Manga like Joshiraku

Akane-banashi

Also known as Akane-banashi.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Drama

Rakugo--the ultimate form of storytelling, where everything in a story is expressed with just your body and words. Shinta and his daughter Akane have been seduced by this wonderful form of classical entertainment. Having observed her father strive to pass the shin'uchi rakugo test, Akane will take her own steps into this unique world!



Notes:
Ranked 3rd in the 8th Next Manga Awards print manga category in 2022.
Ranked 4th in the Kono Manga ga Sugoi! 2023 guidebook for male readers.
Ranked 3rd in the Nationwide Bookstore Employees' Recommended Comics of 2023.
Ranked 2nd in the 16th Manga Taisho in 2023.
Nominated for the 47th Kodansha Manga Award in the shounen category in 2023.
Included in the New York Public Library's 2023 Best Books for Teens.
Included in YALSA's 2024 Great Graphic Novels for Teens.

Tags: Rakugo , Female Protagonist , Primarily Adult Cast , Coming of Age , Acting , Work , Philosophy , Shounen , Found Family , Revenge , Family Life , Time Skip , School

Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei

Also known as Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei.

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy

Nozomu Itoshiki is depressed. Very depressed. He's certifiably suicidal, but he’s also the beloved schoolteacher of a class of unique students, each charming in her own way: The stalker. The shut-in. The obsessive-compulsive. The girl who comes to class every day with strange bruises. And Kafuka, the most optimistic girl in the world, who knows that every cloud has a silver lining. For all of them, it's a special time, when the right teacher can have a lasting positive effect on their lives. But is that teacher Itoshiki, a.k.a. Zetsubou-sensei, who just wants to find the perfect place to die?



Tags: Satire , Teacher , Philosophy , School , Meta , Ensemble Cast , Parody , Primarily Female Cast , Anachronism , Primarily Teen Cast , Male Protagonist , Tragedy , Suicide , Dissociative Identities , Hikikomori , Tanned Skin , Otaku Culture , Ghost , Female Harem , Politics , Shounen , Drawing

Uchi no Shishou wa Shippo ga Nai

Also known as My Master Has No Tail.

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Fantasy , Slice of Life

Mameda is a tanuki who was born in the wrong era - all she wants is to trick humans, but that age of tanuki shenanigans is over. But one woman, a rakugo master named Bunko, shows Mameda it's still possible to cast magic on humans...only with words, not illusions. Mameda is determined to become Bunko's apprentice, but can she convince the stoic master to take her on...?



Note: Nominated for the Tsugimanga 2020 Award in the Manga Category.

Tags: Seinen , Rakugo , Youkai , Female Protagonist , Historical , Kemonomimi , Shapeshifting , Age Gap , Yuri , Found Family , Educational , Afterlife , Demons

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu

Also known as Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama

This multi-generational epic dives deep into rakugo, a rich form of Japanese storytelling theater. Small-time crook Yotaro has never forgotten the rakugo tale "The God of Death," which the master Yurakutei Yakumo performed for Yotaro during his time in prison. After his release, he goes to Yakumo's theater and pleads to be made his apprentice. Yakumo reluctantly accepts, but Yotaro quickly finds the world of rakugo is complex and grapples with a growing bond with Yakumo's ward, Konatsu. Meanwhile, the two young people bring reminders of Yakumo’s own inescapable past.



Note: Won the 38th Kodansha Manga Awards for Best General Manga and the New Creator Prize of the 21st Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2017.

Tags: Rakugo , Josei , Male Protagonist , Tragedy , Historical , Primarily Adult Cast , Family Life , Acting , Work , Love Triangle , Afterlife , Suicide , Yakuza , Oiran , Tsundere , Adoption , Crossdressing , War , Heterosexual , Elderly Protagonist

Heisei Umare

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Slice of Life

High school girls everyday surreal life.

Tags: 4-koma , Primarily Female Cast , Seinen , School , Surreal Comedy