Having somewhat recently completed Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu, I thought it would be interesting to watch Joshiraku with the memory of it fresh in my mind. However, I quickly realized that the two shows are completely different. Joshiraku is a comedy and consists of short skits. The main characters are rakugo performers, although rakugo itself is not a major aspect of the anime. The rakugo theater (usually backstage) is only a setting for the various comedic skits (which are usually unrelated to rakugo). So, don't be like me and expect this to be a rakugo-themed show.
This anime is clever and amusing, but not really laugh-out-loud funny. There is a lot of clever wordplay. It often breaks the 4th wall; it is a very 'self-aware' show. Occasionally it felt boring; some skits can feel a little drawn out, and the pacing of the skits is slightly sluggish at times.
I could tell that some of the jokes were too Japanese even for my weeb ass. There were seemingly obscure references to Japanese culture, history, politics, geography, etc…
In terms of audiovisuals, this anime is unremarkable at best. The visuals are adequate, and provide demonstrations of the jokes when necessary. The voice acting is similarly adequate. The OST is unremarkable and fairly inconsequential due to the dialogue-heavy nature of the show.
My personal overall rating: 6/10
Most episodes got some chuckles out of me, but it was never gut-bustingly hilarious or anything like that — just moderately amusing. I enjoyed how clever a lot of the jokes were.
If you like puns, clever wordplay and Japanese cultural references, then this is the comedy anime for you. It is a very Japanese show in that there are frequent references to Japanese culture in some form — anything from politicians to pop culture to kanji readings to traditional folklore. The cultural references have a lot of breadth. Receptiveness to this will likely vary a lot among viewers. A casual anime viewer probably won't be amused by puns about train station names (or something equally culturally esoteric), but a smaller subset of dedicated japanophiles would probably eat this stuff up.
