Intro Arc

The **Intro Arc** is the first story arc in the Akane-Banashi series.
This arc introduces most of the important characters in the series.

The dream of the rakugoka Shinta Arakawa is to get promoted to rank Shinuchi, after being expelled from Arakawa School by one of the test judges, his daughter Akane swears to become a rakugoka and asks him the reason for that decision.

## Summary

### The Past

Shiguma Arakawa is a Futatsume rank rakugoka who aspires to ascend to Shin'uchi rank, after his presentation at Rakugo Cafe he receives a call from Mitsue Elementary when he arrives at the place he finds his daughter Akane, teacher Yanagiya, Akane's classmate Jumbo and Jumbo's mother, the teacher explains the whole situation to Shinta after a talk with Jumbo's mother leaves the place taking Akane with him, Shinta has a talk with Akane about their fight, Akane tells him that he just wanted to tell them to everyone about how great his father was Shinta tells him not to worry about it and they go shopping for dinner that night, after a while Shinta decides to practice for his Shinuchi promotion exam, Akane watches the practice from her father while her mother arrives at the house.
One week later in the Arakawa School Shin'uchi Promotion Exam, Akane meets her father's teacher Shiguma Arakawa who acts as a judge in the exam with Issho Arakawa and Ikken Arakawa, during his break Shinta feels nervous about his presentation after trusting himself and remembering his daughter and wife Shinta goes on stage, during his presentation Shinta begins to doubt himself and his ability due to panic he turns to see around him having a look at Akane and remembers the admiration she feels towards him thanks to that he manages to gain confidence and ends his presentation, at the end of his presentation the results of the test are decided leaving them to Issho Arakawa who to everyone's surprise decides to expel all the rakugoka from the place for no particular reason, after which Shinta and his classmates were expelled from the Arakawa School.

### Six Years Later

One day Shiguma Arakawa is persecuted by one of his students Guriko Arakawa due to the rumor that his teacher has been dating a girl, ready to verify the truth of the rumor, he follows his teacher to a karaoke where he observes that a young woman was waiting for him.
After observing the situation Guriko begins to think that it is a date until he hears a strange conversation when observing in the room he discovers that his teacher is actually judging a rakugo presentation, after observing he causes a ruckus in the corridor so is discovered by Shiguma, after clarifying the situation and introducing Akane whom he has been teaching for 6 years, Shiguma receives a call for a presentation at the rakugo cafe so he decides to send Akane with the help of Guriko.

### Rakugo Cafe

Upon arriving at the place, Akane is nervous about her perfomance, with the help of Guriko she decides to calm down and go out of her to make her performance, pleasing everyone present.
During Akane's performing, Kaisei Arakawa arrives at the place, who had been delayed, observing Akane's rakugo, he did not hesitate to introduce himself to Akane and allow her to see his presentation, impressing Akane due to her abilities and overshadowing her before the others decides to talk to Kaisei, Kaisei is impressed by her abilities and asks if she wants to be Issho Arakawa's student to which Akane refuses and decides to ask Shiguma if he accepts her as a student, leaving the place.

### Shiguma Pupils

Several days after her performance, Shiguma accepts Akane as his student but gives the condition that she must bring one of her parents to talk about the rakugoka profession.
Shiguma looks nervous because the last time he spoke to Akane's mother was during the incident, Masaki enters the room with Akane Shiguma talks about what happened 6 years ago and his inability to help Shinta so he tells her. asks forgiveness for having trained Akane for 6 years without saying anything to which masaki replies that he already knew the truth and lets her practice rakugo, after accepting Akane and explaining about rakugo he introduces his students: Kyoji Arakawa, Koguma Arakawa and Maikeru Arakawa.

## Characters Introduced

* Shinta Arakawa
* Ms. Yoshino
* Kimihisa Kashio
* Akane Osaki
* Jumbo Ozaki
* Jumbo's Mother
* Mr. Yanagiya
* Masaki Osaki
* Shiguma Arakawa
* Issho Arakawa
* Ikken Arakawa
* Zensho Arakawa
* Guriko Arakawa
* Kaisei Arakawa
* Kyoji Arakawa
* Koguma Arakawa
* Maikeru Arakawa

## Events

* Arakawa School Shin'uchi Promotion Exam
* Rakugo Cafe Performance

## Rakugo Stories

* Shibahama
* Manju Kowai (Scared of Manju)
* Keigoya (The Lesson Master)

## Story Impact

* The Arakawa School is introduced.
	+ Shin'uchi ranks rakugoka are introduced.
	+ Shinta Arakawa and other rakugoka are expelled from the Arakawa School.
	+ The members of the Shiguma School are introduced.
* Akane Osaki decides to become a rakugoka due to her father's expulsion.
* Shiguma Arakawa accepts Akane as his pupil.

## Trivia

* Despite appearing in Chapter 1, Ikken and Zensho are not officialy introduced or named until later in the series.
	+ Ikken was introduced in Chapter 19 while Zensho in Chapter 53.
* Along with Kyoji Mentor Arc, they are the only arc without an official name.