Weirdly, it was almost a year ago that I reviewed volume 1 of this series, in which we met Mameda, a tanuki who wanders into the big city and becomes enamored by the magic of rakugo, Japan’s traditional form of storytelling. This week I finally made time for Uchi no Shishou ha Shippo ga nai, Volume 2 (うちの師匠はしっぽがない)

Rakugo is, effectively, a one-person play, in which the story teller captivates an audience by playing all the roles in their funny, or sometimes sentimental, story. If you did not know any of this before you came into this series, I assure you that you will most definitely know about it. when you leave.

Each chapter is accompanied by interstitial notes on some of the specific cultural touchpoints of that particular chapter. In this chapter Mameda will up her rakugo skills and defeat a mischievous god child at the Tenjin Matsuri,  be possessed by one of the three most famous ghosts in Japan, Okiku and she’ll help out her master’s shamisen player, Koito-san, when an accident threatens to stop the show.

All of these things are true, but the descriptions don’t do justice to the idea of a playful tanuki navigating through human and rakugo culture at the same time. Luckily, I don’t have to work too hard, because you can read My Master has no Tail, in English from Kodansha, available from these helpful affiliate links on Amazon, and Global Bookwalker, because this is not on the Yuricon Store.

And why is this not on the Yuricon Store, although I discovered it through Yuri lists? Because while I don’t argue that there is a bond growing between Bunko and her baka-tanuki disciple, Mameda, I’m not entirely sure I see it as Yuri. It is absolutely cute, and there are some obvious set-ups that are designed to make people think of more, but…well, I just don’t buy it. ^_^ Nonetheless this is a darling manga and very funny in places that I absolutely enjoy the heck out of and will probably read more.

TNSK’s art favors silly, rather than realistic, but the Osaka of the story is lively and fun and you’ll learn a lot about rakugo, which is always nice.

Ratings:

Art – 8 Good, but not to my taste
Story – 8 Goofy and charming
Characters – 8 Koito surged to the head of the pack. She ain’t no dope
Service – 4 Yeah, bathing and some implications and setups.
Yuri – Eh. Affection, definitely, so YMMV

Overall – 8

The Okiku chapter was particularly fascinating, because the very night before I read it, I had just finished a chapter of Zack Davisson’s book Yurei on that exact story. Zack’s book is a great read, by the way, especially f you like ghost stories. He’s a friend of mine, so I’m glad to say that I enjoyed it immensely. ^_^ But what a coincidence!