Akane-banashi ‒ Episode 5

Episode 5 of Akane-banashi focuses on a smaller sub-section of the audience and illuminates important truths about Akane's rakugo journey.

This is one of the more realistic premises for an episode: can the dreamer's dream pay the rent? Obviously, we all live in the modern world and we know that it is full of bills, costs, and any other synonym you can think of for money go bye bye. Rakugo is a performing art – a rather old-fashioned one at that – and as such is likely to involve a lot of struggle before any great financial success is arrived at. That is, if any financial success comes at all.

That fact is what makes Akane's career counselor an interesting character. She is trying to help Akane be prepared for the real world. That usually means some form of steady income to handle, well, everything. Akane is dead set on being a rakugoka, which is, of course, a noble and wonderful goal. Rakugoka don't exactly make a lot of money. At least not the majority of them, and that means she needs a fallback plan to pay the bills. Or at least that's how the thinking goes. What we end up seeing is that this pragmatism is genuine yet slightly pessimistic. She once encouraged another dreamer in her own school journey, who ended up dropping out six months down the line and was featured on the local news. The teacher does not want the same fate to befall Akane, and she is trying to help. But we see how Akane's passion is well-placed: she is really that good and that dedicated to this craft. Similarly, the art of rakugo is not all that different from any other job where you have to work a crowd and keep their attention, such as teaching, the very same profession she is in now.

This is all very poignant and shows a slightly different angle on the rakugo audience within the show. We have seen how Akane handles an entire crowd, and we have also seen how she tries to impress or influence peers, individuals, etc., that she knows are watching. This time, we have a very intimate view into how Akane's performance can impact one individual that she isn't even 100% aware of in the audience.

In doing so, her counselor sees the same passion and talent that we do as the audience. It may not be enough to convince her to give her full support of pursuing rakugo, but it's enough that she will no longer try to block the path either. This is what Akane is meant to do.

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