News

Maiden Japan Licenses Joshiraku Comedy Anime

Maiden Japan announced on Wendesday that it has licensed the television anime adaptation of Kōji Kumeta and Yasu's Joshiraku manga. The company plans to stream the series and release it on home video.

Maiden Japan describes the slice-of-life comedy series:

Marii, Kigurumi, Tetora, Gankyou and Kukuru are five young women with completely different interests and personalities, but there's one thing that they all share: performing Rakugo, a unique form of Japanese comic theatre in which a single artist sits in front of an audience and tells an entire story, portraying multiple characters solely through changes of voice and minimal movements. It's a challenging art but all five of our leading ladies are determined to become the best they can… and in the meantime, they find themselves hanging out together, both at the Rakugo theater and around town. And they also have a shared acquaintance, a mysterious stranger who's always wearing a wrestling mask! What's that about? To find out, pull up a seat and watch as our heroines put on the best show in town in Joshiraku!

The 12-episode anime premiered in 2012. Tsutomu Mizushima (Shin-chan, Squid Girl, Girls und Panzer) directed the series at J.C. Staff.

Kumeta and Yasu launched the manga in the inaugural issue of Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine in 2009, and ended the six-volume manga in September 2013. The series also inspired a stage play in 2016.

Source: Press release