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EP. REVIEW: Descending Stories: Shōwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjū

...Man I wanted to see an older Konatsu do some Rakugo ...

He seems extremely uncomfortable around women in general, much less in a sexual context[...]

Personal theories about Shin's father aside, did anyone else find it weird that Shin's personality was so drastically different in this episode? I mean, for the entire series, little Shin was presented as this outgoing, extroverted, charismatic boy who effortlessly charmed everyone he interacted with. But adult Shin has none of those characteristics; he's now quiet, nervous, almost neurotic looking, absolutely nothing like the kid we've seen in the previous episodes. Yeah, kids change as they grow up, but it's like he did a complete 180. Even Konatsu kept some of her childhood personality traits. It makes me feel like Kumota radically changed his character just to shoehorn the "Kiku-Suke" symbolism in there, and I'm not sure how to feel about that.

Funny how the reviewer could always draw the most spot-on conclusions during the course of this show about its plot points, character interactions and straight up symbolism, but was unable due to personal bias to recognize the elephant in this room. Unfortunately, things like that should be looked at more professionally and objectively, even though it's very hard to do when one is so emotionally invested somewhere.

It does not matter at all that it is not straight up confirmed by another character. When you look at Shinnosuke, both his face and his mannerisms, it says "KIKUHIKO" all over. Hell he literally even takes the name! This is what the show wants you to get from it! There would be no point to bring that up otherwise, unless Konatsu straight up denied it in order to reject some doubts or theories. But she doesn't do that. Instead she reinforces it, saying that she might have been in love with Yakumo, and suddenly, so many things finally make sense in so many scenes, from the very first episodes of the series! There is NO room for doubt here for the audience!

This does not ruin the series in any way, because even if it leaves a bitter taste for some people for some reasons, it is NOT bad narratively. It just forces you to re-contextualize everything in Yakumo and Konatsu's relationship up until this point. We all just assumed it was father-daughter, and maybe there was a side of that too, but this is not Usagi Drop.

So much shit has gone through between those characters. Konatsu NEVER, ever thought of Yakumo as her father. She wasn't that little when Yakumo took her in, she was already taking care of herself and was very conscious about her family status and Sukeroku being her dad. And I'm pretty sure Yakumo never changed her diapers or did much aside from providing her a house to live in and some rules to abide by, effectively raising her in his way. Their relationship was always anything other but cozy, it was agressive at best and distant at worst.

Instead of bitching, the reviewer could have just tried to analyze the reasons why this should have happened, why would Konatsu feel drawn to Yakumo and why would Yakumo let her have her way - most probably because the last time he didn't let Miyokichi have her way, all hell broke loose? There are millions of reasons for Konatsu - a father substitute, Electra's syndrome, the only person in her life, idolization about Rakugo, revenge, "you took all I had away from me so now you have to pay me back and give yourself to me", and so on. Is it fucked up? Yes it is. It is very fucked up, but it can be explained.

I understand why some might feel betrayed, because the show played us up and led us to believe in father-daughter relationship, in order to reverse everything in the end. But, did it really? Or did we just assume that way due to our cultural background, maybe?

For me it was a brilliant plot twist that left me gaping before nodding my head in understanding "oh so this is how it was". And yes it is poetic to have a child with both Yakumo's and Sukeroku's blood, but saying it reduces Konatsu to a mere vessel for those two, means ignoring her entire existence and character conflict through the series. So no, it freaking doesn't.

I repeat, Shinnosuke is Yakumo's child and there is no room for doubt about that. This should be even more obvious when rewatching the series.