Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Classic: Paranoia Agent
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Bonham
 Posts: 419 Location: NYC |
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Hiroshi Hamasaki (Texhnolyze and Shigurui) directed and storyboarded this episode, and it's really obvious. The screenshot you have in the article (an almost black-and-white image with strong, angular and contrast-heavy lighting, and characters placed off near the edge of the frame) is exemplary of his style, which usually portrays a growing anxiety or tension within the characters and their environment. The sound design also captures this very well, as you said, as there's a stillness in the world... the calm before the storm, as the cliche goes. It's one of my favorite episodes, and, as you've guessed, is a pretty important demarcation between the first half of the series and the second. The stories of the two officers continue, but structurally there's a clear distinction between the set-up of the first six episodes and what follows after the seventh one. |
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vonPeterhof
Posts: 729 |
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leafy sea dragon
 Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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I was waiting for this episode to come up. It was one of the standout episodes for me for feeling so different and a subversion of the show's usual rules. Shonen Bat is clearly not used to being the one who needs to run away, for one.
This episode's title, if I recall correctly, is "Happy Family Planning." It is a fittingly darkly sarcastic title for this darkly-humored episode. |
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whiskeyii
 Posts: 2247 |
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Definitely one of my top favorite episodes for Paranoia Agent. I'm not usually one for black comedy, but the timing in this episode just makes it almost impossible not to laugh.
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Animegomaniac
Posts: 4089 |
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Oh yes, this is absolutely the best episode of the series, except I'd say this says less about "Happy Family Planning" and more about the rest of Paranoia Agent.
But we'll get to that point when we get to it. And no, it's not the ultimate secret, it's the bit before that. No, it's that plus that plus that... plus that. Making me remember the show post "Happy Family Planning", despicable. Deplorable? Depressing. When I rented the show: DVD 1 was plot related. It had to be. DVD 2 was somewhat plot related. Not really though, more like rumors of rumors. Legends of Urban Legends. DVD 3 was a series of short stories. Could have been mini-movies, segments of Memories 2, would anyone have noticed? DVD 4... we'll get there when we get there. And we are going to get there... |
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maoyen
 Posts: 170 |
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Episode 8 spoilers: spoiler[So at what point of the episode did they actually die? I've always assumed it was in their first attempt, as the birds start following them right after.]
"Happy Family Planning" is one of my favorite single anime episodes of all time, that creepy ending scene always gets me. Paranoia Agent is truly an underrated masterpiece. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11378 |
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I always assumed that too because spoiler[they had visible shadows until they're lying in the street next to the construction zone, and it's obvious when the girl rides her bike past Zebra, casting a shadow while he does not. Since Zebra's arm cast a shadow on his body when the backhoe allowed light into the room, I think rather than dying from the CO and pills, they were killed when the ceiling collapsed on them.] |
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the-antihero
 Posts: 726 |
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My overly simplified review of Paranoia Agent:
IT'S BORING!! Ending makes no sense. |
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whiskeyii
Posts: 2247 |
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Episode 9 is, for me, far and away the weakest episode PA has to offer. I heard mentions that it's really just a collection of unused ideas Kon wanted to insert, but I don't think it's pulled off all that well.
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Shay Guy
 Posts: 2129 |
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"Take a rest!"
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leafy sea dragon
Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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I remember when I first found out about Shirobako, I thought about this episode of Paranoia Agent. Only...not a horror series.
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whiskeyii
Posts: 2247 |
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Huh. Definitely going to have to give this one a rewatch; I remember feeling almost the opposite of Nick during this episode, so I wonder if my takeaway was just naive back then or if I just didn't fully grasp what was going on.
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Carlooo
Posts: 58 |
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Yeah, I remember being really impressed by Taeko Ikari when I saw PA years ago. I liked this episode very much for portraying real life problems and good people just trying to overcome those problems.
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leafy sea dragon
Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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Considering the episode's name is "No Entry," I think Shonen Bat was the real deal in this episode. This would be the first case where we see Shonen Bat arriving to try to deliver a person away from their daily frustrations but utterly failing, and if he's the actual Shonen Bat (and I think he is), then it means he can only attack someone who has given up. As Mrs. Ikari refuses to give up, Shonen Bat cannot attack her. She is off limits--as the title states, he cannot enter her mind.
It also means this is the first episode that indicates Shonen Bat must follow rules to his own behavior and that he doesn't just go around finding people in despair and hitting them with his bat. That being said, I've only seen this episode once, and I think I missed much of it. My mom was watching it with me, and she was asking a lot of questions about what was going on, who everybody was, and for some reason, what was going to happen (she does this a lot, and I can't explain why). |
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Animegomaniac
Posts: 4089 |
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I never saw anything comforting in taking advice from what is either a figment of imagination or the physical embodiment of a mental breakdown. Especially when it's in the form of a talking cartoon dog. Even "Homer, find your soul mate!" has a bad ring to it.
Sure, in the previous episode, we had the other/same/what? figment get beaten up by a woman dying of cancer. Because? He has a bat, he hits people with it and then disappears. No Entry? Shouldn't it be called "No Exit"? This would have worked for me if the guy was the disease and not just a symptom... or maybe I should just say "I will live!" can't trump "I'm going to get hit with a bat, aren't I?" in the presence of someone wielding a baseball bat. Most likely you wouldn't die from it, right? You know, what was once a great sprawling tale of urban spiritual decay of interconnected lives became not only a story specific to a single person but a really dumb one at that, and its effect that... Oh right, we're still not there yet. "Little Slugger" should have remained an enigma, an unsolved case of group paranoia bringing a physical urban legend into existence. It could have been based on a lie, more likely based on someone seeing someone go home from a baseball game, a lie that spiraled out of control as each person put their own spin on it. No, what we got was Maromi, Radio Man, Little Slugger being whacked instead.... funny how mass hysteria works in this series. Group consciousness gave him power up to the point where a single old women said "No" to him because the writer said it was so.... and that final bit of business. His story, his rules. My own take on the last few episodes is more along the lines of "What do you mean we have to resolve the Little Slugger plotline? We spent the last few episodes trying to get people to forget that whole mess. Ok, we'll do a series of twists... the unstoppable be stopped, the unexplainable be explained and the unimaginable..." Next episode. |
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