It’s a pain in the arse when life catches up with you. Three weeks ago I sat down with a beer (as is customary with Paranoia Agent) and chilled while watching the long awaited third volume.
I’ll put it this way… the beer was nice. The first story involved a group of online friends who were in a suicide pact together. A single old man, a very large and friendly teenager and perhaps the most disturbing of all was the addition of an 8 year old girl in the group. This story is perhaps the most “broken” of the three and yet the most gripping as these three friends have perhaps the most intricate little friendship I have ever witnessed. It’s fascinating!
The next story focuses on a series of untruths - that is to say, made up stories. All these stories have a single theme, which is of course
L’il slugger (Shounen Bat). Yes, in every single 2 minute story, he comes out and cleanses the world of bad thoughts and gives people what they deserve.
The final story is about the lives and everyday challenges of the somewhat incompetent production manager in charge of the Maromi Anime show. His plotting, scheming, lying and general incompetence gets him nowhere, and highlights the actual process of making an animated series from start to finish, with the finish being, of course, L’il slugger’s bent golden bat.
I love this show. It’s as simple as that. The show clicks with me in a way that keeps my complete attention, and in the long run that is what I enjoy most of all.
Paranoia agent is another Satoshi Kon masterpiece, and I just love his work. As with the previous volumes, three continues on with the excellent situation based storytelling with little or no hint on what the ending will be. Perfect!
Edit: The bbfc has now re-classified this volume to an 18, due to the extreme nature of the scenes within. The scene specifically involved the first episode, and the "hanging" scene.
To obtain this category cuts of 1m 20s were required. The cuts were Compulsory.
Cuts required (on potential harm grounds) to the sight of a child attempting to hang herself, and accompanying subtitles. Cuts in accordance with the Video Recordings Act 1984
BBFC Website Information
