Shinjuku Ward, east side… The center of the street with the most chaos, there's Kabuki-chō, full of neon lights. When the light is stronger, the shadow is deeper. The story begins when certain bizarre murder happens one night! Suspense? Or Comedy? Drama that cannot be identified begins!
When a certain man is released from prison, he knows exactly where he's heading first. After falling in love with a traditional comic storyteller's rendition of the story called "Shinigami," he is determined to become his apprentice. The performer, Yakumo, has never taken an apprentice before, but to everyone's surprise, he accepts the eager ex-prisoner, nicknaming him "Yotaro." As Yotaro happily begins his new life, he meets others in Yakumo's life, including Yakumo's ward Konatsu. Konatsu was the daughter of a famous storyteller, and Yakumo took her in after her father's tragic death. Konatsu loved her father's storytelling, and would love to become a performer in her own right—but that path is not available for women.
A young yakuza thug apprentices with an indebted comic "rakugo" performer, whose not-so-fashionable son runs a clothes shop in the Harajuku backstreets.
Joshiraku, abbreviation of joshi rakugo, is a satirical comedy that follows the everyday life of a group of rakugoka girls. A group of girls discuss random things and usually reach an unusual or humorous conclusion that's far from the initial discussion topic.
Set during the early Showa period, Yakumo enters the world of rakugo. He forms a friendship with talented storyteller Yurakutei. Yakumo admires Yurakutei’s talent and struggles to achieve his level of performance. With the help of geisha Miyokichi, Yakumo grows up as a rakugo storyteller. Yurakutei and Miyokichi get married, but they die in a mysterious accident. Yakumo takes Konatsu, who is the child of Yurakutei and Miyokichi, and raises her. Konatsu grows up blaming Yakumo as her parents’ enemy. Konatsu and Yakumo’s disciple Yotaro chases after the truth of her parents’ death, which Yakumo hides.
The 4 rakugokas frequent a café and there they observe the customers and clerk, and develop BL stories. Those stories will be acted as well as the rakugokas imagine / craft the story.
In early 1965, a child violinist who was expected to be a prodigy, came up to Tokyo from Nagasaki and lived in lodgings. In the 1970s, the violinist (Suda Masaki) faced a setback during the uproar over the US-Japan security treaty. Even so, he did not cut off music. By the time he realised it, he had started singing as Grape. This is a story centred around his high school and university days surrounded by different people including friends, teachers as well as older men at his part-time job.