I went into this year knowing that Akane-banashi would be one of the anime I couldn’t wait to see. The mixture of high-stakes drama with traditional Japanese storytelling formats makes it one of the most refreshing and unique shows in the current anime season. While a show about someone sitting down while performing stand-up comedy doesn’t feel like the kind of shonen anime we’re used to, Akane-banashi makes it work by leaning into the drama – and by being genuinely funny.

Akane-banashi is about a young woman who enters the rakugo scene to avenge her father, who was disgraced during an exam to reach rakugo’s highest rank years earlier. Rakugo is a traditional form of Japanese entertainment that dates back hundreds of years to the late 1600s. It involves telling a humorous story about two characters, with the performer kneeling on a mat in the center of the stage. Limited props are used, normally just a fan and a cloth, and the performer always remains stationary.

I was lucky enough to watch a rakugo performance at a convention years ago and was struck by how restrictive it must be as a performer. Comedy is, in my experience, a world of very few rules outside of always punch up and make people laugh. Yet, it was fascinating to watch live because, using just a few subtle changes in head position and voice, a skilled performer can transform themselves into someone else. The closest comparison we would be familiar with I can think of is, ironically, voice acting, where someone has to make full use of a single instrument to convey everything about their performance. 

This is the industry that Akane enters into, both to prove that her father was a great rakugoka and that it is a valid career to pursue. Now, watching someone sit on a stage telling a story doesn’t feel like the kind of shonen anime we’re used to. Compared to something like Dragon Ball or My Hero Academia, it is hard to understand why Akane-banashi has been featured in Weekly Shonen Jump for the past four years. However, I am going to tell you that it isn’t fair to compare Akane-banashi to typical shonen fare.
Instead, you should compare it to a great sports anime.

See, the plot of Akane-banashi focuses on Akane Osaki as she works her way through the Arakawa School of rokugo and seeks to obtain the highest rank the industry offers. This involves performing, studying, and being taught the various techniques of storytelling within the aforementioned limitations of rokugo, culminating in taking tests to advance to the next rank up. The systems and structure of the school feel more like a martial arts dojo than a performing arts academy, and that is why Akane-banashi works so well. I genuinely think that when you view it through the lens of a sports anime, it becomes a much more comfortable and familiar show to watch.

While there aren’t many lasers blasted out of people’s fists or worlds saved through the power of friendship, Akane-banashi still leans into many of the things that make for a great sports anime. You have rivalries and friendships, victories and failures, all told in a story about overcoming self-doubt in a world where your chosen activity is all-consuming. It helps that the animation is solid, everyone has a memorable character design, and they exaggerate many of the more subtle gestures and moments for comedic effect, but, at its heart, this is still a shonen series set in an atypical shonen world.

So, if you’ve been on the fence about watching Akane-banashi, you needn’t worry. It might be a slightly unfamiliar topic, but its use of all the shonen and sports anime tropes makes it feel far more comfortable to the casual viewer. Besides, it is streaming for free on YouTube, so what do you have to lose?

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