Bunrako-man
“"Oh-ho-ho-ho, YEAH!!! There will always be haters hating on you, mate! You can't live your life trying to make everybody happy!! YEAH-HA-HA-HAAAAAAAA!"”
― Bunrako-man, Dream BBQ
Bunrako-man is a character who appears in Dream BBQ. He is one of the characters partying at the Purge Event. He is one of the characters that need to be interacted with to progress, the others being Heh-Ito and Mitu.
Appearance
Bunrako-man is a humanoid character with brown, neck-length hair, a small mustache, and green sunglasses. He wears a blazer with a black collar and a burning fire inside of it, as well as a white undershirt. A brown stick with a crank makes up the lower part of his body, held up by a person in all black, their face, body, and hands all obscured.
Personality
Bunrako-man is a free spirit, telling Ena that she can't make everybody happy and to just live her life and party. He gets a bit mad at Ena for not wanting to be eaten, only to shrug it off, believing she's a Purge Event first-timer and that it's even more of a reason to party. He also doesn't seem to notice that Ena is in pain, getting too caught up in partying, but he still gives her instructions to follow the whistle in the segment after speaking with him.
Gallery
Screenshots
Bunrako-man's stagehand flipping onto the scene.
He begins to wind him up...
"HEYHEYHEYHEYHEY!"
"Oh-ho-ho-ho, YEAH!!!"
"There will always be haters hating on you, mate!"
"You can't live your life trying to make everybody happy!!"
"YEAH-HA-HA-HAAAAAAAA!"
"Woah, woah!"
"You mean to tell me you aren't here to be eaten?!"
"You must be..."
"...A FIRST-TIMER?!"
"HAAAAAAAH, WAH-HOO-HOOOOOOO!"
"More reason to party even harder, mate!"
"Just stay chill, and be sure to follow that whistle..."
A bit of a malfunction, the stagehand tries to fix him...- "Follow that whistle!"
"Your life depends on it!!"
"AH-HA-HA-HA-HAAAAAAAAH!!!"
An ad with Bunrako-man, shown at the Bus Stops and above the Taxi Driver.
The original preview gif, showing Bunrako-man and ƎNA.
Bunrako-man's head alongside other characters on screens.
Trivia
- Bunrako-man is one of the few characters to have two characters working together in a symbiotic relationship as one character.
- Bunrako-man can break the fourth wall, kind of, as he tells Ena, or the player in this case, to follow the whistle. Following the whistle is the only way to escape the Purge Event.
- He can be seen in advertisements for the Purge Event found at the bus stops and above the Taxi Driver in the Uncanny Streets, notably depicted with legs. Given his high familiarity with and love of the events as well as his presence in their advertising, he may have a hand in its running.
- When the teaser first dropped, Bunrako-man was named "Mike" by fans. This would catch on so much, that even later concepts for the character by the devs labelled him as Mike.
Cultural references and inspirations
- Bunrako-man is based on the concept of bunraku, a form of traditional Japanese puppet theater. The character holding up Bunrako-man is a kuroko, a stagehand typically present in bunraku shows that moves the puppets and scenery, dressed in all black to hide their face, body, and features to signify that they are invisible.