After apprenticing for ten years under the great Yakumo Yurakutei VIII, Yotaro has finally become a shin'uchi and taken the name Sukeroku, a lineage with its own fraught history. But the newly-minted Sukeroku III cannot rest on his laurels for long, as ghosts from his own past come to haunt him in the wake of his achievement. With his family and his art on the line, can he find his way forward? Or will he be doomed to mediocrity as the rakugo tradition languishes?
Me gusta cómo sutilmente pareciera que todos los personajes están en una carrera contra el tiempo. Yakumo está envejeciendo y su Rakugo no es lo que era antes; Eisuke, por otro lado, quiere preservar lo más que se pueda de él. Incluso el teatro en el que presentan se está quedando atrás en términos de infraestructura.
Creo que este manga capta muy bien cómo un arte oratorio siempre se balancea entre el recuerdo y el olvido porque una cosa es la historia, el guion, y otra el intérprete, elemento en el cual se enfoca esta serie.
The whole series has been building up to this volume. Yakumo is forced to reckon with his mortality, as well as his legacy. As much as he talks about a double suicide with rakugo, rakugo scholars and enthusiasts will do everything in their power to make sure it never happens. When you're an artist, the art you make is no longer just your own. There are two scenes about this that stood out to me. The first one is of the impromptu recording at the hot springs inn, which ends up capturing Sukeroku's last performance ever. The second one is of Yakumo talking to Shinnosuke about his grandfather. Shinnosuke could never listen to Sukeroku's "The Weathered Bones" since it is never recorded. It drives home just how important preservation and archival is.
Also, I don't get how anyone can read this volume and still think Yakumo is Shinnosuke's dad. He has nothing but parental affection for Konatsu. Just the idea is laughable.
We finally get to see how the true tragedy happened! ...And it's kind of implied that Konatsu knew the truth all along? Or figured it out? I don't remember that being a thing in the anime. Gonna have to rewatch it.
It's really sad that this volume ends talking about the anime release and it's basically impossible to get a physical release of the anime anywhere. Even the physical manga is difficult to find.
Overall, though, this is still a great volume of the series, with beautiful art, thrilling plot, and wonderful characters, and Haruko's comedic timing is wonderful.
The book focuses a bit on Eisuke. Eisuke is interesting as a character deeply involved in the universe he's creating, and kind of makes me wonder about the effect of people who only live to highlight the lives of others. Eisuke is shown to go to immense lengths to gather information on Kiku and other rakugo artists, including gathering photographs and pamphlets, interviewing people, and finding one of the few if not only visual recordings of Sukeroku II. His goal is ultimately to publish a video library of sorts staring Kiku, and of course the question is... will anyone remember Eisuke? Or just the men he's recording? He didn't perform, he didn't write the stories Kiku and the other artists who aren't Yotaro (and later Konatsu) perform, but he was irreplaceable in keeping their legacy alive.
I don't know that Eisuke would mind being forgotten so long as the history of the art is remembered. A lot of artists are like that, too. It's the art that matters, not your fame. But plenty also just want the fame, too. Just something interesting I was thinking about.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
This was a great volume. There was a huge reveal that I was not expecting. It made me love Kikuhiko in a way I hadn’t before. I’d liked him, but this reveal honestly blew me away. I know there are only like two volumes left in the series and I honestly don’t know what comes next, or what I’m hoping for. All I know is I’m hooked. I can’t wait till the next volume. Also, apparently there’s an anime? I gotta find it.
"I can't die when this world is so dear to me. But then, how else am I going to meet the god of art? For another of those fleeting moments... I would gladly be stripped of all I have."
Amazing volume, I don't even have words how to describe the feelings I have for this one. In the mean time, I want to blow off some steam.
One of my favorite volumes. Some important events, even more depth in characters, this volume truely binds together key elements of the series to offer really satisfying progression and also genuine heartfelt moments.