Forum - View topicREVIEW: Shōwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjū
|
Goto page 1, 2 Next Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Lemonchest
Posts: 1771 |
|
|||
|
Enjoyed Rakugo a lot, though I'd also fall into the camp of people who weren't as emotionally invested in it as a lot of the episode review responses seemed to suggest people were. I watched Floating Weeds while watching this & honestly I was left wishing they'd not just taken visual inspiration from that film, but story as well - since I personally really didn't like Rakugo's occasional slip into the maudlin & cliche. The two main female characters as well were, to be frank, pretty weak compared to their male counterparts & the next season will have some explaining to do with regards to its last minute revelation about Konatsu.
Indeed, I'd be tempted to go so far as to say that the main thing which make's Rakugo stand out is the fact that it is animated. A period drama of its type seems a much more natural fit for live action. Although, given the state Japanese cinema & TV seem to be in atm, I'm glad it wasn't done that way. Also, I don't know if anyone else noticed, but the impact of the climax to Yakumo's story was lost on me because spoiler[there's clearly a window ledge or balcony that Sukeroku could swing onto if he wasn't so busy having his tragic death]. |
||||
|
||||
crosswithyou
 Posts: 2892 Location: California |
|
|||
Think you meant Akira Ishida. 
But yes, the voice work in this series was spectacular. Ishida totally gets my vote for best actor for the next Seiyuu Awards, unless something beyond amazing comes up within the next 7-8 months. |
||||
|
||||
|
MCAL
Posts: 182 |
|
|||
|
||||
|
||||
TheRahi00
 Posts: 154 |
|
|||
spoiler[There is actually the theory that Bon's version of the story is wrong. Atleast the way it ended. If we think about the first episode the death was different from Konatsu's perspective. Bon's version felt too much like an actual rakugo. We will see in Season 2 what really happened.] |
||||
|
||||
|
Lemonchest
Posts: 1771 |
|
|||
I've seen that theory, mostly based on the idea that he's meant to be an unreliable narrator giving an embellished version of what happened as he'd like to remember it. That might come up in S2, but in S1 his story is framed very much in a "let me finally tell you what really happened" way, as though he's finally getting it off his chest & setting the record straight with Konatsu. That would certainly be in keeping with the period of cinema & literature Showa has taken influence from. |
||||
|
||||
MarshalBanana
 Posts: 5317 |
|
|||
|
My only issue, in an otherwise perfect or near perfect series was the death.spoiler[ It wasn't such a tall building, and they were hanging down from it. They both shouldn't of died, or at least not at least died later from injuries. Also taking into account that they doped straight, so while broken legs are highly possible, I doubt that would kill you. One last thing is that he was holding onto her, so she would of hit the floor first, and helped break Bons fall.]
|
||||
|
||||
|
-Ana-
Posts: 75 |
|
|||
|
||||
|
||||
purplepolecat
 Posts: 130 |
|
|||
|
Ironically, the inevitable tragedy was caused not by jealousy, unrequited love, or frustrated ambitions, but spoiler[bad carpentry].
Also, if we're debating the anatomical physics of that scene, spoiler[it's pretty much impossible to bear the weight of two people with one hand, unless you're a serious weightlifter. Try hanging from a bar by one hand: you get tired very quickly. Now imagine double that weight. Kiku is thin as a rail and probably doesn't lift anything heavier than a paper fan all day.] This is not bad writing, it's evidence that Kiku at the very least took some dramatic liberties while telling the story. |
||||
|
||||
Knoepfchen
 Posts: 698 |
|
|||
I don't agree one bit with this statement, but Nick goes out of his way to explain this as his personal experience in the following paragraphs, so no need to argue. But then again, I kind of want to argue that the theatrics and melodrama were quintessential to telling this story about people casting themselves in their own tragedy. Where safer to deal with emotion than on stage, where there are no consequences for loving, yearning, and suffering, where you will only be judged by your performance and not as who you are, making it so much easier to experiment with being yourself? Even when not on stage, the performance doesn't end, which was communicated extremely well through embracing the drama. After the penultimate episode, I think it's pretty clear what some of that all too heightened reality can be attributed to. I agree that my intellectual appreciation of how perfect the direction was trumped my emotional involvement, though. I always felt I was too busy marveling at a shot composition, musical choice or voice performance (someone give Akira Ishida a medal) to let a scene sink in emotionally. Kind of like Maho Shojo Madoka Magica, in a very different way. It's great to see this exceptional series getting more immediate attention and, despite the quoted statement I can't agree with, so much respect. |
||||
|
||||
|
Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11352 |
|
|||
I think this is a feature, not a bug.  Except for episode 1 and 13, this is all told by Yakumo, so it's not surprising that it feels somewhat impersonal. If there was ever a man who guarded his emotions, it's Yakumo. Maybe it's just me, but that sense of distance from the characters is absent from the first and last episodes, when he is not the storyteller. The tone of the "present day" episodes is very different from the rest of the story (and it might be one reason some people who liked the first episode didn't enjoy the episodes in the past as much and couldn't wait to get back to the "present.").
|
||||
|
||||
|
Knoepfchen
Posts: 698 |
|
|||
|
^Very much agreed.
|
||||
|
||||
VoidWitch
 Posts: 157 |
|
|||
I loved that quirk! And i love how more obvious the theatrical side becomes over the course of the show as the climax puts a final dot in Kiku's story of the past. The second season will definitely have more of a down-to-earth feel to it. It will be interesting to see tonal differences between two parts and compare them. I can't say i agree with everything Nick said, but nevertheless it's always fascinating to see people's thoughts and opinions on the series. Thank you for the review! |
||||
|
||||
|
Dop.L
Posts: 714 Location: London |
|
|||
|
Certainly, Akira Ishida's performance in this series has been spectacular. I hope if it gets a physical (DVD/Blu-Ray) release over here there's going to be extras of the complete Rakugo stories told. Even in the snippets of him telling 'Shinigami', I had the shivers, it was such a great vocal performance.
It was a fantastic series, and I was so glad to see it's getting a second season, because really we need more anime of this quality to show what the medium is capable of. |
||||
|
||||
|
Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11352 |
|
|||
I don't understand why there's even a link to the Encyclopedia for Akira Ashida, since nothing at all is credited to that name. Did Nick's typo somehow create the entry or something? 
Anyway, now that we have the good news of the second season, how much longer will we have to wait for news of a disk release? I suppose I wouldn't mind if they waited until the 2nd season was underway and they released it as a complete collection though... While I'm dreaming, wouldn't it be nice to get a New Generation dub for this (it just seems like the kind of project Jonathan Klein and Taliesin Jaffe would revel in, given the challenges of the script)? With some of the dubs coming out of Funi and Sentai lately, I'd almost rather have no dub. |
||||
|
||||
Merida
 Posts: 1945 |
|
|||
Very much agreed (to everything Knoepfchen said as well)! S2 can't come soon enough for me.
|
||||
|
||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group