The First Episode (Director's Cut) is Spoiled. And Some Light Spoilers for the purpose of this review.

Rakugo is a series about an ex-Yakuza that tries to become a famous Rakugo's student (I'mma call this guy MMC2). So MMC Tries super hard to become MMC2's apprentice. And surprisingly he's like "Fo shizzle. Get in the limo my man". And now he has an apprentice. He meets his adopted daughter (?) and basically its these 3 living in this house practicing Rakugo. Well that's I presumed what it was going to be but that changed very fast when the daughter screams in agony that MMC2 killed her father and she wants revenge. Because an alive parent is an alien concept to the Japanese. With this revelation they now do a flashback revealing the past for the entire fucking season.

Season 1 is basically an extended flashback. You don't get back to the MMC and FMC till like the end of the last episode. Which results in 2 problems. First of all we did not need to know that the father died. Though I quite liked the start the idea to give a flashback instead kinda just threw off all the momentum and had to start from scratch again. Though the series was able to pick up momentum again I don't understand why we had to suddenly shift to watching a prequel. There were also times where there was a flashback inside another flashback....

Non-Chronological story telling feels utterly unnecessary because you reveal these character deaths or these twists that would've been amazing instead you show it to us first and then you give us the character development needed to actually be invested in these characters. When they finally revealed why she blamed MMC2 for her father's death and causes around it. I could not help but laugh. It's a very dramatic moment that is bogged down by the utter ridiculousness of the situation.

With that being said... This is a good series. One that I would wholeheartedly recommend.

The Characters are enjoyable to watch. There is comedy that doesn't feel like its shoved in at the most inopportune times possible. And we actually get to see the entire shows of Rakugo. I'm not exactly sure what is the difference between a Rakugo or a play is. It seems pretty much the same thing except there are less set pieces. The Entertainment is much more on a smaller scale and can be performed with just 1 person. The focus is on the sound and Facial reactions to the story.

Like I said before the Flashback is the main arc which explains the story of the MMC2, the father of the FMC and the Girl trapped in between. The MMC2 and the father of the FMC (Let's call him MMC3) are actually rivals, because this is a Shonen anime now, apprenticing under the same Rakugo Teacher. As the story more and more unravels we see more of there relationship together, how they view their own lives and how they treat the people around them. I think there relationship is definitely the highlight of most of the series. It feels like 2 brothers rather than 2 friends. So very good job on the author for showcasing that.

The Girl in between character (FMC2)... was quite poor. Her role was literally to get in between the 2 characters. She didn't have her own goals, she didn't really do anything. Even in one scene she admits she likes assholes (the Personality not the body part). Which MMC2 very much was. As the story progresses you can sort of guess more and more easily as where as this going but like I mentioned before when the Climax hits, its just very underwhelming. It feels stupid rather than anti-climatic. Its no unimpressive just ridiculous.

Overall I did enjoy the series. The main theme of the show was engaging and didn't feel like an after thought. I felt like the director was actually a fan of Rakugo rather than someone who just animated it for money. The characters relationships were good and the romance was lackluster but also acceptable. I guess the main story that was progressing was something I didn't like Partially because we weren't watching the story progress, we were watching a prequel. In the end we do go back to actual main character but that part of the story is reserved for Season 2. Which I'm pretty excited to watch.

7/10 - Worth watching at least once. Even if it isn't some profound masterpiece.