PARANOIA AGENT
Kids these days...
Review by: M.H. "Uphill, both ways!" Torringjan
Length: 12 episodes
Genre: Mystery, mind-fuck
Watched: Entire series, subbed, 2 episodes dubbed
Adult Swim has apparently gotten the hang of this "anime acquisition" thing after about four years and very few stumbling points ("Big O Season 2" being the chief stumbling point). Recently, they've been deciding to take some chances and deviate away from the normal action anime formula that made the block so popular in the first place with series such as Wolf's Rain and FLCL. The most recent such deviation takes a chance by diving into the mind-fuck genre with a series that's more like Serial Experiments Lain than anything else. And if you've read some of our other reviews, you know that I'm always up for a good mind-fuck.
Plot synopsis: In modern Japan, life has become hectic and at times difficult to deal with. One evening, as Saki Tsukiko is walking home, alone and unprotected, from work along a series of interconnected dark alleys (winner of the Intelligent Decision of the Year Award), she is suddenly attacked by a hit-and-run assailant, whom she describes as an elementary-school student with a bat on roller-blades. The story of Shounen Bat (or "Little Slugger," shout out to the dubbies in TV land out there) instantly sweeps the city, and fear grips the populace as the number and ferocity of assaults grows with time and the police seem baffled by the case.
Artwork: The style of this series is very similar to that of Akira (although the staff has more ties to Tokyo Godfathers), both in the style of weirdness and in the character designs. The character designs of the normal people are unremarkable at first, but evolve with time and become more memorable, especially in the personage of Shounen Bat, perhaps because he beats the crap out of people with a bat, channeling Ness from Earthbound (as a side-note, why didn't Ness ever get the police running after him? How many innocent hippies do you have to beat the piss out of with a bat before they take notice? I'll get back to you after I've run a few experiments. Addendum: It's three, now I'll see you after my sentence is done). The artwork of the fantastic is drawn very well and at times looks like it's lifted directly from a fantasy series.
Music: The music for this series is very stylish much of the time, usually lending very well to the mood and serving to offset whatever point they may be trying to make at the time. The opening track, which at first sound on TV very much resembles yodeling due to the lack of subtitles (CN really fouled up on that one), turns out to be yet another mood-setting piece that fits the message of the series very well and not, thankfully, yodeling. Overall, I'd recommend some of these tracks on their own, but not all of them.
Characters: If the cast of characters they'd assembled for this series was any more nuts, I'd blame it on watching Angel's Egg one too many times (even though one is too many times). Saki Tsukiko is a toy designer for the M&F Company, who designed their most popular toy, a small pink dog named Maromi. She is quiet, reserved, and has long, meaningful conversations with her own personal Maromi. Weird. Maniwa is a young police officer who was recently assigned to the division. He obsesses over the right way to do things while maintaining a cool, friendly exterior. He later starts to obsess over the Shounen Bat case as he becomes more aware of the pattern of the crimes. Weird again. Keiichi Ikari is Maniwa's superior officer, a seasoned cop who relies more on experience than gut instinct. He is willing to accept any set-back that confronts him because of the strength of his character. Not quite so weird, but for the sake of argument, we'll say he is. Harumi Chouno is the third victim of Shounen Bat who tutors a student at a local school and works as a research assistant at the local university. She also has multiple personalities that all work as a prostitute. Sexy, but still weird.
Plot: The plot starts out as a mystery and ends out as a mind-fuck with a clear message of social commentary. Now, that's how I likes 'em! The fast pace of the plot goes very well for the first half of the series, until the series reaches its climax exactly in the middle of the series. Then, for some odd reason, it decides to coast on three episodes with very little to do with the main plot, and in fact, very little excitement at all. For the final three episodes, however, the main plot picks back up again and the mind-fuck starts to kick into overdrive which helps it to finish off strongly. In a 26 or 52-episode series, three crappy filler episodes wouldn't be that big of a deal. In a 13-episode short series, however, it makes a big difference in the quality of the plot. I would have much preferred to see an 11- or 10- episode series with fewer or no filler eps.
CHICKS!!! As is woefully the case in many mind-fuck series (Evangelion and RahXephon excluded), there is somewhat a shortage of desirable chicks to be had in this series. Saki Tsukiko, although high in the "cute" factor with her soft-spoken and shy nature, scores somewhat low on the "not-bat-shit-crazy" factor. She even scores low on the physical attraction factor that would give her passing marks for many people who put little value on "NBSC." She has an unpronounced figure, which is rounded off by a general unkempt appearance much of the time. Harumi scores low on the aforementioned important "NBSC" scale, but she also has some looks to back it up and epic amounts of experience in bed that might make up for it. If you can get her to just live with her multiple personalities, you might have a pretty nice life together.
Overall: As I watched this series, I couldn't help but think of how much it reminded me of Serial Experiments Lain, both in mood and mind-fuck. For me, this was a good feeling, while for others, it might make them want to avoid this title like Michael Jackson needs to avoid Toys R Us (yeah, I know, it was a cheap shot, but it was fun anyway). However, there is one major difference between th two titles; there wasn't the strong philosophical overtones in this title that frightened so many people away from Lain. The message was simple, and it felt much less forced and confusing than the mental raping that many felt while watching Lain. I certainly hope that this title does well during its run on CN, since it could very well introduce their viewers to a form of anime that gets by on more than badasses and hot chicks (although I'm all for those, too).
In a nutshell:
+ All the mindfuck without the chafing
+ Realistic characters
+ Interesting soundtrack
- Slows down big time
- Short on chicks
Final score: 8/10
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