魔王は扇子で蕎麦を食う ~落語魔王与太噺~

Tropey light novel with very well explored Rakugo theming

One night Rakugo performer-in-training Yota accidentally summons Hachi, the 魔王 from another world! She's a rambunctious young girl, and it turns out her mother (マ魔王...get it?) decided to send her to our world to learn magic. You see, despite being the new 魔王, Hachi doesn't know much magic, and Rakugo is the equivalent of magic in the other world, and her mother is a big fan of Yota's teacher's Rakugo, and... Long story short, she ends up becoming a student under the same teacher with Yota, and they help each other grow and improve as performers and people.

The author is a professional Rakugo performer himself and clearly draws from real people and experiences for this story. It's also an unapologetic 男性向け light novel, but never dwells on those aspects for very long— It's more like the author is playing ラブコメディ trope bingo in between all the Rakugo parts. Which, honestly, was about the right balance for me.

Language-wise I found it very easy to read. Like, way easier than I expected. I don't read many light novels of this genre but I found it much easier than something like 本好きの下剋上. I knew all the Rakugo-related words and setting going in, which probably helped, but everything is explained anyway (effort was clearly made to ensure the book is approachable to people who aren't Rakugo fans) so I don't think that would cause any major confusion.

If you enjoy light novels and have a passing interest in Rakugo, this book was quite literally made for you! And if not it's still a fun read with some really clever moments.