Character Relationship Map: In the Pool

Characters

• Psychiatrist Ichirô Irabu (played by Suzuki Matsuo) — protagonist

  Ichirô Irabu is an unconventional psychiatrist who runs a clinic for patients whose anxieties and compulsions are bound up with everyday life. He explains the clinic’s purpose and treats patients with...

• Tetsuya Taguchi (played by Joe Odagiri) — supporting

  Tetsuya Taguchi is a patient troubled by obsessive fears that household appliances may cause a disaster while he is away. He seeks reassurance from a doctor and increasingly retreats into a superhero...

• Kazuo Ômori (played by Seiichi Tanabe) — supporting

  Kazuo Ômori is a patient under heavy pressure from a major outlet-mall project, where deadlines and workplace conflict threaten to overwhelm him. He depends on daily swimming as an escape and a way to...

• Doctor Himenogi (played by Noboru Mitani) — minor

  Doctor Himenogi treats Kazuo Ômori after his anxiety leads him to seek medical help. He diagnoses Kazuo with a non-gonococcal sexually transmitted disease, prescribes antibiotics, and forbids him from...

• Nurse Mayumi-chan (played by Maiko) — minor

  Nurse Mayumi-chan assists Ichirô Irabu at his clinic, helping carry out his unconventional treatments. During one chaotic examination, she is among the staff dealing with a patient’s sustained erectio...

Canonical Relationships

Family, romantic, and professional connections based on plot evidence.

• Psychiatrist Ichirô Irabu → Nurse Mayumi-chan (Professional Doctor And Nurse) — Mayumi assists Irabu in clinic procedures, including the chaotic examination of a patient's sustained erection.

  Nurse Mayumi-chan assists Irabu at the clinic during his unconventional treatments.

• Doctor Himenogi → Kazuo Ômori (Professional Doctor And Patient) — Himenogi's diagnosis and swimming restriction directly disrupt Kazuo's daily escape from workplace stress.

  Doctor Himenogi diagnoses Kazuo with a non-gonococcal sexually transmitted disease, forbids him from swimming, and gives him antibiotics.

• Psychiatrist Ichirô Irabu → Kazuo Ômori (Professional Psychiatrist And Patient) — Kazuo brings his work pressure and reliance on swimming to the clinic, where his treatment threatens the routine he uses to cope.

  Kazuo's anxious behavior leads him to seek medical help at Irabu's clinic.

• Psychiatrist Ichirô Irabu → Tetsuya Taguchi (Professional Psychiatrist And Patient) — Irabu treats Taguchi's fears while Taguchi also reveals his superhero fantasy and unresolved feelings about his former wife.

  Taguchi seeks medical help for obsessive fears, and Irabu is the psychiatrist at the clinic treating patients with anxieties and compulsions.

Story Analysis

The film follows anxious people whose routines and compulsions bring them to Irabu's eccentric clinic, without offering tidy cures.

Plot Progression

1. Oddities Across the City — Strange urban images establish a world where unusual behavior is part of everyday life. Irabu introduces psychiatry as a response to the city's unsettling psychological regions.
2. Taguchi's Hidden Distress — Taguchi's fear of household disasters and elaborate superhero fantasy reveal his anxieties. News of his former wife's pregnancy brings his regret and loneliness into the open.
3. The Pool Becomes Unavailable — Kazuo uses swimming to cope with pressure from a major outlet-mall project and a contentious workplace. Himenogi's diagnosis and swimming ban threaten the routine that helps him function.
4. The Clinic's Unusual Methods — Mayumi assists Irabu as his casual, unconventional approach turns treatment into spectacle. A chaotic examination emphasizes the clinic's eccentric atmosphere.
5. Refuse and Unresolved Lives — An investigation at Midori Hills uncovers discarded refrigerators and medical waste, prompting speculation about a possible body. The film concludes without neat cures, leaving its characters facing t...