Mousou Dairinin (Paranoia Agent)

The infamous Shounen Bat (Lil' Slugger) is terrorizing the residents of Musashino City. Flying around on his rollerblades and beating people down with a golden baseball bat, the assailant seems impossible to catch—much less understand. His first victim, the well-known yet timid character designer Tsukiko Sagi, is suspected of orchestrating the attacks. Believed only by her anthropomorphic pink stuffed animal, Maromi, Tsukiko is just one of Shounen Bat's many victims.

As Shounen Bat continues his relentless assault on the town, detectives Keiichi Ikari and Mitsuhiro Maniwa begin to investigate the identity of the attacker. However, more and more people fall victim to the notorious golden bat, and news of the assailant begins circulating around the town. Paranoia starts to set in as chilling rumors spread amongst adults and children alike.

Will the two detectives be able to unravel the truth behind Shounen Bat, or will the paranoia get to them first?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

The anime was awarded the Silver Prize in Animation Jury Award and Audience Award at Fantasia International Film Festival 2004 in Montreal, Canada.

Episode Videos

Tominaga, Miina
Japanese

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Staff

Cook, Justin

Producer

Tanaka, Shinsaku

Assistant Producer

Kon, Satoshi

Director, Storyboard, Original Creator

Mima, Masafumi

Sound Director

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Opening Theme

"Yume no Shima Shinen Kouen/Dream Island Obsessional Park (夢の島思念公園)" by Susumu Hirasawa

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Ending Theme

"Shiroi Oka - Maromi no Theme" by Susumu Hirasawa

More reviews

Reviews

Apr 19, 2008

Ranivus

Recommended

For those who aren't used to a Satoshi Kon anime, be prepared. They usually start off as a normal type of anime, and then take a serious turn for the surreal. As for Paranoia Agent, it starts off as a normal detective-style anime but then the plot twists and turns worse than a twist-tie on a bag of wonder bread. For those used to Satoshi Kon's work (Paprika, Tokyo Godfathers, etc), none of this is news. Personally I enjoy a good "whodunit" anime since I also love CSI, 24, Prison Break, etc. These kind of shows actually get the viewer to really think how ... its going to unfold next or guess who is the real culprit. Just for general information I watched the whole show on Cartoon Network years ago, but then I rewatched the Japanese version and let me tell you there are ALOT of things they (Cartoon Network) cut in various episodes of the show. They even took out important parts of the show that were very important to making the episode make sense. But after watching the 'uncut' version many things made sense.

Even with that extra knowledge I couldn't help but think that half the episodes had a filler feeling to them. Many times you'll wonder why certain story arcs are being told or how that person is connected to the overall story but it will all make sense in the end (except for episode 09). The character cast is extremely varied, in terms of look and personality. The details show in most of their faces.Whats most noticeable is the older the character is, the more detail their face becomes. The voice acting in the english and japanese dubs are extremely top notch as well. For the serious otakus you'll definitely notice Mamiko Noto's voice or Haruko Momoi, but if you're open minded enough to listen to the english side of the voices you'll notice good voices as well like Carrie Savage or Sam Regal. But the attention to detail don't just stop with character style and voice acting.

Character props and background art is where this show shines the most, from an artists cluttered cubicle to an otaku's room filled with figures. I could have sworn you can actually see a layer of dust on an old bookshelf. Each scene is unique and different and you can tell they put alot of time and effort on all the small details to make this show stand out better than the rest. My only gripe out the artwork is that it is very earth tone and dark. Well not really dark per se but its color scheme is very warm and brownish looking which I didn't like all that much but you will soon overcome the problem the more you watch it.

Another gripe I am not to fond of how Kon draws his characters. Some of them look very normal, ordinary and sometimes cute. But the characters who wear their personality on their sleeves look very drastic. Like abnormaly huge mouths, beady eyes, fishy lips, all very strange to look at. The most that suffers from this type of look are the male figures in the show. I'm not fond of it but im sure most people will enjoy the change of pace from all the cute moe cartoons that plage the anime world.

If you have never seen a Sat-Kon anime, I highly reccomend watching this series simply because it will definitely be a different experience that you should see for yourself. With the outrageous plot twists and holes in some parts, the story does have a few problems overall. Like I said way back in the beggining the story starts out fine then it takes a serious turn for the surreal so take that however you may but I highly recommender this to anyone who doesn't mind a crazy mind trip of "Alice in Wonderland" proportions.

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Oct 23, 2007

Venneh

Recommended

Title: Paranoia Agent

Anime: The animation production for Paranoia Agent was done by Madhouse (famous for work on Death Note and Paradise Kiss), and was directed by Satoshi Kon (famous for Perfect Blue and Paprika). It aired on Japanese television from February 2nd, 2004 to May 18th, 2004. Geneon (soon to be defunct) licensed it Stateside, and the fourth and final volume was released May 10th, 2005. The dubbed version also had a run on Adult Swim, the first of which began on May 28th, 2005, and an encore run on June 6th, 2006.

Story: The first episode kicks off with character designer (Sugi) ...

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Apr 21, 2008

Fallow

Recommended

Paranoia Agent
No. episodes - 13

Story -
It is very hard to give a rating for Paranoia agent that can be surmised using the numbers rating system. The story is quite complicated but excecuted with flair. Any dull moments serve to advance the viewers understanding of the complicated characters and scenarios. Plainly the plot revolves around a series of attacks on people who appear to be unrelated. The plot dedicates episodes to each of these victims and merges their paths together to weave a story of connections and basically highlight the power of Paranoia. This is a gritty and mature anime, it deals with issues such ... as incest, violence, technology and consumerism, blackmail, hatred, the power of the media and the power of rumours as 'Little Slugger' becomes more fiction than fact.

I won't lie - The last 5 episodes are quite mind boggling, the plot shifts focus on random people and their own issues and encounters. This may frustrate keen viewers as it felt like a MAJOR detour to me... Luckily for us, there is a plot ending and resolution. Even a little closure. I personally haven’t seen something as mentally interesting since Neon Genesis, and that's a statement!

Art –
I fully believe this series deserves such a high rating. The animation was spectacular, fluid and very accurate. Right down to small nuances in each character and the intricacies of clothing and background. Paranoias animation techniques are supposed to be an almost realistic representation of people, not the typical big eyed crazy haired anime moe styles. The same director (Satoshi Kon) also directed thriller classics Big O and Perfect Blue. Kon also directed Tokyo Godfathers, so if you have viewed these titles before you know what to expect. Paranoia Agent utilises a whole variety of cinematic techniques which serves to make the show visually interesting. The reason the art didn't warrent a full score was because in the last DvD I felt that the quality and attention to detail had taken a back seat to let the crazy plot entertain us more.

Sound -
I thought Paranoia Agent did very well with background music, often creating an eerie intensity. The Opening song was as a bizarre reflection of the show. The melody is bright and happy while the lyrics themselves sing a different story. The Opening is very ironic but pretty catchy. The Ending clip and song was really disappointing. It’s really a very simple melody and even the clip was very boring. In the directors comments Kon mentioned that he comissioned the Opening sequence to wake the viewer up, and the closing sequence to prepare the viewer to wind down and relax. Also - I watched this in the English dub, no complaints! A top job. All the VA's matched their characters very well and really brought them to life.

Characters –
If went into too much detail here I would spoil the entire enjoyment of this show. The plot is primarily supported by the assortment of complex and interesting characters. Human emotions, sensibilities and weaknesses. If you're a fan of character driven shows Paranoia Agent should fit you perfectly.
Like I previously mentioned, animation is spectacular and brings the characters to life. Points were lost because the character of ‘Lil Slugger’ was so intentionally vague and this caused me a bit of frustration throughout the series. Although that's just personal... Other than that all of them were very interesting. The characters emotions have also been animated very well, really bringing out the grit of the series and letting us empathise with them. If

Overall -
I had some very Genuine moments of ‘wtf’ because this is the sort of show that illicites, wtf moments. A good friend of mine described the series as ‘General Mind f******’ pardon the language – but that perfectly summarises my thoughts too. If your into being messed around with and fantastic animation this show would be right up your alley. It’s bizarre, intense and very intruiging. Understanding human nature is essentially what this show deals with IMO so be prepared to have to think!
Totally recomend this!
BUT If you're distressed easily I would steer clear of this title because it can be quite confronting.

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Poll: Mousou Dairinin Episode 8 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Frash - Oct 4, 2008	188 replies	by evildubs »» Yesterday, 2:13 PM
Poll: Mousou Dairinin Episode 5 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) kawaiimisato - Apr 8, 2009	133 replies	by maxmur »» May 27, 11:02 PM
Poll: Mousou Dairinin Episode 9 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) kuchitsu - Sep 23, 2008	105 replies	by maxmur »» May 27, 10:08 PM
Poll: Mousou Dairinin Episode 3 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Arashi89 - Aug 7, 2009	83 replies	by evildubs »» May 25, 9:47 PM
Poll: Mousou Dairinin Episode 4 Discussion ( 1 2 ) kawaiimisato - Apr 8, 2009	72 replies	by Lasha123 »» May 24, 7:04 AM

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Mousou Dairinin

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Characters & Voice Actors

Shounen Bat

Sagi, Tsukiko

Maniwa, Mitsuhiro

Ikari, Keiichi

Maromi

Chono, Harumi

Old Man

Ikari, Misae

Taira, Yuichi

Kamome

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