English Dub Review: Akane-banashi “Karaku Cup”
OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)
Akane enters the Karaku Cup, which attracts many local fledgling Rakugo talents, including some prodigies from the entertainment world, forcing Akane to put her new lessons to the test.
OUR TAKE
If there’s one thing I love me some of in a Shonen Jump anime, it’s a good ol fashion tournament arc. And while Akane-banashi has some less than conventional subject matter, it nonetheless gives its characters a chance to go in a head to head competition to show their skills, though in this case it’s who is the best at reciting and performing centuries old comedic routines, but the bones are all there. Character has a special skill, enters a competition against others who are on a similar level who also have their own quirky strategies and memorable personalities, the character grows from their struggles in the competition regardless of whether they win or lose, and so on. I say that rather dismissively, but I’ve seen time and again that those components can make, and have made, for some of the best stories in the genre. Duelist Kingdom in Yu-Gi-Oh, the Dark Tournament in YuYu Hakusho, the Chunin Exams in Naruto, and of course the Tenkaichi Budokai in Dragon Ball. That said, most of those are fighting stories and THIS is a show about Rakugo, so this is definitely going to be a lot less flashy, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be tense. As we’ve already seen, there are probably about as many stories to pick from and ways to tell those stories as there are Rakugoka, and this is the perfect opportunity for Akane to meet and learn both.
Two major rivals emerge in this episode, though as they and Akane are all in the final 8, we could meet some more interesting people among the other five. First, there’s Karashi Neriyama, who looks like a dead ringer for Bleach’s Shinji Hirako down to the bowl cut hair and toothy grin. He seems to be more laid back in his personality which will likely be reflected in his Rakugo style if we get to see that. In almost total contrast, there’s Hikaru Koragi, who is apparently a local celebrity due to her being a voice actor in a popular fictitious magical girl show, and exudes prim and proper aura but will sometimes slip into her Fukuoka accent from her hometown. While these two already have some notoriety to them, they immediately clock that Akane has the makings of someone who could very quickly make a name for herself. As for Akane herself, she puts the lessons from last episode that she got from one of her older sibling students how to approach a story about a kid with a comically long name…to which her solution was to simply power through at record speed, which landed her a spot in the final 8. And next time we’ll hopefully get to see what these other two competitors have in their story arsenal, and if Akane will get to have her fateful conversation with the man who expelled her father from Rakugo six years ago.
