Just Finished Paranoia Agent(SPOILERS)

[Merlion]

Greetings all. I just finished watching Satoshi Kon's Paranoia Agent. I enjoyed it quite a bit, it reminded me a little of Lain in overall nature and layout.

The story and characters were quite interesting, and there was plenty of mystery and many twists and turns.

The story seemed to have a theme of dealing with reality and standing up to problems, rather than than running away from them or trying to find temporary but fleeting relief.

Of course as is common with anime of this type, many unanswered questions are left open.

My biggest questions are:

Exactly what were Lil'Slugger and Maromi, or more specifically, were they indeed created by Tsukiko's mind and guilt, or are they entities that existed before and latched on to her and found expression through her situation?

Either way, another question arises: Does Tsukiko have some sort of special power or ability of the mind or could the same sort of thing happen to anyone?

How did Maromi become an "emotional crutch" for everyone in Tokyo, and the disapearnce of the Maromi dolls etc result in the whole Black Ooze situation?

Whats up with Maniwa and the Old Man?

And various things relating to the episode "Happy Family Planning"

What are your thoughts?

 

[Merlion]

anybody?

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

Beats me. I only had it on to wait for Inuyasha, and then started noticing that, hey, this ain't half-bad. So, it was only later in the run that I started paying attention.

Brad

 

[frankthedm]

The squat cop is amusing, though sinister looking at times, almost innsmouthy.

Was there any reason why the dog's ghost / eidolon looked like Alfred E Neuman? A joke on Madhouse mayhap? A tribute to that quintesential punk?

From what i read online, the series is a head trip of a popular director with some societal messages.

During the makings of his previous three films (Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, and Tokyo Godfathers), Paranoia Agent creator Satoshi Kon was left with an abundance of unused ideas for stories and arrangements that he felt were good but did not fit into any of his projects. Not wanting to waste the material, he decided to recycle it into a dynamic TV series in which his experimental ideas could be utilized.

Does Tsukiko have some sort of special power or ability of the mind or could the same sort of thing happen to anyone?

ESP abilties are VERY common in anime and other japanese entertainment. There was a series of movies that got real popular about the ghost of child who had dangerously potent ESPer powers even before she was killed. The series was

Spoiler

Ringu / The Ring

 

[Filby]

The squat cop is amusing, though sinister looking at times, almost innsmouthy.

Oh god I HATED that man. I wanted to reach into my TV and strangle him for what he did to his daughter. Which means that Kon was is a very skilled director, I suppose.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Oh god I HATED that man. I wanted to reach into my TV and strangle him for what he did to his daughter. Which means that Kon was is a very skilled director, I suppose.

The episode regarding his daughter, along with the one about the secretary with split-personalities, were what hooked me on this series.

However, I felt the series fell into a trap common in anime, and the ending got too metaphysical and turned to crap. IMO, of course.

 

[Merlion]

The squat cop is amusing, though sinister looking at times, almost innsmouthy

I had never thought about it before but your right, he does seem to have the "Innsmouth look" a bit.

From what i read online, the series is a head trip of a popular director with some societal messages

Yes I've heard that as well. I will most likely try and see some of his other stuff in the near future. If Paranoia Agent was the result of scraps, I'd love to see what the others are like.

ESP abilties are VERY common in anime and other japanese entertainment. There was a series of movies that got real popular about the ghost of child who had dangerously potent ESPer powers even before she was killed. The series was

This is true. The thing with Paranoia Agent tho is one gets the feeling that the things that assumed the appearances of Lil'Slugger and Maromi may have been created or given form by Tsukiko, but also that they were some sort of fundemental embodiments, like perhaps a personafication of collective stress, fear, frustration and of course paranoia, and of a false or misleading relief from those things.
So one wonders, are they Tsukiko's pyschic creations that got out of hand, or did she tap into some deeper collective, or was it using her?

This is made even more interesting by the transformed Maniwa's little preview/monologue at the end of the last episode that makes one think that the whole thing is cyclical..that it happened before and will happen again.

 

[Merlion]

The episode regarding his daughter, along with the one about the secretary with split-personalities, were what hooked me on this series.

However, I felt the series fell into a trap common in anime, and the ending got too metaphysical and turned to crap. IMO, of course.

I see people say this a lot. And mostly I am just curious, what is it that you dont like about the "metaphysical" parts/endings?

Not challenging your opnion, just curious about what leads to it

 

[Filby]

I see people say this a lot. And mostly I am just curious, what is it that you dont like about the "metaphysical" parts/endings?

I dunno, perhaps a desire to have things resolved and wrapped up neatly.

I've noticed that weak endings are suprisingly common in anime. Paranoia Agent as mentioned above... Fruits Basket's ending was nice but offered minimal resolution... and of course, everyone who's seen it has an opinion on the finale of Neon Genesis Evangelion. Sometimes I think that the creators get so attatched to the narrative that they just don't know how to draw it to a close.

That's just my own observation, though. I'll admit that my knowledge of anime is broad, but pretty shallow.

 

[frankthedm]

I dunno, perhaps a desire to have things resolved and wrapped up neatly.

I've noticed that weak endings are suprisingly common in anime. Paranoia Agent as mentioned above... Fruits Basket's ending was nice but offered minimal resolution... and of course, everyone who's seen it has an opinion on the finale of Neon Genesis Evangelion. Sometimes I think that the creators get so attatched to the narrative that they just don't know how to draw it to a close.

That's just my own observation, though. I'll admit that my knowledge of anime is broad, but pretty shallow.

Vauge endings are very common in my understanding of Japanese entertainment.