Paranoia Is A Beautiful Thing
It is a proven, scientific fact that I have better taste in everything than anyone else. Especially you. Movies, books, games, clothes, restaurants, hangouts...you name it. I have, as a result of my overall perfection, decided to make reviews a more common part of my blog, here.
Thank you, AOTS, for that little push.
I'll be sure to include reviews of anything new I see, read, play, wear, eat, or attend, as well as some old school favorites of mine. I'm happy to take requests, though I can't promise I'll be able to comply with everything, due to my extreme lack of funding. Heh heh.
As I haven't done anything at all for a long time now, I'm going to start with my opinion, which, of course, is the only worthwhile one, of a fairly recent addition to the Adult Swim on Cartoon Network.
No, not the funny Adult Swim. The misunderstood and at least partially not dorky anime Adult Swim, on Saturdays.
I speak of a show called Paranoia Agent.
This is not the typical mess of Japanimation that you might be used to. This is weird. This is confusing. This makes you tear your hair out in frustration as every single theory you create is destroyed by some new plot twist.
Make no mistake, this is not a show for children, due to some strong adult themes. Hence its addition the the ADULT Swim.
The general storyline is based on a mysterious figure known as Lil' Slugger, a boy with a golden bat and roller blades, who is blamed for a series of violent attacks. Some of the victims include:
The creator of a popular beanie-babyesque creature, who apparently actually exists and lives with the woman.
A scumball reporter.
A fat kid.
Another kid who hates the fat kid.
A librarian-by-day, hooker-by-night with a dual personality.
A girl whose father installed hidden cameras in her room.
A drug-enhanced police officer, turned to a life of crime.
An imposter.
Some random guy who worked at some sort of spa.
To give you an idea of how strange this show is, I'll summarize one of my favorite episodes.
So there's this chatroom for the suicidal. Good idea, if you ask me. Three of the idiots there decide to meet up and go out for a bit of mass suicide. These three are an old man, a gay man, and, to the other two's great surprise, a little girl. Upon realizing that she's so young, and probably doesn't realize what death is all about, they decide to try and preserve her life while destroying their own.
First attempt: The two men outrun the girl, hide in an abandoned building, and try to poison themselves with carbon monoxide. She finds them, and right before they all pass out, a construction crew comes by to destroy the building. Darn.
Second attempt: The men decide to jump in front of a train. They bring her along to satisfy her, while planning to push her out of the way at the last second. Again, right before they jump, another man jumps. They recoil with disgust and decide that's not the best way to go.
((Creepy foreshadowing: The man crawls off the tracks, mangled and bleeding profusely, unnoticed by the terrified passengers, and angrily proclaims, "I give up! It's not worth it!" Only the gay man, Zebra, notices.))
Third attempt: They climb partway up a fairly isolated mountain, and prepare three nooses on a tree branch. Zebra partially severs one of them, obviously intended for the little girl. When the time comes, they pile up some rocks to stand on, and place their heads in the nooses. While waiting for the signal to go, Zebra slips. Desperately trying to breath, he urges the others to give the go signal. The little girl thinks this looks like fun, and begins bouncing the branch. It breaks, as does her noose, and she watches the other two tumble down the mountainside, dragged along by the rolling limb.
By this time, they are very frustrated. They go to this spa thing, and daydream about being dead. They discuss the infamous Lil' Slugger, and through no coincidence whatsoever...pfft...he happens to be attacking the random guy mentioned earlier in the hallway. They all chase after the violent child, begging to be killed. Startled and confused, Lil' Slugger flees. They chase him through town to some sort of gas station or something, where they give up and sit down in the parking lot. After yacking for a while, the elderly man realizes that...bum bum bum...THEY HAVE NO SHADOWS!!! He flips out, but doesn't tell the other two. So, apparently, at some point along the way, they succeeded in killing themselves. You know. Ghosts. No shadows. Now do you get the creepy foreshadowing? Dead guy? Ghost? Eh?
The episode ends with the three of them skipping down a street, loudly "LA-LA"ing the tune to "London Bridge Is Falling Down." They stop behind a couple of girls having their picture taken. The girls scream when they see people behind them in the photo, or something. You never get to see it. The three continue on, and as they pass a vending machine, the camera stops and starts to zoom in. In the machine, apparently, are "Happy Family Making brand extra-thin condoms."
.....
Seriously. This show only barely makes sense. Each episode is only in some vague and distant way connected. They're all about new characters. I can only assume it will all be explained by the end of the series.
Still, I highly recommend Paranoia Agent. It's so...sinister...and mysterious...a pretty decent mystery. I'll admit, even I don't have everything figured out yet.
On a scale of one to ten, I give Paranoia Agent an 8. Would be better if some of the people weren't so...disgustingly ugly.
Leave a comment if you have anything to add, or if you want my ultimate opinion on anything.
And the quiet librarian says, "How did you get this number?!"
Thank you, AOTS, for that little push.
I'll be sure to include reviews of anything new I see, read, play, wear, eat, or attend, as well as some old school favorites of mine. I'm happy to take requests, though I can't promise I'll be able to comply with everything, due to my extreme lack of funding. Heh heh.
As I haven't done anything at all for a long time now, I'm going to start with my opinion, which, of course, is the only worthwhile one, of a fairly recent addition to the Adult Swim on Cartoon Network.
No, not the funny Adult Swim. The misunderstood and at least partially not dorky anime Adult Swim, on Saturdays.
I speak of a show called Paranoia Agent.
This is not the typical mess of Japanimation that you might be used to. This is weird. This is confusing. This makes you tear your hair out in frustration as every single theory you create is destroyed by some new plot twist.
Make no mistake, this is not a show for children, due to some strong adult themes. Hence its addition the the ADULT Swim.
The general storyline is based on a mysterious figure known as Lil' Slugger, a boy with a golden bat and roller blades, who is blamed for a series of violent attacks. Some of the victims include:
The creator of a popular beanie-babyesque creature, who apparently actually exists and lives with the woman.
A scumball reporter.
A fat kid.
Another kid who hates the fat kid.
A librarian-by-day, hooker-by-night with a dual personality.
A girl whose father installed hidden cameras in her room.
A drug-enhanced police officer, turned to a life of crime.
An imposter.
Some random guy who worked at some sort of spa.
To give you an idea of how strange this show is, I'll summarize one of my favorite episodes.
So there's this chatroom for the suicidal. Good idea, if you ask me. Three of the idiots there decide to meet up and go out for a bit of mass suicide. These three are an old man, a gay man, and, to the other two's great surprise, a little girl. Upon realizing that she's so young, and probably doesn't realize what death is all about, they decide to try and preserve her life while destroying their own.
First attempt: The two men outrun the girl, hide in an abandoned building, and try to poison themselves with carbon monoxide. She finds them, and right before they all pass out, a construction crew comes by to destroy the building. Darn.
Second attempt: The men decide to jump in front of a train. They bring her along to satisfy her, while planning to push her out of the way at the last second. Again, right before they jump, another man jumps. They recoil with disgust and decide that's not the best way to go.
((Creepy foreshadowing: The man crawls off the tracks, mangled and bleeding profusely, unnoticed by the terrified passengers, and angrily proclaims, "I give up! It's not worth it!" Only the gay man, Zebra, notices.))
Third attempt: They climb partway up a fairly isolated mountain, and prepare three nooses on a tree branch. Zebra partially severs one of them, obviously intended for the little girl. When the time comes, they pile up some rocks to stand on, and place their heads in the nooses. While waiting for the signal to go, Zebra slips. Desperately trying to breath, he urges the others to give the go signal. The little girl thinks this looks like fun, and begins bouncing the branch. It breaks, as does her noose, and she watches the other two tumble down the mountainside, dragged along by the rolling limb.
By this time, they are very frustrated. They go to this spa thing, and daydream about being dead. They discuss the infamous Lil' Slugger, and through no coincidence whatsoever...pfft...he happens to be attacking the random guy mentioned earlier in the hallway. They all chase after the violent child, begging to be killed. Startled and confused, Lil' Slugger flees. They chase him through town to some sort of gas station or something, where they give up and sit down in the parking lot. After yacking for a while, the elderly man realizes that...bum bum bum...THEY HAVE NO SHADOWS!!! He flips out, but doesn't tell the other two. So, apparently, at some point along the way, they succeeded in killing themselves. You know. Ghosts. No shadows. Now do you get the creepy foreshadowing? Dead guy? Ghost? Eh?
The episode ends with the three of them skipping down a street, loudly "LA-LA"ing the tune to "London Bridge Is Falling Down." They stop behind a couple of girls having their picture taken. The girls scream when they see people behind them in the photo, or something. You never get to see it. The three continue on, and as they pass a vending machine, the camera stops and starts to zoom in. In the machine, apparently, are "Happy Family Making brand extra-thin condoms."
.....
Seriously. This show only barely makes sense. Each episode is only in some vague and distant way connected. They're all about new characters. I can only assume it will all be explained by the end of the series.
Still, I highly recommend Paranoia Agent. It's so...sinister...and mysterious...a pretty decent mystery. I'll admit, even I don't have everything figured out yet.
On a scale of one to ten, I give Paranoia Agent an 8. Would be better if some of the people weren't so...disgustingly ugly.
Leave a comment if you have anything to add, or if you want my ultimate opinion on anything.
And the quiet librarian says, "How did you get this number?!"
Pulled from the planet-sized mind of Christopholes around 9:28 PM
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