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Mar 25, 2013 9:53 PM
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Oct 2012
4
At 3:30, that wasn't Taeko Hirukawa in the bed was it? This show is already too dark. That couldn't be the case right?
May 5, 2013 2:50 AM
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Aug 2011
1165
I will give this an 8 out of 10. Because it raised my expectations so much and in the end couldn't satisfy me as much as I thought it would. It is not like I didn't like the style or I didn't understand what is going on, but I expected a better ending. Still, the idea behind deserves a 9 easily.
May 8, 2013 7:34 PM

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Aug 2007
1490
8/10

This was a very good anime, mostly because the themes were so raw and real for today's society. Running away from your problems is all too common and accepted. Using pop culture to forget about reality is something we don't like to admit, but almost everyone is immersed in it. Though it's not necessarily a bad thing, some people can't handle the pressure and make excuses, some of them detrimental to others because they are incredibly selfish.

I suppose there were a couple of parts I wasn't to interested and I really wanted to know more about Maniwa, which leaves me feeling I can't score this a perfect. But it's very good, nonetheless!

May 13, 2013 9:38 AM

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Jul 2010
100
A bad show. Considering my experience with Paprika, I guess I just don't like Satoshi Kon.

Unrealistic. Pretentious. Dumb. I don't mind a show being trippy, if, in the end, the mystery is resolved in a realistic manner. Everyone hallucinating is not a realistic conclusion. Take away the pretense and all you have left is a really bad thriller with a senseless conclusion. By being pretentious and "tackling" "problems" such as depression and the escape from reality, this show seems to successfully get a pass on telling any sort of story, much less a good one.

I wish I could give this a 1 or 2, but it's a 4/10, which is high for my average of 5.17. I did get some enjoyment out of watching, even if I'm terribly disappointed. I wouldn't have such strong feelings about this show if it was so bad as to not even get me to care, but it did have its moments and it's really sad that the author preferred to be trippy instead of coherent.
Jun 6, 2013 8:52 PM

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Jan 2013
11047
6.5/10
Jun 18, 2013 6:48 AM

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Feb 2010
343
Hail Misae! T_T


...well, the dark side of humanity, such as paranoia, can actually destroy our society, our civilization, and it's more effective than war.

Maniwa become the old man's successor...
...someday, there will also be something which become the successor of lil slugger and maromi, something similar to them.

8/10 for Paranoia Agent.
10/10 for this episode.
YangbojianJun 19, 2013 4:02 AM
Jun 25, 2013 5:02 AM

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Jan 2012
13
Gawd damnit, how disappointing. It started off so thrilling, but then went completely random.

Seriously, is there any cheaper way to conclude a complex story than by saying "It's all in your heads!"??
I don't think so.

4/10, at best.
Jul 10, 2013 2:55 PM
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Jun 2013
4
Well, that was a fine ride. Somehow this show put me at ease.
Aug 7, 2013 5:51 PM

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Aug 2013
44
I don't know if it occurred to anyone else, but I thought the "ani" was maybe short for aniki (big brother)? You know because Maniwa followed so closely in the old man's footsteps and everything repeats, it's almost like a kyoudai type relationship. Another random question- does that mean the old lady is like the equivalent of Tsukiko? Regardless, beautiful ending episode and beautiful work in general.
*facepalm*
Aug 29, 2013 6:45 AM

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Feb 2013
812
Fadeway said:
Unrealistic. Pretentious. Dumb. I don't mind a show being trippy, if, in the end, the mystery is resolved in a realistic manner. Everyone hallucinating is not a realistic conclusion. Take away the pretense and all you have left is a really bad thriller with a senseless conclusion. By being pretentious and "tackling" "problems" such as depression and the escape from reality, this show seems to successfully get a pass on telling any sort of story, much less a good one.
Everything is perfectly real and clear in this anime, there's no "mystery" or stuff like that, i think you misunderstood few things.

Mousou Dairinin is obviously about how S.Kon sees the fragilities of the japanese population, fragilities mixing social pressure (working conditions) and personal traumas. Shonen bat does not exist. And he exists. He does not exist simply because as it is revealed in the second half of the show, Sagi made it up, just to be able to handle her Dad's pressure. This imaginary excuse is then used by other people to also handle their personal problems and get a bit of relief, allowing them to think (wrongly) they do not have full control of their lives (a way to escape reality). He also exists because a young boy suddenly decides to imitate this non-existing, rumored, Shonen Bat, and so ... creates him and makes him "stronger". He tried to escape reality creating an imaginary world, and imaginary ennemies, but in the end the exact opposite happens: he made the imaginary Shonen Bat a reality. Although the fact Shonen Bat is real or not is secondary, he's just a pretext revealing the weakness of a people who decides to use it/him, consciously or not, who "calls" him, the "cornered" people.

About the old man writting on the ground, he maybe does not even exist, he's just a symbol, an all seeing-eye. All those formulas represent the complexity of the population paranoïa. The result being the number of Sagi's hospital room is just a wink, telling us she's the starting point of all this.

Concerning the episode about suicide, in my opinion it contains a lot of keys to understand S.Kon message. Remember that noone is killed by Shonen bat, only injuried. This is a way to tell "you cannot ecape reality, if you do, you'll be punished, because reality remains, reality hurts, regardless how hard you try to esccape from it". It's the same with those people failing at suicide, they are not allowed to die because they're just escaping reality once again. The only persons really dying are the ones gathering enough courage to face reality, those are the fake Shonen Bat (successful suicide) admiting the whole stuff, and also Misae, who tells Shonen Bat (she's in fact talking to herself, of if you prefer she's facing the paranoïa, and refusing it) she won't turn back and will do what she has to do. She then ends dying from her dicease. The message is simple i guess: only those who decide to face reality, once and for all, are allowed to "rest in peace (of mind)".

A few more things about the end, this black matter symbolises the global paranoïa the town is enduring. "It" is able to attack, and also to defends itself, another way to picture how "alive" is the thing, also refering to the episode in which women discuss Shonen bat stories and make up some. This wave of lies, fears, etc ... invades and covers the whole city, it is unstoppable and self-sustained, but still defeated when once again the person, Sagi here, faces reality and apologizes to the dog, thus admitting Shonen bat (the black matter) does not exist. Then everything is back to normal, but the all seeing-eye, now Maniwa, still have formulas to write, because people will always keep struggling against reality, this is a never ending battle.

I think this is a very good show, playing with the viewer while still being easy to reach.
sed_lexAug 29, 2013 6:49 AM
My list - "Let's share our lame sides" (Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou)
Sep 7, 2013 3:05 AM

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Aug 2012
1127
This show was hit and miss for me. Some episodes were brilliant and some - waste of time.
The ending was a let down. I like the message of the anime, but the implementation of it was deceitful. What happened to all the characters' development, thriller, drama, etc from the first half of the show?
I loved how Maniwa took the place of the old man though.
And I'm going to miss the opening and ending. They were so relaxing to me...

Saskatoon said:
At 3:30, that wasn't Taeko Hirukawa in the bed was it?


Yeah I thought the same thing.
Dec 6, 2013 10:33 PM

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Mar 2013
155
Something that everyone has to remember is that each arc and mini arc are displayed through the eyes of a person combating some mental disease/ flaw. This allows for things to appear stylized and excessive, when they probably aren't through other's eyes.

This anime is about paranoia and how it spreads epidemically through urban society. It is also about how people wish to withdraw to their own idealized worlds when things go wrong/ they feel cornered.
Jan 10, 2014 10:51 AM

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Mar 2013
518
Why they showed the dog's death? now I'm crying :X
EL PSY KONGROO!!!
Jan 12, 2014 5:40 AM

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Nov 2012
170
while i enjoyed the show a fair amount as a whole, its overarching message about depression &/or mental health is, quite frankly, disgusting. equating suicidal tendencies/desires with weakness (o! thank god we have our rational manly man former detective to put that emotional woman of his in check!) completely elides any sort of understanding of what it means to be suicidal. in fact, i'd rather venture that suicidal tendencies arise when one forces oneself to stare "reality" (which keiichi keeps banging on about) right in its ugly, twisted, horrifying face. but that's neither here nor there. the show ended up equating modern (neoliberal) society with a grand delusory machine (a very, very fair point) but then seemed to still unfairly demand that people take entire, complete & unquestioning responsibility. once tsukiko accepts her guilt, shonen bat disappears, certainly leaving destruction in his wake, but he disappears nonetheless. grand-scale delusions then become the responsibility of one person. perhaps that sentence doesn't strike others as odd, but to me that just sounds like a completely incorrect formulation. (i am more than willing to admit that maybe i'm oversimplifying here &/or am missing vital counterpoints that could contest me.)

i must admit, however, that with the appearance of funya at least the show admits (somewhat begrudgingly) that the delusory machine is in some sense autonomous, that delusions generate themselves sui generis & seemingly ad infinitum BECAUSE THEY ARE REQUIRED TO DO SO BY THE STRUCTURE OF MODERN SOCIETY. which i assume was the whole point of the show - that the problem with modern society is that is one big massive oozing pretender. that, at least, is an interesting point; it's one i only half-agree with, but i still find it interesting. the show, however, just kinda felt half-hearted with that conviction & instead liked to unfairly thrust blame onto characters. it just sort of felt like the show was thrusting someone with depression into a chair & saying "you take responsibility for your choices & your unhappiness". it just utterly lacked compassion. it was bordering on inhumane.

tl;dr: the show seemed to say that modern society forces people to weave delusions, but then only implicitly criticises society for doing so & instead unfairly places all of the blame on the characters themselves etc. etc.

on a side note, at times it looked like the show was making the claim that phenomenal "reality" was just an interlinked series of individuals' delusions (which seems a pretty fair claim to me), but it never really took that possibility to heart & just ended up like it did which i think wasted some potential. that's, however, a rather minor point.

i did enjoy this show, by the way, despite this ramble. i just take issues with what i perceive as its gruff, almost uncaring handling of a very delicate subject matter. but that is, inevitably, just my opinion.

quick edit: i'm probably equating mental health issues with delusions far too much, but i feel like the show kept doing that anyway. so i apologise for doing so, but it does in a way feel necessary.
Jan 29, 2014 2:04 AM
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Jul 2018
564612
Saskatoon said:
At 3:30, that wasn't Taeko Hirukawa in the bed was it? This show is already too dark. That couldn't be the case right?


She was shown sitting on a swing around 15 minutes in to the episode 13, getting eaten by that black thing. That person in bed is probably a random boy which implies that Makabe (mafia guy) is homosexual.
Apr 13, 2014 3:42 AM

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Feb 2013
1690
ufufufu said:
Ryderj said:
I assumed it was in their heads. Or more accurately, the collective unconscious of the main people affected. The city being destroyed seemed to me more like a metaphor than Maromi and black goo literally destroying everything.

except when ikari came out of the underground, the city was practically leveled and he mentioned that it was like "after the war"
not to mentioned when it timeskipped to two years later the news guy mentioned that the 'tokyo rebuild effort' was nearly completed

I think the metaphor idea makes more sense, and why would it have to end where it started, at the goo that is. The "rebuild effort" could just be moving on from Maromi (who is also the lil slugger, which would possibly mean people aren't using him as an excuse anymore). I mean, they show Sagi look at a big screen with a new cat character which shows that Maromi has passed on.

Also, that could tie in with the idea that the equation at the end involved the idea that another person will make an excuse to their mistake and will affect many others again. The equation might be the statistical prediction of that in human nature, but that's just guesstimate.

But I think the lil slugger, and everything that happened, was psychological and not physical directly. I think that other people used lil slugger as an excuse for their mistakes as his popularity grew, and the black mass could be a metaphor of that fact of those who turned to little slugger in their time of paranoia.

So, Paranoia Agent would mean that the lil slugger is the agent (person taking the place of another) for people's paranoia (fear of persecution - which directly relates to Sagi's situation).
Jul 19, 2014 10:03 PM

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Nov 2012
4804
LaShimi said:
Gawd damnit, how disappointing. It started off so thrilling, but then went completely random.

Seriously, is there any cheaper way to conclude a complex story than by saying "It's all in your heads!"??
I don't think so.

4/10, at best.
it wasn't even cheap, like at all. What exactly makes it 'cheap'? It seems more of you not understanding and trying to make it sound like it was a bad ending because of your inability to comprehend what went on.
Aug 9, 2014 9:50 AM

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Jan 2013
108
That was hard to understand ... I even have a slight headache now after finishing the show. Irrols sums up all the shows content and message pretty well, and in hindsight, it was good. I wouldn't recommend it to everyone though, it was too confusing and even boring at some parts.
Aug 23, 2014 4:05 PM

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May 2012
25827
This last episode sure didn't stop being less weird or disturbing, I mean damn that dog really? Seriously though this anime is pretty fucked up and I still can't figure out what I actually watched in the end, what was this about anyway? It was interesting though but still weird and fucked up!
Aug 23, 2014 9:18 PM

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May 2014
1050
RafaelDeJongh said:
This last episode sure didn't stop being less weird or disturbing, I mean damn that dog really? Seriously though this anime is pretty fucked up and I still can't figure out what I actually watched in the end, what was this about anyway? It was interesting though but still weird and fucked up!
In a nutshell, it's about Japan's stress-filled culture and suicide problems.
Anyone who doesn't hate anime hasn't watched enough anime.
- Anonymous
Sep 17, 2014 2:13 PM

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Jul 2010
2005
Interesting concept, interesting style.
I don't think the execution went as well as it could have, but I'm using traditional anime as a standard so it's hard to evaluate.

I enjoyed the idea of how escaping reality is much easier than facing our problems. It's a conundrum that I face every day - watching anime or writing to get through a hard day, while postponing work that needs to get done.
But in the end we'll always do it again, even if we remedy what we've done in the past, as shown by the people yelling "it's not my fault!" on the train once more, and Maniwa taking over the previous old man's job and finding the same answers.

I give the anime an 8 out of 10. The idea has incredible potential. But, I rate on enjoyment purely, and while this show had some incredible moments, in the end it became too dense and convoluted. Maybe that was the point, and if I were more interested I might have enjoyed picking out all the symbolism and representation.
fishergirl16Sep 17, 2014 2:18 PM
Sep 19, 2014 3:11 PM
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Nov 2011
48
nice. it came all together wonderfully. I loved the final episode. there are a few things that still confusing, but I think somehow it's supposed to help to say what the show has to say. delusions of the society nowadays and the media. I like deep massages and good production. to be honest I thought we'd never know what's going on! but I'm really glad we do know, kinda? LOL loved the show.
Sep 22, 2014 4:58 PM

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Jul 2008
1427
In the end I feel like all the speculating what everything really means doesn't matter, and you should see the show as an episodic thing instead of one big narrative.

It's a show about people running away from their problems. That's all you need to know.
Nov 13, 2014 1:29 AM

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Apr 2009
2791
feels like Paprika. I still prefer the first half of this show.
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Jan 6, 2015 7:11 AM

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Dec 2011
1811
So, this was an odd mix of Paprika and Perfect Blue. 8/10.
Jan 11, 2015 4:32 AM

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Oct 2008
4666
one of the greatest anime ever. can't believe no one really talks about this anymore. this has the best directing of any anime tv series i've yet seen.
the episode with the three suicidals is one of the greatest things......in this world.
Jan 31, 2015 2:55 PM

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Jun 2011
53
BigSimo said:
one of the greatest anime ever. can't believe no one really talks about this anymore. this has the best directing of any anime tv series i've yet seen.
the episode with the three suicidals is one of the greatest things......in this world.


No.
Mar 2, 2015 6:21 PM

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Jun 2014
37
This was a bad series and I only kept watching it because of the amazing opening. I kept thinking, "maybe it's going to get really interesting in this next episode."

Half of the episodes are about random characters that are never seen or heard from again. The other half is just a random urban legend story.
Mar 10, 2015 10:03 PM

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Sep 2014
4303
I was pretty ambivalent towards this series at first, some of those episodes that didn't seem to relate to the main plot were pretty boring, whereas others were more interesting.

But overall, I did really enjoy this anime, even though I couldn't quite wrap my head around exactly what it is the anime is trying to convey.
It also has one my favourite opening themes, and I love how eerie and bizarre the intro of the laughing people is.
Mar 14, 2015 1:49 AM
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Oct 2011
110
Anime was a giant mind f$&&k for me I enjoyed the story even though I couldn't understand it. Nevertheless I enjoyed it and that's all that matters is guess love the opening and ending
May 2, 2015 8:10 PM

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Feb 2015
1090
As expected with Satoshi Kon. This was quite the watch.
devinderOct 5, 2016 10:46 AM
Jun 20, 2015 6:35 PM

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Oct 2008
101
These last 3 episodes were just too much for me, too much suspension of disbelief, not enough coherent mystery, too surreal and bizarre and lacked any suspense. Maniwa randomly being a super hero with no explanation really got on my nerves, it was so detached from the rest of the series that it felt like I had missed out on a few episodes because it's just randomly there in your face without any explanation. As for Shonen Bat himself, kind of interesting, but not interesting enough for me to care at this point, it's gone on too long for me and it's gotten too ridiculous. Morphing into a giant tidal wave of black sludge is too much for me to realistically believe or care about. The detectives story was also underwhelming and cliche(and by cliche I mean in that general weird dreamlike state you see in a million shows that happens for characters to come to some sort of realization), the fake world he was in was amusing but the way he comes to his realization that he needs to stop hiding from reality to me was too cliche and honestly never redeems the character for being a gigantic piece of shit for abandoning and avoiding his wife. If he had some mental breakdown and started pleading to her or made some actual attempt to talk to her before she died maybe then I'd give a shit, but he doesn't, like almost every character in this show he's mostly unlikable. There's also the bizarre thing with Maniwa basically becoming the old man which I'm sure has some sort of clever meaning I'm not seeing but it's so on the nose and again unbelievable, now he's an old crazy man doing the same shit the other one was after being a superhero for no apparent reason for 2 episodes. I can't suspend my disbelief this much, I could handle Shonen Bat being some sort of ghost/mythological being that attacked those in need of escape from their current predicaments but that was about as far as I can go. Overall, a disappointing end, but not bad, just not as good as I'd hoped. Some very good episodes throughout but ultimately it doesn't all come together as well as it should for me.

7/10
PANDEMlCJun 20, 2015 6:52 PM
Jun 24, 2015 3:38 PM

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Oct 2014
3645
09890 said:
Highly disappointed in this series.

The first four episodes were great, then episode five was ridiculous and just threw the whole series off for how great it was getting. Then there was a bunch of good episodes, and then this ending to top it all off.. I can't say that I am satisfied with how it ended at all.

True, the story was very sad about how the puppy was hit by the car, but it's pathetic how it caused the world to get so destructed and to even come to the end of the world. Just wait, what? is this show taking itself seriously?

It seems that the show was given all this complexity within its plot, but in the end, it was all for a little reason. Especially taking in account that there are so many more people who suffer far more pain, suffering, distress than Tsukiko. Although I do think this Anime is clever and interesting in its own light, it was like the show was just trying too hard to be complex and deep.

It truly started off so great, but ended so terribly and so I rate it 6/10

Totally agreed 6/10
Aug 25, 2015 1:05 AM

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Jul 2014
126
PANDEMlC said:
These last 3 episodes were just too much for me, too much suspension of disbelief, not enough coherent mystery, too surreal and bizarre and lacked any suspense. Maniwa randomly being a super hero with no explanation really got on my nerves, it was so detached from the rest of the series that it felt like I had missed out on a few episodes because it's just randomly there in your face without any explanation. As for Shonen Bat himself, kind of interesting, but not interesting enough for me to care at this point, it's gone on too long for me and it's gotten too ridiculous. Morphing into a giant tidal wave of black sludge is too much for me to realistically believe or care about. The detectives story was also underwhelming and cliche(and by cliche I mean in that general weird dreamlike state you see in a million shows that happens for characters to come to some sort of realization), the fake world he was in was amusing but the way he comes to his realization that he needs to stop hiding from reality to me was too cliche and honestly never redeems the character for being a gigantic piece of shit for abandoning and avoiding his wife. If he had some mental breakdown and started pleading to her or made some actual attempt to talk to her before she died maybe then I'd give a shit, but he doesn't, like almost every character in this show he's mostly unlikable. There's also the bizarre thing with Maniwa basically becoming the old man which I'm sure has some sort of clever meaning I'm not seeing but it's so on the nose and again unbelievable, now he's an old crazy man doing the same shit the other one was after being a superhero for no apparent reason for 2 episodes. I can't suspend my disbelief this much, I could handle Shonen Bat being some sort of ghost/mythological being that attacked those in need of escape from their current predicaments but that was about as far as I can go. Overall, a disappointing end, but not bad, just not as good as I'd hoped. Some very good episodes throughout but ultimately it doesn't all come together as well as it should for me.

7/10


Maniwa, Tsukiki, and the pack of them were all dealing with some level of psychotic hallucinations? The show strongly hinted to that.... well, until it confirmed the destruction of parts of Tokyo (in episode 13) to be real, which is where the suspension of disbelief gets truly broken.

(Also you mischaracterized "suspension of disbelief". It's the normal thing you do every time you watch or read fiction. It's the breaking of suspension of disbelief that is a bad thing).
Sep 28, 2015 2:43 PM

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Jul 2015
205
so disappointing tbh
Oct 12, 2015 4:14 AM
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May 2012
7011
O........kay.
I think, I get it. At least, the lesson is clear to me.
Need to watch more of Satoshi Kon's work.
Nov 14, 2015 8:37 AM

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Apr 2013
29
So the message of the story was to face things as they are, to own up to the reality of things. Which was emphasized by the cop I forget his name, when the girl took on the form of his daughter, which was a lie. When the wife kept appearing as a young lady which was a lie. The times when they appeared in that fake city was when they were intoxicated or on drugs, excluding the little girl, which was to escape reality. Which is why the thief that the cop reunited with seemed to be familiar with that fake imaginary world, because he had been escaping too. The cops partner the guy with the sword never existed, but he manifested into the real world from the old man, which is why at the end he was drawing on the ground with the chalk. If you pay attention he took serious injuries when fighting shounen bat he somehow survived all of it. The old lady is the same, she does not actually exist, which explains how she survived the tsunami. Basically everyone was trying to escape from something, and they either got confronted by shounen bat who took them out of their misery so to speak, or took to masomi or w.e the dolls name is to escape as well. Which is why when she accepted that it was not shounen bat, and hugged the dog, shounen bat left her alone said goodbye. Also to prove the point further, when the cops wife confronted shounen bat, look at how she is accepting things, and how he goes crazy because of her complete acceptance of reality. My guess is that she showed up there because the doctors drugged her. I probably did not explain everything but you get the gist of it, anyway I liked the idea, and the way they presented it was pretty good, but for choosing such a small problem, they kind of took away the impact of the story.

With this in mind the episodes that I thought had no meaning actually contributed greatly to the story, but just like perfect blue its hard to realize things WHILE watching, it isn't until the end that you get that aha moment.
SnipaNov 14, 2015 8:48 AM
Nov 19, 2015 8:10 AM

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Jan 2012
31481
RafaelDeJongh said:
This last episode sure didn't stop being less weird or disturbing, I mean damn that dog really? Seriously though this anime is pretty fucked up and I still can't figure out what I actually watched in the end, what was this about anyway? It was interesting though but still weird and fucked up!

Jan 7, 2016 2:56 PM

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May 2015
1829
That was some ending. I really didn't expect the old man in the end to be Mariwa; I gasped when I saw his face, how tragic.

The two or three episodes that seemed irrelevant dropped my score from an 8 to a 6, but these past two episodes have bumped it up to a solid 7. Not the best anime ever, but definitely worth watching.
"It's a tragic misunderstanding that could have been easily avoided if he just finished his sentence in time!"

— Richard Watterson (The Amazing World of Gumball)
Jan 30, 2016 4:48 PM

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Dec 2015
1071
Well it was mostly predictable (besides it happening cause of a dog...) and was not to my liking. The first half was good I thought then it just went left field with everything for no reason. Before anyone replies to this saying I didn't understand it; I understood everything perfectly well and I still think its a crap show. I don't understand how people can see this as a masterpiece, but to each his own. I love psychological anime with crazy twist and heavy symbolism, but this just seemed like someone put together a bunch of random things to show a message about escapism, delusions, and facing reality. I wish I could get my time back for the 13 episodes I watched.

4/10
Jan 30, 2016 5:27 PM

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Sep 2013
427
My favorite episode is Suicide Grup
Mar 18, 2016 7:57 PM

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Jul 2013
43
Good show with a good plot, I didn't think it was confusing at all, but it was a mess, it kind remind me of Paprika (except that in Paprika I feel like the mess was intended/better worked) like you can't even say if that supernatural stuff is canon, a bad point (for me), but overall a good show. 7/10
charlerwMar 18, 2016 8:02 PM
Apr 11, 2016 9:52 PM

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Feb 2009
58
Well that ending is actually quite beautiful for this anime. I know you guys wont wanna read my novel. But Ill just say this.

Basically I believe there are mnay ways you could've perceived what happened.

First off ,we know Shounen Bat really didnt exist. Sagi made him up. But what about everyone getting attacked? Amnesia etc? Well I think this is because this entire anime/story was told from how SAGI saw the world... except the Detective, Maniwa, who her dog(who was like.. her ptotective consicious, literally in denial of truth! We know that for a fact now) kept saying not to listen to etc, just live in her delusion. So I think all taht was was the delusion. ANd at the end we saw things a bit different. And I bet no one got attacked... maybe Taeko didnt find out her dad was a Pedo.. etc etc.

Second version would be all those things actually happened, and the whole "Shounen Bat" literally, and really was some mental facade everyone was buying, and literally beleived when brought to mental trauma/nervous breakdowns.. Now I dont know if they beat themselves with something.. or what, but its the best I got right now and it makes sense. Cause taht was a BIG message in this anime. People in denial of reality. Maybe Ichi... Taeko and the others really bought the whole SHounen Biker thing... either kenw he wasnt real, did it to themselves or truly thought they saw him in a pitch fever of mental trauma.

No one will ever know for sure.

And like it was said after the ED here.

Eternal ending, questions, answers..

Kind of way a true psychological anime/manga can leave you.

Been a fan of these types for years, and this.. was a little weak, BUT, it was very deep in the respect theres so many possibilities and I appreciated the messages.

I'm a Psychological anime veteran and it took me a long time to finally watch this... lovely OP btw.

It brung me back since it came out in 04. Back then, as a kid, I didnt know 1/8th of what I know now about life. I was innocent to the cruel side. So the messages etc resonated with me too, cause I wondered what I wouldve thought if I watched this as a kid... miss being one already.

Edit:
ANd holy crap didnt realize that was supposed to be Mariwa... taht literally means hes been witnessing ending after beginning after ending after... wow. Deep. Wouldn't be surprised if each loop is based off perception.

And btw.. if you were watching this for suspense you should've clocked out like.... on episode 7.
Jun 5, 2016 5:33 AM

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Nov 2014
4
I suppose the way you approach this series affects your opinion; people who expect an engaging thriller will likely be disappointed and I can't blame them. I, however, hoped since the start that the series conveyed this kind of message behind it and was satisfied with the result. 8/10
Jun 9, 2016 12:37 PM

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Jul 2015
179
So we're all watching anime due to an inability to cope with our daily life's reality? Nothing I wasn't already aware of.
Jun 24, 2016 10:15 AM

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Mar 2014
21290
Mindfuck overload, just the way I like my Satoshi Kon

8/10
Nico- said:
@Comic_Sans oh no y arnt ppl dieing i need more ppl dieing rly gud plot avansement jus liek tokyo ghoul if erbudy dies amirite
Conversations with people pinging/quoting me to argue about some old post I wrote years ago will not be entertained
Jun 24, 2016 3:32 PM

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Oct 2015
96
This is so Satoshi Kon

The psychological concept was extended just within a form of a single anime

Hmm I liek
Aug 13, 2016 6:24 PM

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Feb 2010
1342
Pretty intense and ghoulishly random depiction of how society's lies among other things can manifest itself lol...

6/10


Aug 25, 2016 9:06 AM

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Aug 2015
172
It was ok. I expected something more of a mindfuck. I already thought Shounen Bat was never real and something conjured up and used to escape reality. I didn't know what Marumi was, so I guess that was interesting to find out. As for the ending, I thought it was the former detective and that during his caculations he realized something like Marumi/Shounen Bat was going to happen again. Maybe that's why we saw a new stuffed animal and heard the emotional worries of people (once more hoping to escape their worries).

History is doomed to repeat itself, that sort of thing.
...At least let me finish.

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