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In an interview, Kon mentions that much of Paranoia Agent was made from scraps of ideas that didn’t make it into previous works. What pieces do you think he’s talking about? In other words, where do you recognize resonances between Paranoia Agent and the three previous works we’ve watched?
I think Professor Figal mentioned some of them at the movie screening. For example the scene in the OP where the prophet stands on the moon with earth as the background.This resonates with the scene of the space film in Millennium Actress. Also the scene where the writer imitates Sagi’s colleagues in some ways resembles Perfect Blue in the personification of other character through voice and look. The writer acts out Sagi’s colleagues’ conversations in their voices is just like Rumi having the same outfit and voice as Mima in Perfect Blue. Besides these two scenes, I also felt strong resonance between the fifth episode and Millennium Actress where Ginya is always present in Chyoko’s stories. The two detectives also stepped into Shonen Bat’s story. The story about Chuno is almost like a concise replication of Perfect Blue in the sense that Chuno has two selves just like Mima. Chuno goes to a mental hospital to get treated. These elements all mirror Perfect Blue.
Obviously, the episode in which the detectives joined Shonen Bat on his medieval adventure was something that looked like it came straight out of Millennium Actress. I also felt that Sagi’s character was a parallel of Mima from Perfect Blue. They were both relatively shy characters that felt overwhelmed by the stresses of their jobs. The voicemail conversations between Harumi and Maria also remind me of Mima’s arguments with herself over whether or not she was the real Mima. In addition, Harumi has a split personality just like Rumi does. The detectives following the case of all the assaults by Shonen Bat also kind of reminds me of the detectives following the murder case in Double Bind. Then, there is the scene where we think we are watching Ichi play baseball until we are shown that it was actually a recording which resonates with the countless times we were shown to be watching a clip of Double Bind instead of an actual event in Perfect Blue.
I agree with Josh, in saying that Harumi’s character was a complete of Perfect Blue’s Mima. I think this episode is one of the clearest and most obvious ‘scraps’ from Kon’s previous films that was developed into Paranoia Agent. Both Harumi and Mima had desires to cut part of themselves off, to detach from this other identity that they once embraced. Harumi wanted to forget her days as a prostitute; she wanted no contact with her work or previous clients. Mima wanted to completely make her previous persona as a pop idol disappear, and move forward as a rookie actress. Both have trouble learning to accept their past identities, as opposed to completely cutting them off.
There was a small scene in Sugi’s episode, in which she was on a website called “Tsukiko’s Room”–very similar to how there was a website called “Mima’s room” in Perfect Blue.
Many of the themes of paranoia, split identity, identity crisis, and inner turmoil are shared in Paranoia Agent as well as Perfect Blue.
Many aspects of Satoshi Kon’s other works can be seen throughout the episodes. The old man on the moon scenes are reminiscent of Magnetic rose with space in the background. The episode titled “A Man’s Path” seems to me to be similar to what I expect Tokyo Godfather to be like with the influences of mobs. Sagi’s website is similar to Mima’s as well as how Harumi Chono’s split personality is similar to the split personality that Mima seems to be having in Perfect Blue. Finally, in the episode “The Holy Warrior” the detectives are dragged into the video game world of Shonen Bat, much like how the director and cameraman are placed in the movies during Millenium Actress.
The connection of the Paranoia to Perfect Blue that can be seen in the 3rd episode where the character named Harumi is introduced. She has a psychological illness which causes her to have two different personalities. On one hand she lives a normal life working at an assistant and tutor; on the other, she works as a prostitute. As Harumi was prepares for marriage, she attempts to cast away her identity as a prostitute by quitting the job, but she is not able to escape from Maria.
One of the connections between Mima and Harumi is their struggle with identity, in both films the phrase “who am I?” is repeated. There is a presence of Mima as a pop idol and Harumi as a prostitute in some part of their life either as an illusion or a voice that constantly questions their identity and calls them the fake.
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