Micro-post #188: The history and form of rakugo (aka "Japanese sit-down comedy")

I've not seen the currently-ongoing anime version of Akane-banashi but I've read some chapters of the original manga online and found it to be an interesting dive into a fairly un-talked about art-form: the performance style of rakugo. About a month ago, Anime News Network posted a detailed primer before the show premiered and I've been looking for a chance to re-post it here. This micro-post could probably be a longer "Something Interesting" but I don't have much bandwidth to do the digging for that, so please enjoy the articles and some videos about rakugo if your interested has been piqued.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkvKIedDUu0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Mj3QPVj8qc