Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu
Deen studio
2 seasons
25 episodes
Drama, historical, josei
9.5/10
Once in a while you encounter such gems which tend to go overlooked. Not everyone's cup of tea, I say it because it dwells more on dialogues than action,animation. It can be refreshing, painful or mediocre and boring.
"In a world overflowing with entertainment I want to create a path for Rakugo to survive"
Summary: yotarou wants to perform and excel at rakugo. Inspired during his prison days by renowned Yakumo, he wishs to learn under him as his apprentice. There he meets Konatsu who was under yakumos care since her father;sukeroku who was also renowned rakugo performer had passed away. Then begins a gutwrenching, heartwarming story about friendship, love, ambition and dreams.
You can either go in blindly or do your homework about rakugo beforehand.
While I was oblivious of rakugo artform initially but by the end of it I was getting goosebumps, laughing,crying all while listening to rakugo.
Plot and art 9
Music 9: Don't miss out on OPs and Eds.
Character development 10:Most characters are flawed, complex and real. Their development and backstory is so well done that you feel, share their agony, despair, love. It'd be regarded as masterpiece due to this if not for anything else.
Voice acting 10:Most don't emphasize on voice acting but you can't just ignore in this one. It slowly grows on you. One of the best if not the best.
Watch pilot which is 40+ min long and decide for yourself if it's confusing, engaging, worth spending time on. Once you get the hang of it in like 3 odd episodes you can't get enough and won't stop until done.
