"He's so handsome!" "Let's talk to him!" "Hey, garçon!" "Come over here!" "May I help you, my lady?" "He finally looked at me!" "Could you clean these up?" "Of course." "It's just more training..." "Hey, are you still busy?" "It'll be like this all day." "Who cares?" "Sit with us!" "I'm afraid I—" "Hey!" "Garçon." "Aren't you looking sharp?" "You're like a celebrity in Paris." "Shin-san?" "!" "I told you not to come here!" "I thought I'd walk you to the theater." "You're on stage tonight, remember?" "What did he say?" "Theater?" "Stage?" "Shh!" "I'll be off soon." "Find something else to do in the meantime." "Don't be like that." "Spot me a drink!" "We don't serve alcohol here." "Then, how about some drinking money?" "What about your matinee money?" "I took the streetcar all the way from Shinjuku." "It's all gone." "You didn't have to stop by." "Well, going straight there isn't like me, either." "Is that why you showed up?" "Just this once, though." "Thanks, Bon-chan!" "Was he a performer?" "A friend of yours?" "No, he was just asking directions." "Episode 4" "It's freezing." "Hey, Bon, don't be mad!" "If you make it obvious you're a storyteller, they'll figure me out, too." "I've had enough." "A place like that gives you lots of experience, though." "It helps pay the rent, too." "Wasn't it a great plan?" "And yet, somehow, I'm the only one who has to work." "You're crashing at my place without the slightest intention of leaving, aren't you?" "You can relax more around a guy roommate, and no matter how hungry or cold you get, good conversation covers for it, right?" "I need money to survive." "If I work, I can't practice." "If I don't practice, the theaters won't call." "It's an endless cycle of suffering." "Plus, I haven't learned any rakugo since we moved out of Master's house." "What's the point of being a futatsume?" "That's too bad for you!" "I've got four bookings tomorrow." "I've been getting good reviews lately!" "Good for you." "I'm even getting offers to do radio!" "Ever since I took the name "Sukeroku", I've been moving up!" "Why don't you take a new name, too?" "No." "I'm fine being Kikuhiko for life." ""Sukeroku" isn't a storyteller's name, anyway." "Who cares?" "It's manly, like me!" "You must be kidding me." "Come on, I'm totally a Sukeroku!" "Don't act like it's too much name for me!" "I didn't say that, and you shouldn't, either!" "But, really..." "It's not just the name, you need to change the way dress." "Why not throw out these ratty old clothes and buy a proper suit?" "No way!" "That stuff slows me down in the crotch area." "What about the montsuki kimono Master gave you, then?" "I pawned it for drinking money." "If he finds out, he'll expel you." "Why should I frolic around in a montsuki kimono, anyway?" "It's not for frolicking, it's for work." "I've never seen a customer leave because of how I dress." "You're not the one they come to see." "Well, as long as my rakugo makes them happy, that's enough." "Avoiding the subject..." "If I don't enjoy being a futatsume, when can I enjoy myself?" "It's all artistic reference, anyway." "You gotta look around you." "It's all useful." "Oh, is it?" "Even so, no woman would like you in those clothes." "The girls only have nice things to say." "They're teasing you, you boor." "At least try to wear something nicer." "You're giving rakugo a bad name." "How do I buy them, then?" "Save up." "Then I'll pick some out for you." "You're such a tightwad." "Just buy it for me, second-hand is fine." "Save up faster by not drinking." "No deal, then." "You know, you've been a total tightwad ever since you got that apartment." "Of course I have." "It's the difference between life and death." "Don't worry." "I'm about to hit it big." "Oh, really?" "Oh, that's the 6:00 bell from Ueno." "We're here already." "Hey, I thought it was cold." "Here comes the white stuff." "The first snow of the year." "Hey, Kiku." "Master Buncho." "You're here early." "Yeah, I thought it might snow." "You're looking poorly." "Have you been eating?" "More or less..." "How about I order some soba?" "Thank you, Master!" "Thank you!" "Thank you!" "Thank you, Master!" "Thank you!" "What's this?" "How many am I going to have to order?" "Looks like it's going to be a soba night." "Yurakutei Sukeroku" "Thank you, thank you." "Thanks for making it out to this dump on a snowy night." "Well, I was thinking I'd tell a story about tightwad types and greed today." ""Greed, like snow, piles up until a man loses his way." So the saying goes." "You know it's bad when they even talk about money in their sleep." ""Yumekin." A good story for a snowy day." "Gotta get... 100 ryo..." "Oh, it's Kuma again." "Even asleep, he talks about money." "What a tightwad." "Gotta get... 200 ryo..." "Hey, honey." "Are all the doors locked?" "It's such a quiet, snowy night." "He's so loud." "What if a burglar overhears him, thinks he's counting money, and decides to rob the place?" "Yurakutei Sukeroku" "Excuse me." "Are you open?" "Look!" "It's a burglar, like I said!" "What nonsense do you speak?" "I've come to rent a boat." "Huh?" "!" "Oh, a customer!" "Well, do forgive my rudeness." "The shop owner descended to the door and peered through the window." "Outside in the snow, he saw an ill-matched pair:" "a scowling samurai with a young woman by his side." "The samurai was 34 or 35, and his hair was thinning." "Now comes the narration." "He describes the samurai and girl in detail," "The collar of his kimono was filthy." "The girl with him, by contrast, was 17 or 18, fair-skinned and cool-eyed." "conjuring a distinctive image of them both in the mind." "She was attractive and fashionable." "In appearance, the two could not have been more different." "My sister and I came to see a play, but then the snow began." "Might we rent a roofed boat to Fukagawa?" "I'm terribly sorry, but all of our boatmen are out right now." "Gotta get... 100 ryo..." "Isn't that someone upstairs?" "Oh, well..." "There is a boatman upstairs, but he's a greedy little thing." "If I send you out with him on a night like this, who knows how he might try to gouge you?" "I'm afraid I can't allow it." "It matters not." "Call him down." "Ah, are you sure?" "Well, then..." "Hey, Kumako!" "Kumako, wake up!" "Boss, did you call me?" "Take a boat out, in this snow?" "Gimme a break!" "I'll freeze my ass off in this cold!" "No deal!" "Out of consideration for the weather, I shall provide you ample compensation." "Oh?" "!" "Compensation, you say?" "!" "Ample, you say?" "!" "All right, let's do it!" "Yurakutei Sukeroku" "You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours!" "Money makes the world go 'round, you know, as they say." "Now, my dear." "It's easy to slip in the snow." "You just hold on right here." "Oh, what a lovely, soft hand." "Boy, and she smells great, too!" "Oh, it's gotten so cold..." "It's freezing!" "Making me take out a boat in this weather..." "Gimme a break, here..." "He should've paid me the minute we left the riverbank." "After I got out here to work and everything." "How insensitive can you get?" "Maybe I'll rock the boat a little!" "Here goes!" "How do you like that?" "And that?" "Boatman!" "The boat is rocking!" "You bet it is!" "That's what happens when you don't give someone their due!" "Surely you jest!" "I see your avarice indeed knows no bounds." "Perhaps I could ask for your assistance." "In truth, this girl is not my sister." "She is a stranger I found freezing in the snow." "When I reached out to help, my hand brushed her pocket, and I felt a sum of 100 ryo." "She told me she was the daughter of a rich family." "She committed adultery, stole the money, and ran away from home..." "If we killed her, we could take the lot." "Well?" "Will you aid me?" "K-K-Kill her?" "!" "Y-Y-You must be joking..." "I m-might be greedy, b-but I'd never kill someone for money!" "Oh?" "Then perhaps I should kill you first." "M-Me?" "!" "P-Please don't..." "Please don't..." "I-If that's my only choice..." "I g-guess I'd better do it..." "I-I'll help you." "S-So how much?" "How much will you pay me?" "Two ryo." "Only two ryo?" "!" "Gimme a break!" "I'm so outraged I've forgotten to be scared!" "Now cut the crap before I tip over the boat!" "N-No, please!" "Anything but that!" "Hey, you scum bag, you can't swim, can you?" "Looks like I've got the upper hand!" "Well?" "Gonna give me a fair share?" "Very well." "We'll split the money." "Good." "But if we kill her here, there will be evidence." "I'll dock us at that sandbar." "You can do it there!" "A fine idea." "The samurai jumped out onto the sand bar, his feet sticking in the mud." "Kumako immediately turned his pole around and gave it a hard shove." "The boat moved away from the small island in the sandbar." "Hey, boatman!" "What are you doing?" "Serves you right!" "So long, samurai!" "Now you samu-die!" "Kumako decided to see the girl home himself." "Her parents, who had been looking everywhere for her, were delighted." "Oh, thank you!" "You're our savior." "A small token of our thanks." "Oh, no, no." "You saved our daughter's life." "We insist you accept it." "Brazenly, he tore open the parcels open on the spot." "There in his hands, sacks of 50 ryo and 50 ryo... 100 ryo in all!" "Wow, 100 ryo!" "This is so generous!" "Thank you!" "Then, as he squeezed the treasure sacks tight... he felt a shooting pain that woke him right up." "He was on the second floor, dreaming, squeezing his own "treasure sacks."" "And that is Yumekin, the tale of dream treasure." "That story could make them laugh or cry." "A moment's hesitation will kill it." "Shin-san never hesitates." "Oh, hey, did you like it?" "Yes, it was incredible." "You being such a tightwad really inspired me." "Oh... is that so?" "Yurakutei Sukeroku" "Ow!" "Yurakutei Sukeroku" "Yurakutei Yakumo" "If you want to go home, then go." "I keep getting stopped at the gate." "What's wrong?" "You've been distracted all day." "I'm sorry." "It's not getting any better." "Let's wrap up for the day." "I'm sorry." "I haven't been practicing enough." "Well... in your case, I'd say you've been practicing too much." "What?" "You're too serious." "You have the form perfectly, but there's no flaws." "Eroticism comes from flaws." "There's no sex appeal in perfection." "Flaws help people feel at ease, too." "It makes it charming." "That's when they feel like they're watching good rakugo." "I won't tell you to learn from Sukeroku, but perhaps you could pick up a hint of his shamelessness..." "I will be diligent." "Being diligent's no fun." "You haven't found your own rakugo yet." "You shouldn't try to do it like me or the older apprentices, and definitely not his." "Okay!" "I'm taking you out for a good time." "I'll show you something you'll appreciate." "Opening Day" "I finally get to go inside..." "Man, this place has class..." "Hey!" "Master!" "And Matsuda-san!" "It's been so long." "It's been a while, Hatsuta." "Though I know you don't call yourself that anymore..." "Come on, stop calling me Hatsuta." "You never come to practice, yet you always seem to make time for things like this." "Oh, but treating your promising young students this way is so kind of you, Master!" "Flattery, eh?" "But you're still wearing those filthy clothes." "Where's the montsuki kimono I bought you?" "What's that face supposed to mean?" "Sensei." "Miyokichi!" "I'm so glad you invited me." "Allow me to make some introductions." "This is Miyokichi." "We met in Manchuria." "I got her a job as a geisha in Mukojima." "Sensei has been so kind to me." "Right?" "Right!" "Don't tell the wife, okay?" "I'm not going to have anything to do with this." "It's been a while." "Glad to see you're well." "Well, thank you." "Hey, Hatsuta!" "Don't you talk to Miyokichi." "How come?" "You know why!" "Miyokichi would be wasted on you." "Then why'd you bring her here?" "I wanted Kiku to get to talk to a nice girl." "I'm not obligated to find one for you, too." "That's favoritism!" "Calm down, both of you." "It's basic consideration, stupid!" "Did you call me stupid?" "What are you, a kid?" "!" "You're one to talk, you brat!" "Aren't rakugo performers funny?" "Yeah, I'm a brat!" "A real brat!" "Shut up, come talk to me again in 100 years!" "That is their stock and trade." "I won't let that go just 'cause you're my master!" "Yeah!" "Perfect!" "Don't you want to look at the souvenirs?" "I don't want to waste money." "Just ask your master nicely." "That scraggly little boy already begged a lot out of him." "I'm a futatsume now." "I can't do that." "Oh, really?" "Hey..." "Yes?" "Sensei told me that you used to be a dancer." "Would you teach me some time?" "I'm in training right now." "There's just so much to remember." "It's so hard." "Why are you telling me this?" "Did Master tell you to show me a good time?" "Oh, no. nothing like that." "I just wanted to talk to you alone." "Don't tell Sensei, okay?" "I won't keep it secret." "Oh, you're so inflexible." "You're a futatsume, you don't have to say no." "Fine." "You don't have to keep it secret." "Just come by my place." "I'll treat you." "Renjishi Kabukiza Performance" "Since it's not a secret, you can ask him to pay." "Then how are you treating me, exactly?" "Just do it." "Man, that was amazing!" "That really is the best theater in Japan." "I can't believe they rebuilt it again!" "You're still on that?" "Talk about something else, for once." "But it sure is a great venue!" "I'd love to do a recital there... that's my dream." "Your head's swelling again." "Karma will punish you." "Hey, wouldn't it be fun to rent a small place and perform together?" "Perform?" "A two-futatsume playbill!" "Whaddya think?" "No one will come to see two futatsumes." "Well, if we called a master to headline, we wouldn't be the stars." "You just want attention." "We'd find a way to sell ourselves." "How?" "Running around, maybe?" "That's not a plan!" "Anyway, I'll be thinking about it, so just say you're in." "What a pain." "And don't tell the master." "He'd be pissed if he knew." "Yeah, yeah." "Speaking of secrets, that woman is his mistress, right?" "He sure didn't hold back." "I thought it was suspicious." "Even back in Japan, he's taking care of her." "Well, as a guy, I can say I understand." "She's one fine little—" "Hey, Shin-san." "She wanted me to meet with her later." "Oh, really?" "Nothing to say?" "Why are you telling me?" "Who knows?" "I don't." "If you don't know, how should I?" "Kiku-san!" "You came!" "I suppose." "I'm so happy!" "Ow!" "Oh, stop that." "Kiku-san, you're so strict!" "It's art." "I have to be strict, or you won't get better." "Yes, Sensei." "Oh, hey." "Next is kouta practice." "Play the shamisen for me." "Very well." "The plum blossoms' fragrance rides to me on the eastern wind" "I'm surprised." "You're quite good." "I studied kouta." "I always wanted to perform at a theater." "It's good to have a goal." "If you work hard, I'm sure it will come true." "Yes, Sensei." "When I talk to you, the time just flies by." "I'm having so much fun I forget everything else." "Oh, really?" "You're not at all like other men." "You don't undress me with your eyes." "You're five years younger than me, but you're like a big brother." "Come on, you're supposed to catch me!" "I'm sorry." "You startled me." "You're so funny." "Kiku-san, you smell so good." "I need to get home." "Aw, already?" "I have practice early tomorrow." "You're not allowed to leave before me." "You're supposed to say you'll walk me home." "No." "You're out of my way." "Oh, so inflexible." "Just say it, at least." "Can I walk you home?" "Only if you'll come again." "That's a promise." "Kiku-san." "Wait!" "Come again, okay?" "I'm holding you to that." "Next time, Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju Episode 5." "We appreciate your continued support."