Enter Lil' Slugger..

[Zephyrkitty]

Paranoia Agent is one of my favorite anime. It's bizarre at times, but it's also really unique; the mix of those just resulted in my loving the series despite it being really confusing at times. It was also a case of my deciding that I needed to look into other anime the director has done, and since then I've become a big fan of Satoshi Kon.

I've only watched it once through, but the things you're pointing out from various episodes (and the commentary on the last disc) are making me want to rewatch it. I have something to do this weekend. biggrin

[Vampkitty 15]

i watched the last episode. I am still in awe from the awesomeness that is Lil' Slugger!

The black mass of fear and menatlity swipes down with a bent bat, almost like the reaper, and drags your soul away skating into the sunset. He is escape. He is hate. He is the end.

Sorry about that. Felt like writing that! But if you watch the part where the blobby mass that is now Lil' Slugger sweeps through the district in Tokyo, you notice it's most influential establishers are also swept in with it. The gossiper, the paranoid boy (Yuuichi), and Haruko's whoring counter-personality. Even Haruko's husband. He's the first to be sucked in.

[Timid Trolley]

That's an awesome anime.

[DarkRealmOfChaos]

Zephyrkitty

Paranoia Agent is one of my favorite anime. It's bizarre at times, but it's also really unique; the mix of those just resulted in my loving the series despite it being really confusing at times. It was also a case of my deciding that I needed to look into other anime the director has done, and since then I've become a big fan of Satoshi Kon.

I've only watched it once through, but the things you're pointing out from various episodes (and the commentary on the last disc) are making me want to rewatch it. I have something to do this weekend. biggrin

To begin..

I agree with yew totally!! The overall strangeness of the show is what first intrigued me about it, but after repeated viewings, despite confusion, I caught on to a wide variety of things that set this series apart from other anime, both in the art and the storyline.. I particularly like how a lot of the themes in this show aren't brought up directly, and instead, more often than not you can catch themes being translated through joke and metaphor.. The series is very much like a puzzle.. Each individual episode maybe not be seeming to make much sense at the time, but when you sit back and view the completed work after everything is set in place, then you tend to see things that you may have not even known were there before..

And then..

burning_eyes

[Angela Cheer]

My favriote episode is ( I was 7 when I first watched it ,I got it then and there , Maybe children can preseave more info then teens or something o.O)
where they figure out who Maromi is (SPOILER)
When they figure out it was a dog thing

[Angela Cheer]

EPISODE 5 was the best cuz it went all Zelda on us ^_^

[DarkRealmOfChaos]

Angela Cheer

EPISODE 5 was the best cuz it went all Zelda on us ^_^

The interrogation of Kozuka AKA "Fox" the Lil' Slugger copycat.. I also like that episode because it stands out by drawing you into his fantasy world of "THE HOLY WARRIOR!!" Magnificent episode, and a magnificent series.. ^_^

"He's one person, yet he's not.. He can appear to anyone who's been driven into a corner with nowhere to go.."

[iDeadpool]

The Episode where the kid believes that reality is an RPG was my favorite.

[Punchies]

I really liked the episode with the teacher with the split personality. Especially when she's thrashing on the street because she thinks she's fighting herself. That was definitely one that had me going.

My ultimate favorite is the one with the two guys and the little girl trying to kill themselves but they don't realize they're ghosts.

The whole anime was great. I need to get it back from my friend.

[Takahashi_Natsumi]

Gah... how much for this series?

[DarkRealmOfChaos]

A Lucid Dreamer

I really liked the episode with the teacher with the split personality. Especially when she's thrashing on the street because she thinks she's fighting herself. That was definitely one that had me going.

My ultimate favorite is the one with the two guys and the little girl trying to kill themselves but they don't realize they're ghosts.

The whole anime was great. I need to get it back from my friend.

One of my most favorite episodes as well, from a very abstract series.. "Episode 3: Double Lips" The woman, by day an teacher's assistant, and by night, a call girl on the payroll of the local Yakuza gangsters.. This episode alone stands out above others in the respect of grasping the struggle and mental illness this woman suffers from.. It reaches its climax in her war over who she is inside.. One side of her soul longing for purity, love, and marriage, and the other personality all too in love with the thrill of Tokyo's downtown underworld.. I posted once like this before explaining this episode, but this time.. I think i nailed it my best.. ^_^ IMHO Best part is where, throughout the episode she constantly listens back and fourth to messages left by the opposite personality.. And, very near before the time when she breaks and Lil' Slugger comes.. Before she's struggling in the street torn between personalities, and drawn into a corner with nowhere to go.. She is listening to a message on her answering machine from "Maria".. "You heard me, I wanna be free too!!" Then, the faxes start coming in.. Printed over and over, exclaiming line after line "I wanna be free too!!" In a panic, she smashes the machine, and still.. there is an incoming call.. "DOUBLE LIPS" Flashes.. she picks up hearing "Maria's" voice inside her own head.. "You heard me.. I wanna be F. R. E. E!!" That is just creepy to me, no matter how many times yew slice it.. And, Then.. burning_eyes

"I just hit upon this idea you know.. like, someone who knows what Ghoma truly is.."

"Must not run away.. Must not turn your back on him.. He comes for people who've been driven into a corner with nowhere to go.. Must not talk about him.. Must not think about him.. Rumors help him grow.. Imagination.. Paranoia.. Paranoia nurtures him.."

[Emma Dreamstar]

This is a great, under-appreciated anime! My brother thought I would like it a few years back. He was having a hard time finding all the episodes. So we rented them online and watched them together! It was great! It's one of our favorites now!

I'm actually re-watching it with my husband at the moment. I'm trying to make a fan out of him as well!! smile

[DarkRealmOfChaos]

Emmi Dreamstar

This is a great, under-appreciated anime! My brother thought I would like it a few years back. He was having a hard time finding all the episodes. So we rented them online and watched them together! It was great! It's one of our favorites now!

I'm actually re-watching it with my husband at the moment. I'm trying to make a fan out of him as well!! smile

A series in which it is almost a necessity for most fans of it, including myself, to have to watch and re-watch.. The small subtleties of the show strike the viewer more with repeated viewing.. As the old man "Ancient Master" says in the last Prophetic Vision after the "Final Episode" has ended..

"To Begin.. having ended, the story spins back to the place where it once began.. Following each stepping stone, and connecting the dots, you find the Eternal Castle of recurring dreams.. No mystery remains unsolved forever, and there is no answer without mystery.. Well then.."

WE BID YOU FAREWELL!! burning_eyes

[iSillyOptimist]

I do agree. Paranoia Agent is so hauntingly good that it's kind of a loss that it burning_eyes ... sad...