It has been a while since the last time I saw a Japanese anime series so I was kind of thirsty for some oriental creativity and I found several interesting series. One of them was Paranoia Agent. The basic setting in this series is that a mysterious kid begins to attack people with his golden bat, no one is able to catch him and he always appears by surprise and outruns his victim. Well, he actually doesn't run because he uses golden inline skates.
The first few episodes will be dedicated to different victims of this malicious kid, he always seems to find these people when they are alone are suffering from a lot of stress or anxiety. After watching 3 or 4 episodes, I thought this series was about showing different types of mental issues, and how they could affect people in their daily lives. However, I didn't have an explanation about the "Lil' Slugger", which is how the characters start to refer to the violent kid with the bat.
The episodes can be very different from each other, one of them could even appear to be episodes from a kid's show, but nothing could be further than the truth. This is a dark and twisted show, belonging to the psychological thriller and exploring a concept that I recently learned called the "psychosphere".
I learned about this concept, psychosphere, after watching True Detective season 1 a few days ago and reading certain analyses about it. Specifically, the one from Vigilant Citizen. In that article, it was defined as:
“Psychosphere” can be defined as the “sphere of human consciousness” and takes its roots in Carl Jung’s concept of “collective unconscious”. It basically states that all thoughts that go through the human brain are “converted” by the neocortex and projected outwards into ethereal dimensions... Humans, therefore, live in an “atmosphere of thoughts”... the existence of this psychosphere causes humans to be compelled to respond to similar ideas, myths, and symbols. Source
This concept is perfectly explored in the Paranoia Agent series. The psychosphere of this Japanese town conditions everything the inhabitants see and experience. It is no surprise most of the characters are going through difficult psychological periods. It is not a series about different mental issues but about the concept of the psychosphere and how it permeates the life of everyone.
Paranoia Agent, in the beginning, is ambiguous when it comes to the nature of the events that take place. In the end, it leaves no doubt about the fact if these events are real and paranormal or just imaginary. With a different approach, this story could have belonged in the horror genre but it is an excellent psycho-thriller for sure.
The themes explored are not for kids but for adults. We have people suffering all sorts of mental issues and there is even an episode about 3 individuals, one of which is a kid, trying to commit suicide together. To make it all even more sinister, the episode is produced as if everything happening was good and happy, including happy music.
In another episode, one woman faces Lil' Slugger and talks with him about her frustration with her marriage and dealing with her health issues. In total there are 13 episodes lasting about 20-25 minutes each.
If you are looking for a unique approach to this concept and a cool psychological thriller this series should be a good watch. Have in mind this is an anime so several scenes could have an annoying animation style but it is a serious production for the most part.
The best
- Very dark, twisted, but ultimately interesting anime series.
- A good psychological thriller for adults.
The worst
- Not every episode was intriguing.
More information: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0433722/ Review: AAA In numbers: 7.5/10
