Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Descending Stories: Shōwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjū
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11364 |
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After a second watch, I've got a bunch of thoughts (some of which are probably obvious, but I need to write it down anyway) and questions.
Starting with the obvious, when asked why he killed her parents, Yakumo replies, "I tried to die with the one, but the other took my place." Hearing it put that way (and considering the two versions we have of what happened), it sounds like Miyokichi intended to do the lovers' suicide with Kiku, and he was going to go along with it because he felt guilty for (in his view) making everyone so miserable and because he knew he could never have his idyllic fantasy family life with rakugo, Sukeroku, and Miyokichi (and Konetsu). But Sukeroku probably found them, tried to stop it, and Miyo stabbed him either accidentally or with desperate purpose. I'm still puzzled by Yakumo asking if [laughing at Yotaro's rakugo??] would hurt the baby. I glossed over it the first time, just taking it as a line to let us know he knew, but on a second watch, it kinda sticks out and makes no sense. oO Like everyone else, I'm in the dark about the ending. I'm wondering about the significance of the line from Nozarashi, "Like the fox watching the chrysanthemums, the girl slipped into my house last night..." I think its occurrence at that transition point is another reference to the Inari brothel story, but there is also a legend which is probably the actual reference for the phrase in Nozarashi. Abe no Seime's mother was secretly a kitsune named Kuzonoha, and she was found out by young Abe one day when she absentmindedly revealed the tip of her tail while gazing at the chrysanthemums. Because her secret was out, she had to leave her husband and son and return to the forest. Given how frequently characters have commented on Kiku's fox-like nature (and how he's frequently drawn that way too), I have to think there's a parallel here with Yakumo as Kuzonoha, leaving his family once his secret is out and the truth is known. But the secret's not entirely out yet, is it? The next line from Nozarashi is, "I am the corpse that was left in Mukojima. Thanks to the honor that you paid me, I was at last able to move on. I wish to come and give you comfort as thanks for what you did." Now I would say that's Sukeroku claiming to be the corpse and comforting him as thanks for passing his rakugo on and thus honoring him by keeping his promise. But then he asks Yakumo if he came from Mukojima, and calls him "bones." That seems to imply he's also putting him in the role of the zombie woman who slipped in like a fox and said those lines. If the latter is what he meant, is he saying that Yakumo is late in giving Sukeroku that honor and comfort which would allow him to move on? "Took you long enough." I dunno, although he follows that up with "let's go" I still think Miyokichi has to have some say in whether either of the boys can pass through the gate or not. Though she's had a couple of walk-ons, we really haven't heard from her since she died. I'm really wondering what she has to say about all this.
Well, the wall is covered now - did any of it stick? 
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Knoepfchen
 Posts: 698 |
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^I read the last minutes differently: Yakumo is the corpse left behind. Raising Konatsu and performing rakugo is the honor and what kept him bound to the world of the living (entrusted to him by his dead loved ones). His reconciliation with Konatsu and acceptance of Yotaro's rakugo enables him to finally realize there was more to life than regret, that some things were worth it - Konatsu, their family, and passing on rakugo. He's only able to realize this after several decades and repeated and deliberate encounters with death, hence Sukeroku's "took you long enough". Too late to plant cherry trees, but not too late to admit gratitude for what both the dead and the living gave him.
The visual and thematic callbacks to the first season were simply brutal, from the hair cutting/combing to the family reconciliation through rakugo and what followed afterwards. This show's a masterpiece. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11364 |
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Aside from it being the acknowledgement (honor) that allows the dead to move on rather than binding them to the world, that's a good reading I think. It just took awhile for the gifts to be perceived as such. It's also backwards for the dead to honor the living so the living can die, but there's no rule that it has to be a perfectly parallel metaphor.
Speaking of brutal, you know what tore my heart out the most in this episode? When Konatsu asks if he wants her to put him in the sun (after she's just reprimanded him for bathing alone), and he just weakly nods with an almost inaudible murmur. That whole caretaking scene was so real it was uncanny. |
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Knoepfchen
Posts: 698 |
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I think it was acknowledging his attachments to the world and their value which "allowed" him to finally move on (as he doesn't want to die anymore, this feels like a cruel thing to say).
He's finally able to let go of the role he cast himself in all these years. Yes, that scene was painfully honest. |
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John Thacker
Posts: 1006 |
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Honestly, without the previous scene with Yotaro talking about rakugo better performed by a woman, I would not have been completely sure that Konatsu was asking for herself to be a pupil rather than her son, who was after all performing rakugo at that moment. |
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鏡
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The big conversation between Konatsu and Kiku in 10 kind of made me realize that their relationship is too emotionally nuanced for me to keep track of at this point - I'll definitely have to rewatch the show. I'm really glad that he did ultimately apologize for stifling Konatsu's talent, even if through oblique symbolism, but I was pretty confused by her sudden switch from bitterness to affection, and as Gab pointed out, the admission of insecurity and self-perception as a burden to Kiku that it amounted to. How can Konatsu simultaneously have a genuine antipathy for Kiku's continued existence (IE. I don't think she's being in any way insincere in her multiple moments of wishing that he had died) and a fear that she's holding him back from killing himself? Especially when she's well aware that her course in life and inability to break into rakugo was largely determined by decisions that Kiku made in her childhood.
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crosswithyou
 Posts: 2892 Location: California |
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^ I totally get what you mean. Konatsu's mood sings were real... uh, swingy?
Anyway, looks like Yakumo has indeed kicked the bucket, and Matsuda san possibly followed soon after. This was yet another week where Rakugo Shinjuu made me cry. I was eager to find out how Yotaro and Konatsu were taking it, but this entire episode took place in the afterlife. We also found out that Miyokichi had intended to kill herself and accidentally tripped, of all things. It was sweet seeing all three together again, and happy at that. And the person Yakumo most wanted to see him perform? Little Shinnosuke! Cue the waterworks. He really did care for that boy. ;__; Only one more episode!  Please, someone license this!
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treeofjessie
 Posts: 31 |
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i think i can maybe help out the folks who are struggling with konatsu's behaviour:
have you ever known someone who has had an irrefutably bad relationship with their parent(s)? like someone with a history of trauma stemming from their parent(s) level bad? kiku is functionally konatsu's father; at this point he's been her guardian longer than either of her biological parents ever had the chance to be, and that their relationship's base is broken is pretty undeniable, yeah? she thinks he made her an orphan. but he's still her dad, you know? and the only one she's got in this world. even if her feelings are complicated, confusing, and kinda rocky... she still grew up under his care. that she might feel some dissonance seems perfectly reasonable and in character, to me. |
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鏡
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That makes sense, and I wasn't trying to criticize the writing or say that it was out of character - I think I've just had a pretty one-dimensional view of Konatsu throughout most of the show. In practice it makes sense that circumstance would force some affection for Kiku onto Konatsu, since as you say it's just a matter of fact that she spent a large portion of her life being raised by him, it just feels like a pretty complicated tension between her blaming him for her actual parents' death and her being barred from practicing rakugo for no apparent reason, and then in episode 10 asking to be apprenticed again and admitting affection for him.
Episode 10 is, as far as I remember, the first time we see Konatsu admit this tension explicitly (though there's obviously a lot that she does for Kiku throughout the entire season that implies her affection for him), so I guess I'm wondering what it says about her character in that moment that she's able to maintain both of those views of kiku. Also because I don't think Konatsu is a "tsundere" in even the broadest sense - her bitterness read to me not as some kind of affectation that she's clinging to from childhood, but a genuine feeling of resentment founded on pretty obvious reasons. And even in his old age, kiku actively participated in fostering that dynamic between the two of them - Konatsu's bitterness was always reciprocated with his condescension. |
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Knoepfchen
Posts: 698 |
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From Sukeroku being too broke in cross over, to the bathhouse, to hearing the names of Bon and Shin again, to performing in front of their children (with Kiku deliberately choosing his Yakumo body), to the pinky swear, to Matsuda being the one to steer the boat. Thank you, Rakugo, but please remember I need some time to breathe between all the sobbing.
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Keichitsu0305
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Oh my poor heart. The second I saw the pinky swear I cried so hard that my nose started to drip.
 Damn this series, bless manga artist Haruko Kumota, and thank you studio Deen for animating this masterpiece. Now all that's left is the modern day epilogue!!
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MikeNeko San
Posts: 51 |
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Sukeroku's explanation for the stabbing rang false to my ear. "Suicide attempt gone wrong" is probably the polite excuse he created in his forgiveness of his wife. Not to say she hadn't tried or threatened to try to commit suicide before. Bon, who likely knows better but has his own version of that night's events, would be too well-mannered to contradict his friend.
What set me off crying was when Miyokichi and Konatsu embraced in the theater. Oh look, now Konatsu's in her mother's lap so she can see better. Now, here's the three generations sitting together. |
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Roxas4ever
 Posts: 152 |
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When Konatsu first appeared in the theater, I was geniunely terrified that she had killed herself not long after Kikuhiko died. Thankfully Miyokichi explained it quickly, so I didn't have to feel horrible for too long ^^;
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Faeris
 Posts: 50 |
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I was doing okay until Yakumo got on stage and started Jugemu, then everything came crashing down and I cried about 30mins, even after the episode ended. I honestly don't know why I was crying because I was so happy: Miyokichi was at peace with herself and Sukeroku, Yakumo got to talk with Sukeroku earnestly, setting them in peace and also knowing that Sukeroku was always looking after him and all.
But then... Yakumo is dead now, and god we've been through so much with him, his family and his story that damn I don't want it to end. it makes me sad. I'm so glad I decided to give this anime a chance last year when it aired. shows this good don't come often. |
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Parsifal24
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I thought this latest episode was going depressing thing ever but instead it ended up being a really bitter sweet and oddly comforting episode even little touches like Shinnosuke saying spoiler["dad"] when the name Yotaro is mentioned in Jugemu. Honestly if I could just make this post nothing but hearts and rainbows I would.
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