Akane-banashi

Ozaki Akane is the daughter of a once up-and-coming Rakugoka who had to stop after getting expelled from his school along with all of his colleagues. But Akane had already been stung by the Rakugo bug at that point, and the spunky girl will do everything to ascend the ranks of this strange profession and avenge her father’s honor.

In other words:

Amazing series and I like that it writes Akane as actually competent in way that everyone takes her serious and respects her. Usually there'd be a period where someone needs to be won over or some nonsense, but no, everyone realise that she still needs work and practice, but is indeed very talented.

Chapter 12 is up, with plenty of funny faces. What’s more interesting is the end, though. I predict Akane’s gonna get lambasted for the first time.

Seems like Akane’s not the only one to hold a grudge… unsurprisingly.

The original ending of Jugemu seems like exactly the kind of black comedy I would enjoy.

I didn't notice there was a separate thread for this already. I mentioned Tikki Tikki Tembo, an American picture book inspired by Jugemu. Now I'm seeing it was specifically patterned after the older version of Jugemu where the son drowns (though in Tembo he just almost drown).

Lol, just now, me and my Japanese sensei was just discussing about the new ordinance for "Kira-kira name" and naturally, Jugemu comes up during said discussion.

Edited by jun_kagami on May 22nd 2022 at 10:20:46 PM

What’s that about?

Kirakira names are the fad, popular especially among graduates from 80's teenage biker gangs, of giving their kids the most extravagant names possible. English names of gems were the most common form of this, but there are registered cases of Japanese people naming their kids stuff like Pikachu, Adam, Tetris, Kitty, Panda, etc.

If you're reading Oshi no Ko, the protagonists, Ruby and Aquamarine are textbook examples of kirakira names.

Ah, so that’s what it came from.

That’s something you can observe among American celebrities too.

Edited by Lyendith on May 23rd 2022 at 8:33:04 PM

While I don't think it ever came up directly in the anime, Lucy (etc.) Yamagami of Servant × Serviceis basically a modern version of Jugemu Jugemu.

Edited by SKJAM on May 23rd 2022 at 11:45:49 AM

Chapter 15: I’m not sure how the dude’s knowledge made his storytelling better, but uhhh sure, I hope this lesson will help Akane improve.

I figured the lesson was the entertainment value of education itself—in Koguma's case, showing historical tourism can even be the primary appeal of a rakugo performance.

Well that was… underwhelming.

I did watch an actual non-comedic rakugo performance (a story about the Grim Reaper) and it was quite impressive. That’s something they can focus on in a later arc I guess.

Man, the whole thing about Jugemu reminded me of the ED of Joshiraku, which curiously did not get me too interested in rakugo, but this series does. Wonder why that is.

I'll thank the translator for eventually assuming readers understsnd "rakugoka" means "rakugo performer". A recent Jujutsu Kaisen had "mangaka" translated as "manga creator" over and over–it sounded completely ridiculous.

Then again, Joshiraku barely had any rakugo in it. >.>

Truly. It should be translated as "Japanese comic creator", come on.

That was probably it. Too much "cute girls doing cute things", not enough showcasing traditional one-man performance art.

There's a vomic for the first chapter now.

Amusingly, Shinta is voiced by Kappei Yamaguchi while Shinta's daughter Akane is voice by Yamaguchi's daughter Akane.

Man, I realize Akane’s expressions alone are what makes this series. Even her profile photo is hilarious. Love that volume cover too.

The downside is that I have a hard time getting interested in the other characters so far, except maybe the old Arakawa and Kaisei.

This is already at the point I’m completely reading Kaisei as Akira Ishida. There’s no other option in my brain anymore.

…Well thanks, so do I, now.

If there ever is an anime, it’d be really sweet if Kappei and Akane Yamaguchi retained their roles. The dad passing the baton to his daughter!

edit: Oh crap, I just learned that Akane was an actual rakugoka.

Edited by Lyendith on Jun 5th 2022 at 6:05:25 PM

I’m interested in how Akane will make Jugemu interesting. I hope we get the full performance next chapter.

I like the amount of buildup, and the stuff they did inbetween, but we gotta see what it was building up to eventually.

Maybe she'll tell the story in a different way each round of the competition. She was challenged to only win with one story, but she wasn't constrained to any particular style or format.

I actually really like that idea.