Paranoia Agent

Tsukiko Sagi, a shy character designer who created the immensely popular pink dog Maromi, finds herself under pressure to repeat her success. As she walks home one night, she is attacked by an elementary school boy on inline skates. Two police detectives, Keiichi Ikari and Mitsuhiro Maniwa, are assigned to the case. They suspect that Tsukiko is lying about the attack, until they receive word of a second victim.

Soon the attacker, dubbed Lil' Slugger (Shōnen Batto in Japanese, meaning "Bat Boy"), is blamed for a series of street assaults in Tokyo. None of the victims can recall the boy's face and only three distinct details are left in their memories: golden inline skates, a baseball cap, and the weapon: a bent golden baseball bat. Ikari and Maniwa set out to track down the perpetrator and put an end to his crimes. Their hunt is unsuccessful, however, and the investigation eventually leads to both men losing their positions as police detectives.

As the attacks continue, it is revealed that they are not random. Instead, Lil' Slugger seems to target people in crisis, and the attacks, though violent, lead to some improvement in the life of the victim. Maniwa becomes convinced that Lil' Slugger is a supernatural force, driven to rescue the desperate from their tragedies through violence. He becomes obsessive, broadcasting his warning about Lil' Slugger via shortwave radio and seeking a way to kill the supernatural assailant.

As public fear of Lil' Slugger intensifies, his attacks start to become deadly and the line between truth and fiction becomes blurred. At the same time, public anticipation for the launch of the Maromi television series reaches a fanatical high, almost as if the fear of one is feeding (and feeding off) the anticipation for the other.

Things come to an end on the night that the Maromi show is set to air. Ikari, now a private security guard, and Maniwa, now a wandering "knight", attempt to battle Lil' Slugger, now an incredibly powerful force leaving a path of death and destruction throughout Tokyo. The two men confront Tsukiko where it is revealed that Maromi was based on a real puppy that Tsukiko had in childhood, whose leash she had one day accidentally dropped, allowing the puppy to run into traffic where it was killed. Fearing reprisal from her strict father, instead of taking responsibility for the puppy's death, young Tsukiko invented a story about a bat-wielding, skate-wearing puppy killer—Lil' Slugger's first "attack."

Ultimately, Lil' Slugger is a paranormal figment of Tsukiko's guilt and fear, brought inexplicably to life when the adult Tsukiko desperately needed to escape her responsibilities and then fed and nurtured by the fear of the populace. This was all further exacerbated by the public using Maromi as a form of escapism to avoid their own fears and anxieties. When Tsukiko finally confesses the truth, and in doing so accepts the guilt for the death of Maromi, Lil' Slugger is defeated.

Two years later, with Tokyo fully recovered from Lil' Slugger's rampage and the reconstruction of city complete, a new character has captured the attention of the public. A cryptic warning from a wizened Maniwa implies that a new cycle is about to begin.

Tsukiko Sagi (鷺 月子, Sagi Tsukiko)

Voiced by: Mamiko Noto (Japanese); Michelle Ruff (English)

One of the central characters of the series, she is a famous, but timid, character designer best known for a cartoonish dog named Maromi. She carries a plush toy copy of Maromi everywhere. She is Lil' Slugger's first apparent victim in the series, and the catalyst who jump-starts the plot.

Lil' Slugger (少年バット, Shōnen Batto, lit. Young Boy with Bat)

Voiced by: Daisuke Sakaguchi (Japanese); Sam Riegel (English)

The enigmatic figure the series revolves around. He appears as a grinning, baseball cap-wearing juvenile who travels on golden inline skates and attacks people with a gold-colored metal baseball bat that is curiously bent.

Detective Keiichi Ikari (猪狩 慶一, Ikari Keiichi)

Voiced by: Shōzō Iizuka (Japanese); Michael McConnohie (English)

One of two police detectives assigned to investigate the attacks by the Lil' Slugger. He is extremely old fashioned and yearns for the simpler, less hurried times; he is often chastised for this by his young and idealistic partner Mitsuhiro Maniwa.

Detective Mitsuhiro Maniwa (馬庭 光弘, Maniwa Mitsuhiro)

Voiced by: Toshihiko Seki (Japanese); Liam O'Brien (English)

Young, idealistic, and a flexible thinker, Maniwa is the perfect complement as well as foil to the more rustic Keiichi Ikari. He is open-minded and unconventional in his methods.

Maromi (マロミ)

Voiced by: Haruko Momoi (Japanese); Carrie Savage (English)

Maromi is a popular Sanrio-esque mascot created by Tsukiko. A pink dog with big black eyes and droopy ears, Maromi is a parody of real life イヤシキャラ (iyashi kyara) (relaxing characters), such as tarepanda and rilakkuma. In Tsukiko's presence (usually when she is alone), Tsukiko's plush Maromi toy walks, rolls its eyes, and talks to her.

During the makings of his previous three films (Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, and Tokyo Godfathers), Paranoia Agent creator Satoshi Kon was left with an abundance of unused ideas for stories and arrangements that he felt were good but did not fit into any of his projects. Not wanting to waste the material, he decided to recycle it into a dynamic TV series in which his experimental ideas could be used.

In the case of a film to be shown at theatres, I'm working for two years and a half, always in the same mood and with the same method. I wanted to do something that allows me to be more flexible, to realize instantly what flashes across my mind. I was also aiming at a sort of entertaining variation, so I decided to go for a TV series.[3]

Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gives the series the rare approval rating of 100% based on 12 critic reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Anime auteur Satoshi Kon brings his feverish vision to the serialized form in Paranoia Agent, a disturbing meditation on individual and societal anxiety."[13]

Charles Solomon from NPR says, "Paranoia Agent may frustrate viewers who expect a straightforward narrative, but it's a disturbing, highly original work from a talented filmmaker."[14][15] John Powers, also from NPR, remarks, "It's one of the best and strangest programs I have ever seen... Kon does something daring. He reveals the fierce sadness and pain hidden by the modern embrace of things that are cute."[16][15]

A review in Empire awarded Paranoia Agent 3 out of 5 stars, saying, "for those who like their animation 'out there', Satoshi Kon's Paranoia Agent delivers by the oddball bucketload".[17]

Jean-Luc Bouchard from BuzzFeed praised Paranoia Agent as a depiction of depression, writing, "The entire series totals a mere 13 episodes, but it drew me in immediately, and introduced me to a dark cast of characters whose troubled minds changed not just their own perceptions, but each other's realities as well."[18]

A review for IGN gave the first three episodes of Paranoia Agent a score of 7/10, comparing it to the works of David Lynch, but criticizing the animation as "downright primitive in places".[19]

John Maher from Paste listed Paranoia Agent as the 14th best anime series of all time, comparing it to Kon's other works Paprika and Perfect Blue, adding, "it's every bit the sublime exercise in psychological thriller as either".[20]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Paranoia Agent

• Paranoia Agent at IMDb
• Paranoia Agent (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia