Video Script:
Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju (9/10): Holy buckets a 9 out of 10?! More information on my rating system is in the video description. Now it is time to slip on verbiage as I begin a potentially spoiler filled review.
To tell you the truth I dropped this show after its first episode. It was awful, the premise was intriguing and the thug who appeared to be the main character was new, I love most shows in older time periods but IT WAS SO SLOW! The pace was that of molasses, slowly dripping before my eyes, I just couldn’t continue to watch it. It is still an amazing show, but if you don’t want to suffer through the first episode the basic information you need to know is that an old story teller is showing us his past after taking in a student for the first time. He has lives with a young woman who is the daughter of his now dead friend who blames blames him for her father's death. That is all you really need to get out of the first episode. Now back to the review, I figured the history of the old master would take a few episodes and didn’t like what I saw. Lucky for me other more dedicated anime viewers watched the show in its entirety and sung its praises so I had to take a look. Man am I glad I did! This show is similar to Berserk in that its history arc is a fantastic story on its own and even knowing this show has a second season planned I am would be happy with the offering given. I haven’t seen a story have such a gratifying build up with characters that felt this real in a long time. It looks amazing, it sounds even better and the payoff is spectacular. Now I am seriously torn because I want to give this show a 10 out of 10 rating but the fact that the first episode was so repulsive and that the show takes awhile to pick up its pace has me docking it the one point. I understand that the show was most likely trying to be faithful to the manga but the first episode should have been tighter, and I believe adapting it to fit a 24 minute time slot would have been for the best. In the end it was a show that made me think, it made me reflect on my own life and the cruelty of existence, being kind enough to give me a good cry or two along the way.
