Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
Naruzx
We all have a Shounen Bat inside us.
But honestly, I kinda want Shounen Bat to beat the fuck out of me and give me some relief from this world. Well... Paranoia Agent is a deeply quirky and fascinating series. I loved how it seamlessly blends psychological drama, dark comedy, satire, and surrealism with this bizarre, carnival-like atmosphere, constantly tackling the same themes from different angles. Some parts were genuinely mind-blowing, straight-up frying my brain in the best way possible.
Episodes 3 and 8 were easily the highlights for me (both 10/10). They were shockingly bizarre and hilariously absurd, yet still fit perfectly into the overarching narrative. The core concept behind Shounen Bat and Maromi, especially their connection to mass escapism and the avoidance of reality, is br…
Read at the sourceAris_Lapis
I see what they were going for, but it missed the mark. Still an enjoyable watch though, and it is open to interpretation. The ending tied stuff together while also leaving so much open, some things that it added made everything more confusing.
I agree with what some people are saying, there are many characters that were around for one episode and had no impact on the plot. It can be frustrating sometimes, it feels like the plot itself gets forgotten at times, especially in the middle. Anyways, I liked it and had a fun time watching it, but it's definitely not for everyone
Read at the sourceassasinkiller
Welcome to my first review;
#1
Story: (6/10)
Satoshi kon is widely celebrated for his stories, which has abstract narrative and beautiful animation. Although, yous hould know a story can't be carried by animation it also needs story. The story for this show however it's a mix bag of everything. It tries very hard to tell the viewers it has a complicated
Story but it's kinda predictable. The story is also has mera physical plot which also let you question did satoshi copy his own movie paprika to made this movie?might be..
Charcters (2/10)
For the charcters, I would say some of them were memorable but mostly are side charcters appear in single episodes. I don't care about
Side charcters until they have any contribution to the story or have a satisfying charcter arc.
Animation (8/10)
Probab…
Read at the sourceDutchleague
Paranoia Agent is a psychological tour de force from the legendary Satoshi Kon. It is an anime ""complex like no other,"" designed to challenge the viewer’s perception of reality. It thrives on a dark, suffocating atmosphere that is at once ""scary"" and deeply social, exploring the collective anxiety of a modern society pushed to its breaking point.
● Short Synopsis
The story begins in Musashino, Tokyo, where Tsukiko Sagi — a shy character designer under immense pressure to create a successor to her famous mascot, Maromi — is brutally attacked by a mysterious boy on golden roller skates wielding a bent golden bat. As the police detectives Ikari and Maniwa investigate, the attacks by ""Lil' Slugger"" (Shōnen Bat) multiply. Strangely, each victim seems to be someone caught in an impossi…
Read at the sourceSgtSalamander
Paranoia Agent is a fascinating critter. There are many takes on it and its merits, but it is an objective reality that it is a definitively memorable title. Seen through one lens, it's a bizarre story about some kind of strange metaphysical entity which targets and attacks people who are in the midst of extreme crisis. Seen through another lens, it's a complex multilayered narrative about trauma, maladaption, and what finding happiness truly means in an age which obscures true meaning. I think it is several things at once, and, for that, I'll begin with the story, this anime's strongest aspect. As a whole, the thing feels slippery and difficult to grasp in a regular sense, especially during the more nonsequential parts of its storytelling. I feel like this would be a problem for many anim…
Read at the sourceShigeo_Seras
I'm not gonna make this an overly complicated review, but it's a really strange anime, in a good way. The story itself was really intriguing, but it was lacking in some areas like character development, mainly episodes 8 and 9, and didn't get explained well. Overall, this would be a great watch for someone who likes Elfen Lied or Death Note, because it has that feel of mystery that Death Note and Elfen Lied had. The characters were likeable (somewhat), and the opening and ending fits perfectly. I enjoyed the usage of the opening in the show itself, it made watching to the end feel worth it.
If you have time to kill, I would highly recommend giving this anime a shot.
Read at the sourcebossunhimeswitch
I really liked this anime but I like a lot of what Satoshi Kon put out over his career. I liked that once again it was a story about self-reflection, self-awareness, and the melding of the bizarre with the mundane. I really liked how it was also a story of grief and anger. There were a lot of layers and it was very engaging. There were some pacing issues and tangents but over all it was an entertaining experience and had a strong perspective.
If you like other Kon works, you'll likely like this one too. If you don't like stories that feel like they're meandering in places, you might get frustrated while watching
Read at the sourceSam-Hel
This is the first project of director Satoshi Ren that I’ve watched, and I must say it is quite unique. I’ve always liked shows that are creative in their presentation and have a distinctive premise, and this one delivers on both. The editing and music definitely stand out, and the opening feels like an anthem.
However, I also think that Mr. Satoshi, like many film directors, may not have realized that a TV series needs strong characters as well. This anime suffers in that regard. At first, I thought it was episodic, with the connection between episodes being its themes (which I won’t dwell on due to spoilers). However, the final batch of episodes shifts away from this structure, introducing a central character responsible for the immoral events in the story.
The anime also feels dragged o…
Read at the sourceDigiCat
The great Satoshi Kon... unfortunately did not win me over with this one.
While i generally do really like his directing style, i feel it's a much better fit for movies, which brings me to my main gripe about Paranoia Agent
It is dragged out by excessive dialogue, and worst of all, maybe this one's more of a personal complaint, dialogue between horrible and obnoxious people, keep in mind these are side characters that serve next to nothing to the plot, i can handle such characters when they serve a purpose, but having lived with such people irl, watching them bitch to one another (sometimes for entire episodes) is not exactly my idea of entertaining, in fact i'd go as far as to say it is vomit enducing
I will admit though, there were a handful of really good episodes i genuinely enjoyed,…
Read at the sourceMinerkey
Paranoia Agent is such a fascinating series that I don't really see a reason why it shouldn't be recommended. Its a work of Satoshi Kon through-and-through, scored by another phenomenal soundtrack from Susumu Hirasawa - and touching on subjects that are incredibly relevant to many, and some that we'd rather not confront.
Its a relatively slow burn that touches on so many different types of people within society, and the shared battles and emotions they deal with - as ultimately many of our struggles create the same pool of emotions that are waiting to boil over and break us. What makes us different is how we deal with them, whether we weather the storm, confront them or victimise ourselves as a coping mechanism. Paranoia Agent doesn't shy away from any of this, and that may make many view…
Read at the sourcekuilherme
I guess I have more questions than answers for this anime. Although it explained itself through the very last episodes I can't help but to feel that it's meaning is way more deeper than I think it is, but anyway I like to lie to myself that I've understood the message.
Paranoia Agent is less a mystery and more a psychological pressure cooker, it follows a very linear (or I must say circular) plot despite of some few episodes being episodics to help explore the theme on a different, but interesting, perspective. Some people might find it tiresome to watch it tho, I would say it requires patience for the audience to actually think what's going on and form your own thoughts about the phenomena... in my opinion doing this really enhances the watching experience.
Be warned that this show delv…
Read at the sourceuikairl
Paranoia Agent is definitely one of the animes where you have to think about what does it even want to tell you, which shouldn't surprise you since it's yet another one of Satoshi Kon's works.
I found myself trying to understand how are some episodes important to the story — and it does take some time to find the reason why, but by the end it all clicks together and you're left with a feeling of wanting to rewatch some bits again.
I personally don't think that the story got "side tracked", or that any of the episodes didn't serve its purpose. I won't spoil anything but I felt like it told its message nicely, with adding even different point of views and stories about the issues this anime wants to show.
In my opinion, the themes this anime is about are profound even more nowadays, which…
Read at the sourcetrebekoning
Incredible work by Satoshi Kon as always. The creative lengths he goes to in pursuit of psychological exploration manages to be wowing, sincere, surreal, critical, angry, and sweet all at once. The animation looks gorgeous and sees strident shifts in model and style from episode to episode or sometimes scene to scene. I always feel like the character design in his work is like how characters are drawn in old Russian novels where there's something so deeply real about them even though they're so stretched and squashed into caricatures of the sorts of people they're meant to represent. The score (especially the ever-iconic OP and ED) is incredible and lives up to Hirasawa's usual standard of being the most gorgeous and off-putting thing you've ever heard in your life simultaneously.
The fa…
Read at the sourceojosdevideotape
Paranoia Agent: the best anime to adjust your glasses to
This is a must NOT watch by any means, not because it's *horrible* , but because the ending is extremely bad, poor and disappointing. Story begins with artist Tsukiko creating a kawaii dog character called Maromi, which becomes a commercial hit, then she is attacked with a baseball bat wielded by a kid wearing rolling blades, who the media will go on to call "Shonen Bat". After that event, a series of non-developing stories combined with snail-paced dialogues take place. Every episode features a different character, who goes through dire straits just to not solve their problem, and their arc to be left on hold. Now if you like adjusting your glasses too much you will say this is an example of real life being unresolving at times, bu…
Read at the sourcesp4ghetti
To sum it up: I wish I could go back in time before I decided to watch this show and convince myself not to.
It was almost as difficult to get through as Catch-22, except that there was no real moral of the story. It was truly and utterly pointless. Not sure how this got greenlit in the first place, much less how it has favorable reviews.
I was put off by the second episode, but I unfortunately fell victim to the sunken cost fallacy, so I kept watching in the hopes that maybe there would be a satisfying conclusion. I urge you not to make the same mistake I did. Your time would be better spent staring at the wall.
Read at the sourceFusion8707
This is probably the most like tromatizing anime i have ever seen google even says that the op is soo like wired the whole anime itself is every like mind bending you think ok this is going on in this show then suddenly the plot thicknens out of no where and then it suddenly changes i completed this anime in like 4 days or 3 bur you can in one day but i dont think anyone can its just too mind bending to complete it in one day carecters are all very well written it shows the truth about our society completely adult based anime or atleast anime for mature peopel not for kids.
Cons are that its gonna mess with your mind after you finished the anime and yea thats about it i gave it a 7 its a good watch
Read at the sourcemargio3k
I watched the series very quickly because I just had to know what was going to happen next - and to me, that’s a clear sign of a valuable piece of work. I’m usually not a fan of shows where each episode tells a different story, but in this case, every chapter had something that pulled me in. Each standalone story was well-crafted, with interesting, complex characters.
The underlying motive behind everything -although I didn’t want it to be what it was at first (maybe because I’m more used to fantastical or fictional themes)- ended up being unexpected, but effective. It delivered a message that might not seem deeply philosophical, but is often forgotten: responsibility. I was impressed by how something so seemingly simple could unfold into a narrative with so many layers, exploring themes l…
Read at the source1stDecame4Danime
A poorly written story of mostly episodic filler character drama to convey the very basic concept of escapism and waste the audience's time.
The entire series is just a bunch of loosely connected nonstories rehashing the same things over and over.
There's nothing of depth to talk about. There are a bunch of random pedo character asides for no other reason than pedophilia.
The ending is uninspired and all the filler in between could've/should've been skipped to be a movie instead (this has more or less the same notes as Paprika but extremely uninspired execution here).
The reality/unreality of the ending absolutely falls on its face, since the entire conflict of the entire story affecting the entirety of the city gets resolved immediately after fmc arbitrarily faces her trauma instead of r…
Read at the sourceTaameli
I have no idea what I just watched.
Absolute cinema.
A friend recommended me this show a while ago and I was not interested at first, but holyyy after I started watching it I could not stop. Very unique execution, many moments that got me questioning what was fake and what was real. Truly a unique experience and very unsettling one at that. Highly recommend watching if you are a fan of psychological themed shows.
I especially like Satoshi Kon’s more down-to-earth art style. I have almost watched all of Satoshi Kon’s works and I can say that this is definitely one of my favorites.
Read at the sourceSlushPuppy007
I love experimental stuff. I feel like most things can fall into either an inspired concept or an innovative concept. With very little things capable of doing both. This is one of those things that manages to fall into both. Inspired by the themes of anxiety and escapism the story is told through the lens of multiple people who are all loosely connected to each other socially in a post world war 2 Japan. Each episode could be its own standalone episode, but they also connect to one overall plot…Little Slugger/Shounen Bat. A boy on golden skates who attacks people who are on the brink of despair with a bent golden baseball bat. The overarching conflict of the story is whether Shounen Bat is real or a figment of people’s imagination, spread by word of mouth, and born by a desire to escape th…
Read at the source
