is a Japanese

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

manga series written by

Kōji Kumeta is a Japanese manga artist. His most famous works are '' Go!! Southern Ice Hockey Club'', '' Katteni Kaizō'', ''Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei'', and '' Joshiraku''. The bulk of Kumeta's work was published in ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'', until the abru ...

and illustrated by Yasu, telling the everyday lives of five young female rakugo comedians. It was serialised in Kodansha's ''

Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine is a Japanese monthly manga magazine published by Kōdansha. The magazine was started in September 2009 as a spin-off of another Kōdansha magazine, ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine''. Currently running manga series Past series * '' ×××Holic ...

'' from September 2009 to September 2013 and the chapters compiled into six ''

tankōbon is the Japanese term for a book that is not part of an anthology or corpus. In modern Japanese, the term is most often used in reference to individual volumes of a manga series: most series first appear as individual chapters in a weekly or ...

'' volumes. An

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

television series adaptation animated by

J.C.Staff , is a Japanese animation studio founded in January 1986 by Tomoyuki Miyata, who previously worked at Tatsunoko Production. The studio's first release was ''Yōtōden'' in 1987. They have produced several well-known anime series, such as '' Food ...

aired in Japan between July and September 2012, with an original video animation episode released in February 2013.

Characters

All of the girls' surnames end with the character , which is often used in stage names for performers. ; : (Anime),

Kana Asumi is a Japanese actress, voice actress, singer and a former member of the girl group Lisp. Career She worked for Voice & Heart until 2007 and has worked for 81 Produce since 2008. She won the Best Lead Actress Award in the 7th Seiyu Awards. Pers ...

(CD) :The substantial protagonist of the manga, who has long red hair. She behaves like Edokko and speaks in a masculine tone of Edo speech, but she is actually from Tokushima Prefecture. Despite her good looks, the way she talks and her flat chest tend to lead the others into suspecting her as a boy

cross-dress Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothes usually worn by a different gender. From as early as pre-modern history, cross-dressing has been practiced in order to disguise, comfort, entertain, and self-express oneself. Cross-dressing has play ...

ing as a girl. She acts as a ''

tsukkomi The following glossary of words and terms (generally of Japanese origin) are related to ''owarai'' (Japanese comedy). Many of these terms may be used in areas of Japanese culture beyond comedy, including television and radio, music. Some have b ...

'' and often says "". Her name is a pun on '' Bloody Mary''. ; : (Anime), Ikumi Hayama (CD) :A ponytailed girl with brown hair who is a lucky girl and leads a carefree life. She often leads the stories to other subjects. Kumeta introduces her as the true protagonist of the manga. Her name is a pun on and ''

Tetrapod Tetrapods (; ) are four-limbed vertebrate animals constituting the superclass Tetrapoda (). It includes extant and extinct amphibians, sauropsids ( reptiles, including dinosaurs and therefore birds) and synapsids ( pelycosaurs, extinct t ...

''. ; : (Anime),

Erena Ono , is a former member of the Japanese idol girl group AKB48. She was in "Team K" and her talent agency was Ohta Production. She was also part of AKB48 subgroups "Honegumi from AKB48", "AKBIdoling !! " and "ICE from AKB48". Career Ono was born ...

(CD) :A girl with cream-coloured hair who is the youngest girl in the group. To match her childlike figure, she often pretends to be cute in front of others, but her internal dialogue shows her true thoughts to the audience; cynical and manipulative. Her name is a pun on ''

Hello Kitty , also known by her full name , is a fictional Character (arts), character created by Yuko Shimizu, currently designed by Yuko Yamaguchi, and owned by the Japanese company Sanrio. Sanrio depicts Hello Kitty as an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphi ...

'' and '' kigurumi''. ; : (Anime),

Kana Hanazawa is a Japanese actress, voice actress and singer. A prolific voice performer in anime, she has amassed several film and television credits since her debut in 1990. She won the Seiyu Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2015, and won the Newtyp ...

(CD) :A girl with glasses and green hair who is a smart, cool-headed, yet violent girl. She is a childhood friend of Tetora's. Her name is a pun on ''cool beauty'' and . ; : (Anime/CD) :A girl with straight black hair who is very good at acting, but is an unlucky girl and is very emotionally unstable. Her name is a play on several words, all of which have to do with things that are very negative in nature. The pronunciation of her name refers to and . Her name could also be read alternatively as ''kurakutei kurai'', which is very similar to . ''Anrakutei'' also sounds similar to the word ''unlucky''. Also, the

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

in her name minus the character could be read very literally, as ''falling into darkness'' and ''coming of anguish''. ; : :A girl in a luchador wrestling mask who just happens to be in the scene at certain points. ; : :A girl who has short blonde and pink hair. She wears a strawberry-patterned hakama and a large ribbon on her head. Her only appearance is in the last episode of the anime. True to her name, Uzannu is annoying with her fast-talking, condescending attitude, and mimicry of the other girls. Uzannu purposely tries to upset the character balance of the show with her obnoxiousness and make the show her own, even going so far as singing her own version of the opening theme song with personalized lyrics. Nonetheless, the girls manage to drive her away.

Media

Manga

''Joshiraku'' began as a manga series written by

and illustrated by Yasu. It was serialized in Kodansha's ''

'' between the October 2009 and October 2013 issues – from September 9, 2009, to September 9, 2013. The chapters were also collected and released into six ''

'' volumes under the Wild KC imprint, from May 17, 2010, to November 8, 2013. A limited edition of the fifth volume was bundled with an anime episode on DVD disc.

Anime

A 13-episode

television series adaptation animated by

aired in Japan between July and September 2012. An original video animation episode was released on DVD with the fifth manga volume on February 8, 2013. The opening theme is by

Ayane Sakura is a Japanese voice actress. She is affiliated with Aoni Production. Her roles included Natsumi Koshigaya in ''Non Non Biyori'', Secre Swallowtail in ''Black Clover'', Ochaco Uraraka in ''My Hero Academia'', Tsubaki Sawabe in '' Your Lie in Apri ...

Kotori Koiwai is a Japanese voice actress, lyricist, and composer from Kyoto. Biography Koiwai was born in Kyoto on February 15, 1990. She initially took interest in voice acting after hearing the voice of Pikachu in the Pokémon anime. Afterwards, afte ...

Nozomi Yamamoto is a Japanese voice actress affiliated with VIMS. Voice acting roles Anime television series ;2011 *'' Haganai'' as Yukimura Kusunoki *'' Un-Go'' as Rie Kaishō ;2012 *'' Girls und Panzer'' as Satoko Nakajima *'' Joshiraku'' as Tetora Bōhate ...

Yoshino Nanjō is a Japanese voice actress and singer. She is affiliated with Voice Kit. Among her most popular roles is Eli Ayase from '' Love Live! School Idol Project'' series. She became the lead singer of the Japanese pop and trance duo fripSide in 2009 u ...

and

Saori Gotō is a Japanese voice actress and singer. Filmography Anime Video games Dubbing References External links * Official agency profile(archive) Saori Gotōat Seiyuu InfoSaori Gotōat GamePlaza-Haruka Voice Acting Database Saori Gotōa ...

, and the ending theme is by

Momoiro Clover Z is a Japanese idol girl group, commonly abbreviated as MCZ or . The four members of MCZ are known for energetic performances, incorporating elements of ballet, gymnastics, and action movies. MCZ is notable for being the first female group to ho ...

and Yoshida Brothers. In 2019,

Maiden Japan ''Maiden Japan'', released as ''Heavy Metal Army'' in Japan, is a live EP by the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden. The title is a pun of Deep Purple's live album '' Made in Japan''. Release There are at least two different versions of ...

licensed the series.

Episode list

References

External links

Anime official website
* {{Animeism 2009 manga 2012 anime television series debuts Animeism Comedy anime and manga Theatre in anime and manga J.C.Staff Kodansha manga Kōji Kumeta Maiden Japan Rakugo Shōnen manga