Paranoia Agent - The Collection [DVD]

With three full-length animated feature films behind him of the calibre of Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress and Tokyo Godfathers, Satoshi Kon certainly doesn't need the length afforded by a 13 episode anime series to develop complex ideas and innovative animation techniques, but it's fascinating all the same to see the ideas and themes of one of Japan's greatest filmmakers - some indeed left-over from his earlier films - expanded across a wider range of characters in Paranoia Agent.

The underlying theme of the series becomes apparent fairly quickly, each episode focussing largely on one particular character who it becomes clear is going to be the next seemingly random victim of a mysterious baseball-bat wielding school kid on rollerblades, known as Lil' Slugger (or Shonen Bat), who has been terrorising the neighbourhood. Each of the characters, while seemingly having lives and careers to aspire to, all however have deep personal and personality problems, finding themselves cornered and only able to be released from their torment by a vicious whack across the head by the enigmatic rollerbladed assailant who corners them in an alleyway late at night. As the tagline indicates "When darkness overcomes the heart, Lil' Slugger appears".

This alone is a very entertaining concept, but there is much more to Paranoia Agent than that. There are other connections between the characters, and rather than just repeating variations on a theme, Satoshi Kon peels away layers and manages to develop the relationship between them as the series progresses, quite brilliantly making a comment on people as individuals as well as what this says about the modern society they live in and the demands it places on them, "investigating a generation" through its lifestyle and interests (manga and anime included), and where random and seemingly inexplicable violence is an accepted part of everyday life, and in some cases an answer. Answers however are not always so easy to come by in Paranoia Agent.

Everything about the series is well-conceived and masterfully executed, the tone established effectively by the rather disturbing sight of the characters laughing hysterically at the apocalypse during the rather unusual opening title sequence through to their peaceful slumber on the grass at the end of each episode. In between Satoshi Kon draws on a variety of techniques (capably animated by the Madhouse studio) some of which can be seen in his features - freeze-frame still sequences, an overlapping comic narrative in one episode that recalls Alan Moore's Watchmen - but he takes them to another level here.

After the first seven episodes that set up the premise, the story seems to descend into Twin Peaks weirdness and there is no doubt some filler material included, but it all adds to the legend of Shonen Bat, before his origins and his legacy are revealed in the explosive apocalyptic conclusion. That seems like a very traditional Japanese comic-book convention, but in reality the whole series is indeed a commentary on anime themes and their origins, as well as what they tell us about Japanese society today. You'd expect nothing less from Satoshi Kon, would you?

Barring some interlacing and minor blurring from standards conversion, the quality of MVM's 4-disc DVD set of the complete series is fine and there are a few good extra features, including a brief interview with Satoshi Kon and a full storyboard multi-angle feature for the first episode. The final three episodes all have a very interesting commentary from the director and producers.

These 13 episodes focus upon individual key characters for the first seven episodes, deviate away from these for episodes 7-10, and then return to them, concluding the main story for the final episodes.

It is rated 18, but is not excessively violent, or graphic (a plus or a minus, depending on your taste). The main premise of the series is about how individuals perceive reality, and how myths and legends are built up from individual fantasy and mass communication... Lil' slugger is the key link between all the stories, and his character is one which builds and builds, until the final apocalyptic set-pieces of the final episode.

Satoshi Kon, a modern master of Anime and Cinema, is responsible for the creation of this television series, and like his other work, it is entertaining, thought provoking, visually sumptuous, and completely heads above anything else in this field. Comparisons with western filmmakers like David Lynch, Terry Gilliam, and David, Cronenberg can be drawn - with a similar sense of intelligence, sharp surreallity, and left-field logic - but like these director's, Kon is a unique and diverse talent.

It includes Japanese and English audio versions - with English subtitles, translated from the Japanese original.

It has a great informative and fun commentary by Satoshi Kon, and the producer, on episodes 11-13. The other DVD extras include a storyboard comparison, and initial character sketches.

Wholly recommended!

I loved this series to bits, but would like to know whether this is a dubbed version in English, as I would like to hear it in its original Japanese? Can anyone enlighten me on this?

Thanks