Up until this week, all the anime I've watched for this project has been in the form of feature-length films. Today's entry, Satoshi Kon's Paranoia Agent, is a short series. At thirteen episodes, it seems tailor made for this kind of analysis.
It occurs to me that anime works best when it's serialized, at least usually. Arguably, a series like Dragonball Z would work a lot better as a dense, two hour action piece than the stretched-thin punchline that it is. But when it comes to the serious stuff, the format benefits from a slow burn. Paranoia Agent wouldn't really be able to convey the slow buildup of tension and all-around strangeness that it does if the whole thing were packed into a two hour exercise. Odd as it is for me to say it, this anime rides on subtlety and nuance.
The first seven episodes of Paranoia Agent introduce us to a cast of loosely related characters. Each one becomes involved, either as a victim of or an adversary to a mysterious assailant called Shounen Bat (baseball bat boy for you anglophones). Shounen Bat comes out of nowhere on golden rollerblades to crack his victims on the head with a bent metal bat, usually during a moment of extreme stress or despair. Two police detectives, Ikari and Maniwa, get assigned to the case and become increasingly obsessive as the story progresses.
Paranoia Agent falls somewhere between Magic Realism and full-blown Surrealism. Sometimes it's blunt, like when a plush toy named Maromi talks to its owner. Other times, these things are easy to miss, like moments when the same plush doll appears to react to a conversation even though it's just flopping around in a backpack. This is the most impressive part of the show. The direction actually takes referential cinematography into account.
As the plot of Paranoia Agent unfolds, we find a world on the verge of coming unhinged and a strange case no closer to being solved. Just when it appears the whole thing will be deflated by the capture of a 13-year-old Bat Boy, the weirdness returns with a vengeance when new attacks reveal the runt to be nothing more than a delusional copycat. That particular episode allows Kon to riff on some classic fantasy anime conventions. That doesn't mean the supernatural leaves the plot. In fact, it becomes far clearer an element as we approach the second half.
Comprehension: 5/10- Don't be misled by this score. The only reason it's so low is that Paranoia Agent is steeped in Japanese culture, the genuine article at that. I'm lucky in that the version I've been watching not only subtitles accurately, it also throws in a smattering of notes on idiom and common symbols. On top of all this, the story is meant to be surreal and confusing, even if you're Japanese. This is the kind of David Lynch style confusion I actually like.
Enjoyment: 10/10- I can honestly say that I've never liked an anime as much as I like Paranoia Agent. It's neither childish nor over the top. The writing is genuinely good, I care about the characters and I'm itching to find out what happens next. If I didn't enjoy this so much, I wouldn't bother splitting the review into two parts.
Improvement of Understanding: N/A- I'm going to leave this one until next week. Since the story is still ongoing, I can't really make a judgement call on what kind of statement it's trying to make or how it approaches anime as a genre. For now, things are looking good. I'm certainly learning a lot about Japanese culture and Kon is definitely self-conscious about anime conventions.
Next Week:The Conclusion to Paranoia Agent