Swinging into two huge themes in the Japanese collective subconscious - fear of blame/responsibility and escapism - Paranoia Agent feels more like an outlet of raw ideas than a work of great anime storytelling. Some of it is wonderful, some of it is funny, some of it is a misstep (e.g. how the climax -while understandable- discolours the whole thing). Ultimately, it meanders itself into a good offbeat art piece series about facing reality.

Insane sprawling ensemble series touching on everything from mass hysteria to terrible production assistants. Gossiping housewives. Prostitute alter egos. Suicidal ghosts. That kid with his fucking smile! A strong work from Satoshi Kon. Though I do have to say, the ending was a bit of a let down from the great buildup.

disquieting contemporary anime

the opening alone would get this a near-perfect score. Kon's best, and one of the last great Anime New Wave series brought about in the mid 90s by Eva and its immediate successors.

The series goes nuts later on, but Vol. 1 ('Enter Lil' Slugger') is one of the better animés I've seen.

Kon's best and most ambitious work, which is really saying something.

I don't know honestly. Very weird and somewhat disturbing, the pacing is all right, but I feel like I didn't enjoy it truly until the last two episodes. The animation style and music I didn't quite like, but the overall vibes were good.

Slow to start but awesome ending

I prefer a more angular art style to these rounded faces. A fantastic premise largely wasted

Episode 8

Anti-plot. Anti-structure. Potential wasted by postmodern nonsense.

8?

A near-perfect anime.

Absolutely boring; after the sixth episode I stopped watching without repeatedly hitting the forward button, I stopped watching definitely in the tenth episode. The original plot nothing to do with the series. Last anime series I am going to watch in a long long long long long time or forever and ever.

TV: one of my first forays into anime at the time off the back of a recommendation, which was either the absolute worst or best series for that purpose. I won't repeat that advice here (stick to Ghibli, GITS, Akira et al). Amazing animation which has rarely been equalled; until recent years most other shows kind of pale in comparison. The plot *goes places*, even by anime standards, and it's not always enjoyable to watch (nor is that its purpose). Brutal, brooding and heavy but essential.

Decent, but it's pretentious as hell.

From what I can tell, far and away Satoshi Kon's best work.