three Irabus = id, ego, superego
I feel stupid for not realizing that, but I don't pick up on that sort of Freudian stuff very well.
Interesting you should say that. I found the final episode of Trapeze extremely strong and it cemented my love for the series. I love how it unifies all the separate stories into one cohesive statement about mental disorders, those who suffer from them, and those who have to live with those who suffer from them. The big revelation happened after his stress built up to the snapping point, leaving him empty to receive the message that he had closed his eyes and ears to.
I guess, a little like Tatami Galaxy, I'd already started to do some of that unifying on my own. And, like Tatami Galaxy, it's important to have that statement. I think the episode definitely had the right idea, I just wish it had time to be a bit more rounded.
Pizzaroll linked to the relevant info - basically the canary is the cry for help that goes ignored by people like the father who are too self-absorbed to notice anyone else. It is our collective responsibility to listen and respond to that cry. See also the party Irabu provides for his patients.
That makes sense, and it makes all the other canary imagery in the episode stronger. I guess I just misunderstood how they stated it. The way I wound up twisting it made it seem confusing and unclear, and much more selfish.
As a side note, I will say that I admire your stubbornness in sticking to your self-imposed schedule. If I was watching a show that I really enjoyed, I wouldn't want to wait a week for the next episode if I didn't have to.
It kind of helped that I was watching this stuff at a point in my life where I didn't have the ability to marathon a show. I like watching stuff this way (along with the reaction posts), because it gives me time to digest each episode and think about what happened. Writing these posts also developed my ability to discuss anime coherently.
When I marathon stuff, everything becomes a sort of blur, and I can only react to what happened much later, while I'm trying to sort it out from the episodes before and after. A once-a-week schedule is a bit far on the other extreme, but it works.
My thinking going in was that all these shows are TV programs that are "meant" to be seen one at a time over a long period. If the original viewers could manage to wait, I should be able to wait as well.
