Time for our final curtain call.
Since last week saw the end of our central story, this week is by nature a more subdued epilogue, a comedown from the peak we hit before. While it didn’t have quite the emotional punch of recent episodes, it’s still essential to the story Rakugo Shinju wants to tell, which is largely about Bon, yes, but also about history, traditions, and the interconnected nature of individual narratives. Bon is gone but the world is not, and it would be a disservice to that world and the other narratives within it not to see how they’d all grown.
The Josei Next Door 
Thank you for these write ups! It was a pleasure reading these analytic posts every werk, and I don’t think I would have understood (and thereby enjoyed) as much without them. I need to rewatch the series (esp the second season), but this is a show I’m not going to forget anytime soon.
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Thank you for all your really great posts. They were always such a really nice companion to read beside this amazing show.You’ve always managed to capture the exact same thoughts and feelings I had about this show and characters ( albeit way more eloquent and smart haha) and at the same time provide interesting new insights and anecdotes, so thank you for that ;)
I def agree with u on the Konatsu/ Yakumo relationship. It’s so Konatsu to troll Higuichi like that haha. I def thought at the end of season 1 that maybe they were going for the Yakumo is Shnnosuke’s father route, but the way Konatsu/Yakumo/ Yotaro interacted with each this season…
It’s true that they had a complicated relationship with each other and Konatsu having some confusing/conflicted feelings for Bon during her teenage years or something would def feel true and organic to her; but the way their interaction and relationship played out during this season; it’s very clear that they do have a parent/child relationship, a loving one at that. He couldn’t move on without knowing she would be okay and that they were okay and she needed that verbal confirmation that he does love her and the time to prepare herself for a life without him.
You can’t slip in and out a parent/child relationship whenever you want/need it and you def cannot be all; okay let’s be guardian/child again after sleeping with each other, having a child together, pretend it’s not his( and Yakumo, cranky and grumpy as he is, is def not about avoiding responsibilities) and then marry Yotaro, his apprentice and her (then) close friend. I mean, Bon had a tough, dramatic life, but not THAT dramatic haha and I just don’t think he would sleep with a) the only child of his best friend/soulmate/love interest, b) sleep with a child he carefully raised and c) sleep with a child or someone he perceives as a child. As for the physical similarities, to me both, the gangster boss and Mangetsu resembled Bon vaguely, with Shinnosuke being such a Yakumo groupie and aspiring storyteller, he could easily accentuate that resemblance and emulating his presence/mannerism to his utmost ability and that’s all the fuel someone like Higuichi needs to be honest.
Also, the first season ended on a fake memory, so it wouldn’t be farfetched for Shouwa rakugo to end this season with an another lie haha.
Sorry for the rant, but I’m a huge sucker for parent/child relationships and Konatsu/ Yakumo made me literally bawl so, that’s that, haha.
That said, I really did wish they would have fleshed out Konatsu’s career path/ character development more ( or just more Konatsu) and that the timeline was more clear, but those are minor details for such an amazing show.
Thanks again for your posts.
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