- Characters
- Plot
- Art
- Music
Characters (8/10)
I thought that the constant struggle between the free-spirited Paprika and the cool Atsuko, as well as Atsuko's stormy romance with the man-child-genius Tokita really served to ground the show in a distinctly realistic and mature way. It comments on human identity and our deeply pent-up desires and our need for dreams to mediate between those desires and our conscious minds. I thought that the characters were loveable and vibrant and served to fulfill their numerical criteria to the extent that I gave this category an 8.
Plot (2/10)
The subversive nonstandard fragmentary dreamlike plot does not have a tight linearity that befits all the other plots for works that I love so I must give Paprika a 2 for that on the basis that plots must be justified in some objective set of criteria and function, ergo the 3 unities of Aristotle.
Art (10/10)
This is where the show really shines in a way that needs to be justified by numerical criteria. The sheer imagination of Satoshi Kon deserves a 10/10 scale because the way it was so imaginative allowed it to fulfill the objective rational criteria of exactly what an anime should be. And as seen from the fact that countless other 'imaginative' and oneiric pieces like the works of Miyazaki and Kyousogiga are also highly rated then clearly my metric must contain this aspect of 'imagination' as a fulfilling criteria. Thus logically the art must receive a 10/10.
Sound (5/10)
My music-based metric indicates that I don't find the music particularly attractive outside the context of the work. Since objective numerical criteria needs to separate the work into distinct component parts and judge them on their own basic individual merits then I don't think I should allow the Sound aspect of the work to be numerically justified. Rationally I gave this a 5.
Overall (9/10)
Numerical criteria aside the fact of the matter is that Yasutaka Tsuisui has been one of my favorite authors ever since I came across his short story collection Salmonella Men on the Planet Porno, his novel Hell and his other short story collection cum novel The Maid. Tsuisui has always been half a Kafka and half a Freudian. His stories generally are about the detritus of the human spirit and he has been the most edifying writer of humiliations; raw humanity without any romantic ornamentation other than exaggeration and laughter (the tools of Swift or Rabelais). Rumours about me for example is about a businessman that suddenly receives massive startling scrutiny from the media for no apparent reason at all. They hide in the cupboards and take notes on the amount of times he masturbates per day and what small things he eats. Its a witty commentary on the idea of 15 minutes of fame, on tabloid press, and on the small little humiliations that exist in our private life. Salmonella Men on the Planet Porno is about a utopian planet whose ruling principle is sex and erotic desire as opposed to war and aggression. The Maid is a series of stories about a psychic maid who can see into the heads of her various owners. Naturally, befitting Tsuisui's cynically satiric worldview, their heads are full of nothing but pent up lust, unjustified angers, and futile thoughts. Even his lightest and friendliest work, the Girl who Leapt through Time, is about using a device like jumping back in time to undo the small little mishaps of the day. Tsuisui has always been about placing an exaggerated focus on our small desires, our meager betrayals, our silent disgusting thoughts and our banality as human beings. In a way his works can be spiteful, vibrant, as well as touching in some cases.
Paprika, being about dreams, is the most consciously Freudian of all his works. He raises everything beyond its size here. His is a madman's Tlon, a carnivalesque outburst of different cultural symbols and subconscious imagery that Satoshi Kon masterfully paints together into a cohesive picture. Paprika speaks a language that we never quite grasp but we feel enthralled always. Furthermore the art never feels like gorgeous ornamentation in the same vein as Madoka but always has a grounding in being just a bit uncanny and despicably human.
Satoshi Kon has a mentality that syncs with Tsuisui about essential human detritus as well as humanity's constant and joyfully endearing nature amidst the trash heap. Tokyo Godfathers is about the light-hearted troubles of a series of the lowest denominator of human society. Perfect Blue is about the dark terrifying truth of the openly pretty and pure pop-idol culture. Paranoia Agent is entirely about the constant need humans have to escape from modern alienation and various other small troubles rather than confronting these things face to face. The only most openly romantic of Kon's work is Millennium Actress, being a complete homage to the idea of film and its best qualities as well as being a tightly made love story.
Apparently Tsuisui's Bianca Overstudy project is still underway. A light novel about biology and semen. For those who only know him through Paprika and The Girl who Leapt through Time this may seem like a complete twist from nowhere. People who have no idea about his other works think its some kind of ecchi show capitalizing on the market for such shows. For those who have already been indoctrinated in the darker side of Tsuisui's mad world, this is a battle cry from the master depicter of the insignificantly disgusting joyous human elements within all of us.
