I’m not sure I can ever remember a season where the gap from the best series to the rest of the field was as wide as it is in Winter 2017. Read more
Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu
Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu: Sukeroku Futatabi-hen – 01
If you tell me you were expecting anything less than that, I’m going to slap you. Read more
Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu – 13 (Season Finale)
Time to breathe a big sigh of relief. Read more
Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu – 12
If tragedy as a dramatic form is knowing the ending and being fascinated in watching it play out, then tragedy in human form is seeing the folly in one’s actions yet being unable to avoid them. Read more
Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu – 11
Rakugo is the spider web that ties the characters in this story together, but the thing that strikes me is that it’s really love that ties them – because what they share is their love for rakugo, not the rakugo itself. Read more
Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu – 10
This series is the complete polar opposite of the final words of Macbeth’s speech – “Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”. Read more
Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu – 09
Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu proves its bona fides as a tragedy with this week’s episode. Read more
Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu – 08
While it’s obviously the work of luck rather than direction, the schedule for this season could hardly have worked out more perfectly than it has. Read more
Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu – 07
One of the marvelous aspects of Shouwa Genroku Rakugi Shinjuu is the way it can present a stark difference in emotional tone without reliance on huge plot twists or theatrics. Read more
Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu – 06
You get a little history lesson for free with every episode of Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu – though I hardly think that was the beginning of the pitch the production committee. Read more