Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu | Descending Stories Season 2 Review. Spoilers for Season 1 + S2EP1-2
https://anilist.co/review/15670 Review for Season 1With the flashback finally over we can get back to the main story. Our MMC is continuing to rise up in the ranks of Rakugo. His shows being more and more popular. Him becoming more and more successful. The MMC2 (Yakumo) is having his old age catch up to him. The FMC gives birth and the story moves on. We learn a little bit more about the MMC's backstory and his Yakuza related people. His relationship with the FMC also becomes more romantic but in a subtle way.
Before I start talking about this series, I do wanna talk about my previous review as well. When I wrote my original review, Something happened that hadn't happened in a long time. Something I forget happens when I write my reviews. I pissed some people off. I had gotten too comfortable. However there is a distinction in comparison to my previous reviews that I my previous review was positive. It ends with me saying that you should watch the series. So why are people are riled up?
Well from what I can tell the problem is the fact that I did not analyze the series enough. There is a lot of nuances and subtlety in play in here that is going way over my head. Unlike most people that are just spouting shit there was someone that explained what they meant instead of copy pasting words they found in the dictionary. Honestly, I don't particularly about that stuff either. Which I feel is a fair assumption to make. You can write 70 pages on why the main character is wearing a blue shirt but that doesn't make it more interesting or more enjoyable to watch. That is the difference. I do like understanding the nuances and the little details but these are still little details and I don't think they are enough to justify it being a masterpiece.
I do appreciate the show a bit more now but not enough to change my overall score of the series. For example The impact of the war are not bashed into you like other media. The effects are simply shown. Japan fought a good fight and lost. Shouwa Rokugo's silence in scenes speaks volumes though. No one ever says "I'm sorry". They know. Its still a solid 7.5. Still something you should watch at least once. But Its also dragged down by stuff that I frankly just didn't give enough of a shit about.
This series however is... mildly worse than Season 1. I really liked the character dynamics of Yakumo and his best friend but the MMC doesn't have that kind of relationship with anyone. He has a closer relationship with his master (Yakumo) but that didn't really scream a strong dynamic. Its good, great even, but nothing on the level of Yakumo and his shounen rivalry.
There really isn't anything major that happens in the series that I can't really say without spoilers. I mean I liked the characters. I enjoyed the story, The relationship between the characters in a nice way without it feeling like they needed a major catalyst to change there relationship. I also especially got bored around episode 8. Which is why I considered the series mildly worse. To me this where the series kinda ended and we are just in this incredibly long epilogue. There is also the issues of Shin's father that gets kind of addressed and I really hate what the author has done with this question. Fuck the author.
Like I said I felt bored after episode 8 and the reason for that is just I stopped enjoying the SOL moments of the series. I liked them in the first season yeah. But here it just didn't do enough to keep me entertained. I kept waiting for the main story to hit.
Writing this review I feel confused. I did like most of the series. There is some random garbage here and there but a lot of what other people told me also feels I'm missing something about the series. But I also feel like that's bullshit. Not that I missed anything but the fact that me missing something would completely change my enjoyment of the show. Again I want to state I quite liked the series. It falls somewhat in episode 8 but its not a big deal. I still think the series is great. Even after finding out what I missed about the series I'm indifferent. I feel like people are putting too much strain on the fine details like how I'm focusing on the technicalities of the show sometimes.
In the end I don't know. I don't believe I watched the show wrong. The author does not decide how his audience perceives and views his show. Otherwise everyone would have the same fucking opinion on everything and that's just not how it works. Look at like this. I don't care about the small details and the relative bullshit that people seem to be making up about the series. But lets also add that I'm completely wrong for having these thoughts. I still think the series is good and something worth watching. You can just enjoy the surface value of what the show has offer. What I'm trying to say is...
Watch the series. Its good. 7/10
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