Psychedelic and Addictive: Kuchu Buranko

Kuchu Buranko

"In The Pool", the beginning of Dr. Irabu series, is a best selling book by Hideo Okuda in Japan and the next series, "Trapeze" (Japanese tittle is "Kuchu Buranko") gave Okuda the Naoki Prize, which is the most famous and authoritative prize for novel in Japan. 

According to amazon.com, "In The Pool" translated into English is: A divorced man angry at his wife finds a painfully prominent outlet in a permanent erection; a model thinks every man on the street is a stalker; an overbearing magazine editor relieves his mid-life crisis by long-distance swimming . . . These are some of the patients who descend to the basement consulting room of Doctor Ichiro Irabu, an obese, eccentric neurologist with an injection fetish, an Oedipus complex. and a pea-green Porsche. 

"It helps put into perspective the annoyances and disappointments we all face in modern society as well as giving the reader a chance to reflect on ways to make his or her life a bit better." -- The Daily Yomiuri

"So while In the Pool has many laugh-aloud moments, at a deeper level, this comedic collection has some intellectual backbone. These are stories about characters tamping down their neuroses and getting on about life." -- hackwriters.com

Yumi Sugimoto

"It's hilarious...By these off-the-wall portrayals of ordinary people in seemingly harmless but nonetheless extraordinary predicaments, In the Pool delivers a good time indeed." -- Mark Schriber, The Japan Times 

This novel leads us quiet laugh; but this anime version, "Kuchu Buranko (Trapeze) is so unique because that it is a hybrid of 2D anime and live-action. 20-year-old idol Yumi Sugimoto plays "sexy nurse" in both the anime and live-action segments. The stories center around the various odd patients of psychiatrist Ichirō Irabu; Sugimoto's character is an assistant to Irabu. Besides, Irabu is exact unique, he is the character takes on three different forms. The total impression is psychedelic for lurid bright color.

The director is Kenji Nakamura, who created "Ayakashi - Bakeneko". I found some episodes from the anime on youtube. Their subtitle is Italy, not English, but you can see it is so addictive. 

Denki Groove

The quiet impressive techno sound is by "Denki Groove". According to myspace: Innovators Takkyu Ishino and Pierre Taki formed Denki Groove, (Electric Groove), in 1989. With quirky personalities, genuine music talent and 12 albums under their belt, they are now celebrating 20 years in the business.

Denki Groove’s success reached Europe in 1995 with the release of ‘Niji’ (Rainbow) on German label MFS (early home of Paul van Dyk), and appearances at German indoor rave MAYDAY, and the Love Parade. Today ‘Niji’ is one of the classic tunes of the 1990s and was used in the famous Japanese anime “Psalms Of Planets Eureka Seven”. 
Denki Groove’s legendary live performances are entertaining and humorous with idiosyncratic staging ideas that strongly impact on audiences. Their sound attracts a wide range of followers with a style that fuses modern Beatnik shout/rap/vocal and the most advanced electronic music. The clever Japanese lyrics are challenging for non-natives, who instead appreciate the offbeat tonal sound of the vocals.

The opening number is "Upside Down" and the ending one is "Shangri-La".