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Overall, I think that the series has a way of capturing your attention and making you want to watch the next episode immediately after you finish one. I really enjoyed the twist with Sagi causing her own injury. It would be kind of boring if all the attacks were just due to some kid fantasizing about being a knight and conquering evil. I feel that this adds a dynamic that can take the story in several different directions. For example, it makes you wonder if perhaps all the victims up until Hirukawa were not actually attacked and if Kozuka only showed up in the assault on Hirukawa after “Shonen Bat” was created. I also like that each episode features a different main character and allows you to see the story from multiple points of view. I feel that it better displays how the characters live are getting intertwined by Shonen Bat. That being said, frog-guy and Hirukawa are pretty disturbing characters to watch, especially with Hirukawa’s daughter obsession.
As for me this is my second time watching it so I am no longer surprised about the bizarreness of PA, but I have come to notice several things I haven’t beforehand. Some of these things, I feel like only came to realization in a rewatch because they tie in with the end/core of the series.
Unfortunately, I don’t know how if I can spoiler tag these things, but if there is a way to, I’d like to post my impressions.
As for an unimportant thing I noticed, the police chief Hirukawa want’s his prostitutes to call him “Otousan” because of his daughter complex for Taeko. He says his motivation for having the house built was for his family, but it may really be for his daughter alone, who he sees with a perverted sort of affection but deep affection nonetheless. Hirukawa’s wife gets virtually no screen time, and this and several other nuances imply she is relatively unimportant in Hirukawa’s life as she is to the plot of Paranoia Agent.
*watches opening song for first time*
Reaction #1: Honestly what the hell is this?
*a few episodes in*
Reaction #2: Ok what the hell are we watching
*finished watching episode 6*
Reaction #3: MASUMI IS A CREEP WHAT THE HELL AND CLEARLY SUGI IS CRAZY I DON’T WHAT IS GOING ON BUT I WANT TO KEEP WATCHING THIS IS FASCINATING AND HORRIFYING AT THE SAME TIME
I truly enjoy the concept of having each episode focusing on a different character. This adds more dimension to the overall story, and although each episode includes the same set of characters, I don’t really find myself cheering for and supporting one specific character (which happens for almost 99% of the anime I watch). I feel like this eliminates the some of the bias I have toward one character or a set of characters when I go back and analyze the anime. As I watch each episode, it seems as if each episode is both related and unrelated to the overall series. Although each episode does follow the same story, the “style” of each episode still retains its unique set of characteristics.
I also like the menu screen.
I honestly love Paranoia agent so far. It has just enough elements of Perfect Blue to be suspenseful, but it’s not grimy like perfect blue. It really makes you think. I kept asking who everyone’s animals were because I was trying to make the connection between the characters’ animals and the characters’ actions in the episode. I first made the connection when Chomo said she wanted to be set free, and I thought of the butterfly (also I saw the old man drawing a butterfly in the episode). Also another instance was when the old man wrote 1 in chalk and I got really confused as to whether or not Ishi got hit at the end of the episode (we discussed this in class and I was right which made me feel extremely happy). The theme song is also really creepy and will forever haunt my dreams, but I can’t wait to see where this series goes!
To be honest, the series is really intense and I barely fall asleep last night. However, Paranoia Agent shows a lot of exciting elements. First I finally understand why Kon said he put all his unused ideas in this TV series: Episode 3 really reminds me of the Perfect Blue and abrupt switch between normal and alternative identity of Chono. Another thing I’m impressed is the OP. Not to say the creepy soundtrack, the visual part is the protagonists keep laughing in different occasions. You can tell that they are not really happy, but they laugh no matter what. I think the contrast is really ironic, and the OP itself tries to remind the audience of the hypocrisy of us.
I love that old man.
Paranoia Agent is definitely the type of show that I would end up binge watching in one night. It has an addictive quality to it. Kon teases you with a piece of information that seems to connect everything, and then soon after breaks apart your theory. I get so into the story that as soon as I realize the episode is over, I need to watch the next episode (and as I’m typing this I am resisting the urge to look up spoilers to know what the “twist” is). I love shows like this where half of the entertainment is trying to figure out what’s actually going on. I’m super anxious to find out what the connection between all of them is and figure out what the deal is with Shonen Bat. I also really enjoy the detail put into the characterization. It makes you have fairly strong feelings toward the characters, for example Kawazu is played up as this completely shameless, sleazy guy, with his actions pretty much disgusting everyone who was watching. But it does make for a very entertaining story.
My overall reaction to Paranoia Agent is simply wow. Knowing that it is a series based on leftover ideas from previous works makes it all the more interesting. The way that each episode is put together, often following slightly different genres to help connect the overall storyline helps to draw in the viewer. Additionally, by keeping it as a mystery and adding new information by the addition of new characters and their storylines in each episode gives the show the layers of an intense Spanish soap opera, but with a better storyline and more well developed characters (im guessing, haven’t really watched a Spanish soap opera). In the end, I am amazed by the series and cannot stop wondering what is going to happen next.
Paranoia Agent is unlike anything I’ve ever watched before. I have noticed that Kon loves to delve into the worlds of psychology and perspective, and by doing so has managed to create visually stunning, thought provoking, and oddly relatable works. In this, Paranoia Agent is no different. Unlike most of the mysteries I’ve seen in the past, which were all live action, Hollywood blockbuster films, this anime takes a different approach by focusing less on the mystery itself and more on character development. I remember seeing a very similar movie called 11:14, which was probably inspired by this anime, about several characters whose lives were entangled together by a series of coincidences and parallel events. Although the movie was not a murder mystery, it’s style of piecing the puzzle together and slowly uncovering connections between the characters was incredibly satisfying. However, I feel as if the anime medium that Kon utilizes helps the delivery of the unveiling and allows for much more detail and character development.
I love Paranoia Agent so much! I’m such a fan of the realism in Kon’s work and this work once again emulates this. Though making us viewers feel completely insane, I highly appreciate the subtle details added throughout. Though we can’t tell if a lot of these “clues” are red herrings, or something legitimate yet, it all adds to the mystery and intrigue of Kon. Some examples of these would be the scenarios/the laughing of the characters in the title sequence, the scribble on the sidewalk by the old man (or his prophetic visions, and what he’s wearing then), the Ushi’s palm tree, etc. My favorite movies and TV shows have been the one’s that make me think and ponder existence itself. I was always disappointed when Kon’s movies would end because it took us out of his immersive world. I’m enjoying Paranoia Agent because, for once, we get to still be in this world after an episode ends.
As compared to all the other films by Kon that we have watched, I am enjoying Paranoia Agent the most. Primarily, as opposed to his feature films, which are often extremely disorienting, Paranoia Agent has the aspect of mystery already built into it, so while there are a lot of plot twists, they are somewhat more expected and moreover, don’t necessarily confuse me as much. I also really have gotten into Paranoia Agent solely on the basis that it is a mystery, so as I watch the show I’m always searching for clues, and looking for some deeper meaning in every small thing, just the subject of hypothesizing all these ideas and theories about the show has made me think more about what I’m seeing, and not just getting tremendously confused by a massive illusion or misconception of the brain like in Perfect Blue or Magnetic Rose.
I feel like Paranoia Agent is just out there enough where I can comprehend what is going on the plot line but at the same time I can appreciate the illusion aspect of Satoshi Kon’s work. I was getting some very Perfect Blue vibes in the episode about the tutor. I really like the mystery aspect of the series but then I was somewhat confused when the mystery of who is the shonen bat, what are they going to do with the rest of the series? Tsukiko I feel is a weaker character than the other girls in Satoshi Kon’s films. She has a fairly weak presence but I think that could be partially because there are no real main characters in this series. I also really like Maromi. Maromi is very cute.
RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-REEE-RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!
I love this show. Paranoia Agent accomplishes what few works can: maintaining and incredibly diverse set of characters and plots while sustaining immense interest from its audience. Each episode introduces a new, unique central character and makes the audience care about that character in the span of twenty minutes. The mystery of Shonen Bat is superficially ridiculous, but the shocking connections between and backstories surrounding his victims create a plot that invites the viewer to question everything. Like the old man scrawling an illegible prophetic formula in chalk, I find myself scrambling to make sense of the chaos of Paranoia Agent, ever hesitant to address the idea that haunts the plot of the show, that perhaps there is no central reason to it all. There are constant hints at some guiding force in the events of the story, from the prophecies of the old man to the sinister character of Gohma, yet there is an inshakable feeling that these are red herrings. The closer Kon seems to take us to the truth behind the events of the show, the more chaotic and random the events appear to be. Each episode leaves me with more quesions than the last, and whether those questions are ever answered is probably not that point. Whether the ending will bring me closure or not is of no concern, because I will have enjoyed a story unlike anything I have seen before (well, perhaps with the exception of Twin Peaks).
My reaction now, after completing the whole series is that this series isn’t ending. Everything refers to something in the back and it always goes round and round. Reoccurring things appear too frequently and make me unable to catch up and recall where it appeared before.Even after the last episode the whole story is quite blurred. What if the ending of Sagi’s paranoia is the starting of Maniwa’s since nobody said he was cured. Also he started writing weird stuff just like the prophet. The prophet is a mystery too. His role is still very mysterious to me.
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