Paranoia Agent: Satoshi Kon’s masterpiece

---

Synopsis: An elementary school kid dubbed with the title “shounen bat” or “lil slugger” has been going around attacking people with his bent, golden bat. Now, two detectives are investigating so they can stop this kid from making any more attacks, but they will find out soon enough… that this case is much more than they expected.

---

First impressions

Paranoia Agent. Let’s start from the beginning the opening was pretty creepy “Raa-eee-yaa Ra-ra-e-yo-ra” plus the people laughing through everything was more creepier. The anime starts out with how people lie to others to things they don’t want to do which was not a pleasant way to start an anime but definitely is an interesting take. The anime does well to build up the creepy atmosphere from the first and make us uncomfortable(in a good way).

Throughout the episode, the anime takes us through all the different characters which are all people I definitely won’t want to associate in real life. It also takes us through a range of characters a homeless lady, detectives, a reporter, the female protagonist and the killer at the end of the episode. The villain is not the creepiest at first but soon he becomes the person that everyone thinks he is by adding little details like his bent bat or how he smiles before smirking.

The anime is interesting so far I mean I watched only one episode . As you know I’m not a fan of horror but it was only 13 episodes and plus a lot of people gave good reviews for it so I thought why not. Anyway now I got to go watch episode 2. See ya.

---

Review

---

---

Rating: 10/10

The whole anime plays with your imagination and reality, you don’t what’s true and what’s not. That’s the beauty of Paranoia Agent. Let me tell you, the first four episodes are nothing compared the staggering episodes that are about to come. It will twist your mind and will make you think what’s happening in every way.

It usually start off as a normal type of anime with two detectives trying to solve a mystery which soon turns surreal. This is the first work of Satoshi Kon that I’m watching and I’m already in love with his style. From the plot, the settings, the characters, it was 13 episodes filled with outstanding artistry. A generally very realistic, true-to-life art style beautifully animated to mimic the human form. It’s a psychological thriller like you’ve never seen before. The layered-upon-layered narrative of Paranoia Agent is as good as it gets to writing. From the episode titles to character-designs, everything was top class.

---

---

One thing I love about this series is how the rumors spread. From middle-aged housewives’ to elementary kids to the media, Shonen bat is not someone he is the creation of thousands of people’s imagination. The various stories told about him makes him some kind of an folklore that came true. He is everything the people want him to be, the golden bat, the cap, his appearance. The paranoia is the one that nurtures him. This is a bit like IT, the more you’re scared of it the more stronger it gets.

The character-designs are the best one, some of them look very normal, ordinary and sometimes cute. But the characters who wear their personality on their sleeves look very drastic.

Another fact I love is that it’s always in touch with reality. Even though there are some unexplainable things happening it all makes sense in one way or another. The different types of struggles face, it can be anything from bullying to a bad mother-in-law to just wanting to die. We may not see it but this all happens in our world and I’m glad that they didn’t completely fictionize it.

---

---

The big revelation at the end was what I waiting for. I respect Satoshi Kon for this amazing piece, it’s though to do different things all at the same time and still manage to pull it off. It finally ends with one of the best finale’s I’ve ever watched, it may have been a little confusing but it was all worth it.

I’ll be honest, I won’t recommend this anime to any newcomer as understanding this might be a little difficult but definitely worth a go. I’m glad I watched this anime and as you can see, my opinions have changed a lot from my first impressions. It really is an amazing anime. Now if you’ll excuse me I’m going to binge on some of Satoshi Kon’s other masterpieces.

What good is it to wallow in disappointment. Life is about moving on. Despite everything they’ve somehow found the strength to move forward. There’s never an easy answer. No matter how hard it may be, if you don’t run away, you can overcome anything. That’s all we need, a little rest from reality. If they would’ve taken a rest from reality they wouldn’t have been cornered, sometimes all you need to do is let loose.

---

“The world around us may be wrong but there must be some things in this world that are right. That’s how we can go on living!”

Thank you for reading.