Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu
Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju
My Summary:
A historical manga which involves the art of story-telling (rakugo) and the hardships of maintaining an audience whilst involving relationships and emotional rollercoasters. (For those who may not know I am a die-hard fan of slice of life and somewhat historical manga, I really enjoyed the vibes given off by this series). I may point out too, that I did not read the manga but watched both seasons.
Synopsis:
The Story starts with the release of a young man from prison. He immediately heads off to meet a famous rakugo performer. He begs the performer to make him his apprentice due to his ongoing admiration for the rakugo performer since he had once performed the “Shinigami” Act for the prisoners. The story focuses on the backstories of the performers and their struggle to gain popularity throughout different eras and featuring different generations of story-tellers.
My Review:
I really fell in love with the setting, especially the whole Edo Period scenery and vibes. There are three generations of story-tellers featured throughout the series. Starting with Kikuhiko, going down to Yotaro and jumping back to Yakumo. Each of the generations relate to hardships they have been going through and expose their emotions and ambition towards rakugo. Personally, I had no knowledge of rakugo when I started the series so it might have been quite boring for me, but it turned out to be such a captivating show with the carefully narrated story and pleasing side characters which in suk contributed to such a great plot. Also the story progresses slowly but does not fail to set a climax at different points of the series. Hence, I really took a liking to both seasons and of course to the main character Kikuhiko (later Master Yakumo) which turns out to be a rather caring human being beneath his cold hearted appearance and behaviour.
