Akane-banashi – Episode 1

What’s it about? Shinta is a journeyman rakugo performer whose career can’t seem to take off the ground. That hasn’t stopped his daughter, Akane, from cheering him on–and maybe following in his footsteps?

Akane-banashi is, without a doubt, one of the most anticipated anime of the year. Its manga is a wonder among Shonen Jump manga, centering on a girl learning rakugo to make her family’s dream come true rather than a scrappy boy fighting baddies. It’s the sort of show that we here at Anime Feminist love to see: a girl-led anime that challenges gendered norms in a deeply researched context. 

This premiere centers on the relationship between Akane and her father Shinta, and the show very much sells their relationship. If anything, this is where the show’s astonishing visual acumen and animation is at its strongest. The way the show compares the cracked door that Akane peeks through to see her father practice with the sides of a stage is a compelling metaphor for how she sees her father at his best—refusing to see him as the deadbeat or fail father that her classmates accuse him of being. 

Shinta’s status as a father is in itself a point of interest for our readers. Akane’s household is unconventional according to patriarchal ideals of masculinity, with Akane’s mom being the breadwinner supporting her husband’s attempts to rise through the rakugo hierarchy. While Akane is mocked by classmates for her father’s status, his artmaking he has passed down to her provides her a powerful tool for communicating her perspective on the world and a coping mechanism for dealing with her anger—even if she ultimately does choose violence, per se. 

The mother’s perspective will be interesting to explore as the show goes on—while we don’t get much of her other than her kindly clueing her husband into Akane’s adoration of him, the thousand-yard stare she shows when Shinta is ultimately expelled from Rakugo suggests that her interiority is going to be an important part of the show moving forward. She has clearly invested a huge amount in supporting her husband’s dreams, only to watch them be stolen by an unjust hierarchy. The patriarchal, hierarchical nature of Rakugo will almost certainly be a central object of critique here, given the master who expels Shinta is being fairly explicitly set up as the show’s villain.

If I have one quibble, it is that I honestly find the show’s visual style more distracting than beautiful. It feels of a piece with a number of shows that have come out recently that focus on extremely precise character animation and flashy visual metaphors sometimes at the expense of the story’s themes (Chainsaw Man’s first season comes to mind, with its drunk Himeno POV scene). Every moment was boarded to hell and back, with fluid animation every second. However, this visual business didn’t allow the eye to rest. One of the things I love about anime usually is its sense of tempo—that there are highs and lows of sakuga, and these high and lows allow atmosphere to be built through close observation of the environment and natural pauses and lulls in conversation. Akane-banashi often feels a bit exhausting, like it is screaming at you every moment “isn’t it so cool that we did this POV shot/character animation/flashy transition?” 

This is most at issue during Shinta’s Rakugo performance. Trying to parse through the many layers of storytelling was borderline impossible—with the performance itself depicting a story that I do not know, alongside visuals that sometimes just are supposed to make Shinta look cool, alongside some visuals that represent the story, as well as running commentary from the lookers on, and then commentary ON that commentary from other lookers on, it felt like 20 layers of telling rather than showing. I longed for the simple storytelling of Rakugo Shinju, where during the Rakugo performances the boarding entirely supports the atmosphere of the story itself, placing us in the audience’s shoes through subtle details of character animation without any need for five layers of constant running commentary. If I’m supposed to be sold that Shinta is some amazing Rakugo performer, then show me his rakugo performance, rather than just telling me it’s supposed to be good!

Overall, Akane-banashi is a show to keep an eye on. I hope that this premiere is just flashy like this to get the sakugaheads on board, and once the show continues it will slow down and allow us to really get to know the characters through careful observation, rather than just trying to wow us with how cool they look. Akane herself is a fantastic heroine, and well worth getting to know.