Follows the conversations of five rakugo storyteller girls relating the odd things that happen to them each day. Their comedic and satirical chatting covers all kinds of topics, from pointless observations of everyday life, to politics, manga, and more. Each girl has something new to add to the discussion, and the discourse never ends in the same place it began.
Each of the rakugo girls has their own unique personality, with the energetic but immature Marii Buratei; the seemingly cute Kigurumi Haroukitei; the inherently lucky and carefree Tetora Bouhatei; the calm and violent Gankyou Kuurubiyuutei; and the pessimistic and unstable Kukuru Anrakutei. These girls—and their mysterious friend in a wrestling mask—give their observations to the audience, either backstage at the rakugo theater or in various famous locations around Tokyo.
#L5: Underground boxer loves vampire doctor (BL)
After losing his parents at a young age, Mignon lives as a mechanic by day and a cage fighter by night at an illegal arena. Living a life of exploitation and violence, the only person who gives him any attention is Oh Young-One, the resident doctor at the arena.
Despite accidentally discovering Young-One’s true identity, Mignon continues to love him, and it’s this pure kind of love that lets Young-One slowly open his heart. But when the hellish reality surrounding Mignon starts threatening the stability of Young-One’s life, can these two ever find happiness?
Titles, propagandas, trailers, and poll under the cut!
#L4: Joshiraku
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Propaganda 1:
All the girls have fun personalities, and it puts some light on a form of Japanese traditional storytelling. It’s also the origin of the April 40th meme image.
Propaganda 2:
It’s hilarious! Genuinely one of the funniest comedy anime I’ve seen. The characters are all ridiculous and the bits almost all land perfectly. Mostly. Some of the bits require too much knowledge of Japanese language or culture to make any sense translated, but that’s not too many. My favorite character is Gan. I love the joke where she’s the “glasses girl” and so everyone assumes she’s meek and nerdy, but she’s actually super-violent.
The animation is also really good and gets absolutely ridiculous at points. There’s even a recurring meta joke where one character will complain about how hard the animators are working while being ABSURDLY over-animated. The standard structure of the skits is that the characters will start by having a conversation littered with puns, and then things escalated to a jungle shoot-out or crazy slapstick or a ninja battle or the characters talking politics. You never know, and it’s great.
Trigger Warnings: None.
#L5: Mignon
Propaganda:
Mignon is an independently-made BL aeni (Korean anime). There are only 12 episodes, and each is around 5 minutes long, except for the last one. Watching everything is like watching a short film, and not just because of the length, but also because of its quality.
The story is really short, so I can’t talk much about the plot without spoiling everything. But if you’re already into yaoi manhuas, then I can say that the plot is quite basic. The execution, however, is top-notch. Mignon takes a simple premise and brings out the best in it.
Characters are few but focused. Although there isn’t much time to delve deep into them, we are given enough info to care for them. The voice acting is also lovely. I don’t really watch aeni, and I haven’t watched KDramas in years, so I thought it would take me a while to get used to animated characters speaking in Korean. But surprisingly, after the first episode, it no longer bothered me. The voice actors did a good job in portraying the personalities of each character that I was quickly immersed into the story.
Then, there’s the use of color. The colors are purposeful and contributes to the atmosphere of each scene and also hints at us the significance of the place—loud, vibrant colors for the noisy arena, calm whites in the clinic where Mignon first found solace in Young-One, drab blues and greys in Young-One’s apartment where he’s lived alone for years, etc. And oh, don’t get me started on the scene direction/arrangement. It’s amazing how the creators can make every episode impactful despite having only around 5 minutes for each of them. Episode 10, especially, is a cinematic masterpiece.
Lastly, the music. There’s a lot of 80s synth-pop vibes, and I just love it.
Honestly, even if you don’t end up voting for Mignon, just go ahead and watch it. It only takes about an hour, and you won’t regret it.
Trigger Warnings: Mignon is abused by his coach. Lots of scenes that involve blood, but nothing too gore-y. Episode 10, however, has TOO much blood.
NSFW Warning: There’s an explicit sex scene. The parts are pixelated, but it doesn’t really leave much to the imagination. Also lots of tongue kissing.
If you’re reblogging and adding your own propaganda, please tag me @best-underrated-anime so that I’ll be sure to see it.
okay hear me out: this ending from left to right what if we replaced them with female aot/snk characters?
Anrakutei, Kukuru - Mikasa Ackerman
Kūrubiyūtei, Gankyō - Rico Brzenska
Buratei, Marii - Petra Ral
Bōhatei, Tetora - Sasha Braus
Kigurumi, Harōkitei - Histora Reiss
What if someone animated this with them?! I cant animate for shet soooodhdjdjdjdkd. But whoever you are please do ahem credit me for the idea. though I could try idfk
#L7: Queer, bishounen-filled, dark retelling of some Shakespeare plays
Details and poll under the cut!
#L4: Joshiraku
youtube
Summary:
Follows the conversations of five rakugo storyteller girls relating the odd things that happen to them each day. Their comedic and satirical chatting covers all kinds of topics, from pointless observations of everyday life, to politics, manga, and more. Each girl has something new to add to the discussion, and the discourse never ends in the same place it began.
Each of the rakugo girls has their own unique personality, with the energetic but immature Marii Buratei; the seemingly cute Kigurumi Haroukitei; the inherently lucky and carefree Tetora Bouhatei; the calm and violent Gankyou Kuurubiyuutei; and the pessimistic and unstable Kukuru Anrakutei. These girls—and their mysterious friend in a wrestling mask—give their observations to the audience, either backstage at the rakugo theater or in various famous locations around Tokyo.
Propaganda 1:
All the girls have fun personalities, and it puts some light on a form of Japanese traditional storytelling. It’s also the origin of the April 40th meme image.
Propaganda 2:
It’s hilarious! Genuinely one of the funniest comedy anime I’ve seen. The characters are all ridiculous and the bits almost all land perfectly. Mostly. Some of the bits require too much knowledge of Japanese language or culture to make any sense translated, but that’s not too many. My favorite character is Gan. I love the joke where she’s the “glasses girl” and so everyone assumes she’s meek and nerdy, but she’s actually super-violent.
The animation is also really good and gets absolutely ridiculous at points. There’s even a recurring meta joke where one character will complain about how hard the animators are working while being ABSURDLY over-animated. The standard structure of the skits is that the characters will start by having a conversation littered with puns, and then things escalated to a jungle shoot-out or crazy slapstick or a ninja battle or the characters talking politics. You never know, and it’s great.
Trigger Warnings: None.
#L7: Requiem of the Rose King (Baraou no Souretsu)
Summary:
Richard Plantagenet has dedicated his whole life to becoming strong enough to fight alongside his father, the Duke of York. Together they have waged war to reclaim the right to the throne of England from King Henry VI and the House of Lancaster. However, the young Richard hides a secret—one that his mother scorns him for, which the cruel voices in his head never fail to remind him of. Even amid his personal turmoil, he is fortunate to find solace in the light of his father's love. But when the War of the Roses takes a turn for the bloodier, the fervent ambitions of Richard grow while his old loyalties splinter, threatening to taint his family's path to glory.
Propaganda 1:
Set during the late Middle Ages in England, this series is built over a constant backdrop of political manipulation, betrayal, and tragedy.
The story follows the tortured and lonely protagonist, plagued by visions and nightmares of ghosts and monsters, born intersex into an oppressively religious society, and as the powerless youngest son in a family that leads a civil war to take the Crown. It shows him from early childhood and his fight for recognition and acceptance, well into his adulthood and attempts to carry on his father’s name and legacy.
Throughout, Richard is made to question what he truly wants, whether chasing his father’s shadow and clawing his way to power no matter the sacrifice is his path to happiness or prohibitive to it, whether he’s able to love and be loved, and what it means to decide who he is when the society around him tries to constrict and contradict his existence at every turn.
It’s a story set up to dismantle the way that oppressive gender and class roles destroy both those who can’t fit into them and innocent bystanders at the same time. It’s the story of a man chasing happiness and love but hurting himself and others endlessly in his pursuit. It���s a story about cycles of abuse, an exploration of how far people will go to find their purpose, and how violence and hatred in God’s name sets us up for failure.
The anime has an incredible soundtrack, extremely talented and fitting voice actors in Japanese, and a fast-paced dramatic story that the limited animation style lends a storybook or stage play feel to. There are bi and gay characters, witches, ghosts, and a slew of complicated motives. The anime has the added bonus of not showing the most triggering scenes as graphically as the manga does, for those who need to approach carefully.
It’s every bit as thrilling and cathartic to get through as it is devastating, and has enough bittersweetness and light humor to keep the tragedy from getting fatigued.
Propaganda 2:
Very much feels like a CLAMP anime that hits all of their high points: fancy outfits, pretty boys, messy relationships, and a fun animal sidekick.
Some darker and fairly nuanced queer representation
Shorter series so it’s easy to get through
Trigger Warnings: Consistent themes of physical and mental abuse and several instances of sexual harassment or assault, mostly aimed at the main character either for being intersex or while being mistaken for a woman. Not depicted explicitly in the show. Non-explicit or background references to suicide, self-harm, and racism. Incest depicted with varying degrees of time-period based normalcy or disgust. One large age-gap romance. Almost no blood or gore depicted despite all the sword fighting and murder.
When reblogging and adding your own propaganda, please tag me @best-underrated-anime so that I’ll be sure to see it.
If you want to criticize one of the shows above to give the one you’re rooting for an advantage, then do so constructively. I do not tolerate groundless hate or slander on this blog. If I catch you doing such a thing in the notes, be it in the tags or reblogs, I will block you.
Know one of the shows above and not satisfied with how it’s presented in this tournament? Just fill up this form, where you can submit revisions for taglines, propaganda, trigger warnings, and/or video.
Press Release: Maiden Japan Licenses “Joshiraku” Anime Series
Maiden Japan announced on July 17, 2019 that it has licensed the 2012 slice-of-life comedy television anime of Joshiraku. Joshiraku is produced by studio J.C.STAFF (Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, Food Wars!, Revolutionary Girl Utena) and directed by Tsutomu Mizushima (The Magnificent KOTOBUKI, Squid Girl, Shirobako), with script supervision from Michiko Yokote (Kanamemo, Patlabor The Mobile Police - The New Files, Cowboy Bebop). Joshiraku will be streamed on select digital outlets and released on home video.
Maiden Japan described the series:
Marii, Kigurumi, Tetora, Gankyou and Kukuru are five young women with completely different interests and personalities, but there’s one thing that they all share: performing Rakugo, a unique form of Japanese comic theatre in which a single artist sits in front of an audience and tells an entire story, portraying multiple characters solely through changes of voice and minimal movements. It’s a challenging art but all five of our leading ladies are determined to become the best they can… and in the meantime, they find themselves hanging out together, both at the Rakugo theater and around town. And they also have a shared acquaintance, a mysterious stranger who’s always wearing a wrestling mask! What’s that about? To find out, pull up a seat and watch as our heroines put on the best show in town in JOSHIRAKU!
Joshiraku’s spirited and hilarious dialogue is brought to life by a stellar vocal cast, which features Saori Goto (Food Wars!, Golden Time, Fairy Tail) as Kukuru Anrakutei, Ayane Sakura (BanG! Dream S2, Land of the Lustrous, My Hero Academia) as Marii Buratei, Kotori Koiwai (Gatchaman Crowds, Real Girl, Gingitsune) as Kigurumi Haroukitei, Nozomi Yamamoto (Girls & Panzer, Sunday Without God) as Tetora Bouhatei and Yoshino Nanjo (The Qwaser of Stigmata II, Canaan, GATE) as Gankyou Kuurubiyuutei.
Edit: This was uploaded around 5-6 hours early. My apologies.
Happy birthday to my semi-birthday buddy (if you count time zones and whatnot). We’re one-day-off birthday buddies basically. I’m going to be making a few posts for her now!
Song Recommendations | YouTube Excursion (on my other account)
Those will be linked later, but it might take me a little longer than I’m hoping because I want to be really choosy with my picks, and it’s my real-life birthday celebration (because I’m so behind in time zones)! Song Recommendations are pretty self-explanatory, but the YouTube Excursion will have a lot of fun radio clips and other fun bits of information about her!
Notable Roles
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Hotaru Takegawa - Hotarubi no Mori e
[Apparently, this role really stuck with her and remains to be one of her favourite roles]
Natsumi Koshigaya - Non Non Biyori
[What a cute slice of life show!]
Marii Buratei - Joshiraku
Nao Tomori - Charlotte
[She reunites with her Hotarubi no Mori co-star for this odd anime. It wasn’t great, but listening to the radio between her and Kouki Uchiyama is honestly the best]
Ryouko Kaji - Tsurezure Children
Ochako Uraraka - Boku no Hero Academia
[The main heroine of BNHA that she won an award for at the Seiyuu Awards]
Tomoka Kase - Asagao to Kase-san
Suzuka Dairenji - Tokyo Ravens
[This character annoyed the heck out of me. I don’t need to explain why.]
Levi Kazama - Trinity Seven
Saiko Yonebayashi - Tokyo Ghoul:re
Merry Nightmare - Yumekui Merry
Iroha Isshiki - Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru. Zoku
Mika Shimotsuki - Psycho-Pass
[She went to a film festival for this, and along with other anime, her and Kana Hanazawa honestly make to be such great friends. It reminds me of the dynamic between Daiki Yamashita and Yuuki Kaji.]
Other Work: Uraraka Ochako (Boku no Hero Academia), Tomori Nao (Charlotte), Hanaoka Shizuku (Ballroom e Youkoso), Mikazuki Yozora (Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai), young Nase Hiroomi (Kyoukai no Kanata), Shimotsuki Mika (Psycho-Pass), Mishima Asuka (Kimi no Iru Machi), Miho (Cross Road), Hoto Kokoa (Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?), Kurebayashi Suzuki (Selector Infected WIXOSS), Gasper Vladi (High School DxD), Kazama Levi (Trinity Seven), Enomoto Yuiko (Love Lab), La Pucelle (Magical Girl Raising Project), Onodera Haru (Nisekoi), Buratei Marii (Joshiraku), Koshigaya Natsumi (Non Non Biyori), Narusawa Ryouka (Occultic;Nine), Phoena (Chain Chronicle), Wakaba Subaru (Battle Girl High School), Eleonora Yumizuru (Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE), Julia/Minerva (Fire Emblem Heroes), Moa (Show By Rock!!), Clarisse (Granblue Fantasy), several KanColle characters
The voice behind Ran, Sakura is also known by her nickname Ayaneru (綾寝る), which was given to her by Okamoto Nobuhiko! She has an extensive repertoire behind her.
She became interested in becoming a voice actress because when she was in junior high, she was part of a theater company. While there, she took a voice training class and the lecturer told her that she should do voice work. From there on out, she became interested in voice acting!
Ayaneru’s hobbies include listening to the radio, painting, and singing! Her special skills include whistling with her teeth! She also has taken the ICT Proficiency Assessment, and is well versed in using Microsoft Office. Sometimes, she draws digitally! She also likes to sleep a lot in her free time, earning her the nickname of Ayaneru, because ‘neru’ means sleep. Also on her days off, she likes to watch TV all day, rather than socialize.
Here’s a video of Ayaneru, finally finding out how to play Twister!