Paranoia Agent, by Satoshi Kon (? TV show, 2004)

[lb_lee]

"Let's face reality together, no matter how harsh it is."

Blurb: When despair overwhelms certain people in Tokyo, they find themselves whacked upside the head by a middle-school boy with a golden bat and rollerblades. Cops start investigating the case, only to discover that "Lil Slugger" isn't what he seems...

Why is it worth your time?: It's a good show with themes of dealing (or not dealing) with reality, and how things in our mind can grow bigger and bigger until they take on lives of their own (and possibly eat Tokyo.) If you enjoyed Paprika, you will likely enjoy this, especially since you can see Satoshi Kon growing as a filmmaker from Perfect Blue, to Paranoia Agent, to Paprika.

Plural Tags: abuse intermediate focus, otherworld, realitymashing, enmity, visions, voices

Content Warnings: contain spoilers; see comments (VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED)

Access Notes: Available on DVD, with subtitles and dubbing both. There's also a more-literal bootleg fan translation floating around archive.org, which despite its clunkiness I found myself preferring. (What can I say, I like having all the weird puns and references explained to me.)

Misc Notes: The beginning credits and the third-to-last episode of this show will live forever in my memory. I sometimes watch that one episode, all on its own, to inspire myself.

Comments

Content Warnings

[lb_lee]

This is one of the rougher watches in this catalog! There is graphic violence, blood, murder, suicide (via train accident, hanging, and pills, all graphic), and multiple instances of sexual violence which are not graphic but still deeply upsetting. There's also intense professional pressure to succeed, psychological collapse, and various characters cracking up under the force of realities they cannot deal with. Many characters get unhappy endings! Of special mention:

There is an outright multi character in the "Double Lips" episode, where two headmates are locked in seemingly eternal combat. They don't seem to ever get it together, and its their refusal to do so that gains them a visit from Lil Slugger.

There is a girl who's being preyed upon by her father. After Lil Slugger's whack upside her head gives her amnesia, her father avoids all consequences. Every time the two of them appear for the rest of the show, they are sitting together, smiling foolishly. On the surface, it appears to be a "happy" ending where all conflict is avoided, but it's a total illusion, and I found that unhappy ending unexpectedly satisfying.

Finally, the episode "Happy Family Planning" is content warnings all the way down, because the premise is three people who meet on the Internet, make a suicide pact, and meet in person, only to discover that one of those three people is a literal child. The two adults do everything they can to escape her, only to fail, and the bleakest of gallows humor ensues as they continuously try (and seemingly fail) to commit suicide, only to discover they actually succeeded unknowingly at the start of the episode. One of us found the episode fucking hilarious but it made another one collapse in tears.

[the3moirai]

One of my Favorite shows of all time! Satoshi Kon really understands humanity and he knew how to depict horrible events without making them lurid

- Seph

[lb_lee]

He really did! We've read his old comics and seen all his films except Milennium Actress, which has proven hard to find. Definitely an inspiration.