I learned about rakugo, the Japanese performance art of storytelling, from the series Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju. One of the most intriguing plotlines for me was the one about women being banned from performing the traditional style.
So when I heard about Akane-Banashi, the story of high schooler Akane and her quest to perform rakugo, I was intrigued. It’s written by Yuki Suenaga and illustrated by Takamasa Moue.
Since this series runs in Shonen Jump, it skews younger than Descending Stories. It also follows the traditional structure of a competition manga, with a talented young person working with mentors and learning how to better create art as they take part in various contests.
We learn what motivates Akane in the first book. She grew up watching and mimicking her father, an aspiring rakugoka. When he took the performance test to become a headliner, the top rank, he was expelled by the senior master of the school, along with all the other students.
Akane has spent years since secretly studying with his former master. She’s skilled, but she’s also motivated by wanting to rehabilitate her father’s reputation. As she learns what makes a truly skilled rakugoka, so does the reader, making this easy to read even for someone who doesn’t understand the art or its history.
The series has clear, readable art, with expressive figures, often exaggerated in their looks to easily tell the characters apart. The events are dramatic, with the competition structure making for plenty of suspense. The way the stories are illustrated, with the storyteller’s actions repeated in the characters hovering around them, representing their tales, makes the stories come alive the way their performance would.
It doesn’t hurt that Akane, with her two-tone hair (emphasizing her youth), is cute, particularly when she’s determined. Typical of the lead in this kind of story, she’s also kind-hearted, optimistic, and hard-working.
Akane-Banashi volume 2 sends Akane out to a performance at a retirement home, accompanying her student mentor, Kyoji, another student of her master. She demonstrates how well she’s already learned how to work an audience, adjusting to their expectations and wants. The reader, meanwhile, sees how enjoyable it is for her and her listeners.
We also meet another woman, beyond Akane’s mother (from whom Akane has inherited her determination) — Akane’s guidance counselor, who thinks she needs a more traditional career path. Akane’s long-time friend Jumbo talks the counselor into joining him at one of Akane’s performances, where she reconsiders her advice. Seeing that change was refreshing. The counselor continues in the series, providing someone else for knowledgable characters to explain elements of rakugo to.
Akane also learns about an amateur competition she is heavily motivated to win, even though her master sandbags her by giving her a particularly difficult story to perform. We also meet two other featured performers: a popular, creative trendsetter and a voice actress who wants to demonstrate her range. Although many of the students in this series are male, I appreciate the way women are included where possible.
Each volume has a short informational section at the back that explains some of the specialized terms or stories in rakugo. That’s appreciated.
Akane-Banashi volume 3 portrays the competition, going into detail with the final round. The other competitors demonstrate strengths of their own, again educating the reader about the skills involved in this art, including reading the audience. They also perform stories previously mentioned, showing the reader how these works are performed and customized.
Akane-Banashi volume 4 reveals the result of the competition and moves Akane closer to another of her goals, as she learns more of her father’s history. We also meet Urara, the only female master in the Rakugo Federation.
The overall story moves into a new plotline, too, as the last third takes Akane to a new phase of her career and introduces more apprentices. The series continues from there.
You can read a preview at the publisher’s website. (The publisher provided digital review copies.)
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