Paranoia Agent (Mousou Dairinin) – EXPLANATION

I got this anime recommended in the comments under my Serial Experiments Lain Explanation article. Yes, both are really unique anime, which will make you think a lot about the hidden meanings inside them. Again I will try to make this really quick getting right to the point. The rest of this article contains heavy spoilers by the way.

It all began with the designer girl accidentally letting her dog being ran over a car. She was afraid of her father so she made up a story about mysterious attacker who was to blame. The end. This is what Paranoia Agent is about. OK, let’s talk about some details :D.

She then created this new anime character Maromi who became really popular, they started selling its merchandise, made an anime etc. Then because of a pressure she felt in work she used the same trick again, hurting herself and blaming the mysterious attacker again, Shounen Bat. Later in the show the detective’s wife tells us that Maromi and Shounen Bat are the same thing. Yes, they are both a way to escape reality, to get rid of the responsibility, to repress the feelings. Remember the scene in the beginning, people on phones talking about pressure in work, social problems, responsibilities etc? How can they escape? One way, entertainment, having fun, buying stuff, watching anime (Now think about it, why do you watch anime?), alcohol, drugs aka Maromi. Another way, emotional breakdown, suicide, falling into depths of depression, getting angry, mad aka Shounen Bat. Seems like a light and dark side but in fact they are just both ways to escape reality.

When Shounen Bat attacked someone, he usually felt relieved but as the wife said, it was just a temporary relief. One cannot solve his problems just by running away. That’s why Shounen Bat couldn’t attack the wife. He was powerless, the same goes for the three dead people. The wife was not about to run away and the spirits or whatever they were on the other hand had nowhere to run anymore even though they didn’t realize that yet. During the final episode we can see how all the emotions and fears returned in those people who got saved by Shounen Bat.

All those paranormal things were in my opinion metaphorical, they didn’t happen in reality (Shounen Bat, talking Maromi, attacking black mud…). What caused the Tokyo destruction was a mass hysteria. The designer simply spread both Maromi and Shounen Bat into the world and they started living in other people’s minds. The tragedy that happened (destroyed streets, explosions, fires) probably were cause by people simply loosing it. They got crazy from the Shounen Bat fear and Maromi shopping madness. Also most of the Shounen Bat attacks were probably self-inflicted wounds or nervous breakdowns.

Another interesting way to escape reality has been showed three times in the anime. First it was the guy who had been impersonating Shounen Bat (reminds me of Laughing Man from GITS). Second was Maniwa (Radio Man) and third the detective Ikari. They all tried to escape into their own worlds, simply by ignoring everything that was happening outside (the video-game world, Radio Man story, cardboard town). Shounen Bat was not able to attack them until they left their inner universe (the boy was dragged outside by the detectives, Maniwa was jumping in and out how it suited him and Ikari realized what’s going on and left intentionally).

Maniwa eventually ended up in the middle, between his own world and reality, knowing what is going on deep inside but not believing that and probably getting crazy and messed up mentally. And it seems like the cycle is again at the beginning, new popular character, new prophet who once experienced this, new stress among people.

One more interesting fact is about how the rumors spread. The gossiping ladies, TV, Internet. This Butterfly Effect cause by the designer happened because of how information can travel fast nowadays. Sure they can but they can still suffer from distortions and misinterpretations.

Keywords: anime,explained,theory,ending,review
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