Paranoia Agent

Publisher
Geneon / MVM
Director
Satoshi Kon
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
13 episodes / 25 minutes
Year
2004

Paranoia Agent Volume 3: Serial Psychosis

By otaku_kei
20th Feb 06

Back for another round of mind-bending, intellectually challenging anime that forces the audience to deal with subjects that many people consider taboo, as well as the visceral attacks from a phantom-like menace. From the start this show has pushed the boundaries, been both shocking and beguiling and dealt with the constantly changing nature of truth! This trip through sub-cultures and urban legends continues in this latest volume of Paranoia Agent as the myth of Lil' Slugger continues to spread and change. To some this ethereal character is a source of hope, and to others a demon. This volume though explores the social force of Lil' Slugger rather than his crimes, and reintroduces Maromi the Dog!

This latest volume starts on an issue that has become a regular hot topic of concern in the media of Japan: online suicide pacts! The social alienation of the modern world and the cultural and social imperatives of the Japanese have resulted in a growing number of the population participating in organised group suicides. This is an issue so alarming to the Japanese establishment that it finds regular debate in the media and has even been discussed by the Japanese parliament! But what impact would Lil' Slugger have on these people who hold no hope for the future? For the trio of inept suicide hopefuls this menace becomes a source of hope! The common conception that Lil' Slugger comes to those in need, who find themselves backed into a corner and can see no way out this being may well appear to be a solution to their many problems. Yet bizarrely enough the baseball cap wearing anti-hero does not seem to agree, but even a brief run in with Lil' Slugger changes those without hope quite fundamentally!

Lil' Slugger's impact has gone much farther than this. Since the opening scene of the very first episode of Paranoia Agent, this show has constantly featured the very human nature of gossip and rumour spreading. How this all effects the myth of Lil' Slugger is covered more when this show focus' on four housewives spreading stories about the residents in the apartment complex where they reside. The nature of hearsay and rumour, gossip mongering and misinformation is what starts these urban legends in the first place, and this episode continues the constantly fluid nature of these types of stories. This show has once again brought the folklore that surrounds Lil' Slugger back into the realms of a communal psychosis that is constantly mutating and changing. This group belief in gossip and legend has fashioned the perpetrator of brutal crimes into a phantom that can bring both hope and misery!

The final episode of this volume demonstrates just how different viewpoints on the Lil' Slugger phenomenon effect people, in an episode when we also get a return of Maromi The Dog! First introduced in the opening episode this cute pop culture icon is now getting her own anime show - but not without a little interference from Lil' Slugger! This is an interesting episode as it looks at the animation process, and we regularly get narration explaining what the principal contributors to the animation process actually do, but as this creative team get struck down one-by-one by Lil' Slugger it appears increasingly improbable that this show will ever make it to air. Also this volume brings yet another link between the rise of Maromi and the Lil' Slugger incidents. These two social phenomena have had lasting impacts on the pop culture and collective subconscious, but do these links run deeper? Or are the ominous images that pepper this volume nothing more than misdirection?

Paranoia Agent: Serial Psychosis, has really switched me on to this series again. Whilst my interest was first piqued by the opening volume of the show, the spiralling madness did make for some hard viewing. These episodes have drawn back from the criminal investigation and presented these events in such a different manner that once again I really want to find out just what is the truth about this whole drama! But with such a crazy premise in the first place, and the fact that nothing has yet been fully resolved, I cannot imagine how this show is going to round itself off in the final volume! As long as the quality of this show is maintained then I am sure that the finale will be just as engrossing as the rest of this show has been!

R2 DVD Notes

Features: English Language 2.0; Japanese Language 2.0; English Language Subtitles; Japanese Cover Art Gallery; Character Art Gallery; MVM Trailers

Release information: COMING SOON - 10th April 2006

Notes: A perfectly fine release from MVM. The extras are little more than standard fare for this title, and the a/v quality is as good as we have come to expect from MVM and their DVD authoring partners Madman.

-- otaku_kei 20th Feb 06

Paranoia Agent Images