Dorathen Better Late Then Never

Spoonatects Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Loui Blair It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

leley-86652 Ignore those low reviews saying this anime is stupid and messy. The plot and hidden messages are extremely difficult to understand so if you are one that prefers straight- forward anime, do not watch this as you will probably just put this anime off as a messy drama about a juvenile assailant like those who rated this show poorly. There is a filler that is fairly out-of-place, but if you are one that pays close attention to details, this will be the best filler you have ever seen, even better than a mainstream anime's canon episode. I rate this a ten because of its deep, hidden, meaning, how it messes with you psychologically, and also because of its complexity. So, once again, those who rated this low just don't understand what this show is about, and you probably won't unless you are an intellectual human being (Or just search it up).

bmoore07 There are two kinds of anime. The first are the anime with well- known reputations, some so notable that they may be overrated (Anime that fall in this category are titles like Naruto, Bleach, Death Note, Fairy Tail and, of course, Dragon Ball Z). The second kind are the lesser-known anime, the cult classics that endear themselves to the true fan (For me, titles like Bartender, Outlaw Star, Rurouni Kenshin, and Monster come to mind). Paranoia Agent falls into the latter category and I think it's terrible that many people have never heard of this. A work of director Satoshi Kon, a product of the company (Madhouse) that produced my all-time favorite show (Monster), Paranoia Agent is a psychological thriller filled with drama, shockers, and memorable moments."When trouble rises, the hero is here!" This is Paranoia Agent's premise. When people feel mentally tormented, when they feel like they're trapped in an inescapable corner, a being named Lil Slugger appears to guide them away from their troubles, relieving them with a powerful hit to the head. Lil Slugger is the series' main antagonist, a boy with a red baseball cap, golden roller skates, a bent golden bat, and a love for spreading suffering. Paranoia places so much focus on Lil Slugger at an extent that I haven't seen since Monster and Johan Liebert. This anime portrays Lil Slugger as many things: a delusional maniac who views himself a hero, an urban legend generated by rumors, a prodigal criminal almost impossible to arrest, a messiah of the mentally ill, and even an outright demon with red eyes, an ability to feed on fear, and the ability to shift into an enormous shadow. In all of these forms, Lil Slugger's essence remains the same, that he is a malevolent menace to society.'Creepy' is the only word that does justice in describing Paranoia Agent's opening, a sequence that shows various characters laughing in a number of places, most of them scenes of natural or man-made disasters. Paranoia Agent's characters aren't just important to the anime; they are crucial, helping to construct the complexity of Paranoia's plot (Even the most unimportant characters, like a former thief or a seemingly gay employer, have significant roles). The characters are also accompanied by amazingly acted voices, the three main characters (and corrupt police chief Hirukawa) reminding me of voices in Monster. Tsukiko Sagi is Paranoia's central character, a beautiful yet timid cartoonist whose withdrawn whisper of a voice refuels memories of Monster's Anna Liebert. Liam O'Brien is the voice of Mitsuhiro Maniwa, a young detective that serves as another main figure, but he also starred as Monster's Dr. Tenma. In Monster, O'Brien only had two memorable scenes (the closed-door conversation with Inspector Lunge in "Lunge's Trap" and the climatic confession to Anna in "I'm Home") but, in Paranoia Agent, O'Brien is allowed more vocal creativity, in episode 7 (one of Paranoia's finest) shifting Maniwa's submissively gentle voice to a passionate one filled with fury and devoid of sanity. My favorite character has to be Keiichi Ikari, the bad cop to Maniwa's good cop, a short-tempered star of the police force whose gruff voice is like that of Monster's Richard Braun, and a mid-life crisis victim who wholeheartedly loves his wife, remains as stubborn as a mule, and often reminisces over his youth.Plotwise, this anime has one of the finest, where each episode is a potential favorite; there's just something unique about every Paranoia episode. For example, I've never been a fan of the perfect protagonist (thanks to Goku and his "I am the universe!" speech in Frieza Saga) and Paranoia Agent's second episode focused on a ridiculously popular kid named Yuichi Taira, and how the opinions of others turned him into a raving lunatic. Paranoia also specializes in (very dark) satire, poking fun at battle anime in episode 5, suicidal people in episode 8, the neighborhood gossipers in episode 9, and even animators themselves in episode 10. The animation, high- quality and meticulously detailed, was the first thing that stood out to me about Paranoia Agent and, throughout the series, the show loved to try different styles. First, it was the grotesque, child- like illustrations of episode 2. Then, the black-and-white manga in episode 4 (the voice of the manga's main character was excellent). Finally, it was the cardboard layout (yes, cardboard!) in the last three episodes. Throughout all of these styles, Paranoia Agent remained great.It's been a while since I've watched a truly exceptional anime, something that'll make me happily flip on the TV simply because I don't want to miss another moment, and Paranoia Agent did that for me. There wasn't one individual thing that caused my Paranoia binge- watching. It was all of the things I mentioned: the theme song, the characters, the plot, and the artwork. An anime has to be excellent to join my list of favorites and I just found a new addition.

Tweekums Tsukiko Sagi is a very shy woman who works as a character designer; she has had success with Maromi; a cute pink dog but is being pressured to come up with something new. Then one day she is hospitalised and tells the police she was attacked by a young boy who was wearing gold in-line skates and wielding a crooked gold baseball bat. Soon there are further reports of attacks and the young assailant is dubbed 'Lil Slugger' or 'Shonen Bat' (for some reason the name used in the subtitles switches after the first disc). The attacks are investigated by detectives Keiichi Ikari and Mitsuhiro Maniwa.Episodes tend to focus of different people; sometimes these characters will only feature in one or two episodes; other times they will be people who had been secondary characters before. As the story progresses we learn more about Shonen Bat and how his victims are selected… then there is a revelation that makes us, and the detectives, question everything we've learnt before.Viewers familiar with the films of series creator Satoshi Kon will know to expect a story where things aren't always what they seem and delusions and things that are imagined are expertly mingled with real events. The story can be fairly dark at times; the darkest, and surprisingly the funniest, episode involves three people who are determined to kill themselves. In fact this episode is so controversial that the UK DVD release has a mandatory one minute, twenty second cut despite having an eighteen certificate! Thankfully this cut doesn't spoil the episode. In short: this is a great series which is a must see for adult anime fans; the story is gripping, the characters interesting and the animation looks good.These comments are based on watching the series in Japanese with English subtitles.

db215 It's a mystery to me why Satoshi Kon's animated Dolmio puppet designs get such a positive reception. His reasoning for making half his characters look like disturbing cast offs from glorified passatta adverts is anyone's guess, and for me personally his stories lack the depth that is so often accredited to them. Paranoia Agent is a good example of this kind of over-hype.A similar thing occurred to me when I watched Perfect Blue on its release. For the life of me I couldn't work out exactly what it was I supposed to think was so very good about it. The story didn't add up, was impossible to substantiate in a believable universe without attributing dementia to everyone within it, and had character designs far more disturbing than it's own leanings towards controversy. This is exactly the same as Paranoia Agent.Story 5/10The series starts out rather promisingly. The albeit very bland (frankly pathetic) main character gets attacked by what becomes know as "shounen bat" or "lil' slugger", or various other things. Struck down whilst under severe pressure at work (she is a character designer who has only had one idea since she was a little girl), she begins a trend for such attacks on similarly distressed people. There is some promise there, and I admit to having been intrigued enough to have higher expectations than before starting the series. After that it completely falls apart. The series is barely held together through its loosely connected and tiresomely formulaic middle-episodes which ultimately amount to an "etc" to what has gone before.I read an interview with Satoshi Kon which described the 'budding idea' of Paranoia Agent as a collection of ideas left over from his films. Well, that explains a lot. A lot of disjointed concepts in one place, in quick succession, lacking, in my view, any charm or appeal.Characters 5/10The characters introduced in the first half of the series are interesting despite their looks. They have at least some level of on- screen charisma, unlike the leading lady whose unspoken pondering on self worth is tedious to the point of embarrassing. The shounen bat character itself is one of the big letdowns of the series. Visually unappealing and lacking in personality. The diversion into preposterous fantasy that his arrest leads to is also one of the worst writing choices made in an anime, from my perspective. Later characters have little to offer. Some are even as boring and faceless as the lead (can you tell I didn't like her?).Maybe I'm being too harsh, but I'm completely sick of this kind of pathetic female anime lead. The limp-wristed, downward looking mute. Rei Ayanami's with no moments of relief. And this character in itself is supposed to carry the series into the brackets of "psychological", or "mindf___". It is far, far too readable to succeed.Animation 7/10Apart from the hideous cross between the Wind in the Willows and King of the Hill that are the character designs, the animation quality is generally very high, if (contrastingly) nondescript. Nothing in the mes en scene makes it stand out from other recent series. In later episodes it does experiment with more interesting (though not wholly original) concepts such as animating the backing sheets minus cells, and using a version of puppet theatre to describe a man's ideal world. Whether I am just a sceptic or they were solely used for budget reasons rather than anything artistic I don't know. In any case it has been done before, though I did like the puppet world.Sound 6/10OP is nice the first few times (as is the sequence), but gets old. Incidental music is nothing special. Not good, not bad.Overall 6/10There's nothing here to bring me back, or anything much that I will remember. Having said that the scenario with the disgusting toad-like old man and his daughter was well put together.In sum it was not much fun to watch this. In fact in places I wanted to just delete the damn series (relentlessly bad swordplay episode anyone? ). In a way I am glad I finished watching it, though perhaps not so glad that I started it.To be fair, the last episode was a lot better than I had expected. The story was not surprising in contrast to what several reviewers have said (sorry!), nor was it powerful or did it carry an important message. BUT, if you liked Perfect Blue and similar series/movies, you may well like this too. Plus, it is only 13 episodes long. You could do worse things than watch this.