Series · 2016
Shōwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjū
昭和元禄落語心中
Fresh out of prison, Yotaro seeks an apprenticeship with Yakumo, the rakugo storyteller whose performance he heard while incarcerated. Rakugo is solo storytelling, with a seated performer voicing the characters. The apprenticeship opens a history of artistic rivalry, loyalty and unfinished relationships around Yakumo.
Yakumo’s household already includes Konatsu, whose connection to his past complicates the arrival of a new pupil. Yotaro is not entering an empty training room: he must live among people with an existing history while learning a profession. The opening double-length episode gives that household relationship room to take shape.
Yakumo’s memories return to his apprenticeship as Kikuhiko alongside the boy who will become Sukeroku. Their training is unequal in a practical sense: Kikuhiko also attends school while his companion immerses himself in rakugo. Differences in confidence and opportunity begin inside the same household, before either man becomes the master Yotaro knows.
Complete television anime · Approx. 11 hours · 25 episodes
Both television seasons: 13 episodes (2016) and 12 of Descending Stories/Sukeroku Futatabi-hen (2017), 25 total. Excludes earlier manga-bundled OVA editions.