It’s a masterpiece of the mind. No, really, it is.
Even with it slowly creeping into the array of shows, Kuchu Buranko, or most commonly known as Trapeze, caught everyone by surprise with its methods, characters, wit, and confusing yet effective way of telling the story. Okay, maybe that’s just me, but try finding people other than myself that have SERIOUS BUSINESS written in every particle of their body and I think you’ll get almost the same reaction. Since the story is told with the objective of seeing the psychologist’s methods on a better light, most of us had a hard time trying to grasp the situation. But even though I’m not into Psychology, I’m interested in it, and I’m quite baffled on how its mind games somehow hypnotized yours truly into watching it. Of course, what I learn from this show, I plan to use on others. Wink wink.
As for the quack doc in question, Irabu Ichiro, is a charismatic and confusing person that plays the tarot cards of The Fool, The Emperor, and The Wheel of Fortune. That’s more than two manifestations of the tarot card, yes. Why? He has not just two, but three different personifications, each having different mannerisms and gestures but having the same wit and intellect, called upon when the need arises, or just when he feels like it. A good example is the first episode, where he tends to Yamashita, a patient suffering from insomnia and split personalities. The split personalities of the patient see Irabu in three different dimensions: The wacky, crazy man wearing a bear mascot’s head, Bear Irabu (The Fool), the perfect example of “boy genius”, Shota Irabu (The Emperor), and the borderline gay that walks the tightrope of serious and funny, Adult Irabu (The Wheel of Fortune).
He’s a masterpiece of the mind. No, he really is.
To further explain the Tarot’s relation to the personas, let’s start with Bear Irabu. He’s the wacky person normal people see: boisterous, scary, and very weird. He orgasmsshivers when his hawt nurse Mayumi gives injections, he tries doing trapeze stunts like a daredevil, and he likes to keep facts to himself, only to reveal them after the patient is “cured”. This kind of childish but fruitful behavior made me believe he’s The Fool reincarnated, until I saw Shota Irabu. In contrast to Bear Irabu, Shota Irabu is a serious boy who gets straight to the point with no buts and excuses. He doesn’t play pranks, but his taste for funny things tend to be scary to the point where he would don a sly smile when he sees a person suffering awkward penile erections. This behavior, being in contrast to Bear Irabu’s childish one, brings stability to Irabu Ichiro’s entirety by personifying the exact opposite of the other persona. Stability, in any form, is a trait usually depicted in The Emperor. As for other instances that may require a little bit of concern or sleight of hand, Adult Irabu is the one for the job. He’s probably is the result if you try to blend the personas of Bear and Shota Irabu into a single mental embodiment, which shows in his dialog chock full of funny and serious. He’s the paradox personality, who creates his own plethora of paradoxes in the environment he’s in, though he does have a preference to “collaborate” with Bear Irabu at some point. This uncanny randomness that transcends the boundaries is definitely fitting as The Wheel of Fortune.
The idea is a masterpiece of the mind. No, the idea really is.
We see how the Tarot works for the three personalities. During the times where Yamashita is in his usual and normal state, Bear Irabu is always around, whereas after Yamashita shifts personalities to the one that needs treatment, Shota Irabu comes out instead. If he needs to interact in things that may not be of his concern but are of utter importance for the patient, Adult Irabu comes out. This is exemplified by him trying to fool Yakuza by handing over money which is in fact just fried fish. It’s not of his concern, but since Yamashita’s circus needs this to be able to perform, he helps Yamashita. Another example would have to be when Adult Irabu tells Yamashita that he can do stunts in the trapeze, but fails when Bear Irabu suddenly takes over. Since he himself was suffering from multiple distinct personalities in one body, he failed as much as his patient Yamashita did. But Irabu gave Yamashita a perfect example of what the latter was doing while the latter’s own personas shift in and out. When Yamashita was unconvinced, Shota Irabu came out and finally showed him the video of his performance. Finally, to seal the approval for the cure for Yamashita’s sickness, Irabu showed him the three Irabus in the end, telling him that he’s probably someone who’s cut from the same cloth.
The possible mastermind is a masterpiece. No, the possibility really is.
In short, Irabu Ichiro is a tool of the psychologist to show people some of the methods the psychologist uses, and how it is first perceived, then understood. Fukuuichi, who is probably “The Real Irabu Ichiro”, also helps in clearing some of the methods and events concerning the episode by insterting facts and helpful tidbits that would help watchers understand the logic of the methods and events. And oh, how I anticipate the enigma of the next episode!
Further Reading
Trapeze, only shorter:
Trippin’ with Trapeze – Boku No Bible Toads Of The Rebellion
Trapeze, only MORE shorter:
Analyzing Trapeze – Serious Fucking Business
The one ahead of me: animekritik
Impressions of Trapeze Episode 1 – Kritik Der Animationskraft
Trapeze 02: Rhino- Kritik Der Animationskraft
The Fool, The Emperor, The Wheel of Fortune, and the rest of The Major Arcana:
Wouldn’t Yamashita be a better representative of The Fool, since that card represents journeys with a lot of faith and not much understanding? Further, I think Shota Irabu would be the Magician (willpower) and Adult Irabu the High Priestess (mystery, duality). Then again, why this and not the Father-Son-Holy Ghost trinity?
Interesting stuff. I love Tarot, so this is a great perspective.
I chose Irabu to represent The Fool because of his childish wit, penchant for the extreme and unknown, while sporting an air of wisdom and charisma, something you don’t see much on normal people.
As for Shota Irabu, I don’t see any connection to willpower. Mind elaborating a bit?
Lastly, Adult Irabu does have an air of mystery and duality due to the mixed tendencies of his persona, however, since Irabu Ichiro is a trinity in entirety, I ruled that one out.
As for the last one… well, Catholicism always left a bad taste in my mouth no matter how it’s served, so I’m not going to talk nor elaborate anything about it.
Re: Shota Irabu and the Magician
That form simply seems more in control of itself, at least compared to Bear Irabu. But you’re right that Shota Irabu isn’t very “My Will Be Done,” as a Magician-type would presumably be. I think I was just trying to build a tarot model based on the gateway cards, since this is the first episode and all.
There’s a lot more to consider, especially on the second episode, which I’m about to put up into writing because it’s quite ausum than the first in a way (not the sexual way, mind you). We’ll see how the symbolisms, aside from the personas, will interact and do their work.
Excellent post! So much to think about…
What do you make of the bear puppet that Boy Irabu has? Would you dismiss it completely or is the puppet in fact a 4th personality???
On the subject of the personalities, do you really believe Fukui is the real Irabu? Irabu does seem to hang out as Bear Irabu most of the time, but is that his true self? Your analysis seems to imply that Gay Irabu is the mixture of bear and boy and so he might be the “real” Irabu. Fukui does seem like another Irabu. So there might be 5 Irabus: Shota, Bear, Puppet, Fukui, Adult.
Interesting stuff…
I’ll try to answer your question with regards to how far I am in the show: The bear puppet that Irabu has seemed to “indicate” the ratio of the warring personas in him. To add to that, the pink clovers on his hair seemed to also indicate something. Bear Irabu has the bear puppet’s head on him, meaning he’s on his usual wacky side, whereas when he turns to the serious Shota Irabu, he dons two pink clovers on his hair and has the bear puppet as a separate entity aside from himself. The borderline Gay Irabu dons the bear puppet’s ears, and one pink clover on his hair, meaning he’s currently on the borderline personality.
As for Fukui, this is off the show’s record: He, aside from explaining the methods of mental treatment, also uses Irabu Ichiro’s entirety and instability to insinuate the psychologist’s ways where people would try to grasp them with their five senses, only to be baffled at their true purpose and nature. And that includes Irabu Ichiro, too.
Lastly, since I forgot, take a look at Gay Irabu’s glasses, and compare them to Fukuuichi’s. The symbolism is for you to find out.
Hmm.. this looks interesting, I think I’ll try watching it
It is, trust me. Just… y’know… try it in moderation, since it’s pretty much heavy mind stuff. Rewatching it a few times (like I do) may be in order to be able to fully understand the show’s episodes.