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Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju Manga Gets 2 New Chapters

The first 2019 issue of Kodansha's Be Love magazine is revealing on Saturday that Haruko Kumota will draw two new side story chapters for the Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju manga. The new chapters will appear in the next two issues of the magazine on December 28 and February 1 with color pages. (The magazine is switching to a monthly publishing schedule beginning with the next issue.)

The story of the new chapters (highlight the following white text to read spoilers) [ is set after Yakumo's death, when his successor Shinnosuke takes on the "Shinigami" story.]

Kodansha Comics is publishing the manga in English, and it describes the story:

The multi-generational epic dives deep into this rich form of Japanese theater. Small-time crook Yotaro has never forgotten the rakugo tale "The God of Death," which the master Yurakutei Yakumo performed for Yotaro during his time in prison. After his release, he goes to Yakumo's theater and pleads to be made his apprentice. Yakumo reluctantly accepts, but Yotaro quickly finds the world of rakugo is complex and grapples with a growing bond with Yakumo's ward, Konatsu. Meanwhile, the two young people bring reminders of Yakumo's own inescapable past.

Kumota began the manga in Kodansha's ITAN magazine in 2010 and ended the series in June 2016. The tenth and final volume shipped in September 2016. The series received the "Best General Manga" prize at the 38th Kodansha Manga Awards, was honored with the Excellence Award at the 17th Japan Media Arts Festival Awards, and nominated for the 17th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize, and won the New Creator Prize for the 21st Annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize. The manga was also listed in the top ten manga for female readers by Takarajimasha's Kono Manga ga Sugoi! 2017 guidebook.

The manga's television anime adaptation premiered on January 2016, and the second season premiered in January 2017. Crunchyroll streamed both series as they aired in Japan. The manga also inspired an earlier two-episode original video anime project.

The manga recently inspired a live-action television series that premiered on October 12.

Sources: Be Love issue #1, Comic Natalie