News
Funimation Offers Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju Anime for Digital Purchase
posted on by Karen Ressler
Funimation is now offering the first season of the Shōwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjū (Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju) anime for digital purchase in Japanese on Amazon and iTunes.
Funimation offers several shows — including Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya 3rei!!, The Lost Village, Hitori no Shita - the outcast, and Sound! Euphonium — as digital purchases only, and has not released these titles on home video or via its FunimationNow streaming service.
The first anime season based on Haruko Kumota's manga premiered in January 2016 and Crunchyroll streamed the series as it aired in Japan. A second season premiered in January 2017 and also streamed on Crunchyroll.
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.
Thanks to jlaking and kenno20081 for the news tip.
