Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu – 25

Thus Rakugo draws to it’s final conclusion and it is rather refreshing to see a genuine conclusive ending in anime, This is a lot rarer than it should be as most anime leave you hanging for another season that may never come or just wrap up things haphazardly leaving it with a unsatisfying conclusion. However the end of Rakugo may have taken it’s sweet time but it’s nonetheless a great close to a great series. In a way the last episode was an emotional epilogue and this was an epilogue for the future of Rakugo. I am a little miffed that all the problems Rakugo faced are all resolved offscreen after a time skip. I would have liked more of a focus on how they helped rebuild the art after the burning down of the theatre. Looking over the series I find that while Rakugo was at the forefront of developments, it was more character drama that the story specifically focused on. While it brought up concerns of Rakugo becoming outdated in modern times I find that the series tended to only give vague indications of what was happening with the medium as a whole. Regardless it’s hard to deny that his is one of the finest character drama’s in anime.

That’s that then, Rakugo had a beautiful ending and there’s really not much else to say…unless of course we bring up that surprising detail revealed in this episode. I do find it amusing that Rakugo, a show so very close to perfectly executed would happen to throw something like this in at the last minute. Like a painter making a beautiful portrait and then slapping a small bit of mud on it. When the words were spoken I literally paused the video, let out a huge sigh and said out loud “They cannot possibly be doing this.” But indeed they did. For you see the father of Konastu’s first child….is Yakumo. Oh god this is Batman the Killing Joke animation all over again. Now from what I see a large amount of people are assuming that the writer was wrong in his accusation and that Konatsu was just humoring him. Of course, as no one wants to have a story twist like this. Sadly the fact that Shin looks strikingly like a young Yakumo and Matsuda being the one to clue the writer in speak that this is the truth. You could still claim otherwise but the final nail in the coffin is that apparently the writer himself confirmed it in side material. Look I get what is being done here, the blood of Yakumo and Sukeroku coming together in a new age of Rakugo but isn’t that just against the nature of succession in Rakugo itself? In Rakugo you don’t have to be related to your teacher to carry his name and his spirit. Having Yakumo spiritually live on through how he influenced Shin is a much more powerful representation of the ties of the art. A genetic tie only succeeds in allowing Yakumo’s bloodline to continue but in turn comes at the cost of respect we had for him.

I just cannot for the life of me fathom how these two could possibly engage in intercourse. Konatsu hated Yakumo and fully believes him to be the cause of her parents death. Yakumo was torturing himself over the deaths of the two so the very idea of him adding yet another sin to the bundle is just asinine. Taking this as fact this makes Konatsu a serious hypocritic and Yakumo someone who angsted over the death of his friends but still thought that getting his best friends daughter pregnant was fair game. The afterlife episode makes even less sense now. Maybe Sukeroku could get over it but Miyokichi? Like hell. The more I think about this the more it just darkens my view of Yakumo and Konatsu. When he collapses and said “My beloved” to Konastu, was he literally talking to Konatsu? Was he using her as a substitute for MIyokichi? Or against previous conceptions is he just a horny old fart? Is Konatsu really shallow enough to put aside personal vendetta’s for the chance to bang a suave older man? Because I don’t buy that “Wanting to carry his legacy” bullshit at all. Now I am really mad that we spent the last few episodes sending the Yakumo off like he was a saint.  Ladies and gentlemen, this is a situation where I believe we should invoke death of the author. In my mind the Yakusa leader is the father of Konatsu’s child. That’s my head canon because the story is the better for it and or god’s sake it makes much more sense. I suggest you do the same.

Somehow I knew that the majority of this post would be dedicated to that twist when I seen it. But let me move away from that. It’s nice to see that Konatsu has become the first female Rakugo performer(There does seem to be records of female Rakugo performers before her though) but it is a shame the final episode didn’t spare some time to show her performance. What we did get however was Yotaro performing Shinigami and I got to say I didn’t think he could pull off such a dark story considering his usual optimistic nature. Yakumo popping in for the afterlife to pitch in only made the performance all the more intense. The writer always makes assertions to make the audience think but it’s often Yotaro who happens to throw out the real words of wisdom. Ending the series with his final line that “Something this good could never go away” is a somewhat poetic end to this series. After all he is right in that regard. Even if something is old, outdated or niche, as long as it can touch the hearts of people there will be those who ensue it will never die out. That is as true for Rakugo as it is with anything in the world.