Erin (re)watches Paranoia Agent

The entry for Paranoia Agent on

pluralstories made me think “huh, I watched that back when it came out, maybe I should watch it again and see if I understand it this time.”

 

…pretty sure I did! Better than the first go-around, at least. It uses dramatic shifts in style and visuals to represent the perspective of different characters, and there’s a lot of wobbliness between “everyone’s reality,” “one person’s internal fantasy life,” and “this person’s fantasy life is bleeding out to have tangible effects on everyone else’s reality.” This time I feel like I actually had a handle on which was which.

Also, you can’t get long-term invested in characters, because most of them only get the spotlight for one episode before the story is done with them. It helps to know that going in!

(The episode with the Gifted Kid having recurring distorted images of “he falls off his pedestal for some reason, and everyone immediately turns on him and mocks him” was, uh. Hashtag relatable. You could make a whole season just unpacking that, but nah, he only gets one episode and then we’re off.)

A video review that showcases the series really well (it has spoilers, but it warns you before that section of the review starts):

Watch on YouTube

Note: there’s a character in here who’s plural — not in a metaphorical or fantastical way, they’re just a diagnosed system of 2-3 headmates, in therapy, struggling with when/whether to disclose their condition to people in their lives.

This reviewer thinks the non-host headmate(s) have “vanished” at the end of their arc. I don’t think it’s that clear-cut! Don’t let that put you off.

There are content warnings in the pluralstories entry, so check those if you have any dealbreakers. But if it doesn’t hit any of those for you…and if you’re in the mood for an anthology series that’s beautifully animated and unabashedly weird…consider this highly-recommended.