Paranoia Agent Volume 1

Sometimes, you can’t help but jump on the bandwagon.
Satoshi Kon’s Paranoia Agent has hit the UK in a flurry of superlative reviews, with even “mainstream” film critics taking note, and I have to admit the overwhelming hype surrounding this series is utterly justified.
Known for his psychological twisters like Perfect Blue and Millennium Actress, Kon has again crafted moments of sheer brilliance with Paranoia Agent; blending his trademark labyrinth narrative style with some unsettling and contorted characterization.

Paranoia Agent #1 introduces us to a group of characters who are struggling through life; they are loosely connected to each other either by vague acquaintance or just sheer luck. Life never gets better for them, it only gets worse!
They wish for an escape, a fair chance to wipe the slate clean and start again. And when the mysterious “Lil’ Slugger” skates past, he hands them this opportunity… only with a baseball bat to the head!

These characters need his “special attention” though.
Take Harumi Chouno for example, she fights against a serious split personality disorder. By day she’s a shy teacher’s assistant, but by night she unwillingly becomes Maria, a loud mouthed prostitute who is regularly “seeing to” a number of weird men.
Chouno dreams of marrying her new boyfriend but Maria won’t give up “her time” without a fight and as the struggle for “Chouno”‘s mind explodes, she soon starts losing touch of reality and violently reels from one personality to another, with increasing frequency and disturbing results. Subconsciously or not, Chouno (like all of our characters) desperately calls to “Lil’ Slugger” to save her, to help her resolve her inner demons.

From even just the first few notes of the opening theme, you know you’re in safe hands with Paranoia Agent. Rarely does an opening sequence so strongly define the mood of its forthcoming story but when it looks and sounds as this weird as this, you soon find yourself intrigued, almost compelled by such confident euphoric lunacy.
Ten minutes later and you should be safely gripped by the tight atmosphere, sensing the bizarre claustrophobia and surreal antics as the story moves into a higher gear. Remember this is Satoshi Kon and so expect the surrealism served up with a heavy helping of gritty realism, forcing the viewer to feel on edge and even disturbed rather than purely awe struck by a cute talking fluffy toy.

At this point, it’s hard to hazard a guess about where Paranoia Agent intends to go next. Assumptions that “Lil’ Slugger” is some kind of supernatural thug can be safely dispelled by late revelations, but I can at least say that so far this has been a dark exploration into the more despicable sides of human nature; the kind of emotions that often give rise to paranoia and fear. The characterization is as unflinching as I’ve come across in Japanese animation, a real unforgiving tour-de-force of modern life.

The animation and character designs provided by Madhouse are unique and frankly, outstanding. The iconic look of “Lil’ Slugger” (or “Shounen Bat” as he is known in Japan) is one of the most original and memorable character designs to have graced anime for a very long time; his cap and messy hair, roller-skates and bent-up baseball bat are a simple touch of genius.
Facial expressions play a large part too and especially ugly characters really do look unpleasant with fat lips, messy teeth and big noses abound. When bad things happened during Paranoia Agent #1, I genuinely felt unsettled and even caught glimpses of horror and evil, and I doubt these multi-layered feelings could have been achieved without such grotesque but stellar artistic work.

In Summary

Satoshi Kon is fast establishing himself as one of the world’s greatest animation directors and with Paranoia Agent, he has done it again! However, this is certainly not a series for the weak of heart as it takes an unflinching and frankly disturbing look at human nature. This first volume is at times euphoric and surreal as it weaves the type of thought provoking and complex thriller that only Kon can produce, but also offers several moments of intense psychological horror; it ultimately makes for disturbing yet compulsive viewing!