Have you heard of rakugo, the traditional Japanese art of verbal storytelling? At Anime Expo 2026, we had the chance to speak with Anna Nagase, who plays the titular role of Akane Osaki in the hit anime Akane-banashi. She shared how she landed the role, how she prepared to perform rakugo, and how many takes it took to record the iconic Jugemu scene.
KKS: Hello, welcome to Los Angeles and Anime Expo. First off, I wanted to start, what were your thoughts when you got the role of Akane?
Anna: I was so happy. It made me jump around. I wanted this role so badly, and I put everything I had into the audition to give myself the best chance of getting the role. My manager also gave me so much encouragement and cheered me on throughout the entire process.
She even went so far as to say, “Let’s get this role together!” So I’m also happy that I was able to accomplish this for her as well.
Did you do any studying or research in order to nail down the tone to the authenticity of rakugo?
Anna: We actually did rakugo training so I could get a better sense of what it’s like and how it works. I also attended a lot of yose, which are live rakugo performances where you can watch professional storytellers perform different stories.
I watched so many different rakugo performances, and I realized that each of them had their own unique style. Every performer had a different approach to certain characters and a different way of expressing emotions and telling the story. That made me think about what my own style would be. “What is it that makes my rakugo my own?” I kept that in mind as I went into the recording studio to perform the rakugo scenes.
Despite having apprenticed under Shiguma Arakawa for six years, Akane is still an inexperienced rakugoka, how do you inject some of those inexperienced into the performance initially and how did you slowly improve her mastery over the course of the anime?
Anna: For Akane’s first rakugo scene, the director told me to just be loud no matter what. Just be as loud as possible. He wanted me to express how strongly Akane wanted to become a rakugoka, while also showing that she was still very inexperienced and new to the world of rakugo. So that’s how I approached portraying her inexperience.
But then, in the latter half of the first season, during the Karaku Cup and the Jugemu performance, I think my acting became a little calmer. Ilowered my volume and adjusted my tone. But it wasn’t something I didon purpose because I wanted to show how much Akane had grown or matured. It was more of a small awareness in the back of my mind to perform the way
Akane herself would as she gained more experience as a rakugoka.
#AX2026
『#あかね噺』ステージ
ありがとうございました︎
寿限無チャレンジ最高の盛り上がりでした︎
英語版朱音の声優アビーさんともお話しできて嬉しかったです！第２期は来年1月から！
どうぞお楽しみにpic.twitter.com/7qp5EPkTvh — 永瀬アンナ (@anna_nagase) July 7, 2026
Pretty much growing along with Akane in the series! Okay, so moving on to Jugemu, what was it like recording Jugemu? It must have been extremely challenging to recite it multiple times in multiple different ways over the course of an anime. Talk to us about memorizing the entire story.
Anna: Yes, it was incredibly hard. Memorizing it was quite the challenge. I performed Jugemu three times in the anime. The first and second times weren’t so bad. At that point, Akane had this kind of energy in the way she performed Jugemu that was very close to my own personality. I felt that we shared that similarity, so I was able to naturally perform Jugemu in an energetic way.
The last recording of Jugemu took a really long time. Of course, we wanted to carefully record it, get all the details right, and perform it as well as possible. We would spend many hours recording just that one scene in a single day. It wasn’t to the point where we recorded until midnight, but there were days when we recorded until 11:30 at night, sometimes for five or six hours, trying it over and over again to achieve the level of quality Akane needed for that scene.
Have you watched your performances in the completed episodes? If yes, does it feel surreal listening to your own rakugo performance? Was there anything you thought “I should’ve done this or I’ll do this for next time!”?
Anna: As I watched the episodes of Akane-banashi, I felt this immense pressure. Seeing the animation bring my voice to life was really impressive. However, when I look back on my performance after recording, I feel like I portrayed Akane as being full of positive, cheerful energy. That’s not to say she’s a dark character. She has both a bright, cheerful side and a darker
side as well. Sometimes I think to myself that I wish I had put a little more thought into expressing that darker side.
For example, when she found out her father had been exiled from the professional rakugo community, maybe I focused too much on her staying positive. Perhaps there was something behind that positivity that I could have expressed in my performance. It makes me think, “Maybe I could have done that differently.” But what’s done is done. Once we finish
recording and the anime is completed, that’s how it is. Personally, I really love Akane, and maybe in Season 2 I can find new ways to express her different emotions and sides.
Lastly, our media outlet is called Kawaii Kakkoii Sugoi. What do the words “kawaii” (cute), “kakkoii” (cool), and “sugoi” (awesome) mean to you? You can answer with one word or all three.
With Akane-banashi, I often hear the word sugoi, but I think all three of these words, kawaii, kakkoii, and sugoi, are really nice words that can make someone feel better or lift them up. Before an episode airs, I always feel anxious and unsure of myself because I don’t know what people are going to think or how they’re going to react. So I tend to get inside my own head. That’s why hearing words like kawaii, kakkoii, and sugoi really encourages me.
About Akanebanashi
Official Website: https://akane-banashi.com/
X: https://x.com/akanebanashi_en
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@akanebanashi_en
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/akanebanashi_en/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/akanebanashi.en
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