Descending Stories
2016
Original language: Japanese
- animation
- drama
The story
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.
What it’s like
Warm lamplit interiors and candle-dim theatre halls, muted kimono colours against soft grey Tokyo streets, and hand-drawn animation that holds steady on a performer's face while he speaks. Sound is mostly a single voice, the snap of a folding fan, the plucks of a shamisen and long pauses where an audience breathes, with sparse orchestral swells saved for the heaviest moments. The pace is unhurried and episodic, built around performances that run long and return to the same stories with changing weight. Tone is wistful and bittersweet, with an undercurrent of old grudges and ambition: a rough ex-convict's devotion to an exacting mentor, a rivalry that slowly deepens into brotherhood, and a young woman's quiet fight against a world that bars her from the stage. Intensity is moderate, not gentle: prison-era backstory, gang violence, a suicide and sharp bursts of brutality in the later period, plus some sexual suggestion, handled with restraint rather than gore. Suited to a late evening with a drink, for people who want the slow ache of craft, history and loyalty.
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