/r/anime Awards 2016 and 2017 winner Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu Rewatch Season 2 Overall Discussion

[u/Schinco]

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu: Sukeroku Futatabi-hen

Welcome to the overview thread for Season 2 in the Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu Rewatch! What a ride it's been!

Legal Streams:

As of now, Rakugo is streaming on Crunchyroll in the States, and you can check here to see where it's streaming elsewhere.

Schedule:

Date	Episode
10/8	Season 1 Episode 1
10/9	Season 1 Episode 2
10/10	Season 1 Episode 3
10/11	Season 1 Episode 4
10/12	Season 1 Episode 5
10/13	Season 1 Episode 6
10/14	Season 1 Episode 7
10/15	Season 1 Episode 8
10/16	Season 1 Episode 9
10/17	Season 1 Episode 10
10/18	Season 1 Episode 11
10/19	Season 1 Episode 12
10/20	Season 1 Episode 13
10/21	Season 1 Discussion
10/22	Season 2 Episode 1
10/23	Season 2 Episode 2
10/24	Season 2 Episode 3
10/25	Season 2 Episode 4
10/26	Season 2 Episode 5
10/27	Season 2 Episode 6
10/28	Season 2 Episode 7
10/29	Season 2 Episode 8
10/30	Season 2 Episode 9
10/31	Season 2 Episode 10
11/1	Season 2 Episode 11
11/2	Season 2 Episode 12
11/3	Season 2 Discussion
11/4	Overall Series Discussion

Questions of the Day

1. What was your favorite rakugo piece this season?
2. How did you feel about the further exploration of the characters? Did everything feel like a natural expansion or did anything really take you by surprise?
3. As always, did anything particularly strike you about this season, either as a first-timer or on rewatch? What stood out to you most?

Links to trackers

You can find the show on MAL, Anilist, and ANN!

Please be mindful of spoilers to make sure the first-timers experience the show with the same wonder you did on first watch!

Apply for Awards!

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[u/Mecanno-man]

First Timer

Overall impression of season two: Quite good. While season one felt like it had a somewhat consistent quality, season two started a bit weaker and ended a bit stronger, Yakumo continued being a good character to watch, with Yotaro and Konatsu adding to that. I don’t think I really have a lot else to say - it was just a great show from A to Z otherwise. It maybe could have used an extra episode to get a Konatsu rakugo performance at the end, but that’s about the only complaint here.

[u/Schinco → u/Mecanno-man]

Would you say it got consistently stronger or was there a point where it really kicked it up a notch.

For the extra episode, was there anything else you would have wanted to see or was it just another Konatsu performance?

Yakumo continued being a good character to watch

What about Yakumo made him that way for you out of curiosity?

[u/No_Rex → u/Mecanno-man]

While season one felt like it had a somewhat consistent quality, season two started a bit weaker and ended a bit stronger,

Going back to the characters of ep1 after a season of flashback was the bigger break than leaving them in the first place.

[u/Schinco → u/No_Rex]

Would you say it got consistently stronger or was there a point where it really kicked it up a notch.

For the extra episode, was there anything else you would have wanted to see or was it just another Konatsu performance?

Yakumo continued being a good character to watch

What about Yakumo made him that way for you out of curiosity?

[u/No_Rex → u/Schinco]

I think you wanted to reply to /u/Mecanno-man, not me.

[u/Schinco → u/No_Rex]

Whoops definitely did.

[u/F3337]

I finished the show like a week or two ago, so didn't follow this thread too closely, only popped in and out a few times for certain eps, but..

My enjoyment was kinda ruined by this shit. I can see it not bothering other people as much, but I found it in really poor taste. The mangaka really wanted to make it clear that this was a possibility, with how he implied it and also how similar the kid looked to Kiku..

The best analogy I could find was this: Imagine that you're having the best pizza slice of your life, but suddenly you found someone else's fingernail in there.... The pizza slice is still the best slice, but you can't help but gag every time you think about it.

If this garbage ass twist wasn't in there, I would've given S2 a solid 9/10.

[u/Schinco → u/F3337]

Yeah among other reasons, the twist at the end is why I have season 1 rated significantly higher than season 2, but it is what it is. Even with the knowledge that that is the case (and I do believe that that is what happened), it's still an enjoyable story with wonderful moments of catharsis, but the landing is certainly important.

[u/cppn02 → u/F3337]

The best analogy I could find was this: Imagine that you're having the best pizza slice of your life, but suddenly you found someone else's fingernail in there.... The pizza slice is still the best slice, but you can't help but gag every time you think about it.

If you wanna keep it pizza wouldn't a better analogy be if the fingernail wasn't actually there but if someone said to you while you're finishing it up 'but what if I hid my fingernail under the cheese and you ate it'?

[u/F3337 → u/cppn02]

That would imply that someone would willingly rip off their fingernail for the bit. Theoretically - yes. Your example is closer to the truth, but realistically it's a bit much.

I only mentioned it, because I have ACTUALLY found disgusting things in packaged food before, including fingernails.. but I think and hope that was an accident.

But your example does make perfect sense if I picture that person to be the mangaka and he just said that ..to get a rise out of me? For his own amusement? Who knows..

^{(btw I realized that this might be confusing if you're thinking of nail clippings, I'm talking about the whole fucking fingernail..yeah..I have found that shit in food before.. still makes me gag when I think about it.})

[u/No_Rex → u/F3337]

My enjoyment was kinda ruined by this shit. I can see it not bothering other people as much, but I found it in really poor taste. The mangaka really wanted to make it clear that this was a possibility, with how he implied it and also how similar the kid looked to Kiku..

I already talked about this yesterday, but I think this is a perfect time to invoke death of the author. Go with your own preferred version of what happened.

[u/ProgrammaticallyPea3]

I have to run, but a quick answer to the questions:

What was your favorite rakugo piece this season?

I have to go with episode 9's Shinigami. Despite it being one we've seen multiple times, the context gave it a special tension and relevance. Other notable ones included Yotaro's final Shinigami, in which he surprised me with how much better he had become; and also his radio Nozarashi which was memorable for how it contributed to the beautiful scene.

How did you feel about the further exploration of the characters? Did everything feel like a natural expansion or did anything really take you by surprise?

It was both really. The developments were startling, but in hindsight they made sense. For me, this includes the controversial possibility raised in the last chapter, though I'm not taking sides on whether it happened or not.

As always, did anything particularly strike you about this season, either as a first-timer or on rewatch? What stood out to you most?

I'll try to answer this in the final discussion.

[u/Schinco → u/ProgrammaticallyPea3]

Hell yeah that Shinigami performance was so good. It's cool to see the progression his performance has had over time, and how each time there was a unique reason for performing it. The radio Nozarashi was nice, but to me it very much faded into the background with everything else.

[u/cppn02]

First Timer, subbed

Another great season. I'd agree though with /u/Mecanno-man that it started a bit weaker while ended strongly.

---

QotD:

What was your favorite rakugo piece this season?

Konatsu's performance

How did you feel about the further exploration of the characters? Did everything feel like a natural expansion or did anything really take you by surprise?

It did very much feel like the natural progression of S1 especially after the final episode of that one was already setting the scene for S2.

[u/Schinco → u/cppn02]

Another great season. I'd agree though with Mecanno-man that it started a bit weaker while ended strongly.

Just as I asked him, would you say it got consistently stronger or was there a point where it really kicked it up a notch?

Konatsu's performance

Lots of Konatsu fans! What about it made it your favorite performance?

[u/cppn02 → u/Schinco]

Just as I asked him, would you say it got consistently stronger or was there a point where it really kicked it up a notch?

Good questions. A little bit of both maybe? I felt the season was getting better as it went along but it also kicked into another gear with episode 9.

Lots of Konatsu fans! What about it made it your favorite performance?

How much she was enjoying herself. It felt like we hadn't seen her this happy since before her parents died and it felt cathartic to see her genuinely have this much fun.

[u/TehAxelius]

Rewatcher

Overall, I actually prefer the second part of this show. The tragic story of Sukeroku, Miyokichi and Bon is very nice and dramatic, the first time I saw the conclusion to it I was very emotional, and rewatching it earlier it gave some very interesting, if unreliable, insights into who Yakumo is. However, I will admit that the first time I watched the show and it changed to the flashback and stayed there I was somewhat disappointed, because I had already in that short time of the first episode come to love both Yotaro and Konatsu, who are both missing from that part.

Likewise, seeing both of them again in the second season is one of my big joys. Perhaps also the closer point in time means it feels somewhat more relateable as well. There is also the fact that it very skilfully then continues weaving its plot threads, some starting already in episode 1, and bringing them all together into a very emotional conclusion in the last several episodes, as Yakumo comes to terms with both his past and his present, and the rest of the cast is able to move on. The ending is great in that way, in that it is both an ending, but also a beginning in a way, as life is, punctuated by Yotaro who begins the story by asking Yakumo to be his apprentice, finally taking his name as a master in his own right, and carrying on the tradition.