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Paranoia Agent
妄想代理人
2004 · TV series · 25 min episodes · 1 season
Created by Satoshi Kon
AnimationMysteryScience FictionFantasy
Musashino, Tokyo. An elementary schooler repeatedly attacks people in the streets. Known only to the public as "Lil Slugger", none of the victims can recall the young boy's face and only three distinct details are left in their memories: golden inline skates, a baseball cap, and the weapon: a bent golden baseball bat. Detectives Ikari and Maniwa set out to track down the perpetrator and put an end to his crimes.
5 positive1 mixedfrom 6 commenters
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6 comments on Hacker News
>Satoshi Kon probably wasn't as consistent as Miyazaki.
Well, aside from a few small projects, he only made four movies and one show, and in my estimation they're all excellent. Paranoia Agent I would say is deliberately uneven, being assembled from various unused ideas from past projects, and is quite effective in that way.
tokyo godfather and all the satoshi kon movies are pinacle of the genre. his tv show paranoia agent as well
>Satoshi Kon has also already been mentioned, but I'd specifically call out Paranoia Agent as it's often less prominent than his feature films, yet (imo) is the most incisive of his stuff.
ignoring the good story and psychological elements, Paranoia Agent is worth watching for the sheer style and drawing methods.
Satoshi Kon was always stylish, but Paranoia Agent is one of the best examples.
A lot of great recommendations have already been made, but I wanted to throw out Kuuchuu Buranko (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Welcome_to_Irabu%27s_Office_episodes) as a personal favorite that doesn't get named as much as I think it deserves in this sort of conversation. Much closer to Tatami than to Lain.
While I'm at it: speaking of Tatami, you should also check out Yuasa's Kaiba: it's a lot more abstract than Tatami but ultimately ticks a lot of the same boxes.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descending_Stories:_Showa_Genroku_Rakugo_Shinju is arguably the best character-focused drama of the last few years.
Satoshi Kon has also already been mentioned, but I'd specifically call out Paranoia Agent as it's often less prominent than his feature films, yet (imo) is the most incisive of his stuff.
Anything by Satoshi Kon is great, and in line with what you've been watching. If I had to pick, Perfect Blue for movies and Paranoia Agent for series.
In the lighter more children spectrum, Mamoru Hosoda does beautiful things like Summer Wars or The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.
The Tatami Galaxy is another great one
Not sure about that. I remember that in the late '90s - early 2000s people were really hyped up about the animation movies of that era, and rightly so, we're talking about the early Pixar movies, Miyazaki's "Princess Mononoke" and "Spirited Away", Satoshi Kon's "Paranoia Agent" and "Perfect Blue" or about "Cowboy Bebop", people knew that they were contemporary with really, really great animation movies/series. Almost 20 years have passed since then and nothing similar is being done anymore, at least not in the mainstream.