Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu: Sukeroku Futatabi-hen

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Alternative Titles

English: Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju

Synonyms: Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu 2nd Season, Showa and Genroku Era Lover's Suicide Through Rakugo 2nd Season

Japanese: 昭和元禄落語心中～助六再び篇～

Information

Type: TV

Episodes: 12

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Jan 7, 2017 to Mar 25, 2017

Premiered: Winter 2017

Broadcast: Saturdays at 02:25 (JST)

Producers: Mainichi Broadcasting System, Kodansha, DAX Production, King Records

Licensors: None found, add some

Studios: Studio Deen

Source: Manga

Genres: Drama, Historical, Josei

Duration: 24 min. per ep.

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Statistics

Score: 8.81¹ (scored by 41,500 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #26²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #1044

Members: 117,775

Favorites: 2,220

8.81

Ranked #26Popularity #1044Members 117,775

Winter 2017TVStudio Deen

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Episodes: /12

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Synopsis

Even after having risen to the utmost rank of shun'ichi, Yotaro struggles to find his own identity in the world of rakugo. Caught between his master's teachings and the late Sukeroku's unique style, his performance lacks an important ingredient—ego. And while his popularity packs the theaters, he is but one of the few; rakugo is under threat of being eclipsed.

Meanwhile Yakumo, regarded by many as the last bastion of preserving the popularity of rakugo, struggles to cope with his elderly state. Even though his performances are still stellar, he fears that he is nearing his limits. His doubts grow stronger as an old friend creeps ever closer. Konatsu, for her part, attempts to raise her son as a single mother, which Yotaro is heavily opposed to. Instead, he seeks to persuade her to marry him and in turn raise her son as his own.

In Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu: Sukeroku Futatabi-hen, the curtains fall on Yotaro and Yakumo's story, tasked with restoring the near-obsolete art form as well as overcoming their internal conflicts.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu: Sukeroku Futatabi-hen covers volumes 6 through 10 of the manga.

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Adaptation:	Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu
Prequel:	Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu

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Characters & Voice Actors

Yuurakutei, Yakumo

Main

Ishida, Akira
Japanese

Yotarou

Main

Seki, Tomokazu
Japanese

Yuurakutei, Sukeroku

Supporting

Yamadera, Kouichi
Japanese

Konatsu

Supporting

Kobayashi, Yuu
Japanese

Miyokichi

Supporting

Hayashibara, Megumi
Japanese

Matsuda

Supporting

Ushiyama, Shigeru
Japanese

Shinnosuke

Supporting

Komatsu, Mikako
Japanese

Tsuburaya, Mangetsu

Supporting

Yusa, Kouji
Japanese

Higuchi, Eisuke

Supporting

Seki, Toshihiko
Japanese

Koyuki

Supporting

Asai, Ayaka
Japanese

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Staff

Omata, Shinichi

Director

Andou, Takashi

Episode Director

Nakanishi, Yasuhiro

Script

Hayashibara, Megumi

Theme Song Performance

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"Imawa no Shinigami (今際の死神)" by Megumi Hayashibara (eps 2, 4-10)

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#1: "Hikobayuru (ひこばゆる)" by Kana Shibue (eps 4-10)
#2: "Kawa, Taredoki (かは、たれどき)" by Kana Shibue (ep 12)

More reviewsReviews

Mar 24, 2017

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 10

riorangel21 (All reviews)

173 people found this review helpful

This show hands down one of the godtier series in the history of anime. When it comes to drama, Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu as a whole is insanely topnotch / masterpiece. Not being biased here, I mean the show is just that good, flawless + with insane direction and editing by Studio Deen.

Story 10/10 Simple and boring you might say but the narration of the series is topnotch, with thoughtful editing + with masterful direction, the show just climbed up the rankings easily, surpassing its 1st season. Overall flawless storyline. It is just that good and you might know the show had those insane plottwist read more

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Mar 25, 2017

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 6

ItIsIDio (All reviews)

98 people found this review helpful

The second season of Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu cemented the series as an undeniable masterpiece for me is what I wish I would be saying right now. However the second season lost a lot of the aspects that made the first season of Rakugo great for me.

If you were to ask me what the first season was, I'd say that it was a story about the industry of rakugo and the life of two men that grew up together and were raised to work in that trade. If you were to ask me what the second season is, I'd say that it is about the state of where the industry could be going, and concluding Yakumo's character arc. The way the series tries to present the state of rakugo and where it moves going forward is through Yotaro, a new character of whose sole purpose is to constantly reiterate that Rakugo is to be preserved, and Yakumo's reluctance for rakugo to be changed and not die with him. The problem here is that Yotaro gets focus only for the first few episodes, where he has to get inspiration and get over his bad reputation dug up by the media and convince his wife that he is a good father for her son and a good man for her. This gets resolved in about 2 episodes and afterwards all the focus on Yakumo. After these events, in all becomes about Yakumo and his deteriorating health. At this point is when this season of Rakugo simply becomes "oh guys we love rakugo so much how can we improve rakugo is yakumo alright is rakugo alright". Every episode pretty much relies on delivering a Rakugo piece and knocking Yakumo down and then bringing him back down only to knock him down again and it repeats this cycle until this season reaches its end.

It is about 5-6 episodes of stagnation with the characters merely being in a cyclical state until the season reaches its end and things can happen in a way that feels final rather than repetitive. Two of the episodes don't really have any effect on the overarching plot but bring more flesh into the universe, two are about Yotaro as I have had said and the last two conclude the series. So we have about 2 episodes about the new generation of rakugo performers, about 6 episodes simply stagnating the story with events of the same nature told in a slightly different way, 2 episodes that while I actually considerably enjoyed far more than the other episodes because the details they brought in universe and the Rakugo in them, but I still consider them filler since they don't impact the plot moving forward, and the last 2 episodes that are wrapping things up. Frankly, to me it felt like it had no idea what it set out to do, other than present us with more rakugo, while not advancing the plot because the story planned itself to end with a certain event. It dragged on a couple of times, and for the most part it felt like a pointless continuation, due to the fact that it feels like it keeps bringing up more of the same. The mere existence of Yakumo as an unresolved character that got a lot of focus, even when his character would get fixed to be deteriorated again, brought no value to the story and by the time it ended, because I simply couldn't care less anymore. The episodes where he wasn't a much of a focus point in this season were my favorites, simply due to the fact that I didn't know what I would get and I had no expectations.

Quite frankly, due to Yakumo's existence and Sukeroku's legacy, the characters hardly got anything besides blood ties and admiration to define them in universe for the most part. None of them really have real impact on the events but they are either related to Yakumo or enjoy Yakumo, which I guess the series thinks is reason enough to keep them around and relevant. I do find Yotaro acceptable as he is a reformed criminal who wants to have a positive outlook on life. But there are characters such as a writer that simply chooses to stick around because he wants to write new rakugo stories and he likes rakugo. That's his motivation and personality. He is constantly around and he at best brings exposition, at the worst he just makes his presence felt. What is the point of having a character who is like "Rakugo is such a beautiful thing. It should be preserved and kept alive." who brings no real contribution to the events of the story? His personality is rakugo. His impact on the events is artificial and he feels like he is a device to present that things should progress.

You need to understand that I can't really contain my dissapointment when I complimented its first season for its really strong of storytelling, where it presented all the essential details and developed on its characters in a smart way, presented flaws and difficulites they went through, as well as their strengths. The events mattered because they were shaping Yakumo into the person he became, because of the certain point he got in life, but the events this time around don't really sway impact because this season is simply preparing Yakumo for the end, with every event in the story being like flowers on a gravestone. None of the events in the story seemed like they had any impact on the universe and there were no real difficulties the characters tackled, outside of Yotaro and Yakumo, who kept struggling repeatedly with the same things which made things repetitive. I couldn't care about the characters and the story was all in all a mess. There were still things I enjoyed like the rakugo stories told in these season were really entertaining, for the most part. I especially enjoyed the one told by Konatsu, Sukeroku's daughter, in front of her kid's classroom. But this second season was not at the same quality of the first season, as it seemed to have no direction for its entirety, thing that I would stayed felt the opposite way the last time around.

To conclude, the second season of Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu took too much time to reach its conclusion and presented a lot of details that I couldn't find relevant to the overarching plot, and therefore lost my interest, due to too much foreshadowing and stating the direction it wanted to go to outright through a character of whose role was exactly that. While in the first season, I knew exactly where I was going and what to expect and I enjoyed it, in this season I disliked it, because the execution isn't as strong, because the events aren't as impactful due to them being repetitive by nature of not having lasting consequences on its characters or skipping directly to the desired result, the characters therefore don't feel as human due to that fact, as well as them not having any real difficulties in their lives to truly display any of their flaws or strengths, making a lot of them simply present, but irrelevant. There are rakugo pieces, but those mostly come to your discretion, as different stories impact people in different ways. I enjoyed most of them, but I can't and won't speak for everyone. If you're curious about how this season went on and I kind of turned you off, I will also note that this season doesn't really take away from the experience of the first season, unless you were really emotionally attached to the series. The first season still remains at the same level as it was, and I don't find it was a waste of time to find out how things in the universe of Rakugo have had concluded. But note, that it isn't gonna be what it used to be. It will just remember what it was.

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Mar 24, 2017

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 10

0207xander (All reviews)

86 people found this review helpful

When something moves you to tears, it's daunting to explain why. How can I possibly put into words how much of an emotional impact a single piece of media had on me? All I can do is try and hope that you decide to give it a chance.

PS When Yotaro performed "Shibahama" in episode 8 that shit got my ass crying real hard.

The best part of this show is the story. It’s complex without being confusing and is always interesting. I was never bored while watching. If you combine both seasons into one story, I think the structure of an introduction to the present, backstory, then jump back to present to continue the story and see how the events from the past have changed the present and continue to affect characters really made the show what it is. And then a beauty of this show is that the conclusion to this story is the conclusion to Yakumo’s story. Very satisfying and appropriate to how I think the show should’ve ended. The combination of all of these decisions that change the tone and flow of the story make it something to behold.

(START SPOILERS)

It wasn’t perfect though. One of the main problems I had with this series was that the story focused too much on the past. I think that while this focus on the past demonstrated Yakumo’s inability to move on well, there comes a point where it becomes frustrating to watch the same decisions being made for the same reasons over and over. We all know that Sukeroku and Miyokichi’s death affected Yakumo’s life forever after, but sometimes his obsession over it in the most trivial of situations seemed unrealistic and just overemphasized. I very much liked the scenes of hallucination that put Yakumo in the hospital both times, and his journey in the afterlife and reuniting with the two, but the day-to-day trauma he’s experiencing 20+ years after their death seems just a bit overdone.

I had a sort of crisis while watching the show due to the nature of episode 7’s reveal that the ending Yakumo told to us in the first season was a lie and that Konatsu was partly responsible for her parents’ deaths. I was shook when I found this out due to the profound effect the original ending had on me. I was more than a bit disappointed initially, but after much reflection on how this changes Yakumo’s character and his relationship to Kontasu, I decided that I also think this was a great plot twist that adds to the story. I still like the original better because it was more tragic, but I think that’s the point and I just fell for a story trap. Oh well.

(END SPOILERS)

Another part of the first season I found to be refreshing and captivating was Yakumo and Miyokichi’s relationship. Usually in romance anime, relationships are either lovey-dovey or they’re both unbelievably awkward around each other. Rakugo makes their relationship compelling, mature, and quiet, yet ever-present. I loved the handling of this aspect of the show. This kind of continued with this season. The same dynamic was kept in place, but Yotaro was just a more loud character who wears his emotions on his sleeve, so it’s natural that it would be different, but I’d say of the 2, I prefer the former.

This also brings me to my only other main complaint of the show. In the first season, I just liked the characters more. Not necessarily how they’re written, I love the aspects of them all, but my views are best demonstrated in the Rakugo they perform. Sukeroku’s was informal, fast, yet strong and clear, while Yakumo’s is dignified, deliberate, and refined. To me, Yotaro’s personality and his Rakugo seemed loud, a bit goofy, and sometimes unpleasant to listen to. This was only rarely, but I sometimes would just wish he would stop talking. That being said, Kontasu is one of my favorite characters in the show and I thought old Yakumo is just as good as young Yakumo. Also, the story of Yotaro’s past interfering with his career was a good conflict of the show.

Rakugo is a show about art, so it’s only natural that its art direction be some of the best I’ve ever seen. Perfectly set the mood in every scene, managed to blend traditional traditions in a modern world in a clean, appealing way. My desktop background is even a screenshot I took from the show, that’s how impressed I was. On a similar note, I am continuously impressed with the OP and EDs in this show. They’re perfectly reflective of the show. I feel like the video itself for the OP in the second season reveals a lot about the plot, so if you’re trying to go in blind, consider skipping watching the OP.

Overall, I can’t recommend this series enough. If you think you will like the show, I can guarantee that you will. I’m not here to tell you that this is a perfect show (it’s not), and I’m also not here to tell you that if you don’t enjoy it you have shit taste and there’s something wrong with you, but I can say this: In my opinion, Rakugo is the best series to come out in the last couple of years and it will be one of those “hidden classics” 5-10 years into the future, due to how under-the-radar it was, yet how profoundly excellent it is.

Thank you for reading my review! Feel free to leave any kind of feedback on my profile if you feel the need to, I appreciate everything.

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Apr 16, 2017

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 2

SuperSecretOtaku (All reviews)

86 people found this review helpful

Not only is this show not up to par in comparison to it's predecessor, but simply wouldn't be worth your time or consideration without it's lineage.

The first season clearly demonstrated how every character is shaped into who they became by preceding events, and almost every element introduced has a crucial role in the plot; in contrast, the majority of this season's plot elements are introduced, then simply go nowhere.

Take as an example, the desire to keep Rakugo traditional, versus the need to keep Rakugo alive through innovation. The first season heavily foreshadowed that this would be the main struggle of S2, and the first episode of S2 seemingly confirms this by introducing a character whose main goals are to write new Rakugo stories, and get Yotaro to tell these new stories. Of course Yakumo is opposed to this, and it seems that this push & pull between innovation & tradition may determine the fate of Rakugo's future.

But it doesn't. At no point does the plotline of new Rakugo stories actually go anywhere, besides the writer occasionally reminding the cast & audience that he's ostensibly here to push said conflict, but it also seems that writing new stories is completely unimportant to the survival of Rakugo.

This is far from the only violation in this manner. A mob boss is introduced, who has very little impact on the plot. Yotaro has a friend who appears multiple times throughout the show, only to have little to no impact on the plot. A shocking twist is revealed in Episode 7, which ends up having no impact on the plot whatsoever.

Ultimately the only plot lines that get resolved are 1. Does Rakugo survive and 2. How does Yakumo deal with his grief? These could have been good enough, but both elements are suddenly resolved in episodes 11 & 12, with the latter being resolved in one of the cheesiest manners possible. The majority of the season is just Yakumo almost dying, expressing regret at his past, and not really moving anywhere. Rinse, Wash, Repeat.

You can't just linger on what was good about last season for 12 more episodes and expect the product to be good. Not only are many of the Rakugo stories told this season just retellings of stories we heard in the first season, not only are the same conflicts carried over, but a decent chunk of one of the episodes is literally just playing footage of a Rakugo story from season 1.

In the OP, when Sukeroku lifts Yakumo's jacket, revealing nothing but bones inside, it clearly says that Yakumo is empty inside. Unfortunately, after having finished the show, I'd say it was a rather apt metaphor for the whole of season 2 as well.

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Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu: Sukeroku Futatabi-hen
Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju
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Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu: Sukeroku Futatabi-hen
Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju
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