Paranoia Agent

[ohmysweettea]

Hey anyone out there know what searched everywhere for what that song he uses in the opening of the paranoia agent review is? I know it's not the original song opening .

[Wargriffin]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdyvNw36iCU

Inline Skates by Funny Fax

We had the discussion when we went to Klingon Hell

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

Still pretty unsettled by episode 8.

The scariest part of attempting suicide is the possibility that you might fuck it up and just end up still alive but in a far, far worse situation.

If I was those guys, I would not be relieved when I realized I was dead. I would be horrified. I would start on a mission to find a assault whatever divine powers governed life and death. You think there's some peace, some relief, some silence after death, and you're just...stuck? hanging around?

Now THAT is scary.

[Wargriffin]

Still pretty unsettled by episode 8.

The scariest part of attempting suicide is the possibility that you might fuck it up and just end up still alive but in a far, far worse situation.

If I was those guys, I would not be relieved when I realized I was dead. I would be horrified. I would start on a mission to find a assault whatever divine powers governed life and death. You think there's some peace, some relief, some silence after death, and you're just...stuck? hanging around?

Now THAT is scary.

I always find the idea of go pick a fight with the divine funny cause the only reason you'll land a hit at all is cause said powers letting you.

The idea is being dead means you are free from responsibility and obligation.

Note the Trio has no problem getting room at an inn or booking a train cabin. Its like winning the lottery suddenly you have all the free time you always wanted

Basically the afterlife is presented as Life... except you are no longer 15 minutes late for whatever your suppose to be doing.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

That does bring up some questions tho. Like, they were still overlaid on the real world, but they had beer. Was this ethereal beer, or would an outside witness see a bunch of beer bottles hovering in midair?

[MithrandirOlorin]

I really wasn't able to see Maromi as resembling a Mushroom Cloud on my own.

[FakeGeekGirl]

I really wasn't able to see Maromi as resembling a Mushroom Cloud on my own.

Me either. I saw that in some analyses and thought it was overblown but when seeing him held up like that and decolorized I could absolutely see it.

I watched this series in the midst of Chuck's reviews because it looked so interesting. I really enjoyed it even though it was unsettling.

[MithrandirOlorin]

For me even after Chuck recolored it, it still feels really forced.

[Darmani]

I didn't think the "mushroom clou" is an atomic blast I thought mushroom as in a device that both has phallic imagery and especially meaning something that you eat very likely to induce hallucinations and decouple from reality. It's both fun and inspiration but also poisonous and maddening. Its most extreme form is the universe destroying form that Maromi takes at the end yes.

Yeah the fact that Tsukiko was not able to deal with the fact that she was becoming a woman and that it got her dog killed was pretty intended. This is something else, how can I put this without over blowing it. You know what I'm going to even remove the cultural riders here. When a father tells you that they were a "little tough on their child" to the point that they have to go to such an extreme reaction I double-check that because chances are when they mean 'a little strict' they mean abusive or repressive

The change in the director was probably the biggest thing because for the most part I thought that he's a gay fop so having him be an incredibly damaging and almost sexually assaulting dude in the car totally flipped the script on my read of him

There's something else that you need to understand about the confrontation between the matron and little Slugger. one person put it out to me like this when I was following this on Television Without Pity.
It pointed out that there's a proverb about the various ways of how to deal with the devil chasing you down. Throwing wisdom, being courageous, and then falling that laughing at the Devil for the devil will fall apart for he hates to be mocked. We see this with the old woman.
I realize that things have to be left at the wayside for truncation but I think it's rather important that the thief that Keiichi meets is basically a walking talking human incarnation of Maromi and I know it seems silly but it's really really obvious too. You start to realize that Maromi's gotten so big that it started to insert itself into people's lives and having this overall narcotic effect on what is perhaps the most harsh and stone nosed person in the cast
I would say that there is a lot alike but there is also a difference between the ending and the opening with regards to how the people are reacting. They're not necessarily being more candid and honest but they aren't making as many excuses. They're deflecting but they're not avoiding. And honestly for Collective transition towards a more responsible nature. . . well it's like they said Rome wasn't built in a day
However the tools are there for them to make the same mistake again

There was also something else Chuck didn't mention. We got an update and a follow-up of Maromi's quick fixes all falling apart which I think was very critical for pointing out why Maromi never could work
Maria comes back, we find out that Yuici is being bullied again possibly, and on and on and on

Chuck also failed to mention another big part about it. One of the reason why the detective was running away from his life was because we later find out that his view of his wife is considerably different. He understands that he's very blessed in order to have her but he's having to watch not just her body deteriorate but her mind. It's rather key that's a reason why he's running away is that he's going to basically, if he goes back home, go to a life where he can't survive in his chosen profession, can't make it in his duty as a man, and gets the joy of watching his wife waste away both physically and has already taken a check out mentally

I can guess why Chuck would not want to include this. Probably because it comes very close to craziness is a superpower which he definitely has issues with that I can understand coming from his own professional and personal experiences
But a large part of the show is about contrasting personal narratives and escapism with reality. Especially other people's perceptions. We can't say this guy's gotta face reality and not get into the whole breadth of what that reality is
Again I realize I did not pay for this review but I feel like this is a lot of critical information that was left on the floor and I'm just contrasting and comparing it to what he felt the was overstated again and again in the first parts.
Lil Slugger and his original name Shonen bat are intentional invoking the simpler time that never was. This is one thing that I also think needs mentioning. That guy may be old but he isn't before the bombs dropped old. He's having a nostalgic flashback to a nostalgia even he couldn't have had in his childhood. He might have seen images of it that were fully developed when he was a child but he never would have lived that life.
He just likes to imagine it should be like that. In many ways this assumption underlies a lot of things with regards to Japanese Society. Well it's true that Kon uses the much easier to mock otaku subculture as well as cuteness it's very important that we end up in a world that seems just nice enough as told outside that mindset. And the pathway its gotten to for the working man. And how he ends up in a perfect idealized form of a Japanese policeman's uniform for a second
It's also important that his wife seems to end up as part of the fantasy. Because she never goes flat and it's rather important several times over that the narcotic nostalgic parts are all the real value coming from these flattened recollections and the issues they cover. Including facing the miscarriage with his wife and seeing her deteriorating mental state. Everything that's happening, everything that's been going on.
I realize that there is a lot to cover in the last three episodes because Chuck had to summarize everything that's been going on in the mytharc and you have to infer a lot from a lot of unspoken rules that are going on over speculation that isn't expository gospel

I just feel like a lot of its left by the wayside. Though I do want to compliment him on how he points out how Tsukiko is failing here on a number of levels. He doesn't just say she's being scared. He's pointing out how she's intentionally embracing a more and more infantile state in order to avoid any sense of adulthood and responsibility

This part isn't part of Chucks review but I don't think it's missing cuz I missed most of it. I only caught on because people kept pointing it out when I was watching it when it was fresh on Adult Swim. I think all but maybe three of the major characters that we follow are call backs to either popular anime archetypes or characters or the previous works of Satoshi Kon. The 3 in the suicide episode are pretty much a take off of his then one big movie Tokyo Godfathers which had a gay character, an Elder character (how had lost his family), and a kid. They spend lots of the movie running around Tokyo dealing with unusual coincidences with implied Supernatural causes though it's around winter and Christmas as opposed to the cicadas of Summer
Tsukiko herself is a takeoff of a then very popular character from azumanga daioh she's more commonly known as Osaka because she comes from the city of Osaka which has various stereotypes about its denizens. This was when American anime fans became exceptionally aware of the moe phenomena
Kon made that character pretty much explicitly as a kind of Take That to the entire concept of cute girls who are overly Cute for the express purposes of entertaining men being childish but sexualizable but not threateningly so.
I don't know where the reporter is from but personally he always reminded me most of Bart Simpson. I know that's a weird Association for me to make. there's probably someone I missing here. But the corrupt cop is it take off of a long-standing character who as had a manga going on for nearly 40 years now. His series isn't named after them man I can't remember it [Kochikame, the character's name is Kankichi Ryotsu, a lazy, street-wise cop with salaryman tendencies, like playing Pachinko, betting at the horses or trying his luck at custom get-rich-quick schemes. Some times, he even does police work.] but basically the idea is he's a slimy lazy police officer who's the absolute opposite of the ideal of a Tokyo Police gentleman and the ideal japanese patriarch or more "this is what japanese salarymen are REALLY like for all their long hours and stuffiness" Much as this is a commentary on Japanese pop culture acting as a infantilizing falsecure this has us examining cheering for a highly toxic corrupt cop as charming and entertaining as opposed to what he ends up becoming is rather important

The dynamic between the two cops seems to just be classic cop Dynamic stuff. But you'll notice how things gets averted. Normally the young liberal detective would turn out to be very key towards helping the older guy loosen up but things swerve when the entire case goes to pot and even though the Young detective keeps going at it it is as Chuck says. It hits a stone wall. Basically what I'm saying is all of the characters are not just archetypes of modern day Society but takes off of normal fixtures in Japanese pop culture one way or the other. By the way the older lady gossips in Etc are some stock characters that Satoshi Kon often used and they also were in Tokyo Godfathers. There's a lot of references on several levels in Paranoia Agent.

I feel its Satoshi Kon's most complete work that he left us with going over many of his themes and showing his view on life and the world. Particularly when media and fantasy crashes with reality. And often the centers around the psyche and development of young women in that industry/field. As well as the Thin influences of new media such as cell phone for the internet and so on.
I editted this with access to a keyboard. If further questions just ask for clarifications or chime in on calling out references or applicable notes.

[GandALF]

So it's not about the whole setting Chinese people on fire thing? Is it more like Twin Peaks in that there's not supposed to be a direct explanation?