C&C - Paranoia Agent on Toonami [2020]

[Game Freak 4]

Would you ever reject you own, personal utopia?

 

[Kitschensyngk]

Would you ever reject you own, personal utopia?

Well, I'd get certainly get bored with it after a while.

So that's where all the dolls went.

"Looks like we're splitting the bill!"
For the Korean BBQ, remember?

 

[animePWNS]

BOOKEND WATCH: Another barbecue bill reference. They're both right.

Uh oh, the slime has noticed.

He never was.

 

[Kitschensyngk]

Shut up, you off-brand Hello Kitty.

No! Tokyo Godfathers was filmed there!

So it's all the dad's fault, then?

 

[animePWNS]

And Maniwa struck out.

TSUKIKO... RUN!

BOOKEND WATCH: That music again.

They're dropping like flies!

"Because of a *** damn puppy!" Yup, that's Paranoia Agent in a nutshell.

 

[Kitschensyngk]

And Maniwa struck out.

No joy in Mudville.

EMILY ELIZABETH! RUN!

HA HA HA HA HA HA EMOTIONAL WIPEOUT!

"The whole world is about to end because of a g--damned puppy!"
This never would have happened with Snoopy.

It's all your fault! It's all your fault! It's all your fault! It's all your fault! It's all your fault!

 

[animePWNS]

Hello darkness, my old friend.

That period comment I made earlier? Who'd've thought?

Maromi...

Shaped like a broken leg.

BOOKEND WATCH: His first and last lines. Hello again... Good-bye.

Are they all restored?

 

[Kitschensyngk]

'Twas puberty killed the beast.

A supervillain origin story.

..or not.

 

[animePWNS]

Another panty shot?

My god... it's just like the final volume of Watchmen.

BOOKEND WATCH: The same crowds again. And more excuses.

Of course Maromi's successor is a cat.

Nice haircut.

Ikari carries on.

Kawazu seems fine too. The creep.

BOOKEND WATCH: The Ancient Master writing in chalk again... but it's Maniwa?!

 

[Kitschensyngk]

He could have at least dropped her off a little closer to shore.

It's Akira all over again.

And then, two years later, Paprika happens.

Well, Tsukiko's moved on, it seems.

Here we go again.

 

[animePWNS]

Oh yeah, this prophetic vision you show.

Basically, the next episode is the whole series itself. Watch it again and see what you missed before.

Recurring sound: Fireworks. It's only in one scene, which is odd, but the final one symbolizes Ikari's victory over delusion.

And the moral of this story? Escapism can be a real b****, especially one that is shaped like a pink mushroom cloud. And those who point fingers at each other use the other three and their thumb to hold a bat and hit themselves with it.

 

[Kitschensyngk]

YOU BASTARDS!! NOW YOU RUN THE PREVIEW!!! THAT WAS MY JOB!!

 

[Kitschensyngk]

Screw it, I'm posting it anyway...

PROPHETIC VISION

Spoiler

To begin…

The story that seems to have ended spins back to the place where it began.

Following each stepping stone and connecting the dots, you find the eternal castle of recurring dreams.

No mystery remains unsolved forever.

And no answer is without mystery.

Well, then…

We bid you farewell.

RIP Satoshi Kon. Your dream ended far too early.

 

[Mr. Anime]

So what is Lil Slugger really?
Well…he’s the rumor that spirals out of control. The paranoia that is spawned from misinformation and lies of everyday life.
The more people believe the more powerful, real, deadly he becomes.
He is the hype and he is the panic.
He is The Consequence and The Excuse.

And worst off…It doesn’t end with Lil Slugger. things like this happens all the time. And once the Pandemic is truly over and I don’t mean died down. I mean OVER. We are gonna get more of this kind of this. And it's not going to a take the form a boy on roller skates and a bent bat!
And that probably part of the reason Toonami picked this show. It’s topical. Sure we’re not faced with a seemingly supernatural being that smacks people with a baseball bat. But we are faced with various lies and misinformation.
Paranoia breeds panic and panic causes fear with fear boiling over into hatred and hatred leading harm…
So now more than ever we NEED to look out for one another. Help one another.

 

[Kitschensyngk]

Maromi and Lil' Slugger are the same thing - a lie.

Maromi is the lie we tell ourselves to maintain a state of comfortable denial about reality.

Denial takes many forms - nostalgia, fantasy, indulging in hobbies, false optimism.

Lil' Slugger is the lie we tell others to shift the blame and escape our responsibility.

Simply find yourself a scapegoat - the new kid in school, an incompetent coworker, an alternate personality.

A lie left unchecked can spiral out of control, hinder our capabilities, even affect other people.

Only when the lie comes face-to-face with the truth can it be truly defeated.

There is always a reckoning.

You can run from it, or you can face it.

Which is the better option?

 

[TnAdct1]

With Paranoia Agent coming to an end, and the final piece of it showing up, it is time to post the theory that I have concerning a certain aspect of the show since it first aired on Adult Swim fifteen years ago. That theory: who that old man really is (and his role in the show).

WARNING: A LOT OF TEXT.

Something is telling me that the old guy was someone who defeated something similar to Lil' Slugger years ago (when the original Maromi got ran over). However, in doing so (as well as gaining the knowledge of the next event that is similar to what he stopped), he ended up losing his mind and thus people assumed he became senile. Thus, between his age, the belief that he's senile, and his health condition thanks to Kawazu running him over, the old man was unable to stop this new threat, now known as Lil' Slugger, on his own and needed to find someone that could become his heir and stop this new threat for him.

Given how the only way to defeat the threat is to go insane yourself, his first choice for a hero was Makoto, a messed-up teen who wanted to do something big before he committed suicide. The old man informed Makoto about the old lady who saw how Tsukiko, the one responsible for the new threat, injured herself (and subsequently lied about being attacked by a boy with a golden bat) in order to get out the deadline of creating a new character similar to Maromi, and he provided him with information about how Yuichi and Taeko would be targets of this new threat. In an attempt to prevent this new threat from getting Yuichi and Taeko, Makoto donned the "Holy Warrior" persona and decided the best thing to do to stop the attacks is to target the ones who would cause those two to be attacked by the threat, Shogo (whom Yuichi was paranoid about, as he assumed he was trying to steal his popularity) and Hirukawa (whose messed up personality had him interested in setting up hidden cameras in the dream house he was building so that way he can film Taeko undressing).

Unfortunately, a few things went wrong because of this, with it being contributed to the fact that he took out Shogo and Hirukawa while dressed up as the threat that he's trying to stop, Lil' Slugger. First, the attacks only made the situations worse for both Yuichi and Taeko. For Yuichi, since his problem involved people thinking that he's Lil' Slugger, the attack on Shogo only added more fuel to it (even if he did witness it). As for Taeko, Hirukawa actually fought back after Makoto attacked him, leading to Makoto's arrest and Hirukawa getting the money needed to finish up the construction of the dream house (and the set up of the hidden cameras). The second problem: the eventual attacks on Yuichi and Taeko by the real Lil' Slugger resulted in two additional victims being added: Harumi (Yuichi's tutor, who, after hearing about him from her student, had Lil' Slugger attack her to repress her true personality as the prostitute Maria) and Makoto himself (who, after it's been proven that he can't be the real Lil' Slugger, is attacked and killed by him). Finally, these attacks would only result in the rumor of Lil' Slugger to grow, subsequently causing him to become stronger and deadlier.

However, before he died, Makoto was able to tell his story about being a "Holy Warrior" to the Ikari and Maniwa, the detectives handling the Lil' Slugger case. While Ikari found it to be nonsense, Maniwa meanwhile took an interest into the story, and by becoming Makoto's "bard" when he tells the story, started to take the path of taking over the role of the hero that would stop Lil' Slugger. After the attack on Taeko, which happened at the same time as Tsukiko passing out after Ikari hits her with the truth about how she made up the Lil' Slugger story, the old man would officially give the role of Maniwa as the one who will serve as Makoto's successor by appearing to him and, via showing a "magic trick", would get Maniwa to eventually realize that Lil' Slugger isn't some human being but rather a mysterious force that preys on those who are paranoid and on the verge of wanting bodily harm a means to escape their problems. After getting fired due to Makoto's death, Maniwa would continue pursuing the Lil' Slugger case by warning people through various forms of media (ham radio, online chat rooms) while donning a superhero identity (his way of losing his sanity) that would not only do battle with Lil' Slugger, but would also investigate leads that would lead to the eventual way to defeat Lil' Slugger for good: getting Tsukiko to accept responsibility for the death of the original Maromi.

With Maniwa following the right path in defeating Lil' Slugger, the old man was finally able to find his successor and pass down the ability to predict the actions of the next big threat to Maniwa (with Maniwa himself gaining the old man's white hair as a result of it), with the old man then passing away and doing the one last thing that needs to be done to stop Lil' Slugger: meeting up with Misae in the afterlife (as she died before she can even get to the operating table) and having her snap Ikari out off the of the fantasy world that he was placed in by Lil' Slugger's other half, Maromi (who knew that he would also cease to exist if Tsukiko finally came to terms with how he was responsible for her dog's death).

 

[marklungo]

I always wondered if Li'l Slugger took his human appearance from Makoto, but it turns out that Tsukiko created him. So how is it that Li'l Slugger and Makoto are almost identical? Maybe I had it the wrong way around, and Makoto modeled himself after Li'l Slugger.

 

[TnAdct1]

I always wondered if Li'l Slugger took his human appearance from Makoto, but it turns out that Tsukiko created him. So how is it that Li'l Slugger and Makoto are almost identical? Maybe I had it the wrong way around, and Makoto modeled himself after Li'l Slugger.

The way I see it is like this: while Tsukiko did create Lil' Slugger, the actual facial look of him did not develop until Makoto started dressing as him when he was the "Holy Warrior" and got arrested during one of his "preventive" attacks, with people beginning to associate what Lil' Slugger looks like with his face afterwards (as part of his legend growing). One thing that suggests that: the fact that during the first three episodes, Lil' Slugger's face is in the shadows in some form (either partial from the nose up to full shadow) whenever he appears.

 

[marklungo]

The way I see it is like this: while Tsukiko did create Lil' Slugger, the actual facial look of him did not develop until Makoto started dressing as him when he was the "Holy Warrior" and got arrested during one of his "preventive" attacks, with people beginning to associate what Lil' Slugger looks like with his face afterwards (as part of his legend growing). One thing that suggests that: the fact that during the first three episodes, Lil' Slugger's face is in the shadows in some form (either partial from the nose up to full shadow) whenever he appears.

Sounds plausible to me. Thanks!

 

[Light Lucario]

I thought that this episode was pretty good. Ikari initially getting so into his own fantasy world wasn't too surprising. He felt like he didn't have anywhere else to go and wanted to be his idealized version of a cop, so he would initially reject Maniwa's warning. Tsukiko reverting back into a child was kind of weird, but it did fit with how he wanted a daughter. It was rather touching how Misae appeared to help Ikari break through his fantasy world. While I wasn't sure how healthy their relationship was, she wanted to spend her last moments trying to help him and hearing that she was about to die did affect Ikari. Losing his wife made him realize that this fantasy wasn't worthwhile and that gave him the strength to break through.

Tsukiko's backstory with Maromi was interesting. Given how there was a flashback about her childhood dog, it was sadly obvious where it was going to go. I still couldn't really handle watching the scene since it was just so sad and unsettling. While she still created Lil' Slugger to explain away Maromi's death, I wouldn't say it was her fault either. It was a tragic accident. Menstrual cramps can be incredibly painful. I'm sure that she did feel so much guilt for years and her fear about telling the truth to her father was understandable on multiple levels, but I don't think it was her fault. It was still rather sad to see her crying and apologizing to Maromi.

The notion that Maromi was the embodiment of Tsukiko's grief for her dog while Lil' Slugger was a means of suppressing that emotional trauma made a lot of sense, especially for Lil' Slugger. While he often targeted people who were reaching a breaking point, a lot of the characters wanted a quick solution to their problems. Icchi wanted to find Lil' Slugger to prove that he was innocent and regain his popularity instead of addressing his huge ego and asking for help for his non-stop harassment. Harumi wanted to lock her alternate personality Maria away instead of telling her future husband about her condition while still going to her therapist. Most of the cast wanted to find a quick solution to put their emotional traumas or conflicts at ease, even if it meant that they'd die as a result. Misae was the only character to avoid Lil' Slugger because she not only recognized her emotional conflict, but refused to simply avoid the problem by asking for him to kill her. Once Tsukiko recognized her grief by apologizing to Maromi, Lil' Slugger finally disappeared as well.

I wish that they had shown how the other characters were two years later. Outside of Tsukiko, Ikari and Maniwa, most of the cast didn't really appear that often, but the previous episode did imply that the effects of Lil' Slugger were undone the moment Tsukiko was in that fantasy world. I would have been interested in seeing how at least some of the other characters were doing. I especially wanted to make sure that the creepy police officer didn't get a happy ending. Tsukiko and Ikari at least seemed to have moved on with their new lives, while Maniwa had basically taken on the role that the old man did before, which seemed pretty fitting given that he was already off the deep end. The final narration was pretty weird though.

Overall, the series was pretty good. It was a pretty engaging mystery and I was pretty satisfied with the answers they provided for Maromi and Lil' Slugger. Maromi offering emotional comfort and escapism to a high degree honestly made a lot more sense than my initial theory. Since Maromi had become such a huge hit, I really thought that it was some kind of deity affecting the people of Japan, especially when it disappeared right when Tsukiko went to that fantasy world. I remember hearing about how confusing this series was for years, but for the most part, I thought it was pretty easy to follow and understand. There were definitely moments and episodes that I had think back a bit more to understand. Some might only make more sense in retrospect too, but it generally worked fine. Although, I'm positive I would have been more lost in at least some areas if I saw this when it first premiered.

While I liked the series, I think it is put on a bit of a pedestal, or at least I remember hearing it getting a lot of praise when it first came out. It is good and I can see why it got so much praise, but I'm not sure if I'd be able to recommend it. Part of it is because it is an anthology series, so the quality of the episode or how engaging it would be might vary too much for a lot of people. I also think it was kind of an odd choice to have three episodes suddenly focus on one-shot characters. That isn't to say that those episodes were bad. They were still interesting and fit within the general theme of the series. Despite its tragic subject manner and the dark humor, Happy Family Planning might be one of the most interesting episodes in the series. I just think that just gave them a bit less time to resolve the mystery and showcase what happened to the other characters in the two year time skip ending. Plus, it really made the series feel even more like a collection of movie ideas that were somehow brought together to create a single narrative. It generally works, but I can also see how it might feel too inconsistent for other people.

I should also point out that I never saw any of Satoshi Kon's work prior to this series. I'm pretty sure I've never seen any of his movies, although I've heard of most of them. It was already sad that he passed on so young, but it's also sad in a creative sense given that he clearly had a lot of ideas. He might have been able to go on to create more shows and movies. That in itself is sad and might be one other reason why Paranoia Agent is praised as a classic given it was his only animated series. I might check out some of his movies since the show was interesting. I do wish that Toonami picked up more older titles that haven't aired in ages, but I'm glad that I could at least watch this series after hearing about it for so long.