Kuuchuu Buranko

This is a very weird show, one of the weirdest I've seen. But somewhere in this madness, there is an enjoyable show, filled with memorable characters. The art style may be a turn off to many viewers, but if one can see past that, they will find a gem.

The story is not very progressive, featuring different characters every episode, with some intertwining in certain episodes (and did you notice that half the characters had OCD of some sort). In each episode, an actual psychologist appears and explains the real life problems, making for an educational show for someone interested in psychology, such as myself.

I ... realise that not everyone will enjoy this show, but it is worth a try.

If your diet primarily consists of anime, there's very little meat. It's mostly dessert, quick tastes of shows that are easy to digest and leave you feeling good but lack real weight or sustenance. You don't see a lot of anime that can successfully find a place between "i'm 14 and this is deep" and "completely meaningless" - both “empty-comfy” and “valueless” types of meaningless. I would go so far as to say the medium of anime abuses its visual similarity to Western cartoons to actively avoid making its viewer really chew on those important issues - it’s digestible, it’s understandable, good and evil, quips ... from anti-heroes and dark haired male fantasy protagonists and the couple ends up together at the end. Even shows which feature conflict heavily create a "good guy" and a "bad guy," which in itself is a flawed way of looking at the world - there's just guys, and girls, and everything in between - people, humans, individuals. Any grouping past the self is propaganda that's allowed our society to evolve past hunter-gatherers and cooperate with our fellow apes because we like the same football team or same political party or same god. There is no good guy in life - just Stacy in accounting who really wants to visit Paris with her boyfriend but he’s just not that interested, so she goes out of her way to be rude to her officemates to alleviate stress. Individuals. People. Assholes.

Kuuchuu Buranko is different. Immediately, it's not interested in being eye candy - where other anime have "Every frame a painting," every frame of Kuuchuu Buranko is a nightmare, nauseating colors, amalgamations of 3d and 2d animation, and even real life people, in the same shot. It's ugly. It's loud. The color palette is something out of an acid trip. The characters are broken people being treated by a broken psychologist - not in the emo-edgy way, but a refreshingly genuinely unhinged way, sufferers of OCD and PTSD and panic disorders. I could only get through one or two episodes per sitting before I had to put it down and go watch something else and process it later.

But that’s what I enjoyed the most about it - it’s a collection of people, doing people things, having people problems. It’s ugly without being gore porn or shock value. You aren’t supposed to turn your brain off and lazily masturbate to it - you have to focus, you have to chew on this stale bubble gum and extract the flavor. The psychologist never offers magic words to solve the problem, it’s debatable that he’s even intending to reach the results he does. The “fixes” for their problems don’t magically cure them - they just learn to live their lives in a way that is the most comfortable for them, without a hero or villain, without a magic wand to wave away the fact that they are damaged goods and they were simply born that way and that’s okay. The people always solve their own problems, maybe helped with advice here and there, forced into uncomfortable positions and facing their traumas, but always growing by themselves.

Each episode follows a similar format. An individual goes to the psychologist’s office with a problem - maybe forced by concerned family or friends, maybe on their own trying to make their lives better. The doctor, in one of his three personalities, has the nurse inject them with medicine that causes them to appear as an animal of some kind, a metaphor for their illness when it presents itself. And then he accompanies them in their day to day life, ostensibly for selfish gains - not a “heart of gold” story, but just an asshole who gives good advice without being pushy. A real doctor interjects once in a while as a voiceover giving insight into the real illness and its symptoms.
And then… they learn to deal with who they are. That’s it. They just figure out a safety blanket or a pair of sunglasses or something they can use to mitigate the symptoms that prevent them from living normally, and they get on with living and working their jobs and pursuing their passions and failing to pay bills on time and having diarrhea and whatever else our grubby little species does in its spare time. Being alive.

Their stories bump into one another, appearing in the background of each others’ stories, and there’s no throwaway appearance of a childhood friend or any kawaii desu nya -dere tropes. Everyone matters an equal, moderate amount to the story, which is to say - the characters in Kuuchuu Buranko are as close to human as I’ve seen an anime achieve, and I really enjoyed the whole thing. The background characters around them neither put them in a safety bubble nor degrade them - they just work with the guy who wears safety goggles because he’s afraid of knives or the guy who had a boner for four days straight, they shrug and go on with living themselves because hey, we all have bad days, we’re all a little cracked teapot somewhere. These people in the background are drawn as two-dimensional cutouts until they are needed and they become traditional animation or even 3d themselves, which isn’t itself revolutionary. What’s fascinating is that the main characters do too - they snap between important and not important, 2d to 3d to realistic, no different from the background characters. The show could have been told about any of them and it would have made no difference. It could have been any of us in that chair confessing to having panic attacks or being addicted to texting. The show could have been told about you.

Wow.
This was definitely different in almost every aspect.
Kuuchuu Buranko makes you go 'what the hell??' from the very first moment. I really was a happy person after watching the first episode. Let me explain.

Story : 10
I haven't bumped into an anime about psychology again. I'm not referring to the psychological genre, but psychology itself. Every episode examines a different case of psychological problems, their cause and the remedy recommended by the therapist. Well, the therapist is not the typical one nor are his treatments - this is what adds comedic and psychedelic elements as well.

The way the cases are presented gets your interest from the ... start and as the episode advances you sympathize with the character and can't wait until he is finally cured - or partly cured. In some cases you can guess what the root of the cause is by the information you are given. The disorders are scientifically explained by a guy that pops up every now and then to enlighten you and advise you.

NOTE: you might find a few 'unexplained' scenes in the first episodes, but they are clarified later.

Art : 8
The art was undoubtedly unconventional. The characters were often replaced by real people's faces. It is not a bit confusing or irritating though, it is real fun. The realistic depiction of the nurse is also helping the viewer to understand why the patient tolerates the painful injection that the doctor imposes for every and each of the cases.

My only problem is that sometimes I found it simplistic and a little coarse concerning the characters' design.

Sound : 7
Nothing much to say here. Voice acting was fine, it reflected perfectly each character's personality. The themes were interesting too, especially the ending theme. Nothing out of the ordinary though.

Character : 8
The psychologist - and main character of the series - is an eccentric, sadistic and erratic persona, who suggests unconventional and sometimes perilous treatments to his patients. Nevertheless, he is very capable and finds the cause and remedy of the disorder right away - although he enjoys tormenting the patient before he helps him. He is assisted by a stunning nurse (the injection girl), who seems very distant and perfunctory, but in some cases she helps and empathize with the patients. The only defect is that you never get to know their backrounds.

The patients all have an interesting problem with their personality or behavior, that is either funny or depressing. The backround and the story of each case make us understand how grave the disorder is for the everyday life of the character and make us sorry for him. But the doctors always highlights its rediculousness and achieves to ease the atmosphere in a very effective way.

Enjoyment : 9
I really liked this anime. It was engaging. It was funny. It was a great way to pass my time.

A series deeply set in psychology that illustrates the importance of personalized and adaptive care instead of systematic approaches on patient treatment, while presented in a comedic manner to keep you engaged. If I had to describe this show it would be as "surreal" or as an "insane, crazy, mind-trip" and that's largely to do with its art direction. It's an interesting culmination of traditional-style anime with lots of vibrant colors, real-life people and beautiful backgrounds to some extent. The use of real people is definitely a turn-off but it doesn't really affect the overall product.

While seemingly featuring a ton of visual metaphors and is ... fairly heavy on symbolism, it doesn't use its symbolism as a crutch to make sense but it certainly adds a lot of content to the show. Every character is very engaging, sympathizable, and most importantly, human. The patients are all very realistic. My only gripe with the series, however small this is in all honesty, is the way in which Irabu reaches a conclusion on someone’s illness. You get the full explanation of the symptoms, which will in fact ‘fit’ into a category that suggests a mental illness, yet no further queries are made. This is infuriating because you optate to ken in full detail what the cause is and the congruous medicational remedy.

However, it doesn't shake off being formulaic, a quandary most episodic shows have. However, it manages to be incredibly engaging despite that with it's amusing narrative and art direction, solid comedy, realistic characters, great use of metaphors and proper execution of its themes.

I loved Kuuchuu Buranko (Welcome to Irabu's Office) dearly, but I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone.

First off, the animation is very stylized and abnormal. It very well may turn off some people with its crazy colors, metaphorical representations of people, and exaggerated (real-life) superimposed footage. Yes, it looks bizarre and a bit off-putting, but it fits the subject matter quite nicely!

The show is centered around the main character, Dr. Irabu, who takes on several patients suffering from various mental and emotional disorders. Rather than simply prescribing them pills, his unconventional method seeks to identify and resolve their deeper problems.

One of the highlights of the show ... is the non-linear progression, which devotes an episode per patient over a 9 day period (in the show). You will discover these different patients often non-directly cross paths in different episodes. It lays the groundwork for some absurd situations, that don’t make any sense initially, but become clear after you see their perspective later on.

The show stands out because it deals with some heavy subject matter [one’s mental health] in a respectful and light-hearted manner. You may be surprised at how deep this seemingly wacky and “non-sensical” show can get. Some themes are better to analyze after viewing and often contain more depth than the surface value.

I was pleasantly surprised by this one! I was even moved a couple of times with some of the more tender moments. This is a must-watch if you enjoy psychology and can appreciate the weirdness of the artistic presentation (and humor).

Watching anime can become tiresome. It can feel like a second job to our already strenuous lives. With the monotony of seasonal shows, I endeavor to dive back into older anime whenever I can. Kuuchuu Buranko is an exceptional plunge into the psychology of humans and has a distinctive art style. It accomplishes something that can only be done with anime and is an engaging watch.

Kuuchuu Buranko revolves around a psychiatrist Ichiro Irabu. Throughout the show he determines patients disorders with unorthodox treatments. Each episode centers on psychological issues the patients have episodically. Not each episode is in chronological order. Ichiro in some parts is ... seen curing multiple people a day. The obstacle patients have altered too, allowing diverse, imaginative events that keep the audience thinking. Whether it is yips, OCD, or wacky ones like fear of edges, Kuuchuu Buranko follows a comedic mood that follows the serious issues of the patients. Unlike most psychological anime, Kuchuu Buranko has a quirky art style that executes shifts between pressing situations and comedic antics flow without appearing out of place.

The crux of Kuuchuu Buranko is all about curing people. In each episode the characters get introductions, manifesting who they are and why they require guidance. This touch produces a cast of characters that feel nonfiction, like they are living in reality. Their struggles and interactions with the other victims create convincing development. This and how each persons story intertwines to make a fantasy world appear more like our own. It feels like I could be in the patient's shoes as well.

Ichiro seldom cannot cure a patient. As a result, he discovers other ways for people to be rehabilitated. It is this reason I praise Kuuchuu Buranko so much. In actuality, not everyone can be saved, even with the master psychiatrist himself.

Kuuchuu Buranko's art style is the selling point for me. The stylized, eccentric art oozes with passion, and the antic filled animation drives home the uniqueness of this anime.

The main character, the famous psychiatrist himself, is a genius that can avail virtually anyone with their noetic needs. Ichiro can swap between three different forms at will. The anime never explains the reason behind the transformations, maybe it is a personification of what the patients view Ichiro as. That's my hunch about Ichiro's transformations anyways.

The first form introduced is an extravagantly overweight guy in a bear mask. He has a nonchalant demeanor and is regularly seen in his office. The second is a female form that I infer implements a women's intuition into the anime. The final form is of a child. In this mode, they do not behave the way a typical child would, but they have a mellow temperament. It is a thrill to recognize which personality Ichiro will be depending on the patient. Each possess their ideals and unique personalities, making me wonder if Ichiro has multiple personality disorder. Regarding what mode Ichiro is in, one can understand their character, including how they will treat the patient. For instance, while he is in the first form, one can determine from his personality that the focus is not severe.

Music can ascend a solid anime into a must-watch. The techno hip-hop tracks supplement even more depth to the already vivid show. It is an approach of unconventional music amalgamated with a traditional style that makes it compelling. Listening back to the opening accompanied by the original soundtrack is a nostalgic joy ride, as the upbeat tone made me grin.

Kuuchuu Buranko is something any anime fan should try just for its uniqueness alone and rich characters. I recommend Kuuchuu Buranko to enthusiasts of episodic psychological anime, who appreciate comedic overtones.

I came across Kuuchuu Buranko when I was looking for a psychological anime. I have no expectations as it's my first time ever knowing about it and I don't know anyone else personally who also knows it. Anyway, here's what I think about this under-the-radar anime:

Eblouir's No-Spoiler Summary:

Kuuchuu Buranko is about a psychiatrist named Ichiro Irabu, who together with his seemingly aloof and sexy nurse assistant Mayumi, take on different patients having various disorders. Despite the seriousness of the theme, the anime is not very grim as the carefree Dr. Irabu tries out unconventional yet weirdly funny ways in helping his patients out. ...

Art:

The graphics and how the characters were drawn are very different from the usual stuff I see in anime that I gave it a 9. Everything is in manic neon colors including the background, outfits of the characters and even the characters themselves! Plus, real faces of live people are used in the anime much like how they did it in Mind Game (just a reference in case you've heard of this title too).

Story:

Well, I haven't yet watched an anime focused on different psychological disorders and how to deal with them much like how Kuuchuu Buranko did it. I have a background in psychology and there were instances when I questioned the validity of the information provided in the anime. There was always one patient per episode and it would seem like each day is a story in itself. Later episodes would reveal something unexpected and that bit entertained me a lot.


Opening and Ending Songs:

Even the Opening and Ending songs for this anime are bizarre. At first, it's a bit awkward to listen to but having finished the anime, I don't mind them much anymore and even intentionally listen to both songs. They had that effect on me.

Favorite Character:

Well it has to be the cold and uncaring yet gorgeous nurse Mayumi! She's played by Yumi Sugimoto who's a famous gravure model in Japan. And she appeared more as herself than her animated version! She's so cool and the way she gives patients "vitamins" is funny to watch.

Would I recommend it to everyone?

As much as I have enjoyed this 11-episode series, I certainly wouldn't recommend it to people, especially non-anime fans. It's just not something everybody would appreciate, especially those who focus much on graphics. Story-wise, well despite the fact that the psychological bits mentioned in the anime are questionable, it's still helpful that the message they sent was clear: If you think something's wrong with you and it's affecting your daily life, don't hesitate to seek professional help (psychiatrist, psychotherapist, etc.)

Final thoughts:

Anyone up for a unique take on mental health? Give Kuuchuu Buranko a try.

This show is very episodic. Once you've watched one episode, you basically get a feel of how the entire show is going to progress.


The show describes mental illnesses, disorders, etc, and how people get over them. Or at least, come to terms with it.

Honestly, it's not so bad, but not exactly something I would want to watch for the sake of watching it. You might say that the art is creative, unique, and has its own flair. While that is true, it doesn't mean it's top quality. While I do like that use of bright colors in a lot of their scenes, the very ... choppy and sort of weird real life rendering into animation is done poorly. I've seen it done before, and done well. This show doesn't really execute very well. I just don't think it adds much to the art or story, while also being of poor quality. I feel like it was put in more as a wow factor than anything else. honestly.

I don't particularly care about Iruba, and nor do I care about the individual episodes enough to watch them by themselves. As a result, my attention span kind of lingers. There isn't enough reason for me to watch the show, whether it be the plot of the current episode, the introduction and development of the new patient, the art style, or the mainstay cast themselves. It's just sort of lukewarm. Watchable, but there are much better shows out there that have every element of this show beat.

Kuuchuu Buranko is a bit different in the way that it presents itself when you compare it to the typical anime that you might see. In a sense its more like the works of Satoshi Kon in the way its plot is written but its a bit more mild in the way that it messes with your mind. However don't let that put you off, because this is a neat little gem that's well worth the time to watch.

The show is overall episodic while loosely connecting the episodes, not through plot but through other aspects. So basically every episode is for the most part ... unique.

The opening song is nice and really fits in with the overall theme of the show and helps to you immerse you. Other than that though, the ed was lacking and other than one tune that you usually hear once a episode, there really isnt that much of an ost that stands out. For some people audio really isn't that much of a big deal but if you're like me, you love to have good audio to help carry interest once the show gets going.

Overall the show was thoroughly entertaining with its unique art style, and the way that it portrayed the various disorders that it shows throughout the show through its characters was a really neat treat. Especially Irabu, his character really is a treat.

Id say if you're looking for a unique experience or you just enjoy a nice weird story then try it. If that isn't your cup of tea then avoid it like the plague because you'd only be forcing yourself to watch something you really wouldn't enjoy.

First and foremost, don't watch this anime if you aren't interested in human psychology, or if you are too young (14, 15 years old). I'm glad, I've watched at present time and had already started thinking about the problems we face psychologically as modern day humans. Also, this is for those who think this is a medium for the expression of ideas, not just some cheap thrills.
This show is all about a subtle build up until you start getting why you are even watching this, if you are into waiting until everything makes sense - like me - you'll like this anime. 11 eps ... is short and "marathonable".
The art is diferent, but it matches perfectly with the narrative, the facial expressions show with this tecnique (the same used in "Aku no Hana", but merged with actual animation) are needed for this theme. In my point of view, some shows are to be watched for the ideas behind the story they present, and Kuuchuu Buranko does not disappoint with its presentation and conclusion in regard of the problems facing every modern day person.

In the sea of "Generic" that is the anime industry, every once in a while it's nice to come across something that is, forget good or bad, at least different. And this show is that, in fact, it's one of the most unique and undiscribable pieces of art I've ever come across.

This is a show about mental health, something that our society should pay as much attention to as physical health, but it doesn't. With visuals straight out of an acid trip, blending traditional animation, 3d and live action, effortlessly and brilliantly (think "Mind Game", if you've seen it,If not, go see it). Throw in ... a blend of wacky, adult humor and some extremely deep, dramatic moments and you got kuuchuu buranko.

This balance of comedy/tragedy, real/imaginary is the main force behind the show. The characters are wacky and over the top but their issues feel real and tragic. Dr. Irabu is unconventional and downright negligent at times, but every once in a while, a real psychologist pops up to give us the proper procedures and terminologies, as well as some trivia (don't worry, he's not heavy on the medical terms and he's pretty funny himself).

It's a feast for the eyes and for the mind also. If you're into psychology and philosophy, you'll definately enjoy this show. Even if you're not, There's still something to be taken away. We all have our moments of anxieties and depression; we all have traumas that we unconsciously carry around; we all have issues, so we can all learn a thing or two from this crazy doctor and his damaged patients. I know I did.

What a show. Kuuchuu Buranko takes you on a bizarre tour of the mental illness pervading the surprisingly small world surrounding Irabu's hospital. If unconventional art puts you off, this certainly will. If surreal and unexplained metaphorical shifts in an anime's reality would distract or bother you, this is not the anime for you. Kuuchuu Buranko is about desires and fears and things that get in our way, and it takes many artistic liberties when trying to get its point across. The only way I could imagine someone saying it's boring is if they were so overwhelmed that they just tuned it out.

The art direction ... is nuts. If you've seen Mononoke, it won't surprise you that they share a studio. The colors and patterns clash harshly, there are pictures of real places, real human people, anime characters interwoven with pictures of real people, puppets made of pictures of real people, puppets made of pictures of anime characters, nightmarish perspective changes… it is absolutely something to look at. You might hate the style, but you have to respect that they were balls-to-the-wall going for it. It takes a little bit to get fully used to, but after a while it feels natural, and I really enjoyed the visual contrast. The style also supports the narrative quite well; these choices are anything but form-over-function.

Kuuchuu Buranko is almost purely episodic, with minor exceptions. As I mentioned, the world of Kuuchuu Buranko is remarkably small, and there's usually a handfull of tie-ins between episodes, if you're paying attention. Some episodes are more directly related than others, but ultimately they stand alone very well. Although I enjoyed the small nods to continuity Kuuchuu Buranko had to offer, I can't help but compare it to a similar series with a more refined construction: The Tatami Galaxy. Not only do I prefer when the episodes come together a bit more, but Kuuchuu Buranko is also a little too straightforward in the way it approaches its subject matter. I would have preferred a bit more subtlety to complement the artistry.

The tone, the storytelling, the general direction… it's all pretty sweet. They do a great job finding unique ways to convey the experience of these disorders to the audience. Irabu himself is also quite absurd, but the reactions of those around him provide a compelling contrast that grounds the show to reality. You can see his patients having these moments of thinking "well, he *is* the doctor here, maybe there's more to this", allowing them to tolerate his strangeness. It's a great dynamic that helps you contrast his absurdity to his patients' absurdity to the everday person, asking the question "what makes something a problem?". The voice work does a great job accenting this, and the only things I found to be hokey were some of the pictures of real faces.

Who gets sexualized in Kuuchuu Buranko? Mayumi, an adult, human woman. Also a handful of adults in an episode exploring sexual frustration. Love it. There's this fetishy stuff that Irabu does with injections, but it's a totally different animal from your typical anime titillation; its function in the show is almost like an avant-garde magic girl transformation. Luckily it's hard enough to explain that it's also really difficult to spoil.

So yeah, it's a very unique series, and the ending song is a bop. Because of how strongly episodic it is, I think it works very well as an "every once in a while" watch rather than a binge-watch, but you do you. That's really all you need to know. Check it out.

This show is definitely a hard watch, as it deals with a rather hard topic to tolerate: Mentally unstable patients who go to a shrink. Oh sure, having crazy characters in anime is fun, but these particular dudes are not having fun at all. They need help! Because they are crazy! So basically you need to tolerate a series where everybody has a very bad opinion about themselves and turn to a coocoo doctor to give them advises. This is not something most viewers would gladly sit down to watch.

Before I move on, I must mention a western comedy movie, starring Robert De Niro. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0122933/
The ... premise of “Analyze This” is quite similar; a mafia boss has psychological problems and his familia rush to fetch him a psychiatrist to help him deal with his issues before his rivals off him for the seat. It was an ok film, making fun of stereotypes in a light way.

Kuuchu Buranko though is not that easy to watch. In fact, it is very hard as the problems all the patients have are of deviant nature that makes them look pitiful and repulsive. You can of course like them for the problematic people they are (perfect people are extremely boring in fiction) but still they don’t escape the fact they are one-episode characters (aside from the doctor and his aids that is). That means, all the time you are given to get attached to them is approximately 20 minutes, thus once again it is very hard to get to understand and sympathize with their problems. And even if you do, you won’t be seeing them again so WHAT’S THE POINT? As for the doctor and his aids, a super sexy nurse and a weird narrator who pops up to explain disorders, you get ZERO exposition around their lives. They end up being static overseers so not even them manage to win you, apart from their quirky antiques.

Being episodic in plot, means that there barely is any story to go around. Each case is a stand-alone, and despite some tiny bits of each one affecting later characters, or each case being considered closed by the end of the episode, it is still a show where nothing interweaving and long-termed ever happens. Which was also the reason I wasn’t thrilled with the otherwise interesting premise. Psychological problems are topics that can last more episodes than a perpetual on-going shounen because of their perplexity and slow recovery, and instead I get 20 minutes? How can I possibly find the time to like it? Especially when some jokes are recurring and each case is handled with an almost identical storyboard. It is so easy to get bored.

What are definitely not boring though are the production values. Animation and artwork are extremely artistic and bizarre, and make the series to be standing out from any other anime ever made. That is not an easy thing to accomplish. Just like the patients, everything else in the show is also made to look weird. REALLY WEIRD. The characters transform to animals that is a depiction of their mentality, while live action scenes blend in with the 2D animation to make everything look trippy. The weirdest of them all is the doctor himself, who depending on the situation has no more than three different appearances. All that contribute into making you feel the madness each character has in his head, a thing which I liked a lot. Something similar can be said about the soundtrack and the voice acting, which are again very uplifting and quirky, fitting with the rest of the show perfectly.

Unfortunately, the show tends to bet too much on just its looks and sounds to win the audience, a thing which as I said earlier is a very hard thing to work for most. Most people tend to care about the characters being sympathetic and as much as this show tries, being episodic kinda ruins it. This is what makes the much older FLCL to feel superior; equally crazy visuals and weird psychological stuff all over the place but the main characters were the same all the way and by the end of the show you really felt a connection to them (good or bad) exactly because they didn’t switch every 20 minutes.

There is of course another audience who will definitely like it a lot. That would be the ones who love a show as long as they like its premise and presentation, and completely disregarding other elements, such as character presence, smooth pacing, or even directing. To the far more emotionally sensitive people, this will be a rail coaster of laughs, gasps, and nods; so sure it can work if it is shown to the proper audience. And what a coincidence, this is a NoitanimA title, which automatically means it has older teens and above women as its prime target audience. Since all us males know very well what a tsunami of emotions a woman’s psyche is, I am sure Trapeze is pressing all the proper buttons to be likable to them. As for me? Well, I am a cynical male bastard.
… and I have already watched Analyze This and FLCL.

What's your problem? Whatever it may be, step into his clinic and Dr. Irabu might be able to help you out with your issues.

In the anime Kuuchuu Buranko ("Trapeze"), the extremely eccentric psychiatrist Dr. Irabu, his multiple personalities (or are they?) and the beautiful nurse Mayumi who literally blurs the line between 2D and 3D help people overcome all sorts of crippling psychological issues all with a single vitamin shot, like a journalist with OCD who's unable to work because he believes a stove left on or a lit cigarette in his trash will set fire to his building at any moment, a guy with ... a permanent raging erection due to massive stress and a man who constantly has to keep his urges to randomly destroy shit around him in check. Each and every episode deals with a different patient with a different issue and goes through their entire past and journey towards rehabilitation, and all those stories which are seemingly disjointed and random are actually subtly and tightly interwoven from the very start as they play out non-linearly over the course of ten days, from December 16th to December 25th. An example of this is the very first episode, where the yakuza dude who fears pointy objects appears in a scene even though he isn't introduced until episode 7, where the very same scene plays out with full context. There's also proper explanations of whatever ails our characters done by the charismatic Dr. Fukui who pops out from the side of the screen and all kinds of medical and psychological trivia to be found.

The anime's visual style is incredibly unique. Combining traditional animation with shots of live action actors and objects all painted in bright colors, its almost psychedelic style wears its emotions on its sleeve. You might think it's a pretentious, artsy anime but it's far from it. Kuuchuu Buranko has no pretensions aside from filling you with genuine happiness with its optimistic, upbeat nature. You won't be able to stop smiling once the (very good, just like the OP) ED theme starts playing prematurely whenever a character's story reaches its conclusion and their real lives finally begin. But how does Irabu accomplish all of this only with a vitamin shot, which he's always hot and bothered for and excited to give? Always very, very creatively, as he gets people to truly embrace their flaws and overcome their problems before they can even notice instead of running away. This moral is what the anime is all about and it does it very well.

Kuuchuu Buranko is a goddamn genuine masterpiece (possibly the very best modern Toei work) and it excels in every field (especially when it comes to narrative, I really wish there was more anime where the lives of various characters who've never interacted slowly mix and intermingle like this) with tons of heart poured into it. Even if you don't seek media specifically to feel good, watch this, because it WILL make you feel good anyway.

Welcome to Irabu's Office is extremely surreal 11 episode psychological comedy about a psychiatrist called Ichirou Irabu and the patients that ask for his help. Each episode focuses on a different patient with a different (often ridiculous) psychological condition that interferes with their lives. The patients show extremely abnormal behavior that end up being manifestations or coping mechanisms for their individual struggles.

For example, episode 6 is about a teenage cell phone addict that can't go without texting for any amount of time. He can't even put it down for family dinner and when his phone breaks he has a panic attack and immediately makes his ... mom buy him a new one. From the outside looking in it's easy to view him in a pretty 1 dimensional and negative way, but what this belies has more to do with loneliness and separation anxiety more than anything else.

The people he texts? They're really the only contact he has and even then they don't talk face to face, they're just text buddies. Texting is easy, instant and lets you articulate yourself more carefully than face to face interaction which comes less naturally to people like him. When he texts his friends, it makes him feel connected, secure, and accepted. When he doesn't, those feelings go away and he's forced to deal with loneliness and the thoughts that come with it, which he can't handle and makes him panic. Lots of people have experienced things like this i'd imagine. Even if you don't even own a cell phone, his feelings of isolation and anxiety can resonate with you and even if you don't relate to any of it at all, it makes you understand those who would.

This is all while the show is lambasting crazy trippy as hell visuals, changing art styles and even including real peoples faces overlaid onto the characters half the time. I'd hesitate to call the show's visuals "good" going by normal peoples sensibilities but it's at least one hell of a thing to look at and as someone that likes bright colors, surreal visuals and tacky aesthetics I was very much into it. The show also has an extremely memorable and varied OST which I still listen to months and months after initially watching it.

There's a lot I love about this show, but what might've bumped it up to a 10 for me is the message it sends. Irabu himself is a very unconventional character and you could consider him a very unprofessional psychiatrist. He injects his patients with placebo shots, recommends them to do weird sometimes illegal things to treat their conditions, and generally acts in a very aloof, uncaring manner around his patients. Many cases are treated in strange ways such as when he tells his patient with OCD that obsesses over leaving hot objects like kettles in his house in fear that it'll burn down his apartment and everyone else's in the complex, even if he makes 100% sure to leave it off.

Irabu's solution (for one of his anxieties, being cigarettes burning his apartment down) is to just put a bucket of water in his room where he can throw his cigarettes.
You might think it'd help but ultimately his problems would just persist, but that's kind of the point. There isn't a pill for everything, no easy fixes, some problems just persist after any amount of introspection or psychoanalysis and that's okay. All problems have an underlying reason, but some of these reasons just stick with us for life. as the final scene of the show states, nobody's perfect. it's fine to struggle, it doesn't make you broken. If we could just see a therapist and fix all our issues shows like these shows wouldn't even exist. What we can do is try to understand our own issues and work towards minimizing them with the tools we have at our disposal, as well as trying to empathize with others, considering not just their actions but the reasons behind them as well. Thank you very much for reading this.

(Contains Spoilers)
To say that Irabu's office is odd is quite an understatement. "Welcome to Irabu's Office" is a trippy episodic tale that explores problems of mental illness/disorders. If you've seen atleast one scene or clip from this show, there's a good chance you might have felt that it looks off or weird. It's an odd but meaningful experience. Once I started to understand what the show aims at, it became really easy to go with the flow of the show and I think, you should give it a try too. And I'm gonna share my experience.

"Visuals"
Irabu's office doesn't have a single art style it sticks ... to, and constantly switches between these different art styles. You have your traditional 2D Hand drawn with it's colorful touch, you have 3D/CGI objects scattered around everywhere in the backgrounds, you have mob characters that straight up looks like cardboard pieces made by a kid for his science exhibition, you have rotoscoping and finally, you have a real 3D wwifu named Mayumi. Not your 2D waifu that doesn't exist, but an actual waifu that does exist! Oh mY GoDDDD!!!
(OK. Ignore the last part).
What I'm trying to say is that it's an explosion of all these different art styles that keep on switching or blending in the Anime with a clear logic and symbolism. The switch between each art style is used to represent the psychological state of a said character in the show. As for what it is, is strongly connected to each character that gets explored in each episodic story of the show.

"Characters and the bombastic "Symbolism"
There's no sane character in this show. Pretty much everyone of em is insane, with each of em having some sort of mental disorder or psychological trouble. Irabu himself is quite the oddball. He sometimes, a kid sometimes an adult and most times, a talking anthropomorphic being. And he's the psychiatrist of the show. And Mayumi (the 3D waifu) is a Kuudere that has not much of purpose, other than giving shots and fan service (which I'll get to it later), and finally there's "Fukuicchi". He occasionally appears at the middle of every episode and gives a vague idea of each problem by directly addressing the viewer (yeah, he breaks the 4th wall). And the rest of the cast is your patients that look like they need some medical advice, since their mental health is very unstable. The symbolism is what sold me to it cause as surreal as that might be, it represents the mental problem using animals. Wood pecker for a cell phone addict, Rhino's horn for a permanent penis erect (it's exactly as it sounds) etc.
And sometimes, it seems a little too perfect to the problem. It also switched between art styles depending on character mental/emotional state and sometimes used to portray a sense of realism.
Take the case of "Ever smiling Hiro" for example. At the end of his story, he finally accepts who he is instead of worrying about his image and laughs at the audience with his trademark smile. At this point, everyone around him looks like cardboards and they started to laugh at his comedic actions, they change from cardboard pieces to 2D hand drawn, giving the meaning that now everyone exists in the same world and Hiro accepted it.
This sense of realism amidst the surrealistic visuals is a little rewarding and I think each of these individual stories are like a therapy session, which is probably the main theme of the show.

"Story and "Therapy"
The entire theme & main aspect of the show is "Therapy". I'm not really sure how IRL therapy sessions work but in Irabu's office it generally goes like this and it's this formulaic approach you see in every episode.

Step 1 : Relax!
You can't think properly if you're mind is filled unnecessary thoughts. So, it's always important to relax before working on something. In Irabu's office, the characters will be relaxed by Mayumi's vitamin shot, while she exposes her body. Again, I'm not sure if a vitamin shot works in IRL but it worked (Maybe fan service is the main point here (´-ω-`)).

Step 2 : What's the problem and WHY?
The "why" is the important question here. Each character share their experience of might be their problem. OCDs, Phobias, Addictions, Instability, Insecurity, PTSD etc. all have an origin for their problem. The aim is to find out what's the problem & why it's even a problem in the first place. And after that, you go to the step 3.

Step 3 : *Solve & "Implement"
The characters in the show, as weird as they might look, are actually humans. Smart ones actually. They are smart enough to find a solution to their own problem, it's just that they are blind. Maybe because of their fear or maybe because of something else, they just turn their eye away from following the right path and just adjust to their current state, which is generally where the whole problem lies. And Irabu just does that. He helps them to follow the path they're constantly ignoring.

And there's actually an interconnection between each individual episode (kinda like an overreaching plot). Each episode actually starts at 16th of a month and end at 24th of the same month. So, you start to see another session happening in the background while also following the current episode. I kinda thought, it really doesn't have a need to interconnect these stories. It doesn't add anything too important to the episodic format, but I don't hate it, so it's not really problem.

"We make our simple life, complicated"
The solution at the end of each episode is really simple.
"Face it".
If you have a problem, just face it head on. Running away and then worrying about it will only make it worse and this show portrays how many adversities that simple problem will cause you.

"Summary"
"Welcome to Irabu's Office" is an episodic psychological Anime about mental disorders and does it wonderful job at portraying and delivering the message it's trying to say.