this is my thoughts on paranoia agent, MANY SPOILERS AHEAD. this is also very rough, as i have not taken all the info in, and have not seen all the episodes due to missing some or adultswim not showing them. if anyone has anything to contribute please let me know. also if you hate reading, dont bother with this. yes, i like this show a lot. it appeals to an intelligent audience like neon gen, boogiepop phantom, kinos journies, etc.


paranoia agent (showcase of escapism)


Major Themes: escapism of course, dissasociation, mental collapse, pyschic manifest, pleasure principal versus reality, fantasy and reality fused.

the artist girl: she is the cause of all that this story. if it wasent for her troubled past that lead to her downward spiral of escapism, psychic manifestation, and passing guilt... nothing wouldve occured. she is the keystone.

maromi: maromi is the artist girls personal psychic manfiest (only she see maromi move and talk because only she believes it to be real). maromi is the girls last line of defense from reality (the character itself was based on a dog she loved but killed think about dogs nature: loving and loyal. she blammed its death on a boy with a bat). her projected shelter. security, comfort, passing of guilt, etc. all of these are maromi. i remember the last episode solidifies this with a man holding a doll saying "it gives me a sense of secuity". another shows a boy watching his grandfather die. as the doctor puts the cover over his face, the boy tightens his grip on the doll. maromi is salvation in all forms.

lil slugger: lil slugger is also created by the the artist girl. his power first grew when the artist girl blammed her attack on him due to all the pressure on her (relate that to her in other instances, what does it mean? easy, he uses him as an excuse to run away, for her pain, for her woes, etc.) some think he was made in episode one. yet his first appearence was in her past. be it true or another story she created. in 3rd grade she was attacked by a boy with a bat. he was never found. so this in turn can be her jungarian shadow. her place of blame for everything thats happened, be it her fault or not. its classic dissasociation. an example is how i kid will do something then blame it on an imaginary friend or animal. or say someone will say they did something because of destiny. the one KEY difference between maromi and lil slugger is that only the artists girl sees maromi (b/c only she believe) lil slugger is seen by many because of a collective belief. as more believe his power grows. the more monsetrish he is. one episode was just 4 women talking about insane rumors of him. a fine example. this power of belief is also shown by the fired cops sick wife reaction to lil slugger. she knows he is fake, this is why she can even command him. he is powerless to her. lil slugger is a living mental breakdown. when youre at your worst point, trapped in a corner. he comes to hit you. watch the commercial it say something like "you must not speak of him (belief) you must not run (dont run from self)... etc. lije i said, everyone he attacks has one thing in common: extreme emotional distress.

case studies of victims thus far:

the butterfly: this is the women about to get married with dual personalities. she is represented by the butterfly by her metamorphasis from the refined, introverted, calm aspect to her slutty, extroverted vivid self. one is dull and drab even in color and expression. the other as i said vibrant, empowered etc.
her main dilemma was getting married. how could she marry while having this side she is so ashamed of? she does everything. talk to her other self, sees a doctor etc. yet as time draws closer there is no hope. at the point of mental fallout she appears in makeup as a clown (think about that). lil slugger comes to see her then. i am led to ask which side is her actual side? id havta say a mixture of both. as she can represent us all. our conflicting sides. libido and thanatos, happy and sad, extrovert and introvert, etc. the last show reveaed something intersting though. her fiance (sp) is looking into a closet full of suits. his expression is confused. half the suits are white, the other black. around the end the suits area all black, he is laying on the bed hopeless, and the girl is in her negative aspect.

the idol: im not totally sure on him, but here goes. the kid who wanted to be lil slugger. he lived in this fantasy world of some game along the lines of dungeons and dragons. he thought lil slugger and he were this one character who was in relation to all those attacked. he connected himself and all of them to this game. im guessinghe honestly didnt have a life, no real identity. so he latches onto that which is appealing. after all this world is so muc more fun and interesting than reality to him. lil slugger is the buzz, in everyones lips. why not latch on?

the toad, paranoia canidate and others will come soon after i see he episodes again.

other key players.

dead old man: he knows whats going on. i believe he even holds keys to fantasy worlds or creates them. havta study him more.

the old baglady: she sees the truth of whats going on too. the reason being she lives outside of society. she doesnt believe in lil slugger, not have the means to know of maromi. her being outside of society is key.

radar man (partner of missing cop)
hes very intersting. a sort of hero who think he can kill lil slugger. the thing is hes applying fantasy to fantasy. he has to believe in lil slugger AND his image of self as radar man. id think you would kill fantasy with reality. YET, it makes sensethat since the lil slugger will exist because others believe, well you would have to kill him with fantasy.
radar man picks up voices and "signals" through radio waves. hes aware on the look.

the doll maker (not key but i had to mention) the doll maker is shown in his dull room filled with nothing but clays dolls of hentaish girls. he does nothing but create his world and fantasy. his dolls talk to radar man. they say something nice like "we only come to life when people notice us" (another example of us giving things life with our minds) at one point it shows the dollmaker has made dolls of all those attacked, the cops, lil slugger etc. it then shows him with a doll of himself (he says, its finally done) this suggests that making his dolls complete his fantasy he created. that world is so appealing so he joins it through his only means. yet.. maromi dolls suddenly dissapear as the artists girl does. he looks at his maromi shirt and the face is gone. the same thing happens to his caly dool.. suddenly, he his dolls, his room, etc all are engulfed by a black void. i believe this represents his world shattered.


so thats what i have thus far other than some unattached tidbits. anyone have any ideas? conflicts etc? let me know. this show is all about societies trends in escapism, unawareness of self, deviant human nature, and more.
the irony is i enjoy a cartoon about escapes so much.

That show is so trippy. Almost scary. Its one I don't know what to think about.
That's a lot of typing solve. Lol. ^^

Very well done. I think you forgot a few characters, such as the Greedy Fat Man and his daughter. The house he is building might be a sort of symbolisim of his mental collapse.

the house was his dream. here was this crooked man, doing anything and everything to build this house. as if his testament to life. "i did this". a eutopia. its like how people imagine their own home. their own solace. yes, when the house crumbles, so does he. the thing is, he is attacked by a copy cat lil slugger.

Geez, why do all the cool shows have to be made uncool by being brought to america. I hope they showed it in Japanese.

I am pretty sure they have the original Japanese version on DVD.

im glad they were brought over so i had a chance to check it out. besides i think people deserve at least one good series with all the other average animes on and their cliche stories, characters, etc. p.a. was a god send.

gankutsuou is probably a better series. but then again, based on a pretty good book.

p.s. your post makes less sense than the show you're talking about.

Oh, I cannot agree with you anymore. It made me think about what the hell was going on, other than making random guesses just to turn out correct. I.E. Inuyasha.

ok marcello. :D

My problem is that I never remember movies/shows/toons/etc after a while... So I can't say much about it now. lol I saw Paranoia Agent back in November. Thanks to Cello. hah I never thought much of anime before he started linking me to some good ones. I ended up liking it. \o/

oh and just for kicks: http://cellosoft.com/2draw/view/33492/ ^__^

K so that's all I have to say about this. How informative, huh.

Damnit Anna, you reminded me that I wanted to draw that thing. lol. Sigh.. I should've expected someone else has already drawn it. That's ok, I might give it a go here sometime.
And thats a very good picture by the way! ^^

Thats a cool show.

ECK! too much text >.< any ways that show was cool for a couple of episodes but then it started getting wierd X_X;;

SHOUNEN BAT! RAWR!
haha he has golden flying shoes~

It's an intersting anime. But it's hard to follow the story and actually know what's exactly going on. By the way, that's a lot of typing. XP

Paranoia Agent is reminiscent of other movies/series such as 21 Grams which is completely convoluted until at least half way through the movie. Likewise, most of the main ideas aren't explained clearly until I believe halfway through the series where the audience begins to get a feel for what's going on due to recurring themes.

In any case, instead of discussing each minute character in detail I think it might be prudent to point out that Paranoia Agent is similar to various other animes such as Serial Experiments Lain and Boogiepop Phantom and is indeed almost a continuation of the issues brought up in those series. I think the great thing about Paranoia Agent is the fresh new style and personal viewpoints brought up in each episode compared to the freaky mind-fuck style of Lain which blew me away almost every time I watched an episode. I ended up having to read several synopsis and analysis sites just to get an overview of what it was about.

It wouldn't hurt to find some stuff on the net concerning Paranoia Agent too, but I think it's pretty obvious what everything is about since they lay it all out pretty clearly at the end. Besides, I'm sure there's someone out there who could lay it all out better than I ever could anyway.

hmn an really good manga related with this themes is --> Uncivilized Planet <--

Yeah that was a good one...