My Master Has No Tail is a comedy anime series of the Fall 2022 season that’s set in Taisho-era Japan, a time of great change for the country. The protagonist, the tanuki girl Mameda, almost feels like an isekai character in 1910s Osaka, and she has much to learn about not just rakugo theater but modern Japanese life in general. However, at least she has some friends now.
Mameda felt terribly lonely at first, but she now has Bunko the rakugo expert as a coach and foster mother of sorts, and by Episode 4, Mameda has started making some true friends too. She has formed a friendly rivalry with a Tokyo-born girl named Shirara, and the two of them play off each other well as fellow rakugo trainees.
The Shared Perspectives of Mameda & Shirara
Mameda needs friends and allies here in Osaka, with Mameda being a total fish out of water who understands little of the people or things around her. Mameda’s best bet is her own rakugo teacher, the tsundere Bunko, who is also a supernatural creature in disguise just like Mameda. The two of them are rather different otherwise though, with Bunko being an aloof tsundere who views Mameda as a troublesome student or even as a misbehaving foster daughter. They’re getting closer, but what Mameda really needs now is a friend who is on her level. That friend’s name is Shirara.
Episode 4 introduced yet another main character, the blonde Shirara — a human who hails from a powerful family in Tokyo. Like Mameda, Shirara feels like a total outsider in Osaka, and Shirara told Mameda that she has trouble fitting in. The Osakan dialect and way of life are unique, and neither Shirara nor Mameda can blend in easily. Even if Shirara is human and Mameda isn’t, the two girls understand one another, and they can sympathize even if Shirara is a bratty tsundere. Best of all, they are both rakugo apprentices, with Shirara’s master being a man named Byakudanji. On a personal and professional level, Shirara and Mameda have an understanding. Even if they sometimes compete, they are already true friends, to the point where Mameda will run off and risk her life to save Shirara from danger. Perhaps Shirara will return the favor someday.
Where Mameda & Shirara Might Go From Here
For now, My Master Has No Tail fans have only seen the first steps in Mameda’s and Shirara’s new friendship, but fans already know what these girls are trying to accomplish, and that makes it easy to predict what comes next. They are both rakugo rookies working in the same theater complex, and from this point on, their relationship may evolve into a professional rivalry, one performer against another. Plenty of exciting stories involve two people in the same part of the entertainment industry trying to outdo the other, such as the main duo of Bakuman trying to outdo Eiji Niizuma in the world of shonen manga. Mameda needs a rival to push her along, and for that matter, so does Shirara.
Plenty of comedy, intense rakugo performances and perhaps some drama should stem from this new rivalry. Mameda’s rakugo career is taking off, and she already has everything that makes for an exciting career in the entertainment world: warm charisma, amusing ignorance coupled with a willingness to learn, a skilled rival, a quirky teacher and most of all, a noble, inspirational dream to strive for. Shirara is sure to play a major role in Mameda’s career and vice versa, and their rakugo performances might be shaped entirely by their desire to outdo the other. However, in the end, they are friends who will do anything to help one another. Mameda is one fortunate tanuki.
