If one unfamiliar with manga, or even comics in general, were asked to describe them, it wouldn’t be surprising to hear them say the stories are to be action-forward, perhaps a thriller, or based entirely on fiction. As avid readers of the medium know, while this doesn’t encapsulate the whole identity of comics and manga, there is truth to the generalizations. While there are a few exceptions, when looking at Shonen Jump’s slate for the past few years, you’ll find action, sports, and horror dominating the scene. However, regardless of genre, there is occasionally a story that combines all its elements superbly and proceeds to deliver something that anyone can pick up and just go, “Damn… that’s good.” Right now, that’s Akane-Banashi.
Akane-Banashi, by author Yuki Suenaga and illustrator Takamasa Moue, follows 17-year-old Akane Osaki as she learns Rakugo, a traditional form of Japanese storytelling, and aims to become a shin’uchi, the highest rank a ‘rakugoka’ can achieve. Akane’s journey is initially set up as a revenge story of sorts. Her father, who had been a practicing rakugoka for over a decade, finally gets a shot at the shin’uchi rank. However, he and every other rakugoka who perform for the title are abruptly and unceremoniously expelled from the practice by master Issho, who is seen as the patriarch of his school, and widely accepted as the current cultural leader of his art.
The then 11-year-old Akane sees that everyone outside the rakugo community seems excited and happy for her father, who now works an “honest” job selling concrete, earning more money, and generally having a better quality of life. Akane is infuriated by this; she loves her father’s art and the joy it brings them both. So she vows to learn rakugo and earn the title that escaped her father’s grasp.
Akane-Banashi quickly identifies itself as more than a simple revenge story. Akane and the reader are shown the harsh realities of being a great artist early on: not everyone can or will make it to the top. Her father, while dedicated to his art, failed at it due to his lack of confidence and his split focus. He had fears he could not swallow and expectations he hoped to achieve, and in this faltering, he could no longer deliver his best art. Akane is indeed her father’s daughter, but where he had fear, she does not. She is quickly and defiantly portrayed as a living and breathing rakugo machine. She shows no signs of faltering and makes no plans to pick other careers or colleges, with a single-minded focus on making it to the top. This is not to say she is infallible or not riddled with mistakes to fix, however, her drive and overwhelming love for the art make it impossible not to root for her. If this were the film Whiplash, she would be Andrew and Master Issho would be her Fletcher, both locked in a struggle to master an art and create a master of it.
Within the portrayal of rakugo itself, each story shown is given deep respect, as if a master is performing it for you. As a reader, you can’t skim past, or gloss over any aspect of the performance. You find yourself glued to every minute detail. Not only is the history of each rakugo story given as background, but they always tend to fit narratively to either Akane’s journey or another performer, even serving as foreshadowing or red herrings to later reveals. Although delivered in this written form, the performances don’t lose any impact on their emotional delivery.
The art and the coloring by Moue is also deserving of high praise. It is detailed and intense at times, but as rakugo is a comedy art, it is not above getting silly and over the top. The everyday musings of the story are mostly portrayed the same way, but when rakugo is being performed, Moue lets loose with imagination and boldness. Depending on the story, the lines are sharp and pointed, akin to traditional Japanese styles, while some are sillier and closer to a Ghibli movie in presentation. Moue creates these wildly detailed landscapes that allow the reader to dive into the world of the story that the Rakugoka is describing. The lettering, while remaining mostly consistent in terms of speech, is also used widely in impact text that seem to radiate from the characters. The speech bubbles and shading are used very effectively to show independent characters, but also showcase one character portraying multiple voices simultaneously without confusion.
The series, now approaching its third birthday and what is assumed to be its midway point, portrays much more than just a legendary rakugoka in the making. It is a love letter to the arts themselves. It showcases how compelling and exciting learning and mastering an art is. Characters of different backgrounds and motivations are all shown to be dragging themselves through the mud to master their craft. Some are young prodigies, while others are starting on the art form as a mid-life career change. Some are relentless in pursuing history, performing rakugo in a way a scholar would. Others dedicate themselves to the performance, by portraying other characters extremely well or adapting voices, maybe even modernizing their art for those unfamiliar with the history. Each character has a different way of learning and developing their form of performing. Regardless of how they do it, the similarity is that they love it. They are willing to struggle, learn, and suffer and bring themselves completely out of their comfort zones for their art.
This is what makes Akane-Banashi such a splendid story. It draws you into its world and forces you to fall in love with it, its characters, and its history, and you can’t do anything about it. It’s a piece of art that shows the importance of chasing your dreams, but it does not pretend those dreams can’t become nightmares. It’s got comedy, drama, and so much heart. This series is a masterwork, and you should be reading it.
