Sunday 22 November 2009

Kūchū Buranko - Episode 6

The latest patient to hit Doctor Irabu's proverbial couch in Kūchū Buranko is a high school student named Yuta Tsuda - A young man with an absolute addiction to using his cell phone. I guess he missed his casting call for Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei...


As you might expect of this series, to call Yuta's problem a simple addiction to cell phones is a gross over-simplification, as his particular problem ties in to anxiety problems which leave him feeling the need to be in contact via his mobile at all times. What's more, Yuta is using his cell phone as a crutch for his own shyness, lack of self-esteem and inability to communicate, trying to make himself popular using his phone in the first place rather than using it as a way to keep in touch with those who are already truly his friends. Needless to say this ends up back-firing on him in the long run, leaving himi even more alone.

While this doesn't make for quite as interesting an episode of Kūchū Buranko as some of the other instalments we've seen thus far, it does have some interesting things to offer. For starters, we learn that both Irabu and Mayumi are loners in their own right, while the episode itself seems to suggest that not being surrounded with friends all the time isn't such a terrible thing in many ways. As per most previous episodes, we're also left with a pretty vague ending which can't really be seen as a solution to Yuta's issues per se, although they are perhaps a step in the right direction. It's these kind of touches which have made Kūchū Buranko what it is so far, although its reliance on a good story and main character to go with the psychology and philosophy is amply demonstrated by instalments such as this when there's less to get excited about in terms of the episode's protagonist.

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