Preparing for the next episode of The Adventures of The Monk and The Monarch I've been watching all of Satoshi Kon's films, and one thing I wanted to do was re-watch Paranoia Agent and listen to something I haven't in years, Paranoia Radio. This is the director's commentary that plays over the final three episodes, and you hear Kon and others talk about what went on behind the scenes. It's one of those things almost no one brings up and considering it wasn't on the DVD collection release, only the fourth volume when the individual DVD volumes were being released, it was bordering on becoming lost media. I hear it's also part of the Blu-ray release though, which is nice.
Paranoia Agent had a hell of a production cycle, one that was so rough they thought the show was going to be canceled multiple times. A lot of last-minute job changes, Kon himself having to step in to draw many key animations and storyboards, and putting people in senior positions at the last minute. To top it all off, none of the show's animation was outsourced, which is a crazy prospect for a show. I love this stretch of commentary, and if you can track it down I highly recommend it.
That said, Paranoia Agent has always been one of my favorite anime. If you've been following me for a while, you may have seen my top twenty anime of all time, where Paranoia landed at number three. The premise of the show is a person called little slugger seems to be targeting people on the verge of a mental breakdown, and a blurring of what is real and imagined by the characters. Each episode follows a new character as you see how the story of Little Slugger begins to spread.
I don't want to go into the actual story too much, but I will say the visuals are astonishing. The designs are very simple, but you get such a mix of typically relaxing imagery in situations that turn them strange and unnerving. Even the premise is a bit strange when you see that Little Slugger, in a strange way, is a symbol people want to exist. His violent acts seem to leave his victims at peace. It's a theme that exists throughout the whole show.
Listening to Paranoia Radio made that clear if it wasn't clear enough already. While I already knew that from just watching it, one thing I did miss is each episode has some sort of symbolic sound that plays through each episode. The first episode is the sound of skates, and one of the later episodes is the chattering of crows. Something like that exists in every episode.
The biggest reason I made this review was just to inform people of Paranoia Radio because it's like 'The Sad Story of Puni Puni Poemy', it's part of media that just seems to have been lost in the modern day. But with Paranoia Radio, its existence in the Bluray release means it still exists for people to find, in stark contrast to the Poemy one. And Kon I feel is one of the most fascinating directors that has been active in my lifetime, and it's worth listening to any of his interviews or thoughts. Check out Paranoia Agent, and if you can his full commentary on it.
I watched it a couple of years ago and I love it. Some of the characters had fascinating storylines. I have been watching anime for the past few years and have enjoyed a ton of them but I wonder which ones are your top 10? I think there might be a few I have yet to watch.
Cheers mate.
I did a Top Ten back in 2020, but there are a couple shows that have come out since then that would shake up my list abit, as well as the fact I finally started watching One Piece, which will likely end up there once I catch up on it.
That said, here were the ones that made my top 10:
10.) Dororo
9.) Azumanga Daioh!
8.) Ouran High School Host Club
7.) Psycho-Pass
6.) The Big O
5.) Terror in Resonance
4.) Trigun
3.) Paranoia Agent
2.) Cowboy Bebop
1.) Monster
ID: Invaded, Rust Eater Bisco, and now One Piece would probably make the list were I to redo it.
I've had it on my "movies, series and anime to watch" list for years and still haven't had the dencence to sit down and watch it. Procrastination is a dangerous thing
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Many years ago I saw this anime available and I wanted to start watching it, but I forgot over time, not watching it, it was not so long ago that I found out that it was a work by Satoshi Kon and I wanted to look for it