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| The conclusion was great. You can't run away from reality, or hide behind lies forever. It was a great moment when Sagi finally realized that. Props to this show for actually making sense, unlike a lot of other "DEEP" anime that waste episodes going on about nothing, only to have a shitty conclusion. Giving it a 8/10 |
| I understand why some feel frustrated by the second half of the anime. It presented itself as a realistic thriller but quickly went into insanity. I enjoyed it, even though I prefer endings that are more explanatory. It was an interesting and beautiful story that will leave marks on you. But I wouldn't blame those who feel somewhat disappointed. It's hard to deal with the transition between realism and fantasy. |
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| Ummm, needless to say that after watching "Paprika", i've given up to watch other Kon's works. But this, this is truly a masterpiece. |
| Well, episode 8 blew my mind.. It bothered me how they didn't die after taking all of those pills, and then I find out from the picture at the end that they had been dead the whole time. It then made me wonder if everyone in the episodes before that were actually dead as well. Then when it started showing the different worlds that people had created, it made me think of What Dreams May Come. All of these people had killed themselves and they were re-living their past lives, they were in purgatory. Forced to live the same thing over and over, as you can see with the old man at the end. He is now younger and going to do the same thing until he is old again. When the detectives wife had a choice of what level she wanted to go to after she had died, that's when it hit home. It is all based on Dante's Inferno. http://www.4degreez.com/misc/dante-inferno-information.html It was interesting reading all of your theories though, and wondering how people can build up so much in their mind out of nothing. It's kind of like listening to a bunch of art critics. |
| 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 |
09890Jan 18, 2012 7:36 AM
| well i guess this episode answered a few questions but when put into simple terms.. didn't all this occur over a dog?! I can see why people enjoy this anime, its very hard hitting and certainly makes you think maybe one day (in the very distant future) i may contemplate watching it again.. but for me the storyline just went off track and even this episode couldn't save it for me, what started off a great anime turned out to be a mediocore and concfusing one IMO. |
Sheepdude said: The shows in the middle, which seemed unrelated to the actual events, actually advanced the motif of the show. The housewives talking showed just how the stories of shounen bat were feeding off the hysteria of the public. The three people who tried to commit suicide were also feeding shounen bat's energy by looking to death as a way to escape reality, which is exactly what shounen bat's purpose is. I enjoyed this show immensely. It's a very poignant story about how escaping from reality does more harm than facing it. This. I'm sure Satoshi Kon had those episodes put in for this point even knowing that most average viewers would be too confused by what's going on & how it relates to the plot they'd seen to enjoy the episode. They were very very well IMO, and it's really hard to call Satoshi Kon's work not-entertaining (also IMO). My question then: is it a director's job to make a show that everyone enjoys all the time or to make a show that gets across the point he/she wants to get across as masterfully as possible? Ideally, you'd want both, but looking at Paranoia Agent, I get the feeling it's more (b) than (a) for the average viewer. I don't wrong him for that, but find it hard to rate this masterpiece as a result. So, I'm probably never going to rate this anime though it will always be one of my faves. :) |
Ani-BlastFeb 3, 2012 11:27 PM
| きみ は だれ だい？ ぼく は ラムボ！ ぼく は だれ だい？ きみ は ラムボ！ ラムボ なんでし！ |
Al3xaG said: 5. The story is centered in a loop of time. The old crazy guy even says this at the end of the ed theme if you didn't catch it by the way ep 1 and 13 have the same scenes. So we can assume that his calculations are related to this, being the only person to realize and going crazy after it, yet the ones who suspected about it, instead of talking about him as a crazy person, call him a wise man. Hmm, I think this is wrong. The series isn't centered in a loop of time but rather in a loop of acts and consequences. That is, the process is cyclical, but more in the way that humans will always trip over the same stone. The rest of the post is very spot on, though. I think what makes this series difficult is that it changes constantly in perspective, that is, it starts being a show about real happenings, but as it grows the reality is less and less tangible and in the late part of the show the surrealism and metaphor takes over any logic that was there before. What Satoshi Kon did here, and pretty brilliantly, was mixing the two worlds (reality and hallucination) and make them collide. There is one very interesting shot in this final episode which shows the real nature of Maromi. As many people already said, Maromi and Shounen Bat are the result of not facing your own problems, that is, of hiding behind the comfortability or of denying them. Kon criticizes both and, interestingly, Maromi takes a secondary role during most of the series, like something that is there but remains unnoticed. In the last episode, in which its nature is finally fully shown, there is a moment in which the plush jumps and tries to contain the advance of the Shounen Bat (transformed into a big dark mass). However, its efforts are useless and ends up being part of it and increasing its strength. This shows pretty well how both things feed each other, and while they seem to be contradictory, they are actually the same in a different wrapper. |
| What a great series. In retrospect the similarities between Shonen Bat and Maromi are kinda obvious as both of them serve to release the pressure of the people in their own way. However, none of their long-time effects are lasting. People need to take responsibility to resolve their problems, this is the moral I draw from this anime. |
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| o.o Lol. Oh Maniwa, how you've become that old man. The ending scene before the ending music reminded me of episode one. What an endless cycle. It's amazing how much we'll stretch the truth in order to make ourselves feel better and then the way it manifests. Crazy shiat. To live or to not live, that is the question. Though in this anime it seemed to me that it's far better to face reality than to make up excuses or suicide. |
| HEY! |
| This is one series I know I'll be rewatching, because every episode -- even the second half "filler" episodes -- seem to have contributed more to the overarching story than they let on at the time. Even episode 5, which was put in context by both episode 7 and episode 11. It's interesting to note that the equation Maniwa was solving at the end was exactly the same as the old man's equation from episode 1. So, assuming that the answer is once again 510, I wonder what significance it will have for the new "paranoia agent." eucalyptustree16 said: 7.79 is too low for a series of this level though... This puzzles me, too. There are plenty of anime on MAL that I rate higher than the MAL average, even though I objectively know why they have the averages they do. But I don't know why Paranoia Agent has the average it does -- I feel like it deserves half a point higher than 7.79. |
| This whole serie was all the time insane and something else.. strange But anyway, I enjoyed to watch this and episode 13 "Final Episode" was good. 4/5 |
"A half moon, it has a dark half and a bright half, just like me…", Yuno Gasai |
| All that for a damn dog. Lol This has to be up there for one of the weirdest anime I've ever watched. Overall, I enjoyed "parts" of it, but not all of it. Still an interesting anime nonetheless. |
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| wow, I don't know what to say. I'm still reeling, might have to sleep on it. As most people have said, it is definitely a good look at how we should own up and face our own realities instead of hiding behind the media and technology. The scenes where everyone was on their phones or computers really hit me hard. Especially in the last episode. People do what they can to escape reality because reality is harsh and it is tough to deal with. Also I viewed Shonen Bat as guilt. It starts out as something small when you first lie about it. But as things progress and you re-confirm your lie and try to play it up more that guilt grows as well. But now that you've played it up it's harder to admit that it was a lie in the first place. Hence how Shonen Bat continued to grow and get larger and more beast like as well as why he started killing people instead of just hurting them. It's that progression. End the escapism, own up to reality and admit to your guilt. We are social creatures and our social interactions are important and instead of hiding behind technology we should experience reality for what it is. Still a lot more to analyze, I liked it though. |
Yonah said: 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 truly started off so great, but ended so terribly and so I rate it 6/10 Your poor thing! Not much of a thinker huh? LOL Anyways I'm glad to hear so many people have enjoyed and taken in so many different things from this series. Lets try to keep in mind this is one of those rare amazing works that can be interpreted any way you want! There is no right or wrong answer here. I personally very much enjoyed the imaginative surrealistic psychological rampage this series turned out to be. Thought the time loop especially was a nice touch! But what was most important to me was the message about escaping reality and hiding behind lies and how they can be very damaging to ones life and psyche. What Satoshi Kon always seemed to do the best was taking very real characters with very real every day problems, reflecting a society all too familiar to us, and twisting and turning things in to one giant clusterfuck of insanity and chaos by using that surrealistic dreamlike quality that seems to spawn from the characters own inner demons. He truly had one hell of an imagination, RIP. |
LayedBackJul 14, 2012 7:51 PM
| Signature removed. Please follow the signature rules, as defined in the Site & Forum Guidelines. |
| "Excuses get you no where. When you're cornered, you just have to face it and not rely on lies to get you out. Though it's the hard way, its the only path to true joy" That's what im going with where the theme is concerned |
| Yeah, I get what it was trying to do. I spent a lot of time thinking about each of the episodes, and the meaning behind them. I think if anything I've just come out of this series feeling more annoyed than anything else. I'm all for mindf*ck, surreal, symbolic, anime that makes me really stop and reflect on humanity etc but this just rubbed me the wrong way. Also I want to smack Tsukiko in the face. |
| Very symbolic, philosophical and educational show if i would say. 8/10 |
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| Crap, I cried... Poor Maromi... It was... so heartbreaking scene... |
| It was pretty good. But then again, some episodes were really strange. I enjoyed it though, but it's really something else. |
| Not a bad show. I had a feeling that everything was just a giant metaphor for Tsukiko's mind dealing with the guilt over losing Maromi. That explains pretty much everything and leaves there no supernatural. First of all, notice that in the first episode, she "loses" a picture of a dog under a car and afterwards she fakes being attacked by Shounen Bat. That starts the whole phenomenon. Accident? I think not. It's exactly the same thing as happened to her in the past. I think it IS the same thing, it's just how her mind portrayed it in order to finally get over the guilt. Meaning Tsukiko's life is all made up (everyone disliking her could show how she feels people see her after losing Maromi). It explains why Maromi is so popular and why he "lives", it simply mirrors her wish to have him back. That's why the plushie turned into the real dog. The people are all part of her mind too but they are people she met/saw before. Back to the plot. The reason why Maromi didn't want her to leave was because her made up world put her at peace and she knew she would have to face cruel reality if she left. The reason why Shounen Bat is eating everyone while they are going crazy over Maromi is because her wish for fake happiness gets destroyed by reality and the lies she created. At the end we see the real world where everyone acts like nothing had happened. I think that the stuff that reference the events in her mind were all "added" by her mind to make her realise the importance of not getting over guilt through lies. The reason why it ends with a possibility of repeating is because someone might do it again and so the same story starts happening in their head all over. |
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| 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! |
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| 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. |
| 6.5/10 |
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| 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
| 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. |
| 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* |
Fadeway said: Everything is perfectly real and clear in this anime, there's no "mystery" or stuff like that, i think you misunderstood few things.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. 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) |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| Why they showed the dog's death? now I'm crying :X |
| EL PSY KONGROO!!! |
| 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. |
LaShimi said: 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.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. |
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| 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. |
| 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! |
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