Akane Osaki/Relationships

**Family:**
* Shinta Arakawa: Akane loved to see your father practice. She feels a great love for her father.  She loves her father and his craft dearly, and defending his honor and skills is a core reason why she kickstarts the plot and attempts to become a Rakugoka.
* Masaki Osaki: As her mother, Akane has great affection for her mother, even telling her about her training as a rakugoka after her father's expulsion. She is challenging her mother's wishes by trying to become a rakugoka. Her mother however, acknowledges that this is probably something she got from her, as she had also challenged her parents to become a beautician, implying she inherited her determination.

**Shiguma School:** The pupils studying under Shiguma Arakawa.

Shiguma's school is like a family, and the disciples refer to their seniors as older brothers.  After Akane becomes Shiguma's official pupil, the other students, especially Kyoji serve as her mentors, showing her the breadth of the world of Rakugo and allowing her to grow as a performer. Over time, Akane has come to see them as her second family.* Shiguma Arakawa: Because he was her father's teacher, Akane has respect towards him and asks him to train her as a rakugoka, she trained with him for 6 years, coming to trust each other.Having been training Akane in secret, people that knew him started to comment that he was meeting secretly with a young girl. When seeing them, Guriko even thinks he is genuinely up to something illegal by watching them meet quietly in a karaoke. Akane agrees that their training looks awfully shady to an outsider.  He considers being unable to stop Tohru's expulsion to be his fault, even though there was nothing he could have realistically done. He therefore decides to take Akane under his wing to atone for his previous failure and to rise her up into becoming a true Rakugoka.
* Guriko Arakawa: One of Shiguma's pupils, and the most active in doing the house chores for him. He is the first one to meet Akane.The two met because of a false rumor about Shiguma dating a young woman. He helped her calm down when it was Akane's first perfomance, although they do not know each other much, they have a good relationship.
* Kyoji Arakawa: When Shiguma Arakawa accepts her as an official apprentice, Kyoji decides to teach her the basics of rakugo, despite being quite rough with her at first. After her performance Kyoji calls her by her name showing his acceptance and asks her to call him brother showing respect and accepting her as his student. The two have a good relationship.He works as a secondary mentor to Shiguma, taking Akane under his wing to teach her about rakugo as soon as she joins the pupils. He teaches her proper etiquette in the backrooms and how to read a room to give a certain audience a good show.
* Koguma Arakawa: Akane goes to Koguma to help her practice her Jugemu, although he refuses at first and agrees to help her. After showing her abilities in Karaku Cup, Koguma recognizes Akane and calls her sister showing his respect.
* Maikeru Arakawa: Despite not living together for a long time, they have a good relationship.

**Arakawa School:**
* Issho Arakawa: Due to being the person who expelled her father, Akane has a grudge against him.
* Kaisei Arakawa: Akane dislikes Kaisei as he is usually superior towards her.

**Others:**
* Jumbo Ozaki: Although Jumbo used to tease Akane in their childhood, they are currently good friends with Jumbo being the one who helped Akane improve her rakugo.
* Machiko Iwashimizu: Machiko tried to help Akane to get a real career since she thought that rakugo would not help her in her future, she changes her mind after seeing Akane's performance and currently she usually supports her in her performances.
* Risa: She is one of Akane's best friends, so they go out to festivals together.
* Yuka: She is one of Akane's best friends, so they go out to festivals together.
* Mamoru Mikuriya: During her time as Umi's worker, Akane met Mamoru who would help her improve and perfect the Kibataraki to use during her performances.
* Hiiragi: During her time working at Umi, Hiiragi gave Akane advice on how to be a better worker.
* Karashi Nerimaya: He is considered one of the two main rivals of Akane in the "Karaku Cup," along with Hikaru Koragi, with all three being regarded as favorites to win the competition. Although he initially saw Akane as his rival during the Karaku Cup, after witnessing her skills, he came to respect her. Subsequently, when both were assigned to the same training, they ended up getting closer.
* Hikaru Koragi: She considers her a rival.