Review of Paranoia Agent: Volume 2

Introduction

I`ve had a Satoshi Kon saturated week, what with reviews of Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress and now Paranoia Agent finding space on my hard drive. The first volume of Paranoia Agent made something of a splash a few months ago, making inroads as far as the mainstream national press. As usual, what critics tout as the next big thing, the mainstream audiences usually pay little mind to. But that doesn`t stop the release of Volume 2 of Paranoia Agent, without significant fanfare this time round, but just as tantalising.

Paranoia Agent follows the investigation by two detectives into a series of brutal attacks committed by Lil` Slugger. This mysterious figure, apparently an elementary school student, wears gold inline skates and a baseball cap, and attacks his victims with a dented metal baseball bat. But clues and witnesses are light on the ground, and the only apparent link is that the victims are under some sort of psychological pressure in their personal lives, and may be seeking some sort of escape. At which point, Lil` Slugger appears like some sort of supernatural saviour. That was until the end of the last disc, when policeman Masami Hirukawa made an arrest.

This second volume of Paranoia Agent houses three further episodes, in which the story threads begin to form a tapestry.

5. The Holy Warrior

Lil` Slugger has been arrested, or so it appears and the two detectives are now interviewing a second year student named Makoto Kozuka. However the story he gives is a bizarre one, where he is a warrior destined to save people from a vicious demon named Gohma. It`s hard for the detectives to believe, but fortunately he has the role-playing game rulebook that clarifies everything. For him the game is reality, and as the detectives listen to his statement, they become drawn into the game as well. The links between the game and the attacks seem to go beyond a mere delusion.

6. Fear Of A Direct Hit

A typhoon is heading towards the city as the detectives have finally located the homeless woman who witnessed the first attack on designer Tsukiko Sagi. It`s not easy getting information from her as she wishes to talk about her granddaughter. But the story she eventually does divulge casts doubt on the whole Lil` Slugger phenomenon, and establishes Kozuka as a copycat. The detectives will have to get the real story from Sagi, but at the same time a young girl is wandering the storm lashed city streets. She`s lost in memories that she would rather not have, and there can only be one saviour in her distress.

7. MHz

The storm is over, but Lil` Slugger has left another victim in the hospital. It doesn`t matter to the detectives, who think they have the case solved. At least the elder man is certain. Young Mitsuhiro Maniwa still has his doubts, even though Kozuka has confessed to two of the crimes. He becomes obsessed with finding Lil` Slugger, and finds that the commonality between the victims was extreme stress leading to a desire for escape. As he begins to piece together the clues, his own obsession takes him to the edge of reality, leading his partner to doubt his sanity. Maniwa has a hunch where the next attack will occur, but his wild gamble could lead to disaster.

Video

Paranoia Agent gets a 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer. The colours are strong and the image is sharp throughout. This time round, the fewer episodes mean that this is a single layer disc. I also noticed some picture noise in a high contrast scene in Episode 3, but other than that, the image was of splendid quality. This is an absolutely stunning animation, with character and world design influenced strongly by a sense of realism, and of consistently cinematic quality throughout. That is with the exception of Holy Warrior, which has the main characters represented in a stylised manner when they enter Kozuka`s fantasy world.

Audio

You get a choice between DD 2.0 English and Japanese, with the option of translated subtitles or translated signs. As usual I chose the Japanese track, and while it is a stereo track, it is one of the best I`ve heard in a long time. Sound design is an important part of Paranoia Agent, and the stereo separation and placing of effects works very well. The dub is good as well, with the translation natural, and the voice actors suiting their characters. The theme tune is something special, especially when combined with the title sequence and encapsulates the tone of the series perfectly.

Features

Only the MVM basics this time around, with the requisite jacket picture, animated menus, disc credits, and trailers for other MVM properties including Texhnolyze and Gungrave. In addition to that, you can see the both the beginning and end credit sequences minus text, or with the original Japanese text.

Conclusion

This second volume of Paranoia Agent picks up where the first left off, continuing with the deepening enigma that is Lil` Slugger. However in the three episodes on this disc, the stories and characters begin to interlink in a way that was absent in the first four. We begin to see how the characters are intertwined and we revisit those introduced in earlier stories to see how they have been affected. Where the first disc established the Paranoia Agent world and its characters with four loosely linked stories, on this disc the three episodes are a continuation of one large story, and as such it becomes even more compelling to watch.

However I was a little disappointed with the first episode on this disc, Holy Warrior. While it serves the story well, and tantalisingly adds to the enigma of Lil` Slugger, it does follow a very common anime cliché, that of the shared video game experience. It`s one often seen in more light-hearted stories like Chobits or Love Hina, but here the suspect Kozuka is living out a RPG delusion, and using it to justify his actions. It`s almost a disappointment to see the two detectives drawn into his fantasy world and becoming characters in his game. Satoshi Kon`s work is replete with mind bending realities and illusion, but there is something so twee and hackneyed about the one in this particular story that it almost plays as a comedy episode, certainly at odds with the feel of the rest of the series thus far. It`s back to normal service with Fear Of A Direct Hit though, as the narrative once again challenges perceptions, and the young girl`s story heads in a very dark direction. With the final episode on this disc, the Lil` Slugger case takes a very personal turn for the detectives investigating it, as Maniwa`s obsession with solving the crimes begins to overwhelm him.

Paranoia Agent is about the stress of living in modern society, how individuals react to pressure and our innate desire to flee or hide in the face of adversity. The stories in Paranoia Agent look at various people under different forms of stress in their lives, and how they deal with it, or fail to, resorting to fantasy or delusion. For these people, Lil` Slugger is as much an escape as he is an assault. The three episodes are strongly written and utterly compelling to watch in and of themselves, but the threads that tie the stories together, the spectre of Lil` Slugger just adds layers to the richness of the anime.

I`m consistently amazed at the quality of anime coming to our shores, and in recent months the number of exceptional series keeps on increasing. Paranoia Agent once again raises the bar. The episodes are held together by a compelling mystery, but at its heart are some exceptional character pieces. It`s strong writing of the sort that is rarely seen in any medium, and if for that reason alone, it makes Paranoia Agent worthy of recommendation. While I found the style of the first episode on the disc familiar, it doesn`t detract from the contribution it makes to the overall story. What may be more disappointing is the Spartan nature of this disc; only three episodes and the bare minimum of extras may make you think twice about shelling out. However the quality of the Paranoia Agent story is undiminished.