Name(s): Paranoia Agent / Mousou Dairinin / 妄想代理人 / Paranoja Agent
Format: TV series (13 24-minute episodes)
Studio(s): Madhouse

I didn’t write a review for this one at the time I completed it, so hopefully my memory hasn’t already vanished. Though there was another reason for me not writing anything: I don’t really know what to add. The prominent theme of anxiety should be obvious to any viewers. It’s contemporaneous Japan, but it applies to any modern capitalistic society.

Generally, Paranoia Agent spins its narrative through episodic vignettes where characters unconsciously manifest a way for them to escape from the pressures of their careers, familial obligations, and other societal expectations. From what I understand, it’s particularly taboo (i.e. “rude”) in Japanese society to publicly demonstrate discontent that may result in troubling others.

I’ve never found any Satoshi Kon work to be that complex. They all strongly focus on individual characters’ mental states, but their philosophy regarding them is usually straightforward and accessible, with little symbolic obfuscation or contrasting ideas. At the same time, I admire him for even making an attempt at these more ambitious, unusual stories, and then wrapping them up with generally witty writing and surreal visual direction/premises. Paranoia Agent is perhaps my favorite work by him (though I think I’ve claimed this about everything he’s done at this point other than Perfect Blue), because I think it comes closest to being about more than its plot. Or maybe the varied storylines make it feel as though it has the most to offer in a single package. This one has given me slightly more pause and motivation for discussion than the others. Overall, I’d insist it’s a bit more clever in its construction, even if the end result isn’t anything too mind-blowing.

Another justification for it being made is the format, which emphasizes Satoshi Kon’s breadth of visual and story creativity. A TV series was done in order to use ideas Kon thought were worthy of sharing but weren’t able to be worked into a feature-length production. Knowing this, it’s extremely easy to see why Paranoia Agent is the way it is. Little focus is given to an overarching plot, though one does exist. Certain vignettes like the black comedy about a suicide pact group have no role in developing the “Lil’ Slugger” phenomenon further, and stars characters that aren’t connected to others (most of the vignettes at least establish some relationship between characters.)

Even though the episode is technically “pointless”, it’s actually one of my favorites because that core premise about the suicide pact failing to kill themselves is such a dark and charming idea that it makes for a good story on its own. There’s also the episode where a middle-aged man is forced to become a criminal, and justifies it to himself by equating himself to a fictional manga hero he’s a fan of which further ties into the general theme of escapism despite not directly involving Lil’ Slugger. Paranoia Agent is refreshingly unpredictable and shows a lot of confidence that almost always pays off, whether it’s telling an interesting vignette, portraying the world in unique framing devices such as a role-playing game, or going to emotionally dark places that hit hard due to excellent direction and their shock value (there’s a particularly disturbing segment that I won’t soon forget.) It’s more than the sum of its parts, which I found important because the resolution to the actual plot is handled as quickly and heavy-handedly as I was expecting. While that aspect is unfortunate, the climax is wild and handled well, so it still never truly disappoints.

Production-wise, it’s just kind of… ugly. Maybe I wasn’t watching a quality Blu-ray rip, but it was overly dark and looked like a lot of shitty DVD encodes I’ve seen in my years. A lot of early-2000s anime kind of looks like this to me, but it’s still a bummer because the animation quality is often well above average, and scenes can visually busy with elements that ought to be more emphasized. As usual, Kon employs Susumu Hirasawa for the music. To be frank, I don’t remember any of it and hardly remember music playing during the show at all. I kept my ears open, but unless Paranoia Agent‘s ambiance was incredibly subtle, it was a fairly mute experience. I wouldn’t consider this to its detriment, however, as the atmosphere is palpable, and the lack of non-diegetic music makes the environments come off as more natural and reinforces the realistic consequences of the stakes involved in the storylines.