English Dub Review: Akane-banashi “On That Day; First Performance”
OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)
Akane Osaki grows up admiring her father Tohru’s passion for Rakugo, a form of Japanese verbal comedy. When Tohru is suddenly expelled from the profession along with several others, he loses that passion to become a salaryman, but Akane commits to becoming the greatest Rakugo performer to avenge her father’s lost dream. Years later, in her first performance, she blows everyone away.
OUR TAKE
It’s time for another anime adaptation of a Weekly Shonen Jump manga, this time being one based on a subject matter that is pretty obscure to most non-Japanese audiences: the performance of Rakugo. There have been at least a couple other shows I recall that focus on this and they’ve gone on to be exceptionally well reviewed, despite ending up really passed over. I’ve heard similarly great things about Akane-banashi (or Akane’s Story), but it being in the most mainstream outlet for manga means it is way more likely to educate international fans of manga about this niche genre and industry, which is always a plus in my book. I do like being entertained, but if I can be educated along the way, that’s just gravy. It also helps that these two episodes are an incredibly strong start to the show, with the first being about establishing Rakugo in the context of the story and mainly focuses on Tohru, Akane’s father, but all as a way of showing what will be Akane’s motivation for the rest of the story, with the second jumping ahead several years to instate her as the true protagonist and show her reaching her first milestone on that path. Though it’s notable that for the English Dub release, Netflix (who is distributing this) decided to put these two episodes out together, as opposed to the sub release that released them a week apart.
The first episode is also a great way to establish the story’s view on pursuing a passion instead of falling back on a more lucrative job that people expect you to get in your adulthood. As he is training to achieve the highest rank of a Rakuoga, shin’uchi, he reflects on the fact that while his family is struggling financially and his wife has to be the breadwinner, she’s never once told him to stop and Akane basically idolizes him for it. However, when he is expelled after his performance (despite getting great applause, plus the decision by the judge is questioned by just about everyone else so we’re probably going to learn there was more going on there eventually), all that passion vanishes and he gets a “normal” job, much to Akane’s disappointment. We see then, in the second episode, that the six years since have been put to good use, as Akane gets to cover for another performer running late and immediately makes a mark on her audience and her seniors. And with ten more episodes to go in this season, I can’t wait to see just how many ways you can make a story about storytelling.
