Akane-banashi seems to be trying to jam as many seiyuu as possible I want to hear do rakugo in the series not doing rakugo. Frustrating? Feck yeah. Miki Shinichirou now!? If that weren’t bad enough, the other Ohtsuka brother (they’re not actually brothers), Naka Hiroshi, and of course we already had Hirata Hiroka and Tachiki Fumihiko. It’s just a crying shame, truly – what a goddam waste. But then, in a way this is a rakugo series that isn’t really about the rakugo, so it kind of fits.

I gotta say, the headline here though is Seki Toshihiko, for obvious reasons. Here in the final episode (for now) we finally get a recycled actor from Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu, and it’s one of the leads – Yotarou himself. So naturally it’s another seiyuu we’ll never hear doing rakugo – he plays Konjakutei, a member of the rakugo federation – the same entry point for the other new names above. Shiguma is a member too. And their membership clearly has its share of hostility towards Arakawa Isshou, though it’s not universal. And it’s perfectly natural – he absolutely invites resentment.

That makes him rather the opposite of Shiguma, a point the narrative makes with its usual iron first subtlety. Shiguma is beloved everywhere, from Kanda Myoujin (one of my favorite hangs in my Tokyo days and a big patron of rakugo) to the local ice cream counter. Most of all of course Shiguma us beloved by his apprentices, who he treats pretty much like his own children. The scenes following Shiguma in his daily life and reflections on the future were unsurprisingly the best of the episode. This series tends to improve proportionally to the age of the characters in focus (unfortunately).

The Akane stuff is pretty routine, as the Akane stuff usually is. She becomes something of a celebrity thanks to the rakugo journalist featuring her heavily in his piece on the Karaku Cup. The principal even puts up a congratulatory banner (if there were ever a case of a show engaging in unintended self-parody, that’s it). This leads to her being hassled for photos and the like, but hey – as Killua-sensei points out, isn’t that exactly what an aspiring rakugo performer should be aiming for?

Graduation means Akane can officially become a zenza. That in turn means it’s time for her to take a stage name. That’s Shiguma’s job, but he’s anticipated her resistance to the idea of taking one before she becomes a shin’uchi and thus avenges her father. So “Akane” Akane remains for now, because the normal rules never apply to her. Being a zenza means playtime is over and this is a job, which means stuff like learning the taiko (used in the intro to every show). Fortunately for Akane Shiguma’s sense of mentorship filters down through his entire hierarchy, making it an incredibly supportive environment for a newbie. It’s a nice illustration of how decency and humility can have a knock-on effect on others.

And with that, the season draws to a close. We already knew a second was coming, making this effectively a split-cour – and that sequel arrives in Winter 2027. All in all this adaptation was pretty much comfortably in the groove all the way. It was good – the manga is good too – and subject to all the same limitations. What’s very surprising is that it was so stylistically neutral, considering Watanabe Ayumu directed it. Yeah his main focus was clearly Witch Hat, but I’ve never seen a Watanabe series with so little creative license. It was very competent and well-executed, but not at all what I would have expected in that sense.

In general I found series that are consistently pretty good less frustrating than ones that are alternately great and terrible. Akane-banashi is something of an exception though, because even as it’s safely coasting along in the slow lane it’s always reminding you of how much more it could have been. In many ways I think it’s a test of how much a series can achieve with a relatively bland and safe protagonist. A lot of times I would say “a lot”, but this series particularly is really about that protagonist in a way a lot of series are not. Ultimately the rakugo and the more interesting supporting players aren’t that important – Akane is all that really matters. A series can only rise as high as its ambition, I suppose.