Ask John: Do Americans Recognize Rakugo in Anime?

Question:
I’m a heavy Japanese fan of Ask John. I decided to ask you a question when I read your “Dub is good or bad?” piece. Do you know of “Rakugo Tennyo Oyui”? It is not liking to me, but I find it interesting that famous Rakugo performers joined the show especially for its actual Rakugo scenes. So I’d like to ask you how Americans enjoy Rakugo-related anime like Ghibli’s “Ponpoko.” (It is known that Rango stars joined the movie as seiyuu), or anime shows heavily depending on Japanese puns or linguistic sense of rhythm.

Answer:
I must admit that a question about the use of rakugo characteristics or references in anime is a question that I’d normally decline to address. While I may know a lot about anime, I definitely don’t know everything, and my familiarity with traditional Japanese culture is significantly less. But I’ll make an exception in this case and provide the best response I can because even a tentative answer may still be enlightening to Japanese and American readers.

I’ve watched Heisei Tanuki Gasen Pon Poko numerous times and consider it one of my favorite Ghibli productions. I’ve watched only the first episode of the Rakugo Tennyo Oyui anime series. Likewise, I didn’t find it intriguing, so I didn’t continue watching it. In fact, since only the first episode of the series was fansubbed, it seems as though most of the English speaking fan community disregarded the series. Prior to the debut of the Rakugo Tennyo Oyui series I don’t recall having ever heard of the art of rakugo. Even up to the point of composing this response, I knew only that rakugo was a form of traditional Japanese performance art. After doing a bit of research, I’ve learned that rakugo is a traditional form of Japanese stand-up comedy (except that the rakugo-ka sits while performing). The rakugo performer tells humorous or satirical stories, acting out different character’s dialogue with different mannerisms and facial expressions, and employing wordplay and carefully timed punchlines to give a personal interpretation to the humor.

I suspect that the overwhelming majority of English speaking anime fans, like myself, know very little about rakugo, or have never heard of it before at all. Before researching this response, I didn’t know that Pon Poko was narrated by rakugo-ka Shinchou Kokontei, nor that the film included rakugo characteristics. The traditional Japanese culture in the film is abundant and impossible to miss, but I think I, and most American fans, simply appreciate the film as a fun and touching environmental fantasy. Recognizing and understanding the Japanese cultural nuances in the movie may make the film more resonant, but the film is so good that American viewers can still enjoy it even without understanding or noticing its Japanese cultural references.

I know that puns and wordplay are very popular in Japanese culture. The first episode of the Excel Saga anime even makes a joke about the prevalence of word puns in Japanese language. Shows including Akazukin Chacha and Himesama Goyojin make thorough use of their wordplay puns. Unfortunately, often these Japanese puns are overlooked in American anime releases because they’re difficult to effectively translate. For example, I was very disappointed to see that the extensive Japanese language wordplay in Melody of Oblivion was not translated nor even mentioned on Geneon’s official American DVD release. American viewers with no knowledge of spoken Japanese could watch the American DVDs and never realize that the show uses lots of creative wordplay. I’m aware that creative use of language is a common characteristic of anime because I watch a lot of Japanese language anime, and I have some formal education in Japanese language. Unfortunately, frequently American anime releases disregard this aspect of anime in order to make anime easier for average American viewers to comprehend.

It’s unavoidable that foreign viewers won’t be able to recognize or understand every nuance of Japanese animation with the familiarity that Japanese viewers do. With anime like Kodomo no Omocha and Excel Saga, the manic dialogue is obvious, which makes it enjoyable for even viewers that aren’t familiar with Japanese language. Sometimes Japanese language puns and wordplay are translated or explained in American commercial anime releases. These puns and references are more commonly extensively translated in fansubs, so hardcore American fans who watch lots of fan translations are more likely to be conscious of puns, accents, and other peculiarities in spoken Japanese language. But rakugo conventions in anime, I think, are something that most American anime fans aren’t aware of, and don’t notice. Japanese fans may be interested to know that typical American viewers may still enjoy anime even without recognizing or understanding Japanese cultural references in the spoken dialogue. American viewers may be enlightened and curious about Japanese cultural references in anime that we didn’t know were there. For Americans, it’s quite easy to still enjoy an anime even if we don’t recognize subtle references or characteristics within it.