Shouwa Genroku Kikuhiko and Sukeroku Meet Again After Death

Afterward a dominating emotional one-two punch of the last couple of episodes, the last episode ofShouwa Genraku Rakugo Shinjuu was leap to be tranquility and uneventful past comparison. The first half or and then is the aftermath of the death of Sukeroku and Miyokichi. Kikuhiko takes Konatsu on as a ward and after making arrangements for the internment of her parent's ashes, he takes her to Tokyo.

There, he'south officially named Yakumo, since, well, there'southward no one else to take information technology. No matter how expert I or anyone else think he may be, he'll never believe he deserved the title. Were it not for the war, or the events that led to his brother'due south decease, someone better would have inherited it. That being said, he knowssomeonehas to take information technology, so he accepts.

After we witness a smidgen of Yakumo's (lack of) parenting skills, as a young, grieving Konatsu soothes her heart with rakugo (in spite of her guardian's displeasure with the practice), nosotros return to the present, with a futatsume Yotaro getting a haircut every bit penance for letting skid that he'southward to exist promoted to shin'uchi soon.

The now-grown Konatsu is proud of the lug, and probably a little jealous as well (what with her wish to do what he's doing). At the end of the twenty-four hour period there was no need to go right dorsum to that dark Yakumo forgave Yotaro and started his long ballsy tale that came to contain the lion's share of the series. Suffice information technology to say, Yotaro did what was asked of him, and is on the cusp of making it in a world many have now forgotten.

Sharing some congratulatory tea in the doorway of their home, Konatsu asks Yotaro to exercise some rakugo for her. Non just whatever story; the same i she tearfully performed to herself years back, which led to Yakumo's scolding. It brings tears to her optics once again, surprising Yotaro, and she suddenly tells him she's preggers.

What shewon't say is who the begetter is, only that she wants to bear on the Sukeroku bloodline for her father's sake. Yotaro, proverb the first thing to come into his head, offers to exist the kid's father; she reacts with anger and exasperation and storms off, only notably without outright refusing the offer.

As for Ol' Yakumo, he'south washing the family unit grave on the anniversary of the 7th generation'due south death, and pondering his own eventual demise equally disconcerted Matsuda stands by. Yakumo can't believe Yotaro is about to become a Shin'uchi, but like his masters earlier, he has little choice.

It'south as if the deterioration of rakugo has only accelerated, with Yakumo simply being able to carry it on in its purest—but least flexible—grade. Only ane theater remains open up in Tokyo, and it'due south rarely full. With someone like Yotaro under his wing, rakugo'southward hereafter is that much brighter. Simply then, Yotarou asks to inheret the Sukeroku name, not moments subsequently Yakumo saw the ghost of the human being himself.

So ends the kickoff act ofShouwa Genraku Rakugo Shinjuu. In that location would seem to be plenty of material for a 2nd, for which this episode serves as a kind ofentre'acte. And indeed, after the terminate credits, Yotaro apologizes for not existence able to tell more, but they just ran out of time. If and when an Act Two comes, I shall emphatically seek information technology out!

The day of the dual performance arrives, and the atmosphere is fizzing with anticipation. Sukeroku is noncommittal at first, even when Matsuda arrives, solitary after the passing of his married woman. Merely Konatsu is super-excited at the prospect of getting to watch her dad do what he was meant to, while Kiku sees this trivial makeshift theater as the venue for re-stoking Sukeroku'due south burn down and enticing him to come up back to Tokyo with him.

Matsuda isn't the only lone one. Miyokichi may exist with Sukeroku, and Konatsu may be their child, just i gets the thought only one thing—one person—is on her listen, and that's Kiku. It'due south ironic that this theater was once a place for geishas similar Miyokichi used to exist. Just now she's in Western dress and sneaking in incognito, and the room is now a identify for a different kind of performance.

We merely see and hear snippets of Kiku'south whole operation rather than a single continuous story, as if to underscore the point that this episode isn't actually about Kiku'due south functioning He's become one of the best performers alive; his talent is undisputed, and he's a consummate professional person. At that place was never any doubt he'd knock it out of the park.

The real question is how a rusty Sukeroku will fare. He becomes more motivated after Kiku goes beginning (Kiku'south intention, no incertitude), because by watching Kiku he was able to observe the quality of the audition, about whom he was initially dubious.

Merely Kiku's rakugo was skillful non only becaue Kiku is skilful, but because the crowd is good. Rakugo is a far more than collaborative process than it seems, with a performer feeding off the crowd every bit the oversupply gets sucked into the performance. Notably, Miyokichi leaves before Sukeroku begins, and there'south never a shot of her listening in the hall, so I presume she really left.

No matter: with Matsuda, Konatsu, Bon, and a good audience at his disposal, Sukeroku goes all out with a rare (for him) sentimental tale about an alcoholic fishmonger who finds a bag of cash washed up on the beach. He celebrates with a lavish party, but awakes from his stupor to learn he but dreamed of the purse, but not the party.

The contrite human being promises his married woman he'll quite drinking and pay back all the debts he has, in addition to the added debt from the partying. For 3 years, works his ass off, until every debt has been paid off. Then his married woman confesses the purse wasn't a dream later all; she merely gave it to police, who held it for a year with no one claiming it before passing dorsum to her.

The wife is abreast herself with guilt for deceiving him for so long, but he's not upset. In the past iii years, her lie made him a better man, and when she offers him sake to celebrate, he puts the cup down without taking a sip, lest everything that happened plow out to be a dream.

The crowd leans in, laughs, cries…andIleaned in, laughed, and cried. Information technology was a powerful, mesmerizing functioning, and at its heights gave me the same chills and goosebumps as the musical performances inShigatsu kimi no Uso.

When information technology'due south over, Kiku and Sukeroku spend some time relaxing like they used to do in their fiddling apartment, merely this fourth dimension the latter's daughter is sleeping on his chest, and the two brothers actually deign to concur on something Kiku says:

People tin can't empathize everything about each other. And yet people still live together. The love of sharing trivial, meaningless things with others is man nature. I suppose that's why humans tin can't stand to exist alone.

Being in this pocket-sized, close-knit town, existence with Sukeroku again, meeting Konatsu, and Sukeroku's latest and peradventure most soul-bearing performance—it's all had a profound effect on Kiku. He one time thought all he needed in his life was rakugo, but he'due south homo, and he doesn't want to be alone anymore. Their late master's house has fallen to him, just it's also large for just him. He wants Sukeroku, Konatsu, and Miyokichi to move in with him.

But when Kiku is summoned to a room at the inn where Miyokichi meets him, we learn that allshe wants in that particular moment is Kiku…andonly Kiku. In all the time they've been apart she never stopped pining for him, and the fact he's there gives her crusade to believe he wants to change things, possibly even make amends for knocking her and Sukeroku's lives off track with his shortsighted insistence on confinement.

Kiku can't quite resist Miyokichi's embrace, only things take a nighttime turn when she leads him to the open up window and starts to push, contemplating both of them dying together.

That's when Sukeroku barges in, and in a gesture that's appreciated but perchance too late to be worth much, promises Miyokichi he'll get a real job, that he'll exercise right by her by abandoning the rakugo that makes her feel so  insecure. He wants to be the married man in that tale he told with a happy ending, in a dream he doesn't want to wake up from.

If he has to choose between Miyokichi and rakugo, he's choosing Miyokichi. Just the wooden balcony gives way, and Miyokichi starts to fall. Sukeroku dives later her, leaving Kiku to grasp him to keep the two from falling. But Sukeroku breaks his grip, and he and Miyokichi fall to their apparent deaths together.

At present Kiku is lonely, and so is Konatsu—though we know he'll end upwardly taking her in. While it wasn't as if Kiku took a gun andshot her parents, he about definitely played a function in their demise. No wonder he's so bitter in the present day, and that Konatsu has always doubted his car accident story.

Yet, even without Sukeroku or Miyokichi, Kiku was able to proceed performing excellent rakugo and beingness adored for it over the years. After all this talk about not being able to do information technology lone, one could deduce that information technology was the presence of Konatsu in his life that kept him going. And at present, as nosotros know, he has an apprentice, who brought back all these memories of Sukeroku in the first place. I'm eager to see how this ends.

What started out as a simple errand (call up Sukeroku and bring him back to Tokyo) becomes much, much more than for Kikuhiko, due in no modest part to Sukeroku's daughter, Konatsu. The girl is pretty hostile to Kiku correct upwardly until she learns who he is, and so her demeanor chop-chop shifts to tearful veneration, and she insists Kiku come up with him to see her Dad.

I've always loved Konatsu, and lamented how little of her we've seen (albeit out of necessity) since Yakumo'south story began. Kobayashi Yuu isn't quite equally convincing as a five-year-old equally say, Kuno Misaki, only it doesn't matter: by the end of the episode, I was in beloved.

On the way to her Pops, we learn from her that her mom has run off, abandoned them, and I take her at her word (we later learn Miyokichi does this often, only always comes back eventually). She as well says her mom forbade her dad to perform rakugo, and when we arrive at Konatu's domicile, we see only how well Sukeroku functions without it.

I mean, a frikkin'five-year-old is the breadwinner here! Things are bleak. The only thing that rouses Sukeroku from his mid-twenty-four hour period nap is Kikuhiko's voice, which sends him flying out of the filthy business firm. In a perfect reunion moment, Kiku smacks him in the face up with his bag, but Sukeroku pounces on him anyway.

Kiku gets down to brass tacks, but Sukeroku is initially unwilling to hear him out: he's done with that part of his life; rakugo has gotten "tedious"; he's out of practice; the raft of excuses is virtually unending. But Kiku cuts through all that with one simple fact: "

If people desire yous, you have to exercise it." And Kiku is one of those people. After hearing and existence envious of Sukeroku's rakugo—and being unable to replicate it—Kiku needs it dorsum. He'due south starved for information technology, and wants to hear it again, and continue striving to match it, fifty-fifty if he never will.

Kiku doesn't come out and say he'southward been gliding along without Sukeroku around, because hehasn't—he's been working his donkey off—but when his brother compares how he looks to a shinigami (which sends a shiver upward a listening Kona's spine), it's clear he's missed him.

Until Sukeroku reconsiders, Kiku is staying. He fronts cash for Sukeroku to pay off all his debts, but fully expects him to repay him by acquiring jobs in town. He'll alive with them, just insists they clean the house thoroughly. In this manner, Kiku is similar a stiff, purifying breeze that blows out the cobwebs.

But Sukeroku and Kona aren't the only two benefitting from Kiku'southward stay. Kiku decides to do minor performances at dinner parties and the like to pay for nutrient and his fare domicile, and getsreally into it. The master of the inn fifty-fifty presents him with a more formal performance space (ironically formerly a geisha prep room).

In a bath scene that hearkens back to one of the beginning betwixt the two brothers (something Sukeroku points out but Kiku claims not to think), Kiku does confess that he's never felt this style abotu rakugo before; thisexpert.Sukeroku knows why: Kiku can see his audience; in that location'south less concrete and emotional distance between them, motivating him to strive practise his best.

At times it seems like Kiku himself could settle down here as Sukeroku did, and if non thrive in the upper echelon of his craft, at least lead a happy life.

But that's not really the case. Kiku still wants to return to Tokyo, with Sukeroku taking his rightful place every bit Yakumo. Every bit e'er, Kiku is looking out for Sukeroku, striving to put him on the path he thinks is all-time. That means getting him out of debt, cleaning his business firm, and cut his little daughter's hair so it'south out of her confront.

In one of my favorite scenes of the whole show, Kiku scolds Kona for badmouthing her mother, then discourages her from taking upward rakugo, since he earnestly believes information technology's a human being's task to be on the stage performing. He then goes into a pretty woman's crucial role equally the rakugo performer's muse, drawing out their best operation.

Konatsu and so puts Kiku in checkmate past getting him to admit she looks pretty with her new haircut, so now he has to do rakugo for her!

If Kiku was enjoying himself at all the small informal gigs in boondocks, he seems even more at ease and in the zone with an audience of simply ane. The story Kona makes him do—an at times creepy, at times hilarious story involving sexy ghosts or some such—is one of the best I've heard, and it's made fifty-fifty better when Sukeroku, who can't assistance himself, joins in and turns the solo performance into a duet; their kickoff.

These are 2 brothers who haven't seen each other in five years, and yet here they are, a perfect comedy duo. Perhaps the performance is technically a little rougher and unpolished than information technology sounded like, simplywho cares?Konatsu is over the moon, and Kiku is hopeful he's shown Sukeroku why he tin't give up on rakugo. It'southward not but Kiku who needs it, it's his daughter besides.

Nosotros don't hear Sukeroku's answer, just their performance, and Konatsu's bliss, clearly has a powerful effect on him. Then Miyokichi enters the picture, at the very end of the episode, having been handed a sign announcing a public dual rakugo performance starring Sukeroku…and Kiku-san.

Miyokichi's reaction suggests she's still carrying a torch for her old beau afterwards all this time, which goes a fair way in explaining why she's not habitation with Sukeroku or Konatsu; perchance the former reminds her too much of the man shereallyloved. The question is, will she attend the performance?

Five years accept passed. Sukeroku and Miyokichi are long gone. They don't fifty-fifty appear this week at all, and their absence is felt. I missed them, only whatever Kikuhiko feels about this, he's soldiering on during these years.

He'southward gained fame every bit a Shin'uchi, with the power to make total strangers leave their families and homes and burn bridges behind them just to get a shot atbegging him for an apprenticeship, which he always refuses.

He feels he has nothing to teach apprentices. The successful formula he'southward grasped and run with, he still scarcely knows what to make of it himself, let alone how to laissez passer it on to others. It, being the rakugo business, is similar a soap bubble; he daren't disturb it.

However, Kiku cannot finish the march of time from taking its cost on his master Yakumo, who isn't taking his wife's death well. Ane could say she's calling to him, and now that he has a reliable successor in Kiku, at that place'due south piffling indicate in keeping her waiting any longer.

On his deathbed, Yakumo confesses to Kiku something new, but something that in hindsight makes sense: the "erstwhile man" who taught Sukeroku (and had that name before him) was a rival of Yakumo's from his youth; someone he knew was the better talent, merely used nepotism to snatch his father's name from the interloper.

Obviously, Yakumo managed to become a corking and revered storyteller, worthy of the proper noun, but it's articulate, especially after taking in the young Sukeroku, that the possibility of blocking a greater talent than himself for the sake of his ain pride, weighed on him greatly.

After tearlessly leading his father and main'southward funeral ceremonies, Kiku gets back to piece of work the next day. Taking the stage to new, gentler (and thus more suitable) entrance music, he eschews a sentimental story for i about an old human being meeting a shinigami, who says magic words and shows him candles that represent lives, including his ain, which eventually goes out.

The peformance ends with Kiku literally sprawling out on the stage as if he himself had died. And in a mode, a part of himdiddice with his master: the part that was tied to others. When lying there soaking up applause, Kiku isn't tearful or distraught, but relieved and elated past his new-found—and in his heed, difficult-won—confinement. It'due south a confinement he'll utilize to hone his craft and go someone he believes worthy of being the Eighth Generation.

Before that, nevertheless, he wants to meet Sukeroku. Not just to inform him of their father'south death, and recover the money Miyokichi stole, but to see how his blood brother doing. Kiku never had much faith Sukeroku could take care of himself, and didn't call back running off with a woman and raising a child would of a sudden brand him more capable of doing then.

So soon after achieving clarity through consummate confinement—no master, no rival, no apprentice, no family—Kiku sets out to discover old connections once again, no thing how briefly. In a boondocks far from Tokyo, he asks an old man where rakugo is performed, and gets a anticipated answer: strange for a young person such as himself to be asking well-nigh rakugo; at that place are far fewer such venues in town; television has taken over the hearts of most, making the world more dull.

Kiku probably agrees with all of that. But the old man besides steers him in the direction of a soba eatery, where he finds something…not wearisome at all: the entire oversupply of diners is being entertained (and later squeezed for change) past a five-year-quondam daughter with peppery blood-red hair who is performing rakugo that Kiku immediately recognizes as Sukeroku'southward. A little girl named Konatsu.

I loved Kiku's fiddling center twitch upon their meeting. His late father believed young Sukeroku came to him as "karmic retribution" for maneuvering the older Sukeroku out of his male parent'southward favor so many years ago.

Kiku may not know it yet, but Konatsu will end up being some other kind of retribution: the kind that not just deprives him of the solitude he yearned for so dearly (non that being alone was what was all-time for him), just serves every bit a daily reminder of the brother he always believed was the greater talent. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Things move fast this week, merely most of the things that occur are basically foregone conclusions. Kikuhiko and Sukeroku both become Shin'uchi, merely in his debut, Sukeroku sticks it to the association president by performing his specialty, "Inokori", in which he must embody multiple sides of one character, Saheiji, depending on who else he's talking to. It'southward a challenging story, but Sukeroku pulls information technology off and gets the only blessing he needs: that of the oversupply.

Now a Shin'uchi, Kikuhiko is committed to shedding a woman he feels someone of his stature tin can no longer be with. It'due south not pride so much equally obligation to the structures he was raised into, which demand that a man put things to a higher place his ain personal feelings. His breakup with Miyokichi had been telegraphed for some time, only that doesn't arrive whatsoever less heartbreaking when the hammer comes down.

Miyokichi, as it happens, isn't the only one who gets dumped: as a result of his insolence in his debut, Sukeroku is taken bated by his master, who informs him Kiku, not he, will exist the 8th Generation Yakumo. Again, the writing was on the wall. As well-intending as Sukeroku is, and no matter how much applied sense it makes, he wasnevergoing to be able to successfully convince the old guard of his "alter or die" views of rakugo.

For the elders, including his chief, changeis decease; there is no departure. Oral tradition cannot truly survive if it becomes a game of Telephone. Tweaking tradition is a glace slope, one that the elders would rather autumn to their expiry by clinging to rather than allow it to be propped up with new ideas.

Furthermore, Sukeroku was always hampered past his modest origin; he was ever an interloper, a "devious dog" who clawed his manner into this world. There'due south no fashion the principal would let such a person to succeed him, no matter how unassailable his talent. There may exist TVs now, only castes withal matter.

When Sukeroku argues too forcefully, Yakumo expels him, throwing him out of his house. And that's how our ii dumped and dejected people find and comfort each other.

Speaking of comfort, Kikuhiko isn't experiencing it just because everything seems to be going his way. In his heed, Sukeroku is still improve at rakugo than him, no matter how many elders or syncophants say otherwise. He'south particularly irritated when a dilettante-ish rakugo critic tears down Sukeroku in an apparent endeavour to curry favor. Kiku ends the interview correct in that location.

So Master Yakumo'southward married woman dies, and with mortality on his mind, he informs Kikuhiko that he intends to give him his name. Kiku'south initial reaction is that information technology's a mistake; Sukeroku should get the proper noun; he's more skilled; he doesn't accept any skill compared to that raw talent. Merely Yakumo reproaches his apprentice.

It's not Kiku's identify to tell him who he should give his name to, nor to say whether he'due south better or worse than Sukeroku. But like his brother, Kiku spoke out of place, merely out of humility and inferiority, not arrogance and outsize obligation to take rakugo upon his shoulders and "save" it, as Sukeroku wants to exercise. In that location's more than to being Eighth Generation than beingness The All-time At Rakugo.

Every bit Kiku continues to thrive but derive no joy from annihilation other than doing rakugo, Sukeroku and the scorned Miyokichi quickly shack up together and become an detail. Just as Sukeroku and Kikuhiko must embody unlike people to perform their stories to suit their audiences, so too does Miyo, a skilled and experienced geisha, know how to be exactly the woman a detail human being wants. She could exist classy and prudish for Kiku, whom she loved, but knows Sukeroku less propriety.

I'k glad Miyo doesn't waste any more time than she needs to worrying almost Kiku; what's done is done, and she'south moving on with someone who actually wants to be with her. Sukeroku doesn't know if he's quite that person yet…but he does like boobies. There'south something sad and close-looped about the 2 being depressed nigh the same person—Kikuhiko—simply they must make exercise with each other.

Also, she doesn't take time to look around or worry; she has a baby on the way, and wants to raise it in the countryside. Her geisha house is close down, so she steals the till with the intention of running off with Sukeroku.

He stops by Kiku'southward not for coin or a identify to stay, just to say goodbye, even as Kiku urges him to make peace with the primary so he tin can requitehimhis name. Sukeroku knows what he has to exercise to become back in the good graces of their master, and he can't do it. He tells Kiku most Miyo and the infant and the country, and Kiku is not happy.

What is Kiku going to practice without Sukeroku effectually annoying him and challenging him to be his best? What is he going to practise with Yakumo's proper noun when he'southward certainhis boozer, uncouth, stray domestic dog of a brother deserves information technology more? Someone he wants to punch and embrace in the same moment?

These unanswerable questions (which must try to be answered anyway, one 24-hour interval at a time) sow the seeds of a bitterness and regret that will stay with Kiku for years, then fabricated worse 1 day when Sukeroku loses his life in his prime. That bitterness will come to define the man telling this story to Yotarou and Konatsu in the nowadays.

As we return to Kikuhiko's tale, he's merely finishing upwards his tour with Primary Yakumo, having steamed upwards many an audition in Kyoto with his seductively funny rakugo. Talk of making him a shin'uchi is no longer presumptuous; every bit fifty-fifty his own chief was also enthralled both with his performance and the reaction of the oversupply to notice the mistakes he made.

Kiku is quickly progressing on the steam locomotive to greatness, but there are sacrifices that demand to be made on the style – both those imposed upon him, and those he imposes on himself.

.

Back in Tokyo, Miyokichi sits in the back of another total house equally Sukeroku performs and effortlessly drawing huge laughs. But she's not laughing; she'south there to take hold of a glimpse of the human being she loves who's currently giving her the cold shoulder.

Her presence didn't go unnoticed by Sukeroku (she was the merely one at that place who wasn't "aboriginal"), and he proposes a commiseration session: she gets to vent to him about a subject field he's very well versed in – Kiku-san – in exchange for buying him a drinkypoo.

Their ensuing chat, a thing of beauty, offers many insights into Miyokichi'southward character and the nature of her love of Kiku. She doesn't fifty-fiftylikerakugo; she prefers movies. Hearing his voice is the only reason she goes to the theater. She endures the stodgy, old-fashioned practice she wouldn't otherwise give the time of day…for Kiku. She also endures his constant brush-offs, including this about contempo unannounced trip of his.

Miyo tin can endure this because she'southward stiff. Shehadto be. Abandoned by a man when in Manchuria, she had to sell her body to survive, until Master Yakumo brought her home. Simply because she's become so tough, neither the proficient Main nor Sukeroku are her type. She doesn't get fornice guys, she likescoldguys, and Kiku has certainly been that to her.

Miyo doesn't want the moon; she just wants to be able to stand abreast the man she loves and support him equally a woman. Just she suspects, and Sukeroku can't convince her otherwise, that Kiku intends to break up with her. When she takes her leave on that somber note, Sukeroku, ever the nice guy, can't assist but describe her into a hug.

It's while she'south struggling to become out of that hug that Kiku appears, suddenly dorsum as quietly as he left. His exchange with Miyo is brief and probably the coldest yet, but there's a reason for it; Kiku indeed intends to break upwardly with her, and doesn't want to be fell past being kind beforehand.

Kiku can admit to Sukeroku that he loves Miyo, simply the Master has told him he needs to discover a "proper woman" to settle down with a family. Disobeying would mean expulsion from Yurakutei, and in this case, with his rakugo time to come and then bright and his identity and place in that world so clear…Miyokichi is second fiddle to all that.

In fact, Kiku would rather simply exist alone than be with anyone, a sentiment that apace evolves into an agreement for Sukeroku to movement out of his apartment. Kiku relays to Sukeroku all of the flaws their main mentioned that are making it hard to promote him, but Sukeroku is in this business because he loves rakugo, and he has bigger plans than the Yurakutei orthodoxy could ever conform.

His position is legitimized past the elementary fact they're in a packed jazz hall filled with Japanese in Western clothes, listening to American music. The times they are a changin'. He acknowledges that a part of rakugo must always endure, simply that's Kiku'due south duty. Sukeroku intends to be the part of rakugo that evolves past changing to accommodate whatever the people desire, which is never fixed.

Kiku is a traditionalist; Sukeroku the innovator. Only they are alike in ii important ways: they both love rakugo and they both respect each other's place in that globe. At the aforementioned time, Sukeroku didn't want to end up similar his previous "master", the one from which he took the proper noun Sukeroku, who ended up dying penniless.

That night, Master Yakumo celebrates with Matsuda his difficult-won success in getting both Kikuhiko and Sukeroku promoted to shin'uchi, he takes the Yurakutei family record from the alter to let the past generations share in the celebration, even every bit he laments he wasn't quite able to accomplish what his forebears did.

Unaware of his promotion, Sukeroku roams the streets, gently kicked out of Kiku's place, backlit past the bright lights and the winds of change. Kikuhiko, likewise unaware, but now alone in his apartment like he wanted, pauses his practicing to audit the onetime fan Sukeroku gave him. They've started on very different paths for the aforementioned dearest of rakugo. Information technology was an amicable parting, but that doesn't make it whatever less lamentable!

Now that he'south found his rakugo, Kikuhiko works like man possessed – or a man who thinks his success will be snatched away if he rests for a moment. He has increasingly less patience with Sukeroku's easygoing lifestyle (though continues to spend the panthera leo'south share of his free time with him, and seems to enjoy it).

As for poor Miyokichi, every time Kiku is with her he merely seems halfway at that place and in a bustle to get away. It's not that he dislikes her, per se, just that for all the stories related to romance he knows, he may not realize he's in the centre of one, and he'snot pulling his weight. Or maybe he's well enlightened of Miyokichi's intentions, and simply tin can't devote any time or thought to them, so defenseless up in his rakugo.

Of 1 matter I am certain: Kiku doesn't detect the hypocrisy he exhibits in spending so much time with Sukeroku (while complaining that he can't stand him the whole time) while insisting he has no time for Miyokichi. This results in a confrontation when Kiku puts Sukeroku to sleep in his usual way, and Miyo finds Sukeroku'south caput in Kiku'due south lap.

It's intolerable to her that these two are so deeply, effortlessly close, but such are brothers. Even if they're null alike, they're alsoeverything alike in that they demand and feed off ane some other. They are family unit; she isn't, and she simply isn't finding any kind of success in squeezing her manner into Kiku's heart or his life.

Yakumo's dedication to his professional and artistic success and his unconscious monopolization by Sukeroku is isolating him from everything else out in that location in life. When his master chooses him and not Sukeroku to accompany him on a sprawling tour, he becomes singularly focused on that. Miyokichi, desperate for his company, asks him to come whenever he can.

Her intense frustration and his common cold reaction causes her to break into tears, causing her geisha makeup to run. I'll acknowledge, I wanted to punch Kiku right in his foxy face up for and then treating such a beautiful, complex beast with such frosty disdain.

This is who he is, who he'southward always been, and shameful displays such as this certainly help his futurity ward'south case that he'southward a prickly, self-involved wretch of a man, undeserving of Miyokichi'south tender love. But there's a deviation between being this way on purpose and non knowing any other way to be.

Sure enough, the Kiku nosotros see hanging out with an already-drunk Sukeroku probably doesn't know how fell he'south being to Miyokichi, who waits all night and probably many nights for him to come, when in fact he'll exist away for a long time. He's so excited for his trip and pleased that the primary chose him, goose egg else matters.

Well, notnothing. At the stop of the day, Kiku cares for his blood brother, and clearly worries about what volition happen if he's gone. Without him there to scold him about dressing better and eating solid food and bathing and cleaning up the identify, Sukeroku volition get total feral on him.

Kiku promises he'll bring together Sukeroku in an independent two-man testify that volition capitalize on their newfound popularity. But that volition be later rather than sooner. Deferred, just similar his next meeting with Miyokichi, in favor of further aggrandizing himself.

The play was a sensation, sure enough, but it also awoke something in Kikuhiko; he really liked the reaction of the audience, and wants nothing more than than to get that same feeling while performing his rakugo. Simply at the get-go of this week, he's notwithstanding lacking certitude and confidence, despite the fact he has his own little fan club at the cafe where he works, not to mention the persistent attention of the lovely Miyokichi, who seems to want to exist someone whom he can lean on for support.

Kikuhiko'due south latest interactions with Sukeroku involve a lot of the latter stumbling into their flat late at night wasted, then laying down some uncharacteristic wisdom earlier passing out. By doing so, Sukeroku inadvertently reinforces Kiku's frustration with sharing his home and his calling with someone so dissimilar from him, who constitute out who his rakugo was for and how to practice it in a way that played to his strengths.

Kiku has had to work hard and struggle and worry his entire life, whether it was when he was struggling to dance before being "gracefully expelled" (with women lamenting he wasn't born a adult female), or struggling to discover whohisrakugo is at present, when information technology's as well tardily to get dorsum, with no other manner to survivebutrakugo.

Only every bit Sukeroku sometimes voices characters who seem similar him – one bad move away from a gluey end – when Kiku begins a story about a "lover's suicide" there'due south a distinctly personal and dark subtext.

Only one night, with both his fan lodge, Miyokichi, Sukeroku and a decent crowd watching (and already warmed up by Sukeroku's energetic performance), Kiku finally figures it out, building on what he learned during the play, simply likewise gaining new insightswhilehe's performing. Equally his performance changes – andimprovesprofoundly – the audience changes in plough, and he notices it.

Mind you, his method of rakugo is totally different from Sukeroku. Kiku doesn't try to use a big booming voice. Instead, he plays to his strengths: his femininity, grace, and sex entreatment. He makes the crowd laugh, but also has them feeling worried for the would-be suicidal woman, finally rewarding them for following forth by releasing the tension at the end, revealing no i died after all.

In his "eureka" performance, we encounter glimmers of the venerable Yakumo in the immature Kikuhiko, finally able to shrug off his inferiority, relax on the stage, and command a crowd with a firm but elegant touch. When he leaves the theater for home, he's practically lightheaded.

As a male child he heard words of pity from those who believed he couldn't cut it. At present, nearly everywhere he looks in that location are admirers eager to praise him. And this is just the starting time.

Equally we return to Yakumo's saga, which is already suffused with a constant underlying melancholy borne from the noesis these events have long since passed, a young Yakumo is desperate to be good at whatever information technology is he's doing, exist it rakugo or a more straightforward play.

To that end, he'south far more than concerned with practicing than women, who a boozer Sukeroku brings habitation ane nighttime. Information technology'southward just the latest iteration of something Sukeroku has done since he and Yakumo commencement met as boys: trying to become him to loosen upwards.

Sukeroku believes you have to be "a picayune stupid" in order to survive in rakugo, something Yakumo is not just virtually incapable of being, but would be betraying who he is if he tried. The audience will always know if his heart isn't in information technology. Nosotros've seen how bad that can become!

Speaking of his heart, it's in a state of turmoil over the prospect of not being "cutting out" for rakugo, turning an intimate fiddling make-out session with Miyokichi into a pity party. For her function, Miyo loves Yakumo's rakugo, which should tell him information technology's worth pursuing.

Yakumo remains depressed, but puts his head on Miyo's shoulder when she offers it. Information technology's notable that things don't e'er seem to become anywhere sexually between the two, something Miyo herself might've confirmed by telling her senpai essentially "information technology's not like that;" in other words, ideal.

Nevertheless, it's a strong, warm friendship, and Miyo is excited for the lovely, elegant Yakumo to be portraying a man disguised as a adult female for the play, and offers her services as makeup artist gratis. She does good work; the transformation is hit.

Sukeroku laughs his ass off when he first sees Yakumo's somehow fifty-fiftyfoxier fox confront, when he sees how terribly nervous his bro is (to the point of threatening to abscond), he tells him to steel himself, knowing full well with his looks and talent he'll have the audience eating out of his hand.

Sukeroku turns out to be exactly right, which shocks Yakumo. When he starts feeling the rapt audience following his every move, his confidence builds more than and more than. His progression from initially jittery suits his part as meek 'married woman' to the more than bouncy Sukeroku's 'husband', and makes information technology that much more than of a shock when the time comes for him to reveal he'due south a guy. His alter in voice, posture, and level of clothes; it's all pretty much perfect.

He leaves the stage to enthusiastic applause, a very unlike homo than the 1 he walked onto it as. He was depressed, merely now he'due south seen with his ain optics and past his own efforts that at that place is hope later all, not only in theater just in rakugo too. His performance showed anybody out there what he'southward capable of, and the elegant "racy stuff" he can do and then well; as effortlessly as Sukeroku pull of his unwashed galoot bit.

Finally, to once once more remind united states of america we're only looking into the by, of ii people who were however so close but whom we know volition ane twenty-four hour period exist separated once more than and for skilful, the theater managing director takes some aboveboard blackness-and-white photographs of the two brothers, preserving the joy and victory of that night for posterity.

This week we terminate in on Bon and Shin as they've moved out of the main'southward house and into their own apartment together. Shin has a job serving women he charms without trying and pinches every penny, while Bon spends all his non-rakugo time drinking away his earnings.

Shin continues to struggle to find his own rakugo, while Shin oozes confidence on the stage and has every crowd before him eating out of his hand immediately, including Bon. He'south fifty-fifty given himself a new proper noun: Sukeroku. These 2 continue to be completely different in every way, nevertheless they remain friends.

Information technology'southward also this calendar week that ane of the few things that could strain their long-continuing and deep friendship/brotherhood is formally introduced – by their master, no less. I speak of the lovely Miyokichi, whom the primary has taken as a side-project, getting her a job as a geisha, likely in exchange for, ahem…other favors.

Miyokichi takes an instant liking to the serene, doll-similar Bon, and isn't subtle well-nigh her want to see with him lonely, using a trip the light fantastic toe lesson as an excuse. Even in a testify brimming full of marvelous vocalization acting, Hayashibara Megumi (who voiced both Ayanami Rei and Faye Valentine) stands out; every line from those red lips oozes sex appeal.

I'd say Bon was allowed to her charms, either due to having lost his beginning love many years ago, or due to being so preoccupied with how he'south going to continue to do rakugo whilst his roommate rubs his plainly effortless yet immense success in his face every twenty-four hours. But heisn't immune. Few would exist.

He returns to Miyokichi's (a rare subject that shuts Shin – sorry, Sukeroku, upwardly), where he gives her a dance lesson, plays the shamisen while she sings (beautifully), and share some sake. Bon becomes more than and more than desirable as the evening progresses, as Bon's non the typical kind of man she deals with, which must be refreshing.

Bon leaves before things get that far, just when she insists he hope to return again, he cannot resist drawing her closer. I don't remember the master introducing him to Miyokichi was an accident. Bon needs to larn to loosen up and have a good fourth dimension if he's to make any headway with erotic rakugo. What ameliorate manner to do than in the company of a beautiful, complex, charming woman who may well actuallywant him?

Miyokichi, like his rakugo, is something Bon is still trying effigy out. But if Sukeroku'southward reaction to his interest in her is whatsoever indication, this is probably going to atomic number 82 to some conflict between the brothers.

SGRS has played a clever trick. Ithought this show would be nigh Yotarou, the reformed thief, but he hasn't been present the last two episodes. Instead, information technology's been young Yakumo'south, or I should say, Bon's show.

And that'due southtotally all right,equally he puts immense craft, intendance, and item into his quietly epic life story, a big part of which independent Sukeroku (AKA Shin) who is absent-minded from the present world. In retrospect, that absence and the events that let upwardly to it (which accept yet to be told) are given greater weight with each new section.

Bon is struggling with the aforementioned bouncy kind of rakugo Shin performs and gets reliable laughs from, and having to rest school means he feels like the gap between them is growing. So Shin suggests he try rakugo that makes the near of his weak voice: bawdy and erotic stories. On that annotation, Shin suggests they become to a brothel and get laid…once they have the scratch, of course.

In the midst of hanging out offstage with the "house band", Bon, who had no prior interest in or time for girls, meets Ochiyo, a girl he becomes interested in and spends lots of fourth dimension with. The warm fondness and melancholy in present-day Yakumo's voice makes the couple's inevitable separation really sting.

That hurt is somewhat mitigated past nowadays-day Yakumo keeping Ochiyo's promise to never forget her, because here he is telling usa almost her! The reason she has to leave Tokyo is basically the same reason people start leaving Tokyo in droves: Earth War 2 is nigh to pause out. The dread of that fact is underlined by highly effective use of loud white dissonance, which swells and cuts out suddenly, creating tension and foreboding.

The government starts censoring rakugojust at the fourth dimension Bon sees the raunchier stuff as his way in, almost equally if the universe were blocking his path. Soon it's just the chief and his two students, and he merely takes Shin with him to a kind of USO tour in Manchuria, sending Bon and his bad leg to the country with the mistress. But the nighttime earlier Shin leaves, Bon has his brother pinky-swear that they'll see each other over again.

Bon gets a job in a manufacturing plant, meets another squeamish daughter, and settles into a provisional life, a life without Rakugo he never thought he'd have to bargain with until information technology came. Sure, he'southward non exactly on the front lines or anything, merely his suffering is borne of not beingness able to take the path he wishes due to, well,history itself.

And all the same, he never fully gives upwardly on rakugo. He stuffs the books in the cupboard, but he notwithstanding tells stories to himself when he feels down. He finds the rakugo heals and fuels his troubled heart; it gives him vitality and hope. And and so, one twenty-four hours, just like that, the state of war is over.

More white noise, and a few well-chosen sights similar a deject in the heaven and the sight of a radio broadcasting the emperor's surrender marker that new consequence. When it comes to depicting the parts of the state of war we know well, the testify doesn't show much, considering Bon himself doesn't see any of the horrors.

More than anything, both Bon and the Mistress miss Shin and the master terribly, and even some fourth dimension later on the state of war keep to alive in a kind of limbo equally they expect a render that may never come. The expert news is, rakugo roars dorsum into popularity, including the kind best suited for Shin, who gets a promotion and gets very busy very fast.

He gets so busy, he's totally defenseless off guard when one dusk, just every bit suddenly every bit Ochiyo, and land life, and the state of war, and loneliness, came and went, Shin, Bon'southward brother and other half, returns. Five years had passed mercilessly, heartlessly, just by the end of information technology their promise was fulfilled and they were together once again. They ease back into theater life; rakugo life; andpeace.Only now, no dubiety, with so much time spent apart, this family understands and appreciates far better what it means to be together.

And speaking of reunions, who should evidence up at their door merely Miyokichi, a cute young woman. The brothers have competed in rakugo, and endured separation for an entire state of war'southward length. Will their next trial exist a beloved triangle?

I was glad for the hour-long get-go episode that actually established a present mean solar day for the show; giving information technology the confidence to get decades into the by in only its 2d. And while Yotarou was the chief protagonist of the commencement episode, he and Konatsu are entirely absent hither, as we have only the onetime Yakumo narrating the past, and how he met Sukeroku.

This story explains why the present-day Yakumo has bouts of bitterness and insecurity that can manifest as cruel or petty handling towards those in his life, be it Konatsu or Yotarou. It all boils downwardly to this: Rakugo was an arranged marriage for Yakumo, while it was true beloved for Sukeroku.

For Yakumo, then known equally Bon, was into a geisha firm. He was a dancer until he ruined his leg, and so he got dumped off at Yuurakutei'south house to be his apprentice and learn rakugo. He didn't evendesire to get into rakugo, but hehad to. His unabridged hereafter was neatly laid out for him…pastpeople other than himself.

Sukeroku, then known as Shin, was a filthy, orphaned street urchin, who always used to be able to get into theaters for free. He convinces the master to let him be his amateur in much the same way as Yotarou convinces Yakumo: a combination of amuse – from his glut of enthusiasm, and pity – the implication he truly has no where else to go.

The main tin when Shin shows him what he's got that he's doing a lot of straight mimickry, but the fact he makes Bon smile and laugh tells him he could be more than just another mouth to feed.

OH MY GOD LOOK IT'Due south A YOUNG MATSUDA!!! Holy crap, that's and so cool that Yakumo would not but inherit his primary's championship, simply his manservant as well. This makes Matsuda the just character other than the narrator Yakumo whom we know course the outset episode.

Oh, merely where were we? Ah yep, Bon and Shin. Another reason the principal takes Shin in is so that Bon has a foil, and learns to loosen upwardly a little. Sure plenty, after Shin says out loud something Bon dare not—they were both abased by their families—Bon has himself a cathartic cry and tells Shin his unabridged story, which Shin earnestly listens to and responds appropriately: basically, "Yeah man, that'due south a pretty raw deal." But it means so much just for Bon to have someone to talk to.

The two grow up together, alike in how they came to be in the principal's firm, simply otherwise total opposites, except for their ability to accept one another, much similar to very dissimilar brothers who however share claret and honey for one another, even as they compete for their "father'due south" blessing.

In one case they've studied and practices and grown up enough, their master gives them names and deems them ready to open for him at the theater. Bon gets the elegant, refined name Kikuhiko; while Shin gets Hatsutaro, which he feels will sink him earlier he even jumps in the pool.

Now nosotros know that Kikuhiko would end up being given the title of 8th-generation Yakumo, but I'm certain the principal doesn't arrive at that decision afterwards Kiku's beginning performance, which was an unqualified disaster, though not in whatsoever over-the-top or overly cartoonish fashion (say, he slips and falls or flubs his lines).

He gets all the words out, information technology only all feels so flat. And he'southwardsuper nervous, shaking and sweating from the starting time. No nice way to say it: he bombs.And he knows it, fifty-fifty earlier he sees Hatsutaro backstage, and dares him to do meliorate in his very commencement performance opening for their master.

Hatsutaro does better. Almostas well much better. His performance, starting with a loud "HEY!" that wakes up those in the sparse crowd Kiku put to slumber, is far more energetic, warm, loose, and inviting. Rather thanno laughs, he gets many, and from a diverse cross-section of people.

Kiku only succeeded in making the oversupply almost as uncomfortable as he was. That'ssome kind of theater, just information technology's not rakugo. Hatsu did some damn fine rakugo in his first performance. He even turns Kiku's frown upside downward. But that's just it: right at present, Kiku simply has no confidence in his time to come, because he never reallywanted to do this, andstill doesn't. He knew that truth would come out in his functioning, and sure enough, information technology did.

This is only the offset part of Yakumo's tale, which hedid adequately warn us was long. We take even so to learn how he clawed back from that sorry first functioning to go the living legend he is in the present (and who inspired Yotarou to seek him out), not to mention how his relationship with Sukeroku progressed/regressed; and at some signal Sukeroku will meet Konatsu's mother.

Withal much more than story Yakumo has to tell, I am all ears.

I enterShouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu a little belatedly–it almost flew past my radar–until a commenter mentioned information technology as one of the season'due south best – and I'm inclined to agree.

SGRS'due south first episode may exist47 minutes long (and they don't fly past quickly), but it starts off strong, immersed me in both sides of the obscure world of rakugo – and offered numerous fantastic performances on and off the stage. It's besides the rare show that made me laugh out loudand get me all misty-eyed.

Recent parolee and former gang member Yotarou begs the great rakugo main Yakumo, who in one case performed at his prison, to make him his apprentice. On a lark, the initially reluctant Yakumo agrees, and brings him to his house. Which is expert, considering Yotarou had no Plan B!

Yakumo doesn't live solitary, however: he's the guardian of Konatsu, the daughter of his late rakugo colleague, Sukeroku. From beginning glance, Konatsu looks interested in post-obit in her father's footsteps, but hides her practicing from Yakumo, who plainly doesn't approve.

Afterwards moving in, Yotarou gets to experience Yakumo live once more, amid a packed and enthusiastic theater Yakumo has eating out of his hand, and not by whatsoever trick. He's simply extremely good at telling comedic stories with multiple voices that depict the audience in, and you tin bet I was drawn right in with 'em.

But while Yakumo has the adoration of many in this small niche of theater, he betrays his prickly side when he learns of Konatsu studying her father on the sly. Konatsu loses her brusk atmosphere (it's articulate Yakumo knows exactly how to push her buttons) and is held dorsum by Yotarou in a very theatrical and beautifully-framed shot, seen above.

This is a show whose chief characters are all, well,characters, and y'all become the feeling they're playing roles even when there'south no audience (other than u.s.a., that is). And when these stiff personalities clash, like Konatsu and Yakumo often do, the atmosphere crackles with electricity.

The show puts a roadblock ahead of Yotarou'due south journey to become a rakugo star earlier it even gets off the ground when his old boss from the gang shows upward with another chore for him. This guy's a rakugo outsider, for sure: both ignorant to and unwilling to learn nearly its charms, having already deemed it "tepid rubbish."

He'southward also someone Yotarou was always extremely obedient to, so I was glad when Konatsu spoke up when it looked like he was wavering. Ultimately, it'southward Yakumo who resolves the standoff, entering the room and instantly snatching all the dominance in that room, sending Yotarou off to practice and inviting the dominate to come see his old soldier'south showtime very bear witness in front of a crowd.

This long episode'south centerpiece is Yotarou's functioning of "Dekigokoro", in which he uses his vocal talent with his ain crime feel to get consequent laughs out of the thin but intent crowd. This is a ten-minute long sequence with no interruptions, and it was spellbinding, specially when accompanied by jazz.

His one-time boss laughs one time he sees the low-cal, and how well-suited the chatterbox is to rakugo. Konatsu besides tin can't help laughing, though she tries to stifle information technology. Equally for Yakumo, he seems proud that Yotarou was able to send his erstwhile boss away with his functioning, but he also seems a bit miffed that his apprentice is eschewing his tight, precise mode for the looser mode of Sukeroku.

Yakumo takes this opportunity to go some other dig at Konatsu, calling her out for what he considers her attempts to "bring her begetter back to life" through Yotarou, even though he has "no skill" and is only a "passing fancy." This jealousy, pettiness, and cruelty he displays comprises a "dark side" he shows only to a select few people closest to him, and it'southward ugly; he makes Konatsu weep, but to what cease? His own self-inflation.

In the episode'south dramatic and emotional apex, a distraught Konatsu visits the friend of her late mother, begging her to tell her the truth about what happened. The friend only tells her what she's already heard, simply tin't accept: her parents died in an unfortunate blow, and no one was to blame.

Konatsu survived the blow, but now she curses she was built-in a adult female, because she'll never exist accepted every bit Sukeroku'due south successor. I hope she'southward wrong almost that. Both her grief and frustration were strongly felt through the screen; Kobayashi Yuu does stunning work throughout the episode and here in particular.

Afterward Yotarou stays up besides late the previous night listening to Sukeroku (sent to bed by a flattered and concerned Konatsu in a lovely scene between them), Yakumo makes him open ane of his own performances with nada detect. The packed crowd simply has sporadic polite applause for him, as Yakumo watches him in the dressing room, still not over Yotarou'southward apparent obsession with his late rival.

Then Yotarou commits a seemingly unforgivable sin of dozing off just offstage. His snores momentarily interrupt Yakumo's story, but because he'south a master, he smooths over the disturbance with a piddling bit of improv. All the same, when the performance is over, he formally expels Yotarou, calls a rickshaw in the thick snow, and heads home without him.

The rickshaw is a great touch on, every bit Yakumo is imperiousness incarnate with his wheeled throne and arrogant piping equally Yotarou prostrates himself in the snow to deaf ears. The Winter snow is likewise an piece of cake fashion to up the stakes for Yotarou, who will literally beout in the common cold if the expulsion sticks.

I honestly felt really bad for Yotarou, despite pretty heinous screw-upward. Merely the fact his expulsion is as much about Sukeroku equally it is the snoring is non lost on me. It's Konatsu who takes pity on a freezing Yotarou loitering outside her house, and gets him an audience with Yakumo once the latter had time to cool downward.

While Yotarou and Konatsu probably won't ever be a coupleper se, their many interactions this week built a solid a foundation for a shut relationship hovering somewhere between friends and adoptive siblings.

After having fourth dimension to think about it, Yakumo takes a more pragmatic approach to Yotarou, realizing that the rakugo flame will go out when he dies if he discards young people who wish to carry it on. It doesn't redeem him entirely–he still doesn't seem open to Konatsu existence a rakugoka-simply it does paint him as a circuitous homo being, with good and bad parts interspersed in his character.

So he gives Yotarou 3 atmospheric condition for reversing his expulsion and moving forward with his apprenticeship: he must memorize everything Yakumo gives him; he must observe and nuture hisown rakugo, not merely continue to imitate Sukeroku's or his own; and most importantly, he mustoutlive him; which because Yotarou'south criminal past, isn't necessarily a given! He also makes Konatsu promise to outlive him.

Yotarou agrees to information technology all, though he'southward not certain at that moment if he'll be able to follow through, he's non going to squander his 2nd chance. Then Yakumo tells the ii to go ready for a long nighttime, because he intends to tell them the story of a hope he and Sukeroku made. I tin can't wait to hear it!

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Source: https://rabujoi.wordpress.com/category/anime-reviews/winter-2016/shouwa-genroku-rakugo-shinjuu/