Anime Review Time: Paranoia Agent

On the prowl for something new to consume, I visited N to Watch Paranoia Agent by Satoshi Kon, creator of Paprika and Tokyo Godfathers. Having watched a few of Satoshi’s previous works, and being interested in series that have psychological elements to them, I knew that I would not be disappointed with the art style and obscurity of the storyline.

When you gain so much success for a character, what do you do when you are under pressure to produce more?

The series does start off a bit slow and gains momentum after the first few episodes. Speeding up the first few episodes would have kept my attention a bit more. I was drawn to the various differences of the characters mindsets and psychological states (such as multiple personality disorder) that have drawn Lil slugger to them to ease their pains.  Even though the series is about the characters that have been targeted by Lil Slugger, I feel that there could have been a little bit more story for the characters who were around the victims of Lil Slugger and how they dealt with the attacks to the person they were close to. I also felt that the episode with the little girl, older man, and man around his twenties was a bit of a distraction to the storyline and personally didn’t add much to the plot.

After watching Paranoia Agent, I made my way back to discuss our opinions on the series. Upon talking with N’s friend Ks, I was told that each episode referenced Satoshi’s earlier works. Not only do I have to go back and rewatch the series, I also have to catch up and rewatch Satoshi’s previous body of works to get the imbedded references that are scattered throughout the episodes of Paranoia Agent that I missed the first time around.

Have you watched Paranoia Agent before? What did you think about the characters or storyline?

Share your thoughts below!