Episode 2 · Joshiraku

Joshiraku

Five girls sit on a stage telling funny stories, playing every character themselves. That's rakugo, and that's their job. But the show barely stays there. Most of the time we're backstage, where Marii, Kigurumi, Tetora, Gankyou and Kukuru kill time before a performance, and that's when the real show starts. One of them notices something small, a vending machine, a weird sign on the street, and within a minute the chat has wandered into politics, manga, or whatever grudge Gankyou is quietly nursing. Tetora shrugs it all off with impossible luck. Kukuru expects disaster and usually finds it. A friend in a wrestling mask drops by too, for reasons nobody questions. Nothing here is sacred. The girls poke at everyday life, at show business, at each other, and the talk almost never lands where it started. So what exactly are they talking about, and does it even matter if the conversation never ends?