Choromatsu & Friends Analysis
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This is an analysis about S3 E23 of Osomatsu-san. Specifically about how Choromatsu was portrayed through it and how I feel it fits with my projection of him having either a mental illness or disorder that deals with paranoia. This analysis will include my own personal experiences (without any detail) with having an undiagnosed illness with paranoia and how it affects certain aspects of life.
First, the episode is clearly intended to be Tacchan being Choromatsu’s imaginary friend, developing due to Choromatsu wanting to share the same interests in things he liked. But I feel like it goes deeper and somewhat relates to my hc of Choromatsu with Tacchan being a hallucination instead. When Choromatsu passes by Akasaka High School, seeing that it was or had a graduation ceremony, he walks towards the cherry tree nearby. Tacchan then happens to be there, Choromatsu saying he didn’t expect Tacchan to actually come. Tacchan appeared due to Choromatsu going back to the place where Tacchan was formed, most likely out of comfort and paranoia.
Hallucinations frequently form when a person is going through extreme stress or having difficulty in mental health. Knowing how highschool was the worst year for the Matsunos, it’s not shocking that Tacchan formed. When talking Tacchan acknowledges that Choromatsu isn’t the same person that he used to be in high school, being completely different. Choromatsu now being in a better headspace, it’s not surprising that he’s changed but it is to Tacchan because he’s only been around Choromatsu since high school. Tacchan only comes back due to Choromatsu and him talking about what happened on “that” day, something that’s stated frequently and that they can never forget.
What’s interesting though is that, even with both of them being older they both still share a mentor and mentee relationship, the one they had in high school. This shows that some things still haven’t changed between the two and their dynamic. After talking about Choromatsu not being the same, Tacchan starts talking about Choromatsu’s siblings but, mainly in a negative light on how they used to be. This is Tacchan most likely reflecting on how Choromatsu felt in high school, mainly having negative feelings towards them due to how they all stopped getting along in their last year. Tacchan later in the episode is shown to be extremely grateful towards Choromatsu even looking up to him with how he’s the only one that calls him “professor”.
Choromatsu takes extreme pride, feeling like a savior to Tacchan. This in a way can be a certain delusion of grandeur towards Choromatsu, due to how Tacchan talks about not dropping out of school because of Choromatsu and is even constantly impressed with him. Although both consider each other friends it’s clear that it’s mostly on Choromatsu’s part. Choromatsu cares about his relationship with Tacchan while Tacchan mainly is just friends with Choromatsu for the benefits. This shows how Tacchan is still a harmful hallucination rather than one that doesn’t harm.
This can also represent how a relationship can feel with those who are paranoid, that instead of thinking their friend is a nice person, they can have the fear that they’re being used instead. The way Choromatsu puts in majority effort in the relationship but Tacchan doesn’t can be a way on how Choromatsu rather feels most comfortable with him putting everything in. Knowing that once Tacchan “leaves” once he’s done using him, it won’t hurt as bad. But this possibly, is one of the main reasons why a tragedy happened, due to them being too close. Choromatsu, most likely having a paranoid breakdown on Tacchan.
Choromatsu starts calling Tacchan a betrayer and that he doesn’t care about the dirty magazines anymore. But, I think that Choromatsu really doesn’t mean what he’s saying about the dirty magazines but rather that he really is talking about himself. When replacing the dirty magazines with possessive pronouns, Choromatsu anger starts to make more sense. He just happens to associate himself with dirty magazines due to how much of a shitty person he feels like he is. With this paranoia, he believes that Tacchan is replacing him, leaving him which makes him freak out due to Tacchan being his one and only true friend.
Tacchan doesn’t respond to any of Choromatsu’s words, only acting once Choromatsu implies that he doesn’t need his girlfriend, being possessive of this hallucination. Having to feel like only killing this “girlfriend” was the only way their friendship would stay the same shows how difficult relationships can be for him. Choromatsu, when looking back on this I find it interesting that he ends up stating that “something was wrong with us”. The usage of us shows that Choromatsu doesn’t take the full blame of what happened in that event, not even realizing that Tacchan the whole time is shown to be shocked and uncomfortable in that flashback. Towards the end of the episode Tacchan reminds Choromatsu that they could never go back to being kids after Choromatsu stated he wishes he could go back.
Disappearing, Tacchan was there to help make Choromatsu realize that idea wasn’t possible. After Tacchan disappears, Choromatsu remembers that Tacchan isn’t real, leaving him saddened. One thing that gets constantly repeated throughout the episode is “Those are precious memories now”. Choromatsu not only considers the false memories he’s made with Tacchan and his brothers to be precious. He also considers the tragedy to be a precious memory, most likely due to being chosen over Tacchans girlfriend.
Feeling happy about their friendship staying together, he can realize what he did was wrong but has no empathy towards the situation still, feeling disconnected from the situation. Tacchan and Choromatsu have many similarities between each other. Both having negative feelings towards the other brothers, both flunking on tests, the feeling of no one liking them and having a similar interest in dirty magazines. These are reasons why Choromatsus is so close to this hallucination, not wanting it to go away. In conclusion, he’s like me fr.
