...an old man filled with regret waiting to die alone. Inception Here be spoilers. 600https://lostinanime.com/wpcontent/uploads/2017/03/ShouwaGenroku21287.jpg When I write reviews I often try and boil down the essence of the piece of media in my mind to one word. With Rakugo its tricky. Its a little amorphous defying characterisation. But after I finished the last episode it was clear to me confident. Every aspect of this series and Im using this to review the series as a whole by the way because I think you absolutely must take the two together or not at all absolutely oozes confidence. First in the viewer expecting them to have a commitment to the characters and the stories without flagging clearly the implications. I want to talk about the exceptional ways the rakugo stories weave themselves into the narratives a lot more later but for now suffice it to say that the narrative has absolute conviction that you buy into enough to recognise rakugo stories from the first few lines. Second in the direction. There are genuinely 510 minute scenes where absolutely nothing happens but a single character sits in the middle of the screen in a wide shot telling a story. The direction in this series is genuinely an absolute astonishment and properly novel feature because it somehow manages to sell you truly human stories and empathy with some drawings on a screen and captivate your attention through small and tiny subtle animation details. From enhancing comedy to playing to true pathos the direction achieves a huge amount of things. 600https://ur.com/o9gKK8S.jpg Third in the voice acting absolutely crucial to selling the rakugo aspect of the series is that the voice actors have to be able to sell all these tiny little nuances in the storytelling and even do so over a wide range of ages. Akira Ishida the voice of Kaworu in Evangelion delivers as Kikuhiko what must be simply one of the most incredible voice acting performances in the medium. Fourth the characters themselves are confident. And goddamnit they better be. All of the rakugo performers have to have the confidence that they can captivate an entire audience simply with their voice hand movements and a few rudimentary props. But more than that theyre ultimately confident in the things that they believe in. Although the realism of the setting belies this fact characters are immensely committed to their ideals here. Really truly and genuinely. 600https://ur.com/YXaE8MR.jpg One more quick note on names: I will use whatever name seems most convienient for a character. The character variously known as Bon Kikuhiko and Yakumo will just be Kikuhiko. Hatsutaro and Sukeroku will just be Sukeroku. Etc. ...a spurofthe moment thing Plot 600https://ur.com/LUbRcpu.jpg Where to begin? This is a simple story. There are none of the emotional histrionics of other melodrama series. No flashiness. In some scenes the animation genuinely lacks. But it is also a deeply complicated messy sometimes confusing and obscure story. In short it is a human story. Nothing more nothing less. This almost alone among its peers really deserves the title of character drama. The deep layers of nuance in this story are deeply satisfying and deliciously unfolded. Necessarily then whatever summary I might offer is going to erase the nuance of this story. So Ill spend a lot more time talking about the characters. Two comments on plot though: First I am in love with the frame narrative of almost the entire first season. It is just a brilliant way to present a story about telling stories. Moreover there are small hints scattered here and there throughout the first season that we are not dealing with a completely reliable narrator. We know Kikuhiko lies about things. This is a setup that is paid off to simply genius effect in season two but it never feels forced or stupid. Its just a completely natural way to introduce the story. With Yotaro standing in for the audience we sit and let Kikuhiko outline his story. Layers upon layers. Just utterly brilliant. 600https://ur.com/76XhuHY.jpg Second the time skipping is handled with immense delicacy throughout the entire series but especially well in the second season. Gentle reminders here and there flag up exactly how much time has gone by and the timeskips always serve some purpose. Because theyre within a frame narrative it feels perfectly natural that Kikuhiko would skip the bits he thinks are unimportant. Notice that a huge amount of time is given to the character interactions between Kikuhiko Sukeroku and Miyokichi and very little time given to solely Kikuhiko. This itself is character development what do our characters care about? Its always ALWAYS shown as well as told and sometimes it isnt told. the world of Inokori itself... Art Animation and Background 600https://i.kinja.com/gawkermedia/image/upload/cscalefautoflprogressivepg1q80w800/ncxflbzr6yly7rjhrbre.png Art and animation within this series is very important and simultaneously not important at all. The realism of the setting means that theres not a huge amount of innovation that can be done...but this series innovates regardless. Within the rakugo stories the character animation is simply breathtaking with every stylized nuance absolutely captured in the animation. The backgrounds are usually dark and outof the way with the characters absolutely in the fore. However when called for the backgrounds become simply stunning. Theres a lot of work done in some more allegorical moments by the backgrounds and it never fails to strike absolutely precisely. Episode 11 of Season 2 has a deeply inventive look at the afterlife whoops spoiler and theres a lot of effort put into quiet little moments. The colour palette is saturated but never overly bright and theres a strong sense of colour identity to the characters with some banging character design really tracing maturation. Especial shoutout to the progression in design of Kikuhiko from a small aloof child to a strong young man to a wise old man to a skeletal ancient in the last few episodes with such a strong sense of continuity throughout. Especial shoutout also to Shinnosukes design really managing to catch what characterises both Sukeroku and Kikuhiko. Its very impressively done. 600https://lostinanime.com/wpcontent/uploads/2016/03/ShouwaGenroku0917.jpg Ive already gushed a lot about the character animation but I want to tease out why its so good its because every movement thats animated serves a purpose. Whether intentional or not the characters in this series sell their every move as realistic and also as part of the storywithinthe story. Theres at least two meanings to almost every movement made and its just an exceptional achievement. Finally the direction is good enough to give you cues on how good the rakugo is early on. Its obvious Yotaros Dekigokokoro is good. Its equally obvious Kikus early efforts are terrible. But this never has to be said. Its so clear from the animation and the beads of sweat rolling down the neck and face of the characters and where the camera chooses to focus. Brilliant too are the scenes when a character does someone elses rakugo. You can see both characters in the performance. Incredibly the effect of someone imitating someone imitating someone is legitimately created. Its layered. Its effective as all hell. Its just titanic. 600https://lostinanime.com/wpcontent/uploads/2016/03/ShouwaGenroku095.jpg But the art animation and background is all all in service of the character acting. More on this in a second. We humans are pathetic creatures arent we? Characters and Screenplay I have no hesitation in saying that Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu has by far the best screenplay of any anime. It should be framed and put on display. It is absolutely breathtakingly good. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. One. In the first few episodes it succeeds utterly in selling a completely foreign and ancient art form from a culture that is very distant from the West. But more than that it also sells the infrastructure around that art form all the little performers nuances and infighting. Two. The ways the rakugo stories are set up and cut eliminates the need for the whole story to ever be told although incredibly almost all of the important ones are eventually told in full. Three. The rakugo stories come to be referred to by their opening lines and what I consider the most incredible feat of all any semiattentive viewer can recognise the four or five Shinigami Inokori Shibahama Nozarashi maybe Jugemu that are the most important in the narrative with just an opening line. This is an indescribably special feeling. It feels like youre an insider. That you get it. That you understand rakugo even if you dont. And your mind just races ahead making the connections. Wait hes doing Akegarasu? Just like the characters in the early episodes you instantly understand what the rakugo means on a multitude of layers. Theres an especially brilliant fakeout in the second season where you think one story will be performed and another is performed both of which youll recognise. Its an incredibly special moment. There is just nothing else like it. Four. The character writing is sparse but so so careful. The speech mannerisms of the characters perfectly fit them. Theres tenderness and theres violence and theres funny. Five. Theres funny. This show is really funny. Its not hilarious but almost all of the comedy beats are just very successful. 600https://lostinanime.com/wpcontent/uploads/2017/02/ShouwaGenroku20610.jpg And then we have the characters the screenplay paints on the screen. These are fundamentally interesting. They are nuanced. Shreklike they have layers. Is there a main character? Kind of. If there was one it would be Kikuhiko. This is his story. Its a story about him and its no accident that the climax of the story involves his death. But all of the other characters in this story dont just serve him. They serve themselves. From the second Miyokichi steps on screen we just know that she is bad news without ever being told. Sukeroku is funny charming charismatic and doomed. Yotaro has a substantial comingofage story. Konatsu comes to terms with her fathers. The side characters as well have defined motives and goals which they work toward in meaningful ways. Mangetsu Sensei the mob boss. All of these are human. Theyre never there just for plot contrivances. From Yoshiwara to Senju I am without peer Voice Acting 600https://lostinanime.com/wpcontent/uploads/2017/01/ShouwaGenroku2049.jpg What voice actors are being asked to do by this series is an awful lot. Theres always at least two layers they have to inhabit their character and then they have to perform rakugo hard by itself as that character not as themselves. Sometimes theres even a a third they have to slot the rakugo into the narrative. They have to be good or bad or confident or imitating or unsure. Every single rakugo performer absolutely slays it. Its just an astonishing performance all around. There are no weak spots. Akira Ishida as Kikuhiko absolutely destroys every time hes up on the cushion with his best performances reserved for the soft gentle aged voice of the old Kikuhiko. Kouichi Yamadera as Sukeroku absolutely blasts the screen with his confident rakugo. Tomokazu Seki Yotaro portrays both terrible inexperienced and exceptional rakugo with equal gusto. Megumi Hayashibara another Evangelion alumnus brings a sinuous and slithery edge to Miyokichi a genuine seductress. Yuu Kobayashi as Konatsu has incredible emotional range and can also do funny apparently. Its just so so good. This isnt just the benchmark. This is an entirely different bench. The sound of the bell from Mt. Benten in Asakusa... Sound 600https://lostinanime.com/wpcontent/uploads/2016/01/ShouwaGenroku037.jpg Sound in the series is always very good. From the little motifs that play as the characters walk out by the way when Yotaro starts using Kikus music thats another one of those brilliant little insider moments to the gentle and stirring pieces in moments of high drama its all absolutely hitting. Theres some very good work when one of the characters does crummy rakugo with tense pieces ratcheting up the emotional stakes and stress. Traditional Japanese instruments like the shamisen and taiko drums are foremost which of course is a cheeky wink to the fact that the whole series is just one big story being told. The OPs are both superb but Season 2s just takes it for me with the animation absolutely top notch in both and some well thought out storyboarding underpinning them. The EDs are gentle pieces of instrumental music that signal the end of the episode the second the cut happens. The music always enhances never detracts. The focus is always on the dialogue as well with the music usually in the background. ...it went out. Themes 600https://lostinanime.com/wpcontent/uploads/2017/02/ShouwaGenroku20782.jpg Lets talk about the themes of this series and why they mean so much. The first theme I wanna talk about is about love. A lot of characters in this series love each other in a lot of different ways. Patrial love between Kiku and Shinnosuke and Kiku and Konatsu. Fraternal love between Konatsu and Yotaro. Romantic love between Miyokichi and Kiku. But the pair that anchors this series together is Kiku and Sukeroku and its a deeply human relationship. Contra the fujos it isnt romantic but it certainly is deep and intense. The two men are like brothers and they love each other so much. It is hard not to read Sukerokus Shibahama as an arrow aimed directly at Kikus heart a thank you for everything Kiku had done. Rakugo says that love anchors any relationship there is including the love the performers have for rakugo. Theyll do anything for the art form they love. Its a deeply optimistic and profoundly beautiful view of what love is despite all the tragedy that the plot visits on the characters. Kiku is loved by all the people around him and they just refuse to let him go. 600https://lostinanime.com/wpcontent/uploads/2016/03/ShouwaGenroku1145.jpg The second one I wanna talk about is performance. Its hard not to see the whole series as a sort of extended commentary on what it is to be a performer or any kind of artist. Rakugo says that art is what you put into it at least thats what Kiku thinks. But we get a lot more nuanced commentary than just that. Yes theres what you put into it your ego. But the degree to which you let it in will influence the art. Were shown not told this. We see no ego Yotaro all ego Sukeroku somewhere in between Kikuhiko. And its hard not to agree with this characterisation of what exactly it is to be an artist. Its an engaging commentary and its one done through the prism of very human characters. Look this story doesnt reinvent the wheel. But it has a goddamn good look at that wheel and it has a lot of interesting things to say about that wheel. There are so many layers to this story that I could talk about it for genuinely two or three thousand more words. But thisll do for a review. I cant have this becoming a dream again. Conclusion 600https://lostinanime.com/wpcontent/uploads/2017/02/ShouwaGenroku20746.jpg I honestly genuinely cannot find anything to criticise about this series. I really really cant. It is perfect. It is a deep engaging and moving character drama of the highest order. It is simply some of the best television ever created. I cried multiple times. Episode 11 of Season 2 is just deeply cathartic and intensely moving. But it is only that because of all the leadup and all of the work done in earlier season. There is just a tremendous amount of consolidation between the whole series as themes and ideas and most of all stories stay constant even as the plot whips our characters around and as time rolls on and on. The ending as Kikuhiko is ferried to the other side by Matsuda as he performs Nozarashi one last time is just spoton. Go watch Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu. 600https://ur.com/YvC2VgI.jpg The snows of the surrounding mountains melted filling the great rivers which rolled forcefully along with a southern tide... Pointy