Top Rakugo Manga Recommendations

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!



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

Yugami-kun ni wa Tomodachi ga Inai

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Slice of Life

The story of the comedy manga revolves around Yuuji Yugami and Chihiro Watanuki, who sit next to each other in class. Unfortunately for Chihiro the transfer student, Yuuji is weird... extremely weird. Even though he's the ace of the baseball club, he hasn't adapted to the club at all. He also stands apart from the rest of the class, but seems completely satisfied with being alone.



Tags: School , Coming of Age , Shounen , Female Protagonist , Male Protagonist , Baseball , School Club , Ensemble Cast , Rakugo , Time Skip

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 , Primarily Adult Cast , Historical , Acting , Family Life , Love Triangle , Work , Afterlife , Suicide , Yakuza , Oiran , Tsundere , Crossdressing , War , Adoption , Heterosexual , Elderly Protagonist

One Room Angel

Also known as One Room Angel.

Status: Finished
Genres: Romance , Supernatural

There are a lot of things that Kouki doesn't have—no hobbies, no friends, no lover, no stable job, and no will to live. So when a random tussle with some kids gets him stabbed, he thinks maybe this is finally his ticket out of this crappy life. But just as he's about to pass out he sees a beautiful "angel"... How is Kouki supposed to cope when less than a month later, he's mysteriously healed, has astronomical bills to pay, and suddenly has the same beautiful angel as his amnesiac roommate?



Tags: Angels , Suicide , Male Protagonist , Age Gap , Tragedy , Afterlife , Boys' Love , Yakuza , Work , Rakugo

Joshiraku

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Slice of Life

A joint effort between popular illustrator Yasu and Kouji Kumeta, creator of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, this manga features female rakugo storytellers. After stepping off the stage, these comedians chit-chat in the girl's dressing room. This is a comedy that begins after the storyteller has said goodbye to the audience!

Tags: Rakugo , Meta , Cute Girls Doing Cute Things , Shounen , Primarily Female Cast , Primarily Adult Cast , Surreal Comedy

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 , Demons , Afterlife , Educational , Found Family

Nennen Saisai

Also known as NenNen-SaiSai: Years of Color.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Supernatural

A collection of stories:

1. Kingyo Sukui
A poor man who hates working is left by his wife. The same day, the god of poverty comes to live with him.

2-4. Derashine no Hana
Based on a Rakugo tale. A man with an incredibly long name is blessed with an equally long lifespan. Fed up, he seeks out and befriends a Shinigami that he'd seen in the past.

5. Komukai-ke no Jijou (The Komukai Household's Circumstances)
Souta, an elementary school student living with his father and father's partner, starts to question his family life after a sex education class in school.

6. Derashine no Hana Extra

Tags: Historical , Boys' Love , Rakugo , LGBTQ+ Themes , Time Skip

Gekiga Yose: Shibahama

Also known as Fallen Words.

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Slice of Life

In Fallen Words, Yoshihiro Tatsumi takes up the oral tradition of rakugo and breathes new life into it by shifting the format from spoken word to manga. Each of the eight stories in the collection is lifted from the Edo-era Japanese storytelling form. As Tatsumi notes in the afterword, the world of rakugo, filled with mystery, emotion, revenge, hope, and, of course, love, overlaps perfectly with the world of Gekiga that he has spent the better part of his life developing.

These slice-of-life stories resonate with modern readers thanks to their comedic elements and familiarity with human idiosyncrasies. In one, a father finds his son too bookish and arranges for two workers to take the young man to a brothel on the pretext of visiting a new shrine. In another particularly beloved rakugo tale, a married man falls in love with a prostitute. When his wife finds out, she is enraged and sets a curse on the other woman. The prostitute responds by cursing the wife, and the two escalate in a spiral of voodoo doll cursing. Soon both are dead, but even death can’t extinguish their jealousy.

Tatsumi’s love of wordplay shines through in the telling of these whimsical stories, and yet he still offers timeless insight into human nature.



Tags: Rakugo , Oiran , Anthology , Historical

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu: Bangai-hen

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama

Two special chapters of Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu that were released after the manga finished serialization. They follow Shinnosuke, Konatsu's son, as he tries to figure out rakugo through "Shinigami", Yakumo's popular story.

Tags: Josei , Rakugo , Male Protagonist , Historical

Isekai Rakugo

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

The story of how a Japanese storyteller, or "Hanashika," saved the world using Rakugo.

Tags: Isekai , Seinen , Rakugo

Douraku Musuko

Status: Finished
Genres: Slice of Life

Shouta, a man in his late 20s, works at a nursery school and tries his best to make the children laugh and smile. However, the children seem to have a hard time paying attention to his comedic storytelling.

One night, he goes to a storytelling theater and ends up getting some useful advice from a woman who performed in the show. Afterward, he re-tells his comedic story in a way that is extremely well accepted by the laughing children and he decides that performing storytelling is what he wants to do with his life. Soon, he begins to take steps to make this dream a reality.

Tags: Rakugo , Seinen

Kotatsuya Mikan

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Slice of Life

Shy Hinako and beauty-and-brains Maho suddenly meet in a musical hall and decided to start the Storytelling Club in hopes of enhancing their high school life. Thus, the start of their interesting every day lives begin!

Tags: Seinen , Rakugo , School , School Club

Anisan to Boku

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy

A family comedy about the earnest but clumsy Rakugoka pupil Masanao (25), and his strict but talented Ani-san Koinu (11)

Tags: Shoujo , Rakugo

Meisaku Rakugo Zenshu

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy

Rakugo: A traditional form of Japanese storytelling, told orally by one sitting down. Often humorous, often filled with folly, rakugo has persisted throughout the ages with good reason. Within Masterpiece Rakugo Complete Works, 33 rakugo stories are closely adapted by George Akiyama, who gives them his own charming, chaotic touch.

Tags: Shounen , Rakugo

Yoru no Me wa Sen de Gozaimasu

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy

Tags: Anthology , Rakugo , Seinen , Parody

Gyaru ga Rakugoka ni Koi Shitara

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

Tags: Rakugo

Kaikouichiban!

Status: Releasing
Genres: Slice of Life

Tags: Seinen , Rakugo , Male Protagonist

Kaidanshi

Status: Finished
Genres: Horror

Tags: Ghost , Rakugo

Soba no Sensu

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Sports

Tags: Rakugo