Paranoia Agent

Paranoia agent starts of as a simple mystery of a kid for whatever reason starts beating people up with a metal bat at night. The first victim is a character designer that can remember some bare details about the attack but cannot identify the face of the assailant. The media named this mysterious assailant as 'lil slugger' (dub version) or 'shonen bat' (original japanese version).

Like all of Satoshi Kon's works it has a very unorthodox plot structure in the way exposition is presented. The plot as mentioned before is not a traditional one which personally for me I really appreciate because it makes for a more unexpected viewing experience. Each episode seems to add more questions than answers which seems to be a chaotic series where each episode function more or less as a short story but I found at the end all these stories have a thematic pattern which concludes the whole series really well.

The animation was good, it was pretty consistent throughout and was stepped up in key moments in the story. What really stand out for me was the character design. Each character really stands and makes them really recognizable in an instant. Their character design also really match with their personalities and their role in the overall story.

Paranoia agent is as I mentioned several times is not a conventional story, it is an interpretational work that focus not on a simple plot but a few thematic elements about life. I really do not want to tell you what these themes are because I abhor being influenced by anybody about what a piece of work is meant to represent or is suppose to represent. I like to watch it for myself, think for myself and interpret it for myself. Therefore I would not do the same to others especially for those that haven’t watched it yet.

In conclusion, Paranoia agent is a story presented in an unconventional manner that touches on interesting concepts and also concludes itself in the final few episodes. It is an interesting anime that stands out not in its story but how the story is presented and the themes that is presented and explored.

I guess I need 2100 letters for whatever reason so I will just write whatever relevant comes to mind now...

On a somewhat unrelated note I really enjoyed the opening for Paranoia agent, it is such a weird opening where it is just the characters laughing to a non-nonsensical song in various settings. It really fit the mood of the overall story in my opinion.

Did you know that this is Satoshi Kon's only anime series? and it really shows especially if you are familiar with Paprika and Perfect Blue. His directing style is so obvious in Paranoia agent.