Customer Reviews

Paranoia Agent - Sayonara Maromi (Vol. 4)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Satoshi Kon's 13 episode series comes to a satisfactory conclusion, weaving the final story from several characters introduced in the first few episodes. Along the way, Kon gives at least a passing node to most of the major characters.

How you view the series overall will depend on your taste and point of view. What appears to some as meandering and unfocussed can appear to others as a real tour de force. The series comprises a variety of animation styles and even narrative styles. It was always a bit of a hodge-podge: Kon said at the start that he wanted to use a number of ideas that had come up during his feature films but that did not fit into the narratives. The series form gave him a great opportunity, as some episodes seem to digress, illustrating a point rather than moving the overall narrative forward. Nevertheless all the stories carry the common thread, and in the final analysis the work stands as a unified whole. The overall form becomes one of a themed anthology.

That being said, the end of the series on this volume is strong. Once I started watching, it was hard to stop. The storytelling is compelling, and the animation was well done in a variety of styles, the two-dimensional world being particularly enjoyable. There's intelligently-written action along with moments of fear, humor and pathos. The commentary track by creator-director Kon, along with the screenwriter and producer, is frosting on the cake. Overall, this disk and this series demonstrate again why Kon is one of the greatest animators out there.

WHY?!!! i honestly just want to know why it's so necessary for this one dvd of the 4 disc collection to be so freaking expensive... i could get the entire boxed set for cheaper than this. i'll never seen the ending of the series because of this... it's sad.

`Paranoia Agent' defies most of conventional anime. No giant robots, big guns, or girls with blue hair. It takes place in present day Tokyo and revolves around the lives of everyday workers. It is also unique for being an anthology.

`Paranoia Agent' is not based around the conflict of heroes and villains. It depends mostly on style. The opening credits are arguably the most memorable in anime history. We see our many characters standing in the midst of a disaster, flood, fire, earthquake, nuclear bombing. However they are all laughing uncontrollably in an insane manner, as to make us think that these characters may have come to except the horror of their lives.

The plot: Unlike most anime series `Paranoia Agent' is an anthology, each episode seems to exist on its own, in that we are introduced to new characters whose stories begin and end with that episode, an anthology. The stories are all related in the sense that each of our characters lives in modern day Tokyo and is having trouble in life, generally work related. They all end up being attacked by boy in roller blades, Little Slugger.

The stories are very entertaining in a dark comedy way, from a sleazy reporter who owes money to the mob, a school girl by day and prostitute by night, an anime production team that's behind schedule, friends that keep failing in their many attempts to commit suicide. Little Slugger attacks them all.

As the show progresses, so does Little Slugger. It becomes quite obvious that he is super natural. It also becomes quite obvious that `Paranoia Agent' has absolutely no intention of wrapping things up or ever explaining the truth about Little Slugger or any of the bizarre events. And it doesn't.

I couldn't see this series going on any longer and it's nice they ended it after 13 episodes allowing us to remember it fondly.

`Paranoia Agent' works mostly because of its style. The animation and directing are great. It also works because of its very entertaining stories, as short as they might be.

I have collected the whole PA series and I have to say it is one of the most ground breaking animes out there right now this Volume was excellent the series ended somewhat how I expected but there was so much to follow until the very end I love this show and I hope it does well when they broadcast it here in America though your average tv viewer might not understand everything it takes multiple viewing to fully understand Paranoia Agent but Man Is It Worth It.

Since december, paranoia agent has had me wrapped around the tightly woven story. Ive seen all the events and tragedys in this series. Now, it is finnaly at an end. In the last disk, we wrap up the story, and find out the true nature of lil slugger. This disk might not be as creepy or disturbing as the others, but acomplishes its task at hand remarkably. This is a great finish. Some people might not understand what he was trying to say, but search deep and the answer is clear. A grwat feature on this dvd is the commentary by creator Satoshi Kohn. I recomend seeing the other disks of the series first, but dont to get the final masterpiece of this epic series.

Thank you Satoshi Kohn, its been a wonderful ride

I really love Paranoia Agent, it's a great anime. I actually think it's the best anime of the year. But whats such a shame is that it probably will never get recognized. I know it's on cartoon network but it never really seemed to gain much popularity which is too bad considering how great it is. It deserves more. The ending to the series was also really cool.

Satoshi Kon is arguably one of Japan's best creator/directors having helmed films "Perfect Blue" and "millenium actress". It was with much fan-fare and hype that his latest work, "paranoia agent" would be a 13 episode anime series broadcast on television. Satoshi is a master of psychological and supernatural thrillers and "paranoia agent" is no exception. Revolving around a series of attacks from a guy called "lil' slugger" the series follows two detectives as they search for the attacker (who later becomes a killer). The series starts out amazing introducing us to Tsukiko, a young character designer whose famous creation Maromi has been a huge hit (think hello kitty). Under pressure to create another hit character, the detached Tsukiko is the first victim of lil' slugger. As the attacks move to other characters the story keeps coming back to Tsukiko.

In this final volume all the pieces are in place for what promised to be a truly amazing ending. However, on the final disc Satoshi really derails the series. We have a major jump in time (ten years since the start of the attacks) and the two detectives looking for Lil' slugger have undergone serious changes. One detective Ikari is now an odd jobs man doing various security work and detective Maniwa has gone mad.

Maniwa now believes he is "radar man" and goes about unravelling the mystery behind lil' slugger. After a few surreal scenes the 3 episodes on this disc conclude right where back at where the show began.

While many fansites and reviews will talk alot about Satoshi Kon using Paranoia Agent as commentary on consumerism, commercialism, universal fears or society in general I have to wonder if they saw the same show. While these issues are touched upon the final episodes never really made any great commentary about human nature nor did they really make any sense.

"Paranoia Agent" had an amazing start but towards the end the show seemed to lose its focus with volume 3 and especially with volume 4 taking the show in a totally different direction. The supernatural destruction of Tokyo at the end was hard to buy as were the reasons for Lil' slugger and Maromi's existence.

Overall a disappointing end to a show that showed immense promise. Definetly rent before you commit to buy.