Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Shōwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjū
|
Goto page Previous Next Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Doodleboy
Posts: 296 |
|
|||
|
I loved the directing in this episode and how it starts amping things up as it plays it's hand.
From the heightened dialogue to the framing, the show isn't going for naturalism anymore, it's going for theater. Everything is deliberately artificial, like the lighting and petals highlighting Miyokichi's lines mentioned in the review. It's a play, the characters are playing roles, the drama is at it's highest. Like during Sukeroku's scene with Yakumo, where the screen is literally cut in half to resemble a stage and the two characters are composed as stage-actors would be (rather then more immersive camera angles) with us being the audience in the seats. |
||||
|
||||
RestLessone
 Posts: 1426 Location: New York |
|
|||
|
Great review, Gabriella! 鏡's write up was interesting as well. While the Westernization angle has always been present, this was the episode where it really clicked with me.
The artistry on display was fantastic. While the series sometimes slides into poor quality, it's overall a very nice looking work. Not something I expect from Studio Deen. I don't have much to add, but this ep did make me consider Sukeroku's position. We spend most of our time in Kiku's head, but I have to wonder if, had the series followed Sukeroku, "family" would be a major theme. His biological parents and the old theater caretaker die. He makes his way into the Yakumo household, but feels overshadowed by Kiku. He's been calling him his brother since they first met, yet there's been that simmering discontent for so long... How must it have felt to be chosen to entertain soldiers with Yakumo? At that point, did he feel like they were family and he was important? It also comes full circle with his daughter's birth. Alongside societal obligations, perhaps he's reminded of his own upbringing. Of course, as we know, Konatsu will be orphaned and left in the care of a rakugo master. |
||||
|
||||
|
Neko-sensei
Posts: 286 |
|
|||
|
I almost never react verbally to the anime I watch, but Miyokichi's blastingly abrupt "I will have revenge" made me actually mutter, "Whoa." The moment is framed to evoke Japanese ghost stories and clearly transfixes Kikuhiko just as it does the audience: Miyokichi's haunting is achieved in the moment of its prophecy.
For my money, the most interesting aesthetic element of this episode was the framing used each time Sukeroku's aborted future is discussed: like a wild exaggeration of Ozu's low camera, the bottom section of the screen shows only complete blackness beneath the tatami floor. We see this during Sukeroku's falling out with Yakumo; as Yakumo and Kikuhiko discuss the fact that Sukeroku will never be the chosen son (and I love the reverse Jacob-and-Esau nature of their relationship with their adoptive father: only the loyal, restrained Yakumo can receive his father's blessings); and during Sukeroku and Yakumo's climactic confrontation. We get the incredible visible sense that Sukeroku is poised over literal nothingness, an exterminating abyss that will shortly swallow his life, his artistic soul, and even his posthumous repute. The whole ground of his being is void. Overall episode 9 is a beautiful case study in the emotional effectiveness of really well-done melodrama, and can in that regard be very productively contrasted with the unsuccessful piece of melodrama leading episode 9 of Erased, in which, self-pitying or not, the ludicrously wicked mother's tears at her reunion with her mother feel neither appropriate to the character (whose flimsy, and rather cliché, backstory has been introduced only in the moment of its climax; the whole figure of Kayo's mother feels as if it were written by someone who read an article about cycles of domestic violence but has no real understanding of the topic) nor representative of any genuine human response, carried to whatever extreme. Erased is still a very good show; it's just that its moments of uninsightful melodrama are merely "anime standard," where Shōwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjū's carry the breathtaking impact of Isao Takahata's or even Kenji Mizoguchi's best emotional work. Edit: Dang, but Kagami's (鏡's) comment at the bottom of the last page is fantastic. Everybody go back and read that despite its unlucky placement! Last edited by Neko-sensei on Sat Mar 05, 2016 9:24 pm; edited 1 time in total |
||||
|
||||
sunflower
 Posts: 1080 |
|
|||
I only snipped a bit of your comment but the whole thing beautifully put into words what swooped down upon me while watching this episode, the notion of how this all is symbolic of the struggle between tradition and national identity and modernization and possible loss of that identity in favor of individualism, and wondering if there can be any compromise. I think Japan has achieved that to some degree, but it will be interesting to see how the shows plays this struggle out. |
||||
|
||||
whiskeyii
 Posts: 2269 |
|
|||
|
Yeah, I've really got nothing intelligent to add. Gabriella and 鏡 pretty much summed it all up perfectly. Just gotta' hold on for dear life as we all ride out this crazy downward spiral together. @.@
As an aside, it's interesting to view Konatsu's resentment towards the older Kiku when you see just how far Miyokichi and Sukeroku have fallen. So far as we've seen, neither of her parents seem emotionally stable enough to provide a decent environment to raise a kid in (and if the preview is anything to go by, they've resorted to begging). Ironic that the one person she seems to really detest is most likely the only person who could've given her the rakugo infused home life she grew up with--if we assume this is the end of Sukeroku, of course. He could make a comeback, but judging by the tone so far, I wouldn't bank on it. |
||||
|
||||
|
Neko-sensei
Posts: 286 |
|
|||
|
But we know from the first episode that Sukeroku does make a comeback, right? He has the "radio rakugo" concept, and succeeds in greatly raising the profile of the art among modern Japanese listeners. He can't possibly have produced all those records, or that video, merely as a futatsume.
|
||||
|
||||
|
whiskeyii
Posts: 2269 |
|
|||
Oh, good point! I'm not sure, actually. ^^; I had assumed that his and Miyokichi's death occurred years after his expulsion, if only because Konatsu has to be old enough to remember the event even in her twenties, but we don't have any real indication that I can recall about the exact date. It's possible that the show could do something like show everything stabilizing and getting back on track, only to blindside us with tragedy. |
||||
|
||||
mandisaw
 Posts: 140 |
|
|||
|
I was lurking early on in the season, and recently caught up. Been loving the series itself (definitely going on my personal recommendation list), and both the reviews and the forum discussion. (Although sometimes the reviews get a little too "film school student" for me, but I'm a media studies person too, so maybe that's immersion-bias.)
There are a couple of aspects I haven't seen brought up, though. 1 - On the matter of Kiku's feelings towards Miyokichi, I've been reading it as more of a substitute-mother situation. Having lost his biological mother early on, and clearly having no such relationship with Yakumo Sr's wife, Miyokichi filled a need when Kiku was feeling particularly adrift. The fact that she is also a geisha, like his mother, and like his childhood caretakers, can't hurt either. Kiku seems most comfortable around her when she is not being sexual, and folks have already mentioned how his feelings of love & intimacy don't translate into passion or romance. Now that might very well be due to his own sexual preferences, but I think there's also a component that her sexuality clashes with the framing that he's constructed around her / their relationship. 2 - I have the nagging suspicion that Miyokichi's child is not necessarily Sukeroku's. I mean, sure, that's the general assumption, and "possession is 9/10" as it were - the man who raises a kid is it's father, for all non-DNA purposes. But when Miyokichi says that she & Kiku "almost never" got sexual, that little light went on in my head. It's a reach, to be sure, but there's a massive tragic irony in the notion that Kiku ends up raising his own child, who hates him for "killing her father". It would also add to the previous-gen tragedy - Sukeroku is mostly going with Miyokichi because all that talk about taking responsibility has actually gotten to him. (And no, I'm not throwing that idea out to "prove" Kiku's straight, plenty of LGBT people have kids, biologically and otherwise.) |
||||
|
||||
Knoepfchen
 Posts: 698 |
|
|||
|
I've been waiting for this review.
So many great observations were already made, both in the review and here, let me see if I can manage to add something.
Gabriella, I'm sure you're aware of this, so forgive me for pointing it out, but not everyone might know. I had the exact same feeling in that scene, went to check up on director Shinichi Omata/Mamori Hatekayama and confirmed he storyboarded Madoka's "I really was an idiot" episode 8. What an intense, haunting and beautiful episode. I'd say, this week, Rakugo proved itself to be among the best Studio Deen has ever produced, possibly right up there with Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal. And those are some big shoes to fill. The execution was so theatrical that even without the narrative flashback frame there could be no doubt about the impending tragedy. Rakugo‘s staginess this week might feel forced or campy in a different setting, but for a story about truth and identity on stage, it’s a brilliant choice. The series has always used the stage as a safe space for exploring its characters’ inner lives. We’ve learned as much about their motivations, dreams and fears through their performances as we learned from their interactions off-stage. It’s only logical to bring the stage back into real life, at least as far as the visual storytelling is concerned. We’re reaching the story’s finale, and Rakugo starts hauling out the slightly bigger guns – while maintaining all of its grace. Kiku and Miyokichi’s break-up was overdue, but it’s still painful to watch. Miyokichi has long accepted her days on earth to be joyless and herself unable to take charge. Waiting for life to pass her by, she has settled to be a spectator at her own tragedy. And so she sits at her window, waiting for Kiku to come by, eager to see him, but well aware he will only come to end their relationship. Miyokichi knows all good things must end eventually, and she has no intention to fight back. The show doesn’t have to give her any lines to spell this out. Seeing her sitting amidst the fallen petals speaks volumes. Beauty is transient, and just like the sakura, Miyokichi’s youth and happiness have already begun to wither. Why should she try to defy the laws of this world? Her time with Kiku and the illusion of a shared future were as fleeting as the cherry blossoms, and just when both of them realize they never really shared their true selves with one another ("you don't know my name"), the petals are swept away by a gust of wind. After her last, desperate attempt at provoking Kiku into caring about her, Miyokichi dramatically announces her revenge through dying and haunting him in what looks like a clear reference to Yotsuya Kaidan‘s Oiwa. Wow. Always striving to be free, full of energy, and radiating with confidence, the larger-than-life Sukeroku is now reduced to watching Kiku perform in secret, hiding in dark corners, pushed to the edge of the screen he once dominated. He finds comfort in Miyokichi’s arms, two empty, trapped people trying to heal the wounds life left them with. It was Sukeroku’s rakugo that brought back Kiku’s smile after everything seemed dark, and it was his envy of Sukeroku’s passion and talent, which prompted him to strive for his own rakugo. Kiku doesn’t care about Sukeroku being with Miyokichi, but when Sukeroku comes to say goodbye to him and rakugo, Kiku cannot bare it. Rakugo has long become symbolic of both the freedom and repression it represents for the show’s characters. In a heavily regulated society, Sukeroku wished for its modernization to keep up with the changing trends and not fade away, which ultimately put an end to his career. Yet it was also the greatest source of joy in his life, and when that is taken away from him, he can admit to something he would never have confessed to before. Sukeroku, with all his claims of freedom and devil-may-care attitude, longed for acceptance and acknowledgement just like Kiku. And so he falls from the pedestal Kiku had placed him on, with Kiku trying to grasp his lost ideal just like Sukeroku tried to cling on to his master when he was expelled. I had always looked at his back in aspiration… Now I wanted to kick it, cling to it, pound on his shoulders… With that indescribable frenzy of feelings inside me, I gazed at it… That indescribable feeling, Kiku-san, is something we all strive for and hurt from. Sukeroku, who professes independence and is too proud to apologize for his transgressions, Miyokichi, who tries to be anything a man wants her to be in order to avoid developing dreams of her own, and Kiku, enchanting the audience with stories of love, lust, and desire while denying himself the very emotions he’s trying to convince other people of. Besides the screen dominated by empty space and black abysses creeping up from below, the looming tragedy is enforced by frequent intercuts to the river, underscored by the just all so slightly too audible sound of gurgling water or Sukeroku’s heavy step. When the camera cuts from Sukeroku and Miyokichi's kiss to a goldfish gasping for air, I feel like I’m choking while, at the same time, wanting to applaud the perfect execution of this episode. |
||||
|
||||
Merida
 Posts: 1946 |
|
|||
|
It's really nice to see an anime being able to inspire such thought-provoking and intelligent discussion once in a while.
This was such a sad and yet beautiful episode. The direction was excellent and the imagery was breathtaking. So the stage for the "lover's suicide" has finally been set, i suppose. Though instead of "lovers" we've got two people who have given up on their dreams and cling to each other for support and one that will be left behind, quite literally haunted for the rest of his life... |
||||
|
||||
|
SnowyLightning44
|
|
|||
|
Great episode this week seemingly leading up to the 'lover's suicide', the build up was sudden and amazing and I also loved the visuals this episode with the Sakura coloured theme background scenes fitting in beautifully. The series also shines a light on the depth of Kiku, Sukeroku and Miyokochi's character's, emotions.and what their goals are and it looks like the series is going to end on a high note with a sad but fitting end
|
||||
Gabbomatic
 Posts: 74 |
|
|||
I didn't, so, Oh My God.
Also, this is an extremely enlightening post! I've been aware that the show is engaging with the changes Japanese society endured post WWII, but haven't felt confident enough in my knowledge of Japanese history to talk about it. Thanks for breaking it down. |
||||
|
||||
HelloBucket
 Posts: 477 Location: Upstate New York |
|
|||
Are we confident about her lack of options? I feel like the latest episode intentionally sowed some seeds of doubt about this with her reaction to Kiku's suggestion to find her own way being less "I can't" and more "I don't want to". Especially when we know she's a manipulative character and our only glimpse into her past is through her own words. |
||||
|
||||
|
whiskeyii
Posts: 2269 |
|
|||
I guess it's hard to say definitively one way or another, but if Miyokichi is half as co-dependent as she seems to be, she might quite literally be unable to function without relying on someone else. Plus, the world at large doesn't seem to give prostitution the free pass it did in it's pre-war days, which shuts down a lot of Miyokichi's options based on her, ah, skill set. Not to mention the real-life prostitution ban Japan passed in the mid-1950's (which I'm fairly certain the show addressed directly with the closing of the red light districts). As a woman (presumably) past her prime, without any kind of work-related skills, it doesn't seem like Miyokichi has a lot of opportunities available to her. :/ |
||||
|
||||
|
PsychedelicSNAFU
Posts: 8 |
|
|||
|
From that first 15-minute long monologue rakugo by Yotaro in the first episode, I was hooked to this show. All the main characters are voiced by amazing veterans. Everybody starting from Akira Ishida to Koichi Yamadera have excelled very well. Its very calming to know that Megumi Hayashibara hasn't lost her touch at all. Hearing her voice after a long time. I feel it was a very apt choice to gonwith veterans for this type of a show rather than the voice actors who are popular from the last 6 years or so. Unbelievable transitions in the voices for flipping between different characters while performing Rakugo by both Ishida and Yamadera. These guys are immensely talented. Animation is superb, too.
Between a few episodes, I sometimes thought when will they jump back to the present but after watching this episode, I definitely want to see how exactly Sukeroku dies. Seems Konatsu watched her father die in front of her. Still can't understand where Miyokichi comes into this. Yes, she bears Konatsu but what'll become of her after that... She is out for revenge on Kikuhiko and that's why she has Sukeroku under her control now but will she be the one to kill him or is it really Kiku? Exciting episodes lay ahead, though. |
||||
|
||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group