Shōwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjū Ep 9 recap
 |
| Sorry for the spoilers ahead, but I was very happily surprised to this scene! (Source) |
The episode started with a flashback of Kiku talking with Shisho about Rakugo. Shisho Yakumo VII had tremor in his hands. The way Kiku looked more stern than the shy Kiku of Eps 3-4, I think the scene was after Suke was expelled. Then back to the present where the very old, trembled-hand, Yakumo was praying in front of his Shisho’s grave. Then Shinnosuke (“Shin-chan”), Konatsu’s son, came, asking Jiji (grandpa) to stop praying and get back to the city with him.
Konatsu and Yotaro prayed at a temple. Were they asking for another kid?
At the Yose, Konatsu prepared for her debut Shamisen performance. Mangetsu was performing there, but he felt terrible with his own performance. Interesting, thinking how Mangetsu was very frontal towards Yota in Ep 1, but now they’re friends and Yotaro consoled Mangetsu when the latter wasn’t happy with his own Rakugo.
At home, Yakumo was practicing his Rakugo alone when he forgot his line. Matsuda-san who was listening to it was stunned; for Yakumo never forgot his lines before. Yakumo himself tried several times to remember the line before he gave up and signalled Matsuda-san to leave for the yose.
At the yose, the next performance after Mangetsu was Yota’s. Shin-chan barged in when Yota, Mangetsu n the Yose manager were talking, Konatsu reprimanded the kid, but the manager said the yose was the kid’s anyway. Then Yakumo came n reprimanded Konatsu for letting Shin-chan run around, for the Rakugo preparation room was the most important place for Yakumo. Shin-chan told the grandpa that it was his fault, not his mother’s fault. Yakumo melted in front of his grandson, but he did ask Shin-chan not to run around again. The boy solemnly promised.
 |
| Matsuda-san... still serving the family despite his old age... |
After a very nice dinner (in which Shisho had to reprimand Yota for talking with his mouth full), Matsuda-san was looking at the old photo album when Konatsu came. When Matsuda-san asked about whether Konatsu knew about the missing Shikai Shiba photo, she returned the cut Shikai Shiba photo to the album. She said she was a young idiot when she snapped the photo in half. Konatsu then asked Matsuda san if he knew about what happened in Shikoku, but the latter denied he knew anything.
Shin-chan was talking to Yakumo about how he loved his grandpa when eventually Yakumo showed the LP of Sukeroku and told Shin-chan how Sukeroku was his real Jiji. When Shin-chan wanted to see his real Jiji, Yakumo said he passed away years ago. Konatsu then brought some watermelon, n I lost connection briefly hence I didn’t know if Yakumo was performing a Rakugo or not (cos it seems it was the case).
Yakumo was inspecting an old yose with the manager when Suke’s phantom appeared. (this yose is the old yose where Shishō Yakumo 7th, Sukeroku and Kikuhiko used to perform)
 |
| Source |
In the photo studio, Yotaro, Konatsu and Shin-chan were going to take a family photo when Konatsu complained that she was wearing a suit but Yota wore a kimono. Thus, the photographer lady offered Konatsu some rented kimono. Eventually Konatsu took a wedding kimono and changed. Yet, in the changing room, as she wore the wedding kimono, Miyokichi’s apparition appeared. Konatsu asked why she looked at her like that, but of course Miyo didn’t say anything.
Yakumo and Konatsu practiced shamisen together. Then Konatsu talked about the ryokan in Shikoku where Mangetsu was heading. She also talked about why she hated her mother before she asked what truly happened that night. Yakumo again didn’t say anything other than one day he’d talk about it.
Mangetsu told Konatsu and Yotaro that there existed a recording of Suke’s last performance in Shikoku. Konatsu asked to see it; Mangetsu promised to obtain it for her.
Yakumo practiced his performance, but his hands trembled, as they had been since the beginning of this episode. Before performing, Yakumo made the time to tell Konatsu, who was preparing her shamisen, that once upon a time, her mother also played shamisen. During the performance, Konatsu performed her shamisen at the right timing and tempo for Yakumo.
Then, suddenly, Miyokichi appeared in the audience. As usual, Konatsu saw her, and then she realised for the first time that Yakumo also saw her mother.
 |
| I'm surprised in a good way to see this scene! (Source) |
Judging from Yakumo's surprised look, I take it that Miyo never appeared in front of him after her death. Miyo then moved to sit next to Yakumo and leaned longingly on his frail body before dissipated. Just before Yakumo ended his performance, he had a cardiac arrest, but he managed to cut short his performance before he fell on the floor, just after the curtain call. Panic, his family (including Konatsu), ran towards him. Konatsu and Matsuda-san took Yakumo to the hospital while Yotaro stayed behind to do his own Rakugo performance, just as Kiku did for Yakumo VII.
But Yakumo didn’t die, for he still had to do something. In the hospital, he opened his eyes and struggled to say something to Konatsu about what happened that night. I’m not sure if Yakumo said that Konatsu should drop the case, or that he wanted to tell her the truth, though, I have to see it again to be sure.
Next and LAST episode!!! Konatsu and Yotaro watched the video of Suke’s last performance (which was nice, cos in the manga, Yotaro watched it with Mangetsu and the other Rakugo fan, instead of with Konatsu). Then we have the yose fire...
...and jumped to Yotaro as a mid 50s Shisho.
OMG... how come nine weeks passed so quickly...
Comments:
The NHK make up department definitely gets my (and also many other viewers’) thumbs up with the 70s-80s years old Yakumo. Not only his face was wrinkled and his hair silver white, his neck was also folded and his hands had the mottles characteristic of elderly people. But of course I need to thumb up Okada Masaki as well, for despite his height (and he does have a more built frame these days, at least his shoulders are more built), the old Yakumo looked small. Frail and small, but also charismatic and with such a presence.
I’m happy to see Miyokichi’s maboroshi here. We never see her ghost in the previous episodes, only Sukeroku’s. I knew from the manga that Miyo’s apparition would appear in a performance, but it was supposed to be after Yakumo’s stroke and when Yakumo was trying to gain his performance back by doing a Rakugo for Yotaro’s former inmates in a jail. Giving Miyo’s longing appearance before Yakumo’s stroke (that shot of Miyo leaning on Yakumo’s shoulder was very powerful IMO) lent more importance to her role in Yakumo’s life… for it was as if Miyo was beckoning him to “return home”, so to speak.
I’m also very pleased to see Konatsu running towards Yakumo as he fell on the floor. The girl loved that old man as a father, or at least an uncle, even though she despised his role (or what she perceived as his role) in her parents’ death.
Yotaro is always the sunshine here, but I’m also so touched to see Matsuda-san getting more worried about Yakumo. Seriously, Matsuda-san was the glue in this family. How interesting is that Sasai Eisuke-san (井英介), the actor for Matsuda-san is 30 years older than Masaki, but they looked of similar age in this episode…
Also, it's interesting that Masaki also charmed elderly viewers for this series (see the Tweet below about a Twitter's 65 yo father who became a fan of Masaki after watching SGRS). I've always thought Masaki as a capable actor, and he did gradually improve his performance since 2011, though the marked improvements were noticeable since his Himitsu Top Secret and Nanimono movies in 2016 (then of course followed by Chiisana Kyojin and Jojo in 2017). But I'm very happy that more and more people have noticed his talent, for they wouldn't do so had they not watched SGRS.
うちの父(65歳)がこのドラマを見て、すっかり岡田将生くんのファンになってしまった。原作も買い揃えていた。普段若い男の子の俳優さんなんか全然褒めないし、興味も持たないのに、スタジオパークの出演を見て「おちゃめだ」「チャーミングだ」と言っていて笑ってしまった。#昭和元禄落語心中— 小夢 (@sayume0707) December 5, 2018
