Script from the Uwa no Sora troupe stage play
The script is based on a production, very popular among acting professionals, by Uwa no Sora ('Wide Blue Yonder'), a group of 'actors' actors' and one of the most popular independent troupes in Japan which counts many celebrities among its fans and has a very high profile in the nation’s drama scene.

With the backing of the Kengentei and Kokontei rakugo families
The story is fiction, but it is no lie. Based on the green-room tales of actual #rakugo# artists, this is true, audience-tested human drama.

...and The Pokemon Company
The name of the central character, 'Pikach', is inspired by the pocket monster 'Pikachu', and is used with the approval of The Pokemon Company, who gave this appealing and hard-working character to the world.

For Tachibanatei Pikach, the permanent apprentice, this is a
special day...
One evening in the great metropolis of Tokyo, Kinoshita goes to see his girlfriend, who has a part-time job serving beer at a baseball stadium. He tells her he has decided to apprentice as a rakugo storyteller, and that he will not see her again until his apprenticeship is finished and he has risen from the position of 'opener' to become a storyteller himself. This, he says, will take four years. Yoko forces a smile, and they agree to meet here again four years from the day. Nine years and five months later, in the present-day, we are in the green room of a rakugo theatre. His rakugo Master has renamed him 'Tachibanatei Pikach', and today again this 'permanent opener' sets to work in his position of Senior Apprentice making sure the day's schedule runs smoothly. Ota, a magazine writer, has come to do a story on rakugo, and she notices how everyone, from the apprentices below him to the higher-ranked performers, all depend on Pikach. His Master, Enshi, is making a rare theater appearance today, and the place is full. Pikach's junior apprentice is incompetent, the performers above him in rank are self-obsessed, the owner of the theater wants to take a turn on stage, and with a writer there, the green room is in an uproar. No one is sure whether the Master will even appear or not. As the day wears on, Pikach struggles to hold the gathering chaos at bay. Occasionally we hear laughter from the audience, and relief shows on his face. But then suddenly a woman visitor is announced, asking for someone by the name of 'Kinoshita'...