Paranoia Agent

So I decided for my Satoshi Kon ranking due to it having a mini series. To log/review them on serialzd and then show them here in one big review. I’ll do this in future if I encounter more series on Letterboxd. Also this is why my Satoshi Kon ranking has been slowed down. Episode 1: Watching this series for Satoshi Kon ranking on Letterboxd, pretty intriguing yet confusing. Will have to follow it up soon because I’m not too sure what just happened. Rating 3/5 Episode 2: The Golden shoes feels like Perfect Blue…in an elementary child’s view. It’s still an incredible episode and really shows how flexible the art can be at times. It worked for the episode to really enter the mind of our character and see how insane he was getting over wanting to be loved. I also liked the dark comedy at bits, those made me laugh. Rating 4/5 Episode 3: Satoshi Kon does a genius idea on not letting us free of this vicious cycle just yet. With a couple of crazy twists at the end, I have to say I really am enjoying this series. I’ve never really tried Anime, however this is great! Rating 4/5 Episode 4: While I’m personally unimpressed due to the sheer brilliance of the last two episodes, I’m honestly gobsmacked by that ending. It’s such a good twist and works so well to keep you in the flow like usual. I wasn’t fond originally in the first fifteen minutes thinking a 3 star. However that ending bumped it up to a 3.5 for me. Rating 3.5/5 Episode 5: Explains a lot and doesn’t at the same time. This episode is weird, I liked how it felt very dreamlike like previous episodes. However my problem lies with the fact that although it is like this it really isn’t the same feeling. It doesn’t feel as unhinged and raw. It feels almost…tame? Too innocent in a way. Usually that’s fine in films and series, but when you’re leading us on with this heavy darker approach, it’s rather weird to change it in an episode to be very light hearted compared. Hopefully it goes back to its original raw and unfiltered content/style. Rating 3/5 Episode 6: Lots of interesting twists for this character. I really do enjoy that they focus on a single character every episode so far. Yes they’ll have others involved but the main focus and drive in that episode will be centred around them. It leads to interesting plot points and getting to know the characters better…some a little too well if you ask me. Also the end credit theme tune is so cozy it might put me to sleep!! Rating 4/5 Episode 7: I’m progressively getting more hyped to see how this ends. Satoshi manages to involve you in the process of getting to the bottom but leaves you just on the outline. You want to pry in, yet you know something lurks so you watch from afar, filled with fear. Not knowing the underlying reasoning behind what’s happening. Rating 4/5 Episode 8: Quite a rather daring episode, especially if you know what I’m referencing with the plot… however I think it’s very funny. Darkly comedic if you will, it definitely takes the mind numbing difficulty on figuring out what’s going on at points, as I am binging this series. But I can say I relatively enjoyed it. The plot is honestly quite heavy, but the way it manages to make it feel light and even comedic is nuts. Again if you either know of this episode or have seen the show you know by the plot being. Well bizarre. Rating 3/5 Episode 9: Thankfully Shonen Bat is not real or I would be out in seconds with everything that’s going on right now. I thought the stories were superb and arguably some were pretty funny. But it was super interesting seeing how everyone had their own side of the story/stories. The ending was really good thoigh and arguably was really well built up. Rating 3.5/5 Episode 10: I really loved this episode, the non-linear way of telling this disturbingly crass story. The way everything came together in the end and all just made sense. It was a great experience, however I will say it’s definitely one of the better episodes. I like when their aim is making the viewer uncomfortable and stressed out. We’ve seen this in E2 and 3 before, in which we do again here. I love this tactic as it makes for such a complicated, yet fun watch. Rating 4/5 Episode 11: My brain has lowkey malfunctioned because I’m so confused. What I can say is this show is coming out to be super cool! I love the animation choices in the last end minutes. However this episode was very difficult to wrap my head around, I found it was really confusing at times and I’m unsure I learned anything from it. Well I might have, I maybe just missed it. Still a solid episode though. Rating 3.5/5 Episode 12: Wow this was surprisingly good actually. While I didn’t understand a few moments LIKE USUAL. I definitely connected with the character Radar Man, he was unique and somehow fitted well into this world. The series finale awaits me though. Can they pull off a successful ending, or will we sit in silence after a major fail? Rating 4/5 Episode 13: YO THE TWIST??! Wow, I’m honestly blown away by that finale. It all added up and yet I’m still unsure about how to feel. It felt like everything was right in front of my face I just had to look for it. This series shows you a muddled up pile of paper in which you need to figure out the order, yet you have no idea! So gradually even being confused it starts to make more sense, you click points together. Things connect and before you know it you’ve watched the entire show. I’ll be honest this was nuts, it had its “lows” but you know it was mostly pretty high! Rating 4.5/5 Overall: o I’ve never really had my fair share of anime unless you talk about Perfect Blue, Studio Ghibli or Doki Doki Literature Club. However I really enjoyed this series. What started as a clean up for a director I enjoy, ended uo being something really quite spectacular. It blends so much emotions with its tragedy, unhinged characters, confusing plots. It’s just brilliant. I got some Twin Peaks vibes at points I will say, however this is its own thing and I highly suggest others check it out! Also give me some anime recs! Oh and DAMN long ass review😭, good job if you got here!🙏 Satoshi Kon ranked