Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Paranoia Agent 1.01

Enter Lil' Slugger

Animator Tsukiko Sagi is attacked while walking home at night. Two police officers interrogate Tsukiko about the incident but she doesn't tell them much. All she can remember about the attacker is that he looked like he was in 5th or 6th grade, wielded a bat, and was wearing gold colored rollerblades.

Akio Kawazu, a sleazy gossip magazine writer, finds Tsukiko and tries to get her to tell her story. She isn't anymore forthcoming with him than she was with the policemen. Kawazu thinks the attack didn't really happen. He shows up at her apartment after stopping her on the street, earlier in the day. She tries to run but her injury slows her down. The kid on the rollerblades shows up again but this time he hits Akio with the bat. He stops in front of Tsukiko, tells her he's home, and then skates off.

Thoughts

Paranoia Agent was first broadcast in Japan 20 years ago in the late Winter and early Spring of 2004. This is my third time watching this show. According to my records, I last watched Paranoia Agent in 2005 when I borrowed the DVDs from Netflix. The first time I saw it was a fan-sub version which I still have.

The show was created by Satoshi Kon who also directed Perfect Blue (1997) and Millennium Actress (2001). It isn't the easiest show to follow. It doesn't, as I recall, fully resolve everything by the end of the 13 episode run.

I enjoyed watching this episode again. I'm looking forward to watching the show unfold. I recall being satisfied with what I got the first two times I watched it even though it only made partial sense to me.

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