Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju is a series that I have been wanting to write about for quite some time. It's intimidating subject matter to analyze, a generational character narrative set in post-war Japan focusing on a niche form of Japanese theater. But it's for that same reason that it deserves some love. With its second season nearing completion, I can comfortably count it among the greatest anime I've ever encountered, with the penultimate episode presenting what may be the most daring writing I have ever seen in an serial. I'll be focusing on a smaller component of Rakugo's narrative spanning both seasons, a particular performance of Bon's titled Shinigami.
"Ajaraka mokuren kyuraisu tegeretsuno pa!"
The interactions between the lives and performances of the characters are one of the most fascinating aspects of Rakugo. The stories they tell always in some way reflect their experiences and desires. No story resonates as strongly with the series as Shinigami, which acts as the bookends of Bon’s tale from his introduction to his final performance. Abandoned as a child, Bon coped with his loss by distancing himself from others to save himself from being hurt again. Shinigami illustrates the the inner conflict in Bon throughout the series, the pull between his desire for isolation with his art and the fundamental human necessity of connecting with others.
The performance of Shinigami tells the story of a man who makes a Faustian deal with a shinigami, a spirit of death, in order to become rich. The man wastes his life blinded by the pursuit of money, leading to a final conclusion in which the Shinigami gives him one last chance to save himself. To transfer the diminishing flame of his own life to the candle of other. The Shinigami taunts him as, at the crucial moment, the man drops his candle and his life is snuffed out. The deal struck between the protagonist and the Shinigami is much like Bon’s own pact with the god of performance, just as the protagonist selfishly hoards money, Bon desires to hoard all of Rakugo for himself and take it with him when he dies.
We first see Bon practicing Shinigami in episode 8 of the 1st season in the midst of a turbulent period in his own life. Sukeroku has been blackballed by the Rakugo Association while their master, Yakumo, has decided to pass on his title to Bon as the leading talent of the next generation of performers. Bon doesn’t want the trouble the title will bring him and will be shamed by claiming it while the talented Sukeroku is cast out. He realizes that his Rakugo will become the greatest only if he is able to practice free of the distractions of friends and lovers. Witnessing Sukeroku's natural talent is as painful for him as their friendship is fulfilling. Over drinks, Bon and Sukeroku agree to part ways to each pursue their own Rakugo and Bon confides that he is going to break things off with Miyokichi. He admits that he loves her, but his Rakugo is even more dear to him, so he resolves to lie to her about his feelings. Bon chooses his artistic pursuit over the only two people in the world he truly loves.
Bon’s first performance of Shinigami is the day after his master's death. Miyokichi and Sukeroku have disappeared. As revenge for rejecting her, Miyokichi had begun sleeping with Sukeroku and the couple had fled the city from their debtors. Bon is finally alone. Usually hyper aware of of the audience during his performances, driven by his early struggles with performing and feelings of inadequacy compared to Sukeroku’s natural talent, Bon speaks the magic words that summon the Shinigami and the audience disappears. As he performs the part of the Shinigami, he can see it within him, the spirit of death and the god of performance both. Bon is witness to his own performance as the crowd is replaced by thousands of candles. When the Shinigami reaches its climax, he is exultant in this feeling of isolation, “This is the solitude I have longed for.”
The feeling doesn’t last. Bon takes a sabbatical to find Sukeroku and Miyokichi and, ever stubborn and dishonest with his own feelings, settle things with their debtors. When he arrives to find they have a daughter and their marriage is in disarray, Bon stays and works to get Sukeroku performing again. As he lives with Sukeroku and Konatsu, his facade falls away and he comes to recognize his mistake. He cannot live without others. Although Sukeroku’s talent causes him pain, his performances have gifted Bon with every emotion imaginable. Although he was afraid of his feelings for Miyokichi, Bon can’t deny the fact that he loves her. He has been wasting his life by sacrificing his love. "Rakugo isn't something you can do alone." As with Shinigami, death visits Bon in his moment of realization but, at the moment he should have died, Sukeroku and Miyokichi take his place and Bon’s flame continues to burn.
Once again, Bon has been abandoned. Decades after the death of Sukeroku and Miyokichi, Bon’s misguided desire for solitude has become reality. His name is synonymous with Rakugo, which he has begun to selfishly hoard as his peers continue to age, rejecting all apprentices and denying even Konatsu permission to learn. It’s telling, then, that he would be inspired to perform Shinigami during a visit to a prison. In a twist of dramatic irony, it's the very performance that represents Bon's sorrowful loneliness that ultimately breaks it. Witnessing Bon’s Shinigami, Yotaro becomes obsessed with Rakugo and pursues Bon to become his apprentice. Despite everything Bon has been building his life toward since that fateful night, his renewed fears of forming connections lest he be left painfully alone once more, he accepts.
That does it for part one of Shinigami. We’ve made it through the first season, so we’ll pick up next week with Bon’s performances and some much more literal appearances of Shinigami in the second season!
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Peter Fobian is an Associate Features Editor for Crunchyroll and author of Monthly Mangaka Spotlight. You can follow him on Twitter @PeterFobian.
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