After having worked on three feature films – “Perfect Blue” (1997), “Millennium Actress” (2001) and “Tokyo Godfathers” (2003) – Satoshi Kon may not have created a commercial success, but had gained quite a reputation internationally. Apart from the critical acclaim for his projects, Kon will always be remembered to be one of the major creative minds who gave anime features and series the decisive push with regard to changing the way these stories and characters were perceived by audiences and critics alike. For those familiar with the sheer imaginative force and versatility in his works, it should not come as a surprise to find that he had quite a number of unused ideas in his arsenal, some of which too risky or too complex to be explored in feature form. When he was finally offered to make his first series, he decided to use some of them and combine them into a story named “Paranoia Agent”, perhaps one of the most interesting, intricate as well as provocative projects Kon would create in his lifetime.
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Although the story involves several characters, it all begins in Tokyo, when designer Tsukiko Sagi, famous for creating the popular pink dog Maromi, is attacked by an unknown assailant on her way home. As police detectives Keiichi Ikari and Mitsuhiro Maniwa start investigating the case, it does not take long before the number of victims increases, all of whom describe the attacker as a young kid, armed with a bent, golden baseball bat, quickly leaving the scene of the crime with on his inline skates. What makes the two detectives' work complicated is the seeming randomness of the victims, which include Yuichi Taira, an elementary student, whose obvious similarity to the attackers makes him the target for bullying at his school, and Harumi Chono, Yuichi's tutor who leads a bizarre double life as a hostess.
Furthermore, as the number of victims grows and finally even a murder happens, the pressure is on Ikari and Maniwa to solve the case as quickly as possible. As the fear of the attacker nicknamed “shonen bat” spreads among the citizens of Tokyo, the two detectives not only stumble upon a strange connection linking all the victims, but also a possible suspect. But just as the case might reach its conclusion, matters become even more complicated and bizarre.
Over the course of its 13 episodes, “Paranoia Agent” seems like a collection of the themes Satoshi Kon was most concerned with, judging by his features. The concept of the doppelgänger, as introduced in “Perfect Blue”, the obsession with fame and media in “Millennium Actress” and “Perfect Blue” as well as the various facets of the Japanese capital and its “lost children” as shown in “Tokyo Godfathers” are just a small list of ideas explored in the series. However, “Paranoia Agent” might just be the pessimistic predecessor to “Paprika”, especially given its portrayal of the modern urban landscape as a working system, much like a computer, with “shonen bat” essentially working as a kind of virus spreading chaos and destruction, and possibly laying the foundation for this human house of cards to finally collapse.
Each existence is linked to the other, through social interaction, but most importantly modern technology. Kon, who has always been skeptical of the cell phones and social media, envisions a multi-layered social landscape, each character defined by a number of identities, some of which even fighting with each other about their domination of the physical body they both inhabit. Similar to the main character in “Perfect Blue”, identity is impossible to grasp in this “paranoid” world, until an attacker, armed with a golden bat, brings a moment of clarity, which, ironically, destabilizes the whole social construct. The way these themes and characters are introduced is quite well-executed by Kon and screenwriter Seishi Minakami, especially given how some of them do not seem to further the overall plot at first glance, but reveal quite a lot when seen in the context of the whole 13 episodes.
In the end, “Paranoia Agent” is a complex series, a blend of psychological thriller, drama and fantasy. Satoshi Kon has managed to combine the major themes of his works into an intricate series, which may just be his most ambitious project and therefore a must-see for fans of the director and fans of anime in general.
