Paranoia Agent

Had to binge this in 2 days; Kon was really operating on another level.. So radical in its loose structure where whole episodes are focused on characters who we just meet for the first time who build the myth of the Shounen Bat and the world in which he terrorizes the populace. Kon locates the cause of our despair in so many places through these vignettes including the making of anime itself. As prescient as Perfect Blue in the way the internet-age has put even more pressure on us, distracts us more, invites new kinds of chaos and evil into the world. Shounen Bat is a meme, a social contagion, a distraction. He's simultaneously a cause and effect of our modern malaise and disaffection. Tying him to the anime character of Maromi is a stroke of genius; at once implicating the show we're watching and anime as a whole. The show turns late to reveal the chief of police as the main subject. A relic of an old age that no longer exists where evil was simpler (or least in his fantasy it was). His retreat into his own Potemkin village is palliative at first before he understands it as cowardice. Incredibly, Kon treats these useful distractions dialectically, it's Maromi (anime) who keeps Tsukiko (and the entire world) placated; her disappearance spelling the end with nothing left to hold back the despair (literally telling Tsukiko "don't think" at one point). There's so many other loose ends to tug on that I'm sure repeat viewing will be its own reward/distraction I'll continue to indulge in. I'm just sad there's no more Satoshi Kon for me to discover.