Akane-banashi is a manga about Rakugo (basically an entertainment form of traditional Japanese storytelling) that centers around our protagonist, Osaki Akane who aspires to be a Rakugoka. Ever since her childhood, she has been watching her father's performance from the back which made her admire it even more. Her father was also a pro rakugoka but unfortunately, he was expelled from the school he was under in a test where the Shin'uchi promotion (a rank of sorts, which is explained in the manga) was on the line. After being expelled, her father, Shinta quit being Rakugoka and took up another profession. That event was an important event not just for Shinta but for Akane as well. It ended up being a big turning point in Akane's life as she made firm decision that she would become Rakugoka herself. The first chapter does a great job to establish the motivations and the goal of our main protagonist and creates an interest for what's to come.
Akane is such a well written character. She has a clear goal and does everything in her power to stay on that path. She knows her limits and isn't shy about learning new things or different methods in order to gain experience to master her craft. The manga soon establishes rival characters to compete with Akane on equal footings. Since there are many tournaments or competitions in the manga, they do a good job to keep the line-up fresh and interesting with quirky and well written characters. The rival characters are also well developed and have their own distinctive personalities and we see them grow as the manga progresses as well.
To thrive in the world of rakugo is extremely tough. It's sink or swim. And you can feel that urgency from the characters too. They do a great job in explaining how the profession of Rakugo works and Rakugo in general so that even someone who is completely unfamiliar with it can understand.
The art of the manga is really expressive. The characters' emotions are really well drawn that you can easily get the message they are trying to get across. Be it the intense moments or the calm moments or the melancholy moments, they always nail it with the expressions. The visual representation of each performance is so neatly done and flesh outs the uniqueness of each performance. They make great use of the surroundings to tell the story as well.
The manga consistently delivers quality chapters but there are times when it does something very special that at its core can be very simple and yet be so much impactful. So much so that you cannot help but be in awe.
Akane-banashi is one of the best manga in Jump right now and you should definitely read it.
