another important part when it comes to special audiences in the future. Her father knew, he was watched by masters in episode 1 and could have adjusted his performance accordingly, but he wanted to tell it the way he likes it. Which he was then punished for. So it's going to be a challenge between adjusting for the audience and staying true to yourself. Again, Akane did this well this episode by increasing the pace slowly. But this will probably be one of the hardest things to learn.

It's so sweet how Kyouji has acknowledged Akane as his younger apprentice sister and told her to refer him in that way too. I think after hearing how much he wants to give as much as Shiguma has to him made that moment feel particularly more emotional, and given his personality, you know he'll be doing his utmost to raise her to be the best she can be.  I'm glad we got to see his rakugo performance. I thought he'd be serious but I wasn't expecting that to be so amplified it'd make him commit fully into being the characters, it was interesting to see how far he goes. Shiguma noticed his strength and made sure to bring it out to its fullest potential.

- In other words, she’ll be performing in front of a bunch of old people again? Let’s see how she learned after her jokes didn’t really land with an older audience last time. - Hah. I’m sure that joke’s a good one for the audience. - lol - Yeah, she definitely landed this performance a *whole* lot better than her previous one. - That’s a really funny face. - Kyoji “sore demo”! - Ah, make that *two* of them, nice. - Huh, good to know for future reference. - She forgot about her midterms…

You know, I really like the two-tone highlights in Akane's hair. Akane's confidence along with that fingerwag at how she's sure to crush both her upcoming tasks just gives off some big Anya Forger energy. And I'm sure there's no shortage of folks who know what tends to happen when Anya starts to radiate that energy. > The beauty of rakugo is that it can be performed anywhere as long as there's a cushion. *looking over at my bed with the pillow sitting on it* Well Akane's definitely gotten better at that preperformance stage patter. Makura? I thought that was the name of the lobster monsters that live on Azeroth. Or those giant alien crabs that feed on atmospheric pollution. > But you know what? If you're too serious, it would be funny. That is a good point. I know I've seen no shortage of characters in this entertainment medium alone that could be described as "taking themselves and/or whatever shit in particular they're doing is, *way* too seriously" where it comes off as just being laughable.

This was a really good episode. I'm liking Akane and Kyoji's relationship. So wholesome and sweet. The way the episode ended with her learning to call him Ani-san was just perfect. Was nice to see Akane applying what she learned from Miku in her performance. Her master is right to call her a quick learner. The way she used the skills from the hospitality gig to woo the audience was ace. Interesting that different performers use their own styles and methods to entertain the audience with rakugo. It was good to see a different style with Kyoji. Was wondering how someone as serious as him would be able to make the audience laugh. Very cool of his master to tell him to play it so straight and serious that it becomes hilarious as a result. Also interesting to learn about how the masters take on apprentices even though they have nothing to gain out of it. It's truly a labour of love, which makes the familial set up very apt indeed. Only wish we could actually see more of the rakugo performances. Especially since the VAs apparently trained in rakugo for this anime. Pity that most of it ends up getting drowned out by the voiceovers.

I always love the closeups of Akane's eyes, they are so arresting. Anyone who knows Japanese, I assume the original joke about three vs free is different, or no? Even comedy can carry a lesson. I love Akane's reflection on this story as she tells it. Stories have a base, but a great teller can flavor them to make it unique, the same way a chef can add their own spin to a meal to make it their own. Not just in performance like this but in writing and other forms as well. Such an important lesson. This show is phenomenal. Taking shonen tropes and applying them to storytelling as a form of competition plus training arcs etc is magical. And it helps that Akane is a kid it is easy to root for. The art in the small talk bits is so silly and cute. I dunno if they had this in the source material but I love it here.

A good rakugoka tailored their story to suit their audience. A great rakugoka tailored their audience to suit their story. Akane did well in using her experience at the izakaya to further her rakugo performance. While previously she paid no heed to her audience and solely relied on her story, she had now began to read the room and get a feel of her audience. Stopping there would already be an improvement, but she went a step further and gradually increased the tempo until it's one she's comfortable with. All this while the audience were unaware of the shift. Kyoji's clearly proud of Akane's improvement. Finally addressing her by name as well as demanding she used honorific meant he had accepted her as his junior, even if she's yet to be a formal apprentice. Having said that, one aspect he's NOT proud of was her neglect of her studies. Yeah, she's in big trouble now. Her parents seemed to be quite lax about that so someone needed to step up to the job.

This episode was so great in terms of characterisation. Akane truly learned from her mistakes and she adjusted her performance according to the audience by getting to know the people who would watch her. On the other hand, she effortlessly made them get used to her style so when she switched to a faster performance, she didn't lose one bit of their attention. Kyouji was so fun to watch. His laid down, serious Rakugo style contradicted Akane's expressive and energetic style and he showcased his skills as a performer. By doing so, we also got to see how much he respects Shiguma, who guided him and made him become a better Rakugo performer by utilizing his existing skills instead of forcing himself to perform in a way that wouldn't represent him. Kyouji's monologue and the ending of the episode highlighted the importance of the bond between a master and an apprentice. A master can be skillful and popular in their field but just because someone is good in their craft, that doesn't mean that they'll be suitable to teach others, too. Shiguma and his apprentices have developed a familial bond and now, Akane belongs to this family, after being acknowledged as Kyouji's "sister". I cannot wait to see more of them!

I was excited to watch Kyoji perform to see how he would translate his very serious personality to his Rakugo performance and was imagining doing a complete 180 and being a total clown during his performance but him being so serious it makes him delivering the performance funny makes way more sense for his character and fits him well. Also during Akane’s story I was thinking about how the western equivalent (or atleast in my personal experience) of that story would be telling the person they look 25 to say they look young which imo would work most of the time. This is mainly from remembering my mom always saying that she stopped aging after 25 because it’s when you stop celebrating growing older (which I am now experiencing myself being 26) and because to me it feels like the equivalent of how the Japanese see their high school years: the last time to really enjoy life before other issues become more important (this may not be the case for everyone of course).

I cant enjoy things it seems .  Akane banashi the show itself is beutifull, i am happy it exists as an embassary product for rakugo. And works really well as a coming of age (me being an anoying bitch and spoilers)--->But the rakugo shows themselves are bad. They got not good delivery on the jokes untill after you see the chracters acting and talking like rakugo characters "irl". As did the first aniki after Akane flunked her partial. But the meat of the episodes is shonen style narration of rakugo performances, which destroy the jokes. The bit i mentioned early didn't happen untill 4 espisodes in. In a 80 minute sequence it kind of works in the sense that despise Akane being comited in a life long mission to defend her Father's honor.... she has flunked btw. Hilarious. i would need to actually read the manga the author and direction would be brilliant if it aknowledges that akene flunking rythm in her first performances is a reflection on how shonen narration can flunk rythm, and that the rakugo scenes are only there for aura farming like whit 3 gatsu no lion matches or rakugo in suicide by rakugo meta fiction stuff. i think cosmic princess kaguya honors this style of traditional dialogue writing in a similar way in the opening sequence. But lazer focusing on folk tales instead of the rakugo format. Ackowledging my own foolishness, there is no way an anime is going to match real rakugo if it doesnt break the battle shonen format, but this piece of media will be key to getting more rakugo being translated and it has my full suport.

Akane has learned so much from her time working at Miku's izakaya! Now she can truly put her all into becoming a rakugo performer! Oh, and she's got midterms! I'm sure she'll successfully juggle rakugo and school work at the same time. Akane showing the fruits of her experiences already by getting a feel for the retirement home and respecting the audience before she's even on stage! She's invested and pumped to perform for these people and that's an important first step. And this extends to the Makura phase of her performance as she chats with the seniors and gets adopted by them as their granddaughter! It's important to relate to people to get their attention...though Akane locking in with her winning smile also helps! That Saburo guy needed his deceased wife in Heaven to show up and get his head straight while he fantasizes about flight attendant Akane. Can't really blame him though. Rakugo is a story about ordinary, laboring, people, something quintessential that transcends time. Now that Akane has the experience of being a proper working girl, she can put that into her performance and ease the audience in...before she ratchets up the temp and takes them on the wild, Akane, rakugo ride! She did it! But not to be outdone, it's time for Kyoji to show off HIS rakugo! What is a serious an diligent man like as a rakugo performer? Why, he's just as serious and intense when performing rakugo! Which just makes his character voices and the situations they get into all the more hilarious! He's got Akane laughing! He's got the seniors all laughing like they're half their age! He's paying back all the teaching and dedication Master Shiguma gave him! Nicely done, Kyoji ani-san! Kyoji has finally accepted Akane as a fellow apprentice! And as her new "big brother" it's his duty to make sure she doesn't forget or give up on her schoolwork! Akane-Kobanashi! I hope any parent of Akane's friends are ready to be called "uncle."

If there's one thing I wish this series did more of, it's more of the actual rakugo itself. Comparing it to Rakugo Shinjuu isn't fair, but what that series did so well was letting the stories play out completely and letting the voice acting do the heavy lifting. It felt like us as the anime viewers were a part of the audience in-universe. I don't mind the explanations interjecting in Akane Banashi, but I'd like to see more of the actual Rakugo.

Akane did a good job using her age to her advantage. When your audience is your grandparents' or parents' age, appealing to their sense of familial familiarity is a great way to break the ice. She also did well focusing on the first grandma for small talk, before opening to the general audience with a simple question. This is a great technique for reducing your own nervousness while getting the audience to lower their barrier due to unfamiliarity.