Excellent episode to start this anime off. This episode focused on Shinta who is Akane’s father. Who aimed to achieve the rank of Shin’uchi. The episode did a pretty solid job introducing Rakugo. It’s hard to really say why Issho expelled Shinta. Especially when you consider Shiguma’s reaction to his student being expelled. It feels like an unprecedented thing, considering the initial reaction was, “Wait, are you serious? Uh, ok.”
As Shinta exits the Rakugo world, we have Akane truly entering it. Excited to see her journey. Also, funny enough, we have the classic trope of the father dying in a shounen, but only Shinta the Rakugo performer, is dead and not the actual father, Tooru.
As expected, they adapted chapter 1. Honestly, production values and direction were better than I anticipated. I’m curious if they can keep it up. I am reminded how much better the Rakugo performances get as the manga continues. Still, I think they did an impressive job grasping Shinta’s mindset. Also set up for Akane as she is the protagonist.
As comments here mention, the dialogue will probably be better if it is condensed. Looking at Zensho’s criticism of Shinta’s performance here as an example.
The choice of Ootsuka as Issho’s seiyuu rather than Shiguma is one I was surprised by. I guess I figured Ootsuka would be a more perfect fit for Shiguma than Issho. Not anything to take away with his performance as Issho.