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Shōwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjū 2nd Season's Opening Anime Video Streamed

The official website for the television anime adaptation of Haruko Kumota's Shōwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjū manga series began streaming the opening anime video on Friday for the show's second season, titled Shōwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjū: Sukeroku Futatabi-hen (Sukeroku Anew Arc). The video features the opening theme song "Imawa no Shinigami" (My Dying Hour's God of Death) sung by Megumi Hayashibara, who also voices Miyokichi in the series. Ringo Sheena again produced the opening theme, as she did for Hayashibara's opening theme song for the first season.

The opening video will be broadcast starting with the anime's second episode.

The show's new and returning cast includes:

• Tomokazu Seki as third generation Sukeroku / Yotarō
• Akira Ishida as Yakumo Yurakutei
• Yū Kobayashi as Konatsu
• Mikako Komatsu as Shinnosuke
• Shigeru Ushiyama as Matsuda
• Toshihiko Seki as Higuchi
• Kappei Yamaguchi as Amaken
• Takaya Hashi as Head Boss
• Yasuyuki Kase as Yakuza Boss
• Shou Sudou as Ani-san
• Kōji Yusa as Mangetsu Tsuburaya
• Kouichi Yamadera as Sukeroku
• Megumi Hayashibara as Miyokichi

Mamoru Hatakeyama is returning from the first season to direct the series at Studio DEEN. Jun Kumagai also returns to oversee the scripts, and Mieko Hosoi is again designing the characters. Kana Shibue is returning to compose the music at King Records, and Kouji Tsujitani is returning as the sound director at Dax Production. Hitomi Sano and Shigemitsu Hamao are also returning as color designer and director of photography, respectively. Shinpei Hayashiya is serving as the rakugo supervisor.

The anime will air on the Animeism programming block, and will premiere first on TBS on January 6 at 26:40 (effectively January 7 at 2:40 a.m.) before airing on MBS and on BS-TBS. The anime will also stream in Japan on 14 different services, including Amazon, Niconico, d Anime Store, Bandai Channel, and more.

The anime's first story revolves around a mature prisoner who was released on good behavior during Japan's Showa Genroku era (1960s to early 1970s). He is called Yotarō by others, a term that means an "anti-hero" or a "dim-witted man." When he returns to society, he starts a new life in rakugo (comic storytelling). Touched by Yakumo's role as the "grim reaper," he asks the master to take him in as an apprentice. Most of the first season had delved into Yakumo's own past during World War II and the years afterward.

The second season's stage will move forward to the modern era, with the story of Kikuhiko and Sukeroku's past now over.

The anime's first season premiered in January 2016. Crunchyroll streamed the series as it aired in Japan. Kodansha Comics announced last month that it has licensed Kumota's original manga series under the title Descending Stories: Shōwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjū.

Source: MoCa News