Yuri Quickie: My Master Has no Tail

Here we have another anime about comediennes similar to Joshiraku and TEPPEN!!!!!!!!!!!!! with the main difference being it is historical and they are sitting down. Even so it is still mostly a show about “comedy girls” so close enough. This is My Master Has no Tail.

This being a Yuri Quickie I will not go too deep. It is about a female tanuki who admired her late father’s trickster escapades among humans so much that after his passing she vowed to continue his legacy. However, over time technology advanced and humans became more difficult to fool. Even so despite the bullying and warnings from her peers she went for it. It was a rough start for our heroine until fate brought her to a comedy hall where she saw a beautiful woman perform rakugo, a form of storytelling comedy. She was so good the tanuki felt like she was part of the world in her story. So amazed was she by this advanced “trickery” she made it her mission to study under the vixen who also turned out to not be human.

Cue a classic tale of “You annoy me at first but start to grow on me over time until I cannot imagine my life without you” relationship. Like their relationship it takes time before we get to that point and it becomes as important to the show as the rakudo. The show is split into three parts:

The first is the rakugo as viewers learn more about the comedy art form, performers, different kinds of storytelling styles (sub sections of rakudo basically) and after the ED of every episode the tanuki or one of her friends explains the story in the performance of said episode.

The second are the wacky shenanigans the tanuki girl gets into such as her epic battle against a street cat or infiltration of the Four Kings’ homes. The rest of the cast get their time to shine too but at the end of the day the highlights remain the tanuki and her bodacious fox mistress.

Third and most important is the tanuki and fox’s relationship. As mentioned for half of the show it felt like a Grade 4 in overall importance to the narrative as viewers were sprinkled with delightful moments between the heroines here and there but when a major roadblock was presented to them that would threaten their bond it became crystal clear how much they wanted to be together. By the end I understood why the show got some tout from a part of yuridom. Be patient and observant.

I suppose similar to most sports anime viewers familiar with rakugo will enjoy the show even more but for those who do not the other stuff along with tanuki x fox goodness are enough to give the show a try. The nice presentation helps too, especially during parts where viewers are transported into the worlds within the stories. Good stuff, yes.