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Akane-banashi, episode 9
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I think it is appropriate to his character as the current master in the field. He’s… to put in a certain way, “more accommodating” to the newbies, because that was what the audience demands. This stance is him putting a different mask appropriate for the current time. That also means, he’s willing to flip-flop on his definition of “good rakugo” based on the outcome. I don’t think he’s doing it out of malice; he just cares a lot about the art form and probably is anxious at the prospect of it dying in the future. That doesn’t erase the risk that his personal identity and brand of rakugo would get erased in the process. It would also be grating to the witnesses of his previous hardline standards that included expelling potential shin’uchis out of the blue.
This episode is more subdued. Akane’s VA really sold the bland version of Jugemu well to me. My instinct was “this is boring”, but it appeared to be intentional. It also showed the competing philosophies employed by the rakugokas. Hikaru, the in-universe VA who performed before Akane, performed for herself. Akane performed for the audience. For our protagonist, this is a high bar to clear if she needed to win. Not only she had to perform “Jugemu”, but also do it right after the two presumptive winners of the Karaku cup.
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Well… I do agree with your second paragraph pretty much entirely. They did a great job of cranking up the drama surrounding her performance, and especially by making the introduction so simple and seemingly drab. That sets the stage for a very dramatic transition to… something, and I think it’s definitely going to be worth seeing. I’d enjoy it more without all of the ad hoc narrators telling me things that I could figure out on my own, but it’s shounen, so that’s the way it goes. It’ll still likely be worth seeing the rest of her performance.
But at this point, that’s the only thing keeping me going.
I appreciate what you’re saying, and you may well be right and I’m just too cynical. But I just don’t believe there’s any legitimate in-universe explanation for Issho’s transformation or the direction the story’s going. IMO, it has nothing to do with the art of storytelling, and everything to do with Jump’s business model. In order to turn the series into a cash cow they could milk as long as possible, it was necessary to dump Akane’s initial, concrete goal of getting far enough in rakugo to confront Issho and win some justice for her father and replace it with some more nebulous goal, and that’s exactly what they’re doing.
But I do still at least want to see the rest of her performance.
Done!