Paranoia Agent Review

Year: 2004

Genre: Mystery, Drama, Sci-Fi, Supernatural, Psychological, Thriller

Episodes: 13

Synopsis: Sagi Tsukiko, a famous, idolised character designer, is assaulted one night on her way home from work. Traumatised from this experience, all she can piece together from the night of the attack is a vague image of an elementary school boy wielding a golden bat, and wearing matching rollerblades.

Two police detectives take on the case, and just when they think they've made progress, another victim is attacked. Soon word spreads, and the unknown assailant is given the nickname "Shounen Bat."

The police detectives soon find that they can't find any similarities in the victims except that they all felt emotionally cornered  at the time, and as more victims are assaulted, the attacks become more violent and strange, until things begin to warp and distort by society's paranoia of the "Shounen Bat."

The "Shounen Bat" becomes an obsession, leaving people with only a thin layer between reality and insanity.

Otaku-sama's Thoughts:

An anime both written and directed by the psychological-genius, Satoshi Kon, that, in itself, would be enough to draw in any fan. That's why, I suppose, I had high hopes for this series. *Sigh* Well, we all like to delude ourselves sometimes, don't we?

Now, now, before you all come knocking on my door with fire and pitchforks, let me tell you why it was a let-down.

But first I would like to make one thing quite clear! I'm not saying it's bad, per say, just not as good as I had expected from someone like Satoshi-sama.

While the series had quite a lot of good points, my major problem was that I felt like the anime was constantly catering to its fans and just trying to get a reaction from me rather than genuinely tell a good story.

Don't believe me?

I almost don't believe me.

But when I saw an episode where the characters were thrown into the mind of someone, and interacted within their fantasy, I couldn't help but think it was the exact same thing I had seen before in Millennium Actress, his earlier work.    

And this kind of thing happened often. It wasn't just the same technique used, there's nothing wrong with that(and if done right it gives a sense of style to the story), but it was almost identical in the way the characters interacted, and the way the scenes jumped from place to place, and how the further into the mind they went the more they became part of it.

My other problem with the anime is that I never felt the sense of being threatened. 

There's supposed to be an attacker, which later turns into a serial killer, on the loose... but his an elementary school kid (as far as people know) wielding a bat. 

Not a knife, or a gun... but, a bat.

Okay, I guess to some that may sound scary, but I have to tell you, when's the last time you actually saw an elementary school kid? They're, well, tiny. So tiny, that if one were to come up to you, even with the momentum of rollerblades, they wouldn't be too hard to overpower (unless you yourself were tiny).

I guess that's a little pet peeve of mine, but it kept tearing me out of the story because of how little a threat it seemed.

And lastly, and this may sound strange, the characters lost touch with reality too quickly.

I know the series was only 13 episodes, so they were strapped for time, but the thing about people is they don't go from sane to insane in the space of a day. It builds up in you, until you overflow. It's not and on off switch.

There were only a few exceptions to this where the characters were already slightly mentally unstable, so it made sense when reality started to blur for them.

But enough about that, let's go into some good points.

It is definitely one of those anime that you can watch episode after episode, it's great at bringing you in like that, and of course, when the psychological element is done right, it's amazing! Just like you would expect from Satoshi Kon!

The characters are well fleshed out, and have that unnerving feeling to them that gets right under your skin. 

Is it the lecherous way they smile at you, or the close up in your face angles that disturb you? - it's hard to say - all you know is that they make you uncomfortable, in the best way.

It can be disturbing at times, especially when you watch the episode where a trio of people become friends online, and then decide they all want to commit suicide together (one of said people being a little girl) and spend an entire episode trying to find ways to do it.

But this is what makes it great! It leaves you with that sickening, yet satisfied feeling after watching it, in an awfully sadistic type of way, and that's what makes it wonderful, strangely enough.

I guess what it boils down to is, if you like Satoshi Kon's previous work, you're going to like Paranoia Agent.

It can seem contrived at times, and a little rushed, but all-in-all you can see the hard work and effort that was put into it, and the good moments far outweigh the bad.

It's definitely a must see before you die anime, so go watch it.

Pros: Engaging story, great characters.

Cons: Can seem contrived, rushed, and an unfulfilling ending.

Rating: 

-- Otaku-sama