The number one word that comes into mind when looking into Kuuchuu Buranko is ORIGINALITY.

Among the original aspects that one could find:
The format : unlike most animes, the show is based on stand-alone episodes rather than serial episodes.
The artwork : based on pictures & footage of real life on which animators add up flashy & vivid colours. The image constantly looks detailed with realistic dimensions and shapes with a super-anime flavor and geometric colouful figures on each shot. Real actors' faces are switching from times to times with the characters' animated faces, mostly for making the facial expressions more realistic & funny-looking. One character - the nurse - gets more efforts as her whole body in motion shows up on screen in every episode, mostly for providing filthy & disgusting fan service. May Norio Wakamoto burn that disgusting part of the audience, Amen !
The theme : Psychological illnesses and their treatment through the "find the root of your problem and overcome them" method. Very mature on the paper (the show's target is adults), but still crazy and humourous on the execution. The methods used are quite extreme & therefore unrealistic, but related to scientific knowledge.

The anime is very entertaining and I did not feel bored at any moment : the jokes, crazy visuals & weird actions of the characters keep your spirit up. But after some episodes, one may think "this one was real good" or contrarily "well, nothing special / little bit disappointed by this one".
I did enjoy the flashy colours on my HQ screen, and don't think much of the photography + 2D animation : sometimes it's gorgeous & needed, sometimes it doesn't bring anything and the picture look mechanical instead of the organic shapes and feel of traditional animation, so I'm neutral on that point. What I really disliked a lot was that distasteful 3D biatch, who does not have an actual role, meaning that she is totally useless for the plot, but still is the second most important character as she appears on every episode for showing her repulsive body. If only some Christian fundamentalists showed up at some point for burning her flesh to ashes.

Otherwise, the inherent problem of the anime is of course related to its episodic nature that is you don't get much character develpment. Each episode introduces a new character with a new illness (even though big categories such as Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders are common). There are some interconnections between the characters and we see regularly references & appearences in the form of distant dialogues or extra-acting (figurants). Though one can argue that this holds some cool factor elements, the reality is that these moments have no importance for the plot at all.

In a nutshell, Kuuchuu Buranko won't be very memorable because of the lack of substance, if not for the design & style.



空中秋千空中ブランコ(2009)

又名:Kuuchuu Buranko

主演:三矢雄二 朴璐美 杉本有美 森川智之 樱井孝宏 三木真一郎 浪川大辅 平田广明 入野自由 高桥广树 岩田光央 羽多野涉 置鲇龙太郎 古谷彻 

导演:中村健治 / 角铜博之 / 植田秀仁 / 贝泽幸男 / 地冈公俊 / 小川孝治 / 福本洁 / 羽多野浩平 / 铃木清崇 / 编剧:石川学 Manabu Ishikawa