Looking at what happens in this film, you can definitely tell this is where Inception got it's inspiration from, because this is for certain a very trippy adventure.
Story (9/10)
The story concentrates on a group of scientists, who have created a device called the DC Mini, which allows them to access peoples dreams. However someone manages to hijack control of the dreams and it is up to Paprika and her gang to find the villain.
Now the plot for this show was a little confusing, especially towards the end where the situation got very trippy and weird, but it didn't feel bad in any way. It was fun and interesting seeing Paprika and the scientists trying to find out who has been trying to control the dream world and use it for their own gains, we also need to remember this was directed by Satoshi Kon, who also directed Perfect Blue and we all remember if you watched it that it had a big plot twist with who the main villain is, here it's not done as well, but it did surprise me that the main villain was alone in his endeavours.
The story also kept getting more and more crazy as the boundaries between the real world and the dreamworld eventually came together making everything look like you were high 24/7.
I think the only downside to the story is, when it didn't concentrate on Paprika and the others trying to find the main villain it sorta slowed down a little, for example whenever it concentrated on the Detective it didn't do much for me and took me out of what was going on before it, plus it didn't really make his character look good.
Also the way it ended didn't feel right either, it just stops, maybe I was expecting something else to happen and was just surprised, but the fact it stops threw me off a little.
Characters (9/10)
The characters were pretty good, but nothing too special apart from Paprika.
Atsuko Chiba AKA Paprika is a really interesting and mysterious individual, who is one of the main scientists on the DC Mini project and has a special second personality called Paprika. Chiba is a cold and detached woman so you won't get much from her personality, however Paprika is entirely the opposite of her, she's much more playful and positive. Chiba can actually interact with Paprika in the real world making her a special case that the film never really explains for some reason.
Toshimi Konakawa is a Detective, who is being helped by the scientists with the DC Mini. He's a fairly odd individual sometimes, the issue he has with his past is a constant problem in the film until he overcomes it and he did save Chiba at some point, but I didn't find him to be a good character especially when after he saves Chiba he just randomly kisses her, which didn't make much sense and seemed kinda creepy and weird.
Kosaku Tokita is probably the fattest anime character I have ever seen, yet he is incredibly smart being the creator of the DC Mini, he tends to get stuck in doorways and can be a bit reckless with his decisions, but he seemed like an ok dude, at least he didn't go crazy like most scientists.
Art (10/10)
Once again Madhouse show why they are so good at creating such weird worlds, mean looking at the final part of the film when the real world and the dream world collide my brain was going nuts over how crazy and ridiculous everything was getting, the same can be said with the whole parade gimmick too.
The characters were all well designed and all of them looked and acted to the way they were designed, which was a pretty interesting thing to notice.
I will say though that one moment where Paprika has been captured and the dude was tormenting her was pretty messed up and made the film go from pretty wacky to wtf am I watching.
Sound (10/10)
It also had a phenomenon soundtrack, the main theme and the parade music fitted perfectly to the way the film was and the main theme is really catchy to listen too. When I heard the main theme during the intro sequence it made me realise I was in for something good and it went so well with that sequence too.
Extras:
As a psychological film, it does that very well, much different to what Perfect Blue was doing, since that was trying to show how Mima was changing over time from what was going on, whereas this is made to change how you feel really, because my mind was losing it's sanity the more I watched this. I think it was also showing that dreams are a whole different reality to the real world where there is an infinite amount of possibilities within them and how they can also affect your memory too.
I'm not exactly sure why the horror genre is here, other than a few murders and that weird molesting scene there wasn't much to qualify it as a horror.
It definitely had a good mystery behind it, just like with Perfect Blue, it did well to keep the true murderers identity hidden, until they revealed who it is was much earlier than Perfect Blue did and it wasn't trying to hide it either.
Enjoyment (9/10)
Overall (9/10)
Overall this was definitely a weird trip into the dream reality and it was a fun ride, aside from a few things that just didn't sit well with me, however this was another fantastic film created by Satoshi Kon.
