Anime & Manga Reviews!

Paranoia Agent

So this may have been a really hard one to start with but I just finished it and wanted to try writing a review. This anime was difficult for me to interpret at first and took me thinking about it for a while to really chew on what it way trying to say. I also avoided watching or reading other takes on it so I could try to keep it to my own thoughts. So I think in the end I came away with two points of what it meant at least to me. One, paranoia and Two, escapism.

From here on there are gonna be minor spoilers so be warned going forward.

This story moves from person to person, each one feeling cornered by either their actions or events outside of their control. As they wish for a release from this feeling they are met by an elementary school student with rollerblades and and bent bat named little slugger, who then proceeds to smash them over the head. I felt like Little Slugger almost represented both paranoia and escapism. The first victim of Little Slugger is Tsukiko Sagi, she is shy and just so happens to be the character designer for what is currently a very popular cartoon dog, Maromi. The pressure is on though for her to create the next big character but she struggles. The pressure hits a fever pitch when out of nowhere she is hit on the back of the head by little slugger. She survives the encounter but she seems almost relieved if temporarily that she does not have to create the next character her boss is expecting. I am not sure if that was the intended point but that is what I got out of it. There are many more victims all with similar arcs of stress and feeling backed into a corner only to end up another victim of little slugger.

I think my favorite group the show focuses on it the 3 people attempting to commit suicide. In a weird suicide pack amongst people who met over the internet, 2 of the participants are concerned when the third is revealed to be a young girl. They run away at first but the girl is persistent. Eventually they give up and allow her to join them all the while to try to sabotage her suicide attempts as they try their own. Each of these attempts fail though. I did appreciate how this episode had the weirdest mix of darkness and comedy. As they keep trying new ways to kill themselves, they find themselves almost happy as they all seem to bond. It ends with them wishing for little slugger to come and take them in their sleep and he does come but runs when he sees they are wanting to die. This was the episode it really started to sink in that this was about escape. These characters are desperately trying to escape their lives but as they started to bond the drive to die almost seemed like it was hollow, like they no longer felt that way and it was more so just something they held on to to further their bond. I think this is why little slugger ran away from then at the end, where he represents paranoia, them losing the drive for suicide and enjoying their time together was counter to the paranoia.

I really enjoyed the visuals of the show. There are a couple scenes where where the animation style almost completely changes. One I particularly like was when one of the characters is taken to what looks like a cartoon cut out of a small town in japan from an earlier era. This character has a lot of gripes with modern society. For him it's an escape almost. He seems almost unphased by the change in scenery and near the end, begins to embrace it before being snapped out of it. I felt that this was effective because up until recently the show had managed to stay mostly grounded.

Paranoia Agent is a great watch if you like psychological thrillers. It's oddly relatable in it's depiction of anxiety and paranoia. To anyone interested, I would love to hear your thoughts on what you took from this show. You can email me at emdovesplace@gmail.com

With this being the first time I have ever actually tried writing a review of anything I fully expect to come back in about 2 years, cringe, and rewrite lol.