Line #125 Manga/Joshiraku


1	[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/joshiraku_6898.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:250:From left to right: [[HeroicComedicSociopath Kuurubiyuutei Gankyou]], [[TheCutie Haroukitei Kigurumi]], [[ButtMonkey Buratei Marii]], [[CreepyCute Anrakutei Kukuru]], [[BornLucky Bouhatei Tetora]] and [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight no one you should pay attention to]].]]
3	''Joshiraku'' is a {{Shonen}} manga series written by Creator/KojiKumeta (of ''Manga/SayonaraZetsubouSensei'' fame) and illustrated by Yasu (the artist of ''Literature/{{Toradora}})''. The manga ran in ''[[Magazine/ShonenMagazine Bessatsu Shonen Magazine]]'' from 2009 to 2013.
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5	''Rakugo'' (落語, literally "fallen words") is a form of traditional Japanese entertainment. The lone storyteller (落語家 ''rakugoka'') sits on the stage, called the Kōza (高座). Using only a paper fan (扇子, ''sensu'') and a small cloth (手拭, ''tenugui'') as props, and without standing up from the ''seiza'' sitting position, [[SeinfeldianConversation the rakugo artist depicts a long and complicated comical story, often based on farce]]. The story always involves the dialogue of two or more characters- differentiated only through pitch, tone and slight movements of the head- and an ample amount of [[HurricaneOfPuns wordplay, puns and tongue-twisters]]. All of this makes rakugo ''very'' difficult to perform correctly, making it a exhibition of verbal dexterity as much as comedy.
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7	The series is about the [[SliceOfLife everyday lives]] of a group of ''rakugoka'' girls as they practice their skills and engage in SeinfeldianConversation with each other.
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9	An anime adaptation aired on [[Creator/TokyoBroadcastingSystem TBS]] and its affiliates during the summer of 2012.
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11	''Joshiraku'' is currently licensed in North America by Creator/SentaiFilmworks and [[https://www.hidive.com/tv/joshiraku is streaming]] on [=HiDIVE=].
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13	See also ''Manga/ShouwaGenrokuRakugoShinjuu'', another, more traditional series centered around the art of Rakugo.
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15	----
16	!!''Joshiraku'' provides examples of:
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18	* AnimationBump
19	** When she discusses how there is nothing special to animate, [[{{Irony}} a perplexed Kukuru's movements suddenly become more fluid than everything else in the episode]].
20	** Then in the finale, her entire body gesticulates wildly, to the point where she ''randomly jumps in the air and does a 360 degree spin in the middle of her rant''.
21	* AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever: A giant rabbit in the opening credits. It later appears in episode 4 significantly smaller though.
22	* TheBabyOfTheBunch: Kigu is the only teenager of the group and is often treated as the youngest and most innocent.
23	* BeachEpisode: Episode 11 goes abroad! Sort of.
24	* BespectacledCutie: The appeal of this trope is {{discussed}} in episode 4. The girls also tried [[InvokedTrope invoking]] it, to various degree of success.
25	* BitchInSheepsClothing: the second episode reveals that [[spoiler:Kigurumi]] isn't as nice or cutesy as she appears to be.
26	* BitingTheHandHumor: The girls can't even begin to understand how their anime adaptation project got greenlit, especially because there is nothing to animate.
27	* BlackComedy: several.
28	** Kukuru's faux-pregnancy.
29	** Marii's AlienAbduction.
30	** Marii's demonic possession.
31	** The hunt for excess electricity.
32	** When the girls discuss whether they are cat- or dog-people, Gan compares the "sounds" for both. Gan is a shamisen player, which are traditionally made out of either dog-skin or cat-skin (with dogs being used for beginner instruments and cats being used for higher end versions). This is also echoed briefly in the opening theme song, where there is a brief shot of all the girls cuddling dogs... and Gan playing her shamisen while a large dog licks her face.
33	* BlandNameProduct: The girls shop online at Mitsurin (Japanese for "Jungle") instead of Amazon.
34	** Well, "mitsurin" is a slang name for Amazon in Japan. But it fits into general theme of censoring brand names that Joshiraku does.
35	* BookEnds: A few.
36	** The first and last episodes have nearly identical discussions of the questionable wisdom of taking such a dialogue-heavy manga and turning it into an anime.
37	** The opening and final shots of the series are from the girls' rakugo routines (Tetra's and Marii's respectively).
38	* BornLucky: Tetora. In episode three she pulls "Great Fortune" at Sensou Temple (Asakusa Temple)- known for giving catastrophic fortunes - then proceeds to avoids accidents, building collapses, and commuter hell all while completely oblivious to her special place in the universe. Gan hasn't been amused since childhood. Marii may have started a cult.
39	** Subverted when the rabbit came.
40	* BreakingTheFourthWall: Oh yes. The anime's opening scene goes all the way to MediumAwareness.
41	* ButtMonkey: If somebody isn't abusing Mari physically, you can bet they're making fun of her (lack of) breasts or sniffing her ass.
42	** If not Mari, then it's Kukuru. If not Kukuru, then Gan. If not Gan, then give it a minute and then look again.
43	* CallBack: Kigu's singing in episode 5 is done in a way one would expect a fan of metal music to do. This is because she was listening to death metal in episode 1.
44	** Tetora escapes Gan's assault on the other members of the group by having to go to the bathroom at just the right time. It was stated in episode 3 that she manages to avoid all disasters out of sheer chance.
45	* {{Catch Phrase}}: "Don't ask stupid questions!" for Marii.
46	* ChildhoodFriends: Gankyou and Tetora.
47	* CompressedHair
48	** Mari can somehow manage to fit her rather long hair, which reaches just past her back, under a hat ... somehow.
49	** Kukuru, whose hair is even longer.
50	* CurtainsMatchTheWindow: All 5 of them. Whether this applies to Masky is a mystery for obvious reasons.
51	* CuteLittleFang: Marii
52	* TheCutie: Kigurumi. [[spoiler:Or so she seems.]]
53	* DamnedByFaintPraise: "Even you can sit like a girl."
54	* DarkAndTroubledPast: Kukuru is strongly implied to have one. Later on it's revealed [[spoiler: her mom abandoned her as a child.]]
55	* DoItYourselfThemeTune: The opening is done by the voice actors.
56	* ElegantGothicLolita: Gan wears it during a scene in episode 1.
57	* ExactWords: Gan "pleasing" her senpai in episode 6.
58	* ExpressiveHair: Kigu's ahoge ''moves around'' in episode 4 because she's excited. It droops in episode 6 because she's scared.
59	* TheFakeCutie: Kigu often acts cute and expresses interest in cute things since that's what the other girls expect of her. However, her inner thoughts show that she isn't naturally like this and it's all a front; for example, when she gushes about how cute pandas are, she thinks to herself that she doesn't actually like pandas and finds their eyes creepy. [[spoiler: There's some hints throughout the series that Kigu was married before and is now divorced, potentially explaining where that side came from.]]
60	* FieryRedhead: Marii.
61	* FunctionalAddict: [[spoiler: It's all but stated Kukuru uses drugs constantly in order to escape from pain, if her "painkillers" are to be believed.]]
62	* FunnyBackgroundEvent: In episode 12, there's some sort of snowy mountaintop battle going on outside the window.
63	* GRatedDrug: Kukuru's "painkillers" in episode 10.
64	* GoryDiscretionShot: Not gory, but there was...something that horrified most of the girls in episode 10 that was mostly covered up. Kukuru had a twisted smile after seeing what was going on, but the rest of the girls were sick from just seeing what it was.
65	* HeroicComedicSociopath: Gan
66	* HollywoodToneDeaf: Marii
67	* HurricaneOfPuns
68	* IdiotHair: Marii and Kigurumi
69	* KnockingOnHeathensDoor: The Evangelists who show up out of nowhere during the episode where the girls suspect each other of secretly being wealthy. [[spoiler:Said Evangelists get quite violent.]]
70	* LampshadeHanging: All over the place...
71	* LastEpisodeNewCharacter: Uzannu Uzatei (Irritating and Annoying), who lives up to her PunnyName, complete with her parody theme song: Annoying You For Your Attention.
72	* LawyerFriendlyCameo
73	** An extremely blurred [[ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}} Snoopy]] appears in episode 1 while the girls are discussing famous dogs and cats.
74	** The characters of ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'', ''Literature/{{Toradora}}'', ''Literature/TheFamiliarOfZero'', and a bunch of other characters from Creator/JCStaff anime, among others, appear at the end of the train skit in episode 4.
75	** The [[Manga/SayonaraZetsubouSensei Itoshiki brothers]] also appear in episode 4. [[Creator/KojiKumeta Not surprising considering who Joshiraku's author is]].
76	** Jack Frost and Pyro Jack from [[Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei Shin Megami Tensei]] appeared as blurred images in episode 10.
77	** The girls very carefully don't talk about [[Ride/DisneyThemeParks Tokyo Disney Resort]].
78	** Also in episode 10, there's a portrait of the botched Ecce Homo that has exaggerated rabbit ears in the background when Marii is on painkillers.
79	* LivingProp: The Masked Girl, who is sometimes there… [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight just because.]]
80	* LoopholeAbuse: When they're "screaming across the sea" at people to give back what they're owed, the girls take aim at Russia, North Korea and China, before shouting, from their theatre in Chiba, ''across the Bay of Tokyo'', at the National Diet, to "give us our money back!"
81	* MissingMom: [[spoiler: Kukuru's mom left her when she was a child]]
82	* TheMountainsOfIllinois: {{Discussed}}. Shirakawa in Tokyo is ''not'' a river.
83	* MotorMouth: You'd better be ready to press the pause button often if you don't want your brain to overheat.
84	* NakedPeopleAreFunny: 10 minutes into the show, the girls put Marii in her [[ItMakesSenseInContext "casual outfit"]] [[SexSells to get more viewers.]]
85	** Marii is stripped repeatedly throughout the series, usually just her legs and butt, exposing her prominent Mongolian spot.
86	* NoFourthWall: The first scene of Episode I, outside of the rakugo intro, has the girls discussing whether it was a good idea to turn their manga into an anime, given that there is little action to animate.
87	* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: The girls are only known by their StageNames.
88	* [[OnlySaneMan Only Sane Girl]]: Marii usually fills this role. Usually.
89	* OrphanedPunchline: Segments showing the girls during their ''Rakugo'' acts only show the end of the routine.
90	* PlayboyBunny: [[ItMakesSenseInContext All five of the girls dress up as one]] [[ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext in order to appease a giant rabbit.]]
91	* PowerLimiter: Gan's glasses.
92	* PunnyName: All five of the girls, at least their StageNames. And to add to the "old school" feeling, their names are entirely written in phonetic kanji.
93	** Buratei Marii ("Bloody Mary") 蕪羅亭魔梨威.
94	** Haroukitei Kigurumi ("Franchise/HelloKitty Stuffed Animal") 波浪浮亭木胡桃.
95	** Bouhatei Tetora ("Breakwater Tetrapod") 防波亭手寅.
96	** Kuurubiyuutei Gankyou ("Cool Beauty Glasses") 空琉美遊亭丸京.
97	** Anrakutei Kukuru ("Dark and Gloomy") 暗落亭苦来.
98	* RealPlaceBackground: The second short of the episodes complete with a little trivia about said spot.
99	* ReluctantFanserviceGirl: Marii, who is constantly being stripped into various states of undress by the other girls.
100	* RippedFromTheHeadlines: A discussion about rowdy tourists disrupting a fish market involving a hijacked forklift was based off a real incident.
101	* RubeGoldbergMachine: The "advance" cavity remover. Although it relies on Tetora's extreme luck to actually complete.
102	* RunningGag
103	** "This anime is full of ordinary dialogue so the viewers can appreciate how cute these girls are."
104	** Marii's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolian_spot Mongolian Spot]] getting her exposed roughly once an episode with increasing intensity.
105	** The girls will make reference to real-life products, corporations, and celebrities, but each time the item/person in question is blurred out and any mention of their name is censored.
106	** When the girls have to give a group announcement, with each of them taking turns, Marii is only ever given the last syllable.
107	** "Stop asking such dull and boring questions!!"
108	* SchrodingersButterfly: [[spoiler:Episode 9.]] And the butterflies actually appear.
109	* SeinfeldianConversation
110	* SeriousBusiness: Some of the things the girls talk about are treated as such.
111	* {{Shonen}}
112	* SliceOfLife
113	* StageNames: The girls are [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname only known by their stage names]].
114	* StatusQuoIsGod: Constantly.
115	** The first section of episode two ends with Marii seemingly dead, but she's fine in the very next bit.
116	** Marii comes back from the moon.
117	** Kukuru immediately recovers from insanity.
118	** The world comes back after Marii dreams it away at the end of episode nine.
119	** Mildly subverted as it takes Gan a full episode to recover from being graduated by the other girls.
120	* TakeThatAudience: This exchange will make most of us feel guilty for something.
121	-->'''Tetora''': Well, at least [[BreakingTheFourthWall we'll have more viewers than we do readers]].
122	-->'''Kukuru''': Though most of them will be watching it for free. A shopper who doesn't buy anything is just a window shopper.
123	* TakeThatMe: In Episode 4 when discussing how weird it would be for people with glasses outnumbering people without glasses, Kigurumi says how it would be stupid if in a manga all three brothers wore glasses. The example? Manga/SayonaraZetsubouSensei.
124	** A newspaper headline in episode 5 mentions Joshiraku being canceled before completing the season. Apparently this is a very real possibility due to some of the jokes going too far.
125	* TankGoodness: During the opening credits.
126	* ThreeShorts: Each episode typically consists of 2-3 mini-episodes, typically with the first and third focusing on discussions within the theatre's dressing room, while the second follows them on their adventures in and around Tokyo.
127	* ToiletHumour: Episode 4 has at least two, of which we can't really give details here without violating Website/TVTropes' guidelines. Sumo apprenticeship can get really personal. Appears in later episodes as well.
128	* TongueTwister: The ED song sung by Music/MomoiroCloverZ. It spends the first verse reciting the classic Rakugo tongue twister ''[[OverlyLongName Jugemu Jugemu [...] no Chosuke]]''.
129	** Used in episode 5. Complete with a VisualPun.
130	* UnlimitedWardrobe: The girls are seen wearing different clothing each time they go out, usually with wildly-varying hairstyles as well.
131	* UnusuallyUninterestingSight
132	** In episode 7, the other four girls are so afflicted with tunnel vision that [[spoiler: Kukuru is the only one bothered by a sumo wrestler lying under the floor, the wallpaper covers up bloodstains and [[PaperTalisman [=Ofuda=]]] talismans , the roof is infested with rats, there's a dead man buried in the walls, and that Kigu has been replaced with a robot.]]
133	** The masked figure who never talks [[spoiler:until episode 9, that is.]]
134	* VagueAge: All five of the girls look like teenagers, but episode three shows all of them but Kigurumi drinking beer which suggests that they are at least 20 given that minors can't be shown drinking alcohol on Japanese TV.
135	** She could have been the designated driver, but Episode 6 tells us that Kigu is too young to smoke. The legal age is 20 for both tobacco and alcohol in Japan.
136	** Considering that none of the girls except Kigu allude to going to school even with their daily route as shown with Tetora, and are drinking alcohol at their Christmas Party, it's likely everyone is an adult except for Kigu.
137	* VisualPun: Occasionally seen between the massive HurricaneOfPuns.
138	* WardrobeMalfunction: When she tries shaving Gan's head, Gan tosses Mari into a wall, and the clippers happen to cut the bottom of her outfit off. And yes, she was GoingCommando.
139	* WhosLaughingNow: When Gan gets turned into the ReluctantFanserviceGirl in episode 13, Mari makes sure to revel in someone else suffering it for once.
140	* WhoWouldWantToWatchUs
141	** The ''very'' first dialogue scene.
142	** Mentioned again in episode 5.
143	** And again in the final episode.
144	* WingdingEyes: Zig-Zagged with Gan.
145	* {{Yandere}}: Gan slips into this territory in episode 6.

Context Manga / Joshiraku