Paranoia Agent - Genius or Just Mediocre

I think I'm starting up an affair with Satoshi Kon....hahahaa.....that aside let's have a little chat about Paranoia Agent. As the title might suggest this anime is really psychological and has what might be deemed a fairly complex storyline or does it. I watched all 13 episodes and here is the thing.....i'm still undecided whether i in fact really liked this anime.

But i'm still gonna tell you what Paranoia Agent is all about because maybe if you hear a little bit of what i say....maybe it'll be better for you when you watch it. Well, that's just speculation but i think i'm going too rewatch this one to see if my initial reaction to it is in fact the right one. Anyways, from what i've written so far you can see that i've got mixed impressions and maybe i became a victim to the paranoia agent!!!!


Jokes aside......even the opening song (Yume no Shima Shinen Kouen by Susumu Hirasawa) is kind of creepy with all the characters laughing hysterically to some weird song. I think that sets the scene...get ready too be mind BLEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPED!!!!


So, I'm going to some it up plainly the main character, Keiichi Ikari works as a character designer and managed to create a top selling character - Maromi. Her boss asks her to come up with a new design and craftily puts the pressure on her in a kind of sly way to produce the new goods on a short deadline. From the outset you get the impression that no one likes Keiichi who kind of seems somewhat morose....with those dead eyes of hers!!! She goes home and gets kind of freaked out and ends up falling victim to a violent attack of some elementary kid in roller blades armed with a baseball bat. He becomes known as lil slugger (shounen bat) and this is where the paranoia agent starts to manifest itself in society.

The storyline is absolutely brilliant and this is why i have the mixed reception to the anime because i can't ignore the great genius behind the creativity of it. I understood what was being depicted here....how people deal with the stresses of society and how they may use masks to disguise their feelings. How people are always looking for ways to escape from their problems and how the media affects people's day to day lives and how everyone is looking for a way to escape from their reality and this escape came in the form of a delusion ...in this case lil slugger. How everyone didn't want to face their own realities and looked for an easy way out and used the same delusion as some sort of quick fix answer. But once the delusion itself actually becomes to big of problem....it's not so easy to draw away from that unreal reality. Yes yes.....this message was clear and that is why i'm like GENIUS.



But then there are somethings about the anime that i didn't particularly like and they were numerous. Even though i felt i understood what was happening i didn't feel connected to the anime BUT who knows maybe it was meant to evoke a disconnected kind of atmosphere. I'm not sure if i liked all the different delusions...like was there too much used to make the point clear.....i didn't like some of the narrated parts....i thought is that necessary...well, as to be expected with somethings NOT everything is always to your own liking!!!!!

That being said it really does cover a wide range of problems that society faces...mental health problems, child abuse, relationships, bullying at school, bullying in life, bullying at work.....it sure covers a wide spectrum of issues BUT did i thoroughly enjoy this anime....hmmmmmm....that i can't say with as much conviction as let's say, Paprika. Is that because this was a series and Paprika was just a movie...i'm not sure. So, you watch the trailer for the series and if you do watch all 13 episodes come back and give me your opinion. Or if you've watched it already...let me know how you found IT :)