Even without the aforementioned grudge it looks like Yakumo and Konatsu get along like oil and water. She changes her tune fast once she finds out he is a Rakugo performers but their relationship remains stiff and awkward. Something which based on the first episode doesn’t look like it’s going to change. One particular aspect I find interesting is how Konatsu views her mother with disgust. From Konatsu’s perspective it’s certainly understandable. After all Miyokichi sleeps around with other men and actively discourages Sukeroku from performing Rakugo again which Konatsu truly loves. Though having seen what we have seen this is perfectly logical. Her Parents relationship, sad though it may be, was born out of necessity. Miyokichi needed a man to depend on and Sukeroku needed a goal. However Miyokichi didn’t expect that Sukeroku without Rakugo is a worthless bum who can’t gain the drive to look for real work. So she returns back to the only way she knows how to make a living. As for her stopping him from performing Rakugo it’s obvious that it’s because it reminds her of Yakumo and she’s not over him yet. So the situation is that Yakumo has to convince Sukeroku to perform Rakugo again which is rather interesting when this situation was reversed before.
Sukeroku makes his problem clear. He can no longer see the audience and this was the problem Yakumo faced once before in the past. Before he polished his Rakugo but neglected to view the audience when performing which made his performances lacking. It was Sukeroku who taught Yakumo to see the audience and learn to pull them along with his flow. Now Yakumo must teach this again to Sukeroku though the solution isn’t as simple as it was with him. With Yakumo he was simply ignorant of his problem but Sukeroku is aware. Is it strange that I was reminded of the tale of Amaterasu when Yakumo managed to lure Sukeroku out by performing Rakugo in front of Konatsu? Perhaps I am looking too much into that but this did illustrate the difference between Yakumo and Sukeroku’s styles. When Yakumo tells the tale he starts scaring Konatsu by placing emphasis on the darker parts of the story. When Sukeroku jumps in and lightens it up with his style and we have our first duel performance by Sukeroku and Yakumo. Truly the dynamic between them is marvelous and rather than performing solo perhaps it would be better to combine their talents. At the end of their performance Yakumo begs Sukeroku to take up the name which personally I see no way that can possibly turn out well. Though it seems for now that Sukeroku’s problem is cured. For even if he can’t see the audience, perhaps he can look past them and perform for his daughter.
