"And now for something completely different" - John Cleese
Have you ever watched a medical drama series? They are VERY popular all over the world because people are fascinated by unusual disorders and tense medical emergencies. These shows essentially combine the genres of mystery, psychological, and high tension drama all while taking place in the real world with a "relatively" realistic scenario. Now I have a second question for you: "Have you ever watched an episode of House and said, Man this would be WAY better if I was on LSD?" If you said yes to that previous question, Kuuchuu Buranko is the show for you!
Describing Kuuchuu Buranko isn't exactly easy since it is so batshit insane! Imagine the bastard offspring of "House" and "PeeWee's Playhouse"! That is pretty much this show. The main character is Dr. Irabu, who is a highly unorthodox psychiatrist. He sees a new patient in each episode with cases ranging from OCD to general anxiety disorder to priapism (continuous male erection). Instead of just prescribing pills, Dr. Irabu tends to try solve all problems psychologically, which makes me wonder why he didn't just become a therapist instead. Dr. Irabu has a sexual fetish for needle injections (I'm dead serious) and he hires a sexy nurse to inject all of his patients with a completely unnecessary vitamin shot in each episode. Apparently Dr. Irabu has the anime super power of avoiding medical malpractice lawsuits...and his power level is over 9,000! However, Dr. Irabu's often wacky therapy techniques DO tend to work by the end of each episode. That means that Irabu is FAR from being the worst medical doctor in anime history. That distinction would go to Dr. Becker from Monster, a surgeon so profoundly incompetent that the viewer knows about 3 surgeries he performed and he killed them all in the first hour.
Although the main character is Dr. Irabu, my favorite character is the narrator who pops in to break the 4th wall and deliver facts about psychiatry. Some of these are actually accurate, while other times he just pops in to tell a lame joke. He even in one episode corrects the show itself by pointing out that the plot in that episode isn't medically accurate.
The art in Kuuchuu Buranko can get a bit tiresome at times, but they certainly succeeded in being unique. Kuuchuu Buranko uses cut out paper characters like South Park, odd rotoscope techniques, and a mix of traditional animation and live action. It basically does it all and throws the trippy results right in your face. Your mileage may vary.
The musical score changes with each episode, but there is a heavy emphasis on classical music, so I have it my utmost approval!
Overall:
Kuuchuu Buranko is a bit of an odd show and certainly isn't for everyone. However, if you like medical dramas and don't mind a bit of Avant Garde art, it is well worth watching. Although I personally wouldn't go quite so far as to consider this series an absolute masterpiece, it is a very good show overall and well worth watching all 11 episodes!
