あかね噺

A long ago (1928) movie named Show People (a great movie) featured Marion Davies as a movie-struck would-be star coming to Hollywood and (near the start) fan-girling over all the (real life) big stars she saw -- including Marion Davies. 😉 BTW -- I thought Hayamin was incredible in Pseudo Harem. And Rieri is no slouch either. It is folks like these that make me indifferent to dubbed anime (regardless of any merits it might have).

As a manga reader, I am so happy to finally see Karashi (VA: Eguchi Takua) and Hikaru (VA: Takahashi Rie) in animated form! There are probably two other most popular characters in this series, right next to Akane, and I can't wait to see more of them in the future. I love how Karashi thinks that Akane's Jugemu is nothing special while Hikaru thinks Akane is performing with Jugemu out of pure confidence . These two have no idea that Akane is basically being handicapped, and her real competition is the challenge Shiguma gave her.

As a manga reader, I am so happy to finally see Karashi (VA: Eguchi Takua) and Hikaru (VA: Takahashi Rie) in animated form! There are probably two other most popular characters in this series, right next to Akane, and I can't wait to see more of them in the future. We stan Rie Takahashi as a cool beauty seiyuu with an accent who is basically a walking kimono fanservice character. It doesn't get more cultured than this.

Been looking forward to this moment! When two formidable rivals entered stage; Karashi the twice-defending champion and Hikaru the esteemed voice actress. I see Julius and Emilia had been reverse isekai'd and found themselves in the world of Rakugo. Love the bait when it seemed that Kaisei's locked his eyes on Hikaru when it turned out he's been focused on Akane instead. That's the moment when everyone recognised that Akane's serious business. Talking fast isn't the key to Jugemu. That's what Akane said, but her performance boiled down to speaking rapidly while still clearly enunciating the words. Having said that, looks like she's still got something up her sleeves – and Kaisei's well aware of that. We should expect a different take on Jugemu in the final round. Before that, however, I'm also excited to see Karashi and Hikaru's performances. Hikaru calling Akane cute and pretty with a straight face. I'd expect the playboy Karashi to make those remarks instead of her. Felt bad Akane, being cursed with playboys. First it was Kaisei, then Maikeru, and now Karashi.

I mean, the point is that Akane has to hold back in the prelims because if she revealed what she found, it wouldn't have an impact in the second round. Because she is doing the same story twice. Meaning she has to find two ways to tell the story while keeping it fresh. And since place 1 only means something during the finale, "just speaking really fast" is the correct way to go, because you still get to the top 8 while having another, more surprising way of reciting the story during your second attempt.

That's what Akane said, but her performance boiled down to speaking rapidly while still clearly enunciating the words. Having said that, looks like she's still got something up her sleeves – and Kaisei's well aware of that. We should expect a different take on Jugemu in the final round. I pretty much thought the same as Kasei: this was just a warm-up. The real big hitter has to be on the final round.

I’m hoping you can answer a question I’ve been super curious about and can’t think of any way to find out since I don’t speak Japanese The manga supervisor did a few months of training the main VAs and they’ve released videos of some of the training sessions. What is this story this video clip starts on? Across all the videos I’ve seen the master teaching all of them and the VAs performing this bit where they slowly point horizontally and drag out one syllable super long. I don’t recognize that story from anything in the manga or from Showa Genraku. I can only surmise it’s either a good teaching basic or a personal specialty of the consultant. Can you identify what story that’s from?

I dare to say that hanashika directly helped build the seiyuu industry (as they were frequent choices for casting in Japan's older radio dramas.) The most notable recent case of a hanashika having a decent seiyuu career is probably Hayashiya Kobuhei (probably his most notable role is Kotaro in Touch,) but ever since becoming Hayashiya Shozo IX, he hasn't really been that active in that field anymore 😢

A possible intervening step were the benshi of the "silent movie" era -- which never really existed in Japan because pre-talkie movies never relied solely on intertitles, but rather always had a narrator (and often some live musicians) who acted out all the dialogue as well as providing running commentary. Basically rakugo style performances as a co-equal (or even more important) part of the pre-talkie movbie experience.

I guess that answers the question I had last week which is how Akane wanted to make the same story interesting two times in a row. By keeping her ace in hand and only playing the queen to get through the preliminaries. The super fast talking was fun though and in the end, the right decision because it is more than enough to get into the Top 8. They made sure to not show us the other two big shots this week, so I assume we will see them in episode 8 (especially Hikaru and her fixation on Akane) and I am looking forward to see what Akane changed in order to make Jugemu work. And if it is a change that doesn't annoy the big boss once again. I find it kind of funny that Akane could have given Guriko an actual picture of her teacher but decided to draw one. It did look like her tbh. If Rakugo would allow self drawn images, Akane could go into completely new territory.

Huh… This is just black-haired Shinji Hirako. Ooh, a voice actress doing rakugo. That sounds neat. Ah, nice that Akane’s helping out one of her opponents. That’s how she greets Kaisei? That she does, yeah. Guriko “sore demo”, sweet. She told her teacher that talking fast wasn’t the key to Jugemu Jugemu , so… hm. Is she doing this for the prelims and going to mix it up for the main tournament? Ah, fun, Hikaru thinks of Akane as a rival now. Damn, that’s kind of a shame… Ganbare, Akane!

She has to do two performances in a row to the same story, which is something nobody else has to do. A Jugemu that is both comedic and an edo-period drama bout selfisnhess, and giving your child too much of a good thing is just not what you throw in the prelims. You hold off that kind of thing to perform it in front of the guy who destroyed your father's career, and didn't even bother to explain why.

Honestly, she should be happy that she made it to the final. She can't expect to win against people who only do rakugo when she's from another industry. Sure, it's an amateur tournament, but she's up against people like Akane, who is training under a Shin'uchi, and Karashi, who has won the tournament two times in a row. I commend her spirit, but no one would be surprised when the pro padel player doesn't win the tennis tournament. However, we never got to see her perform, maybe she really has talent for rakugo.

Yup. Like I said I think he'll pick the best performance by the traditions of Rakugo. Just while I doubt he personally gives a shit about anime, one of his stated goals could be served by picking her if she's at least close. What's interesting is I assume Akane loses here because she needs to set up her next training arc through some sort of failure. She might get it by winning and then Issho tells her something she can use, but that doesn't feel like how a sports anime normally goes and this is clearly taking its cues from that genre.

Either she loses here like you said, or she wins and it causes her to get complacent. That complacency has consequences down the line which in turn triggers the aforementioned training arc. If she loses, I hope it’s Karashi that beats her. It wouldn’t sit right with me if Akane loses to Hikaru for the reasons I mentioned earlier. Because of how frustrating she finds Akane, I think a win would get to her head and she would genuinely start thinking that she’s better than Akane at Rakugo.

The way the ginger reporter was getting excited talking about rakugo was amusing, but it's funny how his colleague got more excited when Kouragi appeared. I didn't miss her blushing, even though she looks put off by him, she probably finds his passion one of his attractive attributes.  Akane's speed with that tongue twister was impressive, I wonder how many takes Nagase Anna had to do to get it done lol. That sounds like a pain to do.  I like how Takahashi Rie is voicing Kouragi, she has this gentle and fragile icyness to her, but the switch up to her real personality is interesting. That fukuoka dialect lol. I hope Kouragi realizes Akane isn't who she thinks she is.

Akane and Kaisei play off each other so well. Want to see more of their rivalry. So Akane better win this tournament. Should be interesting to see how she changes things up for the finals. The voice actress character is interesting. Not quite an antagonist but something like one. Pity we didn't get to see her performance. Hope we do for the finals at least. Curious to see how a seiyuu would adapt to rakugo. Hah, that sounds a bit meta since the seiyuu in this show are all performing in a sense, but they're not actually on stage live.

Akane has found a new coach in Iwa-sensei! Someone to get hyped for her success AND help her do research to improve her Rakugo performance! It's finally time for the Karaku Cup! The koshien of the Rakugo world! And there's a strong press presence there to see all the up-and-coming young stars of the Rakugo world as they show off for the sake of gaining recognition from Issho Arakawa and prove they have what it takes. And there are plenty of people to watch out for: Karashi Nerimaya (Takuya Eguchi!), two-year Karaku Cup champion with the shifty beady-eyed eyes! Hikaru Koragi (Rie Takahashi!) a popular young seiyuu who made her name in a Magical Girl anime and who is drop dead gorgeous and has a winning smile! The eyes are definitely on them (but especially Hikaru). Hikaru looks amazing in that kimono that matches her hair and eyes, and it makes her quite the contrast to Akane in her mens' kimono...but imagine this tomboy who just helped you with your obi would be the ONLY person singled out by none other than Kaisei Arakawa before the competition. Someone she's willing to box if she has to! The eyes are now all on Akane! I really want to know if Anna Nagase was able to get all that Jugemu out in one take or if they had to use modulation to speed up her voice or if that was all her. Even so, it was a very impressive Jugemu telling by Akane. But despite that, Karashi doesn't think she can take this...yet Hikaru sees her as her biggest rival, especially when she realizes Akane has such main character energy. That Akane got to see her with her natural Fukuoka accent and what she's like when she's not putting on a classy, city girl, performance just makes it all the more personal. It's nice to see that Akane has people in her corner. Guriko, Koguma (even if he won't overtly show it), and Iwa-sensei who has basically pulled a whole character 180 from stoic cool beauty teacher to enthusiastic Rakugo enjoyer. Can Akane impress Kaisei? Can she impress the man BEHIND Kaisei? For now, with her resolve solidified, she faces the finals: as Issho Arakawa arrives with as much antagonist aura as possible. Akane-Kobanashi! It's nice of Akane to teach Hikaru how to fold kimono, though ensuring it's a teachable moment by making her do it herself did NOT endear her to Hikaru in the end.

Ok so that guy is literally just Shinji from Bleach right? He's got the hair, the teeth and the attitude for it. Also we see part of Akane's plan. We knew she had to find some way to give two different performances with the same story and it appears her plan is to do a very polished but basic Jugemu for the first round and then reveal her actual modifications to the story in the final round. So we have next week to look forward to for the real twist she's figured out.

The whole show thus far has introduced characters to wrap up much of their appearances quick. The dad had one episode. It was so packed, and then he’s gone off to work. We got the other apprentices in training and most of them just left. Even the main Master, only glimpses. Then they did the whole school thing, poof, down to a teacher that handles career guidance. We lost her friend that encouraged the teacher to check out Akane though the teacher was blended with two of the others. Not to read too much into the after credits bonus, but they kind of hint that a friendship could come between Akane and the voice actress. None of this is a complaint on the story telling, just noting how fast it’s moved with very little time wasted anywhere. It’s kind of refreshing.

So many plot stuff happening in this episode, yet they're saving more stuff for the next episode. It makes sense that they save the performance of the two rivals for next week. And definitely excited to see Akane's final form Jugemu. Carnation pink man is back. somehow, this relationship is developing like Gon X Hisoka, but less creepy and weird. Worrying about the pacing a bit. Feels like a lot of the plot is happening is a few episode. But since it's been greenlit for 24 episodes, I guess it'll be fine. Next week's episode is gonna be so hype!

The concern I have at least is the actual voice work. The Japanese VAs that are doing Rakugo characters spent I believe 6 months going through the training actual Rakugo go through to prepare for their parts. But Netflix only bought the rights to stream it with dub 2 months ago, so the English voice cast did not get the same chance. Doesn't mean they can't still kill it but puts them at a major disadvantage.

I've watched a lot of anime where the anticipation for the next episode is high because of an epic battle with swords or fists or magic, but I've never felt this anxious for the next episode as I do now. She delivered an awesome Jugume this episode so I'm going crazy just imagining how she is going to top that performance. I have to admit that her taking what most Rakugo see as a warm up exercise and elevating it made me a bit tear up. Akane is glorious.

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On today's episode of Oshi no Akane Banashi.... I really thought Hikaru spiked the drink she gave to Akane! Even if not with a hard drug, maybe something that bothers your throat or alcohol. I know some performers can still be amazing drunk, but that probably would have slowed her down a lot. I think she and the long haired rakugoka might have it in for her and do something to her underhanded. I do think this whole thing about Akane wanting to meet the Master to ask him about why he fired her father is really immature and not productive. She doesn't seem aware that many people in show business are just assholes who think people are beneath them and it's probably not going to be anything deeper than either he thinks her father sucked or he was just in a foul mood. Akane will probably win because that's how shows go and I think Hikaru understands something that the long haired man doesn't: Akane is marketable among young people. She's a pretty teen who looks like an idol and is really good at rakugo. I think the long haired man is intended to be considered average looking to unattractive so he may mistakenly think people will win this just on skill. BUT on the TV show, the Master made no bones about wanting to get more young people into rakugo and I can't think of a better way than to have someone good looking doing it that could be marketed as an idol. One thing I didn't like was how they had everyone talking over Akane during her performance talking really fast. I suspect though this was to cover it up that the voice actress was most likely sped up in production and/or wasn't getting the enunciation perfectly when Akane was speaking her fastest.

Tournament arc time! And the other two finding out they had a third competitor the hard way was fun. Whoa they changed up small talk from the character art on sticks style of the first six episodes. I'm really going to like the Voice Actress I think. Less sold on the other guy so far, he seems a bit boring based on his introduction, but he didn't get as many chances to add wrinkles to his character so I'll give him a pass for now.

Damn another long hair dude like yoshitsune. Been seeing a lot of this archetype lately in all anime. I wonder why? These characters always give me the most mod squad 80s British vibes for some reason. ah So that's the Hikaru everyone's so enamored with, I can see why lol. Akane with the defensive stance 😂 her drawing of Iwa sensei is hilarious, at first I thought it was a bancho or something. I watched some of the Rakugo practice her VA did in order to get good at this role and now seeing this intensive speed version of jugemu is crazy as hell. Her mid pose 😍 That "Saiyaku" was hilarious 😆

Great to see the Karaku Cup kick off! Lord knows I can't say Jugemutc. with the speed and clarity that Akane does. It's great seeing everyone start to realize how big of a deal she is. Kaisei approaching Akane hidden by Hikaru was great. Hikaru's plenty of fun with her hidden passion and accent hidden under that pretty, demure facade. Her competitiveness over the ripe for buzz Akane is great. I can't wait to see her and Karashi's performances. Dude's extra smug for how he was fangirling over Hikaru lol.

Finally caught up with the show's 6 episodes, gonna watch this new episode sometime. I wonder what kind of spin Akane takes on the Jugemu tale, as after a short browse on wikipedia, there are famous rakugoka that have made their own spin on Jugemu and make them their trademark performance. Post watch edit: Hot damn, she starts it slow but makes it faster and even faster as the story goes. That definitely takes some time to master.

That's a lot of press coverage. So, the reigning champion. And other competition. And so here she is. Huh. Who's got everyone's attention? Oh, him. So, he's looking for her. So, she invited her teacher. Her teacher seemed to like her performance. Oh, she forgot her fan? Oh no that's not why she wants to talk to him. So, that guy has told her now. Huh. She's still here too. So, she overheard that. Give up on her? Won't be enough? Admiration? Tear off his mask?