Akane-banashi Episode 4 “Beyond Joy”

Today I watched Akane-banashi Episode 4: “Beyond Joy”!! It's on YouTube right now, but I think they might take it down after a week? Very mysterious...

This episode was split into two parts, one with Akane's performance and the other part with Kyoji's.

Knowing Your Audience

There is something extremely refreshing about Rakugo in that it's incredibly localized. Akane has 15 minutes to perform in front of an audience of around 20 people. Numbers that seem like near nothing when you're thinking about the scale of the internet and views there. Numbers have a context in which they exist in, don't they?

It's very physical and embodied and all about stories that have been passed down in a way that's like... the reverence for tradition is kinda completely at odds with the endless desire for the flashy and new.

But anyways, it makes me think about... something like sonder in appreciating that every individual has an inner life and a unique experience. We can only really get to know a couple of people really well in our lifetimes, and perhaps, not even then, if you're not paying attention.

The last episode was all about Akane learning about attentiveness with your audience. Knowing who you are performing for. What are their needs? What are their wants? What makes them comfortable? What makes them laugh? I'm a huge fan of how this episode shows what she's learned from her training and also weaves in another aspect of, doing something that you yourself are proud of.

Use Your Life Experience to Inform Your Creative Practice

"Being human and how people think hasn't changed at all, no matter the era. So Akane, I hope you'll experience all kinds of things. Agonize as much as you want. Get hurt a lot. And one day for sure, all of that will fuel your stories" "Rakugo is about laughing about life's hardships"

Be "Too Serious" Lean into Your Strengths, Don't Be Someone That You're Not

Something that I love about this show is the characterization. Each Rakugoa brings their unique life experiences and personalities to ther craft and it's really fun to see! Kyoji's strength is that... he is a very serious and responsible and disicplined person which might seem at odds with the comedic nature of the performance, but he actually uses it to his advantage. Being "too serious", exaggerating a trait that he is already strong is creates a humorous effect that he can really push! I think that's really cool. At times you need to learn to pull back and do something that isn't immediately obvious with in order to grow (Akane learning how to be more attentive). At other times, you can really lean into what you're already good at, and that is your strength :3