Paranoia Agent ~Review~
This is one of those series that I know I should have seen years ago, but I just never got around to it. I am very familiar with Satoshi Kon’s work, so I was pretty excited to see how he would manage to make full 13 episode series. For those who don’t know, the story of Paranoia Agent is that some unknown kid, deemed with the name “shounen bat”, starts attacking random people with his bent golden bat. Soon enough, detectives start to try to figure out who the culprit is, but that becomes a harder task than expected because it doesn’t take long for them to discover that they are dealing with no ordinary case. Each episode, for the most part, depicts a certain character that became victim from Shounen Bat’s attacks and how everything lead up to that one moment when they were smashed in the head.
You can definitely see the similarities between this series and other works by Satoshi Kon. By that I mean, it’s plenty filled with tons of plot twists and unexpected moments. Though other similarities that it shares that are probably for the negative, is that in his works, he can build up so much intriguing plot lines, but when it comes to the finale they tend to be a bit disappointing. Everything that was needed to be explain, did have a resolution, but it doesn’t mean that it was actually worthy solution. Of course I won’t go into further detail about the ending because I wouldn’t want to spoil it for anyone because I’m such a nice person (how modest of me). Anywho, for the first half of the series I was really engrossed by the story and watched one episode after another, but by the second half I started taking my time because the series was simply a bit repetitive. Every time I watch one of Satoshi’s work, I also have this expectation that it is going to be great, but sadly it almost always becomes something that is average, well above average I would say.
As for the positive! When it came to the quality and the music, this series is great. Also, even though the whole one story per episode got a bit boring, I do admit that within one episode they managed to develop the character a lot. Even if the end did disappoint me, I was glad that it at least kept me guessing. Another aspect that I enjoy, is how at first it seems to be a very realistic and life like series, until it quickly becomes something more of a fantasy series that is mixing the real world and crazy imaginative places together (much like Paprika for example). The comical moments were quite funny as well. In all, this is a series that is worth watching without a doubt because it is one of those series that as mentioned, you need to see at some point or another. Except that should not be your only reason for seeing this anime, I’m sure that some aspect of it will strike your interest.
7:
February 7th, 2009 at 9:15 pm
I really tried my best to understand this series, but I end up falling asleep all the time. Everything was so weird…the art was unsightly and the plot made me feel ‘lolwut’.
[Reply]
lostty:
February 7th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
@7: I felt that way to a lot of Satoshi’s work, such as Millennium Actress, which is actually one of my least favourite films because it bores me so much! Though, I have to admit that his style and work is starting to grow on me…
[Reply]
Loz:
February 7th, 2009 at 11:12 pm
Watched this a while back because I read some fairly good reviews for it, it starts of strong, but fades towards the end as you’ve said. Although I can’t remember the ending.
[Reply]
ojisan:
February 7th, 2009 at 11:35 pm
I’m a Satoshi Kon fan, with reservations, and felt much the same way abut Paranoia Agent as yourself. He’s ambitious as all hell, and gives his audience credit for intelligence, but his pacing wears you down to a nub after a while, and the endings are long, loud, apocalyptic, and convoluted. I think that Paprika was the first time he managed to keep it on the road – barely.
Can’t agree with Losty though – a thousand years of Japanese history folded into fifty years of Japanese film history kept me interested.
[Reply]
lostty:
February 7th, 2009 at 11:53 pm
@Loz: One quote for you to remember the ending “The whole world is about to end, and all because of a goddamned puppy!”
@ojisan: I agree with you. His work has always followed a certain format though, which is soon going to make himself even more repetitive. A surprise ending isn’t always good. Paprika was definitely one of his better films, but I also enjoyed Perfect Blue. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen Millennium Actress, so I’m sure I’d have a different opinion on it by viewing it a second time, not to mention I was young at the time and relatively new to the anime world, so I’d imagine that would also make an impact over my thoughts on the film.
[Reply]
Kitsune:
February 8th, 2009 at 8:59 am
I enjoyed Millennium Actress, but I watched only one DVD of Paranoia Agent and didn’t finish the series.
[Reply]
lostty:
February 8th, 2009 at 9:10 am
@Kitsune: Millennium Actress will definitely have to be a film I rewatch in the near future!
Well that’s disappointing that you’ve only seen 1 DVD, considering it was under the Geneon license, so it would probably be harder to find the discs now… Although, out of the episodes that you did see, did you enjoy Paranoia Agent?
[Reply]
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February 8th, 2009 at 8:41 pm
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