Paranoia Agent

Not as thoughtful or unsettling as Kon’s previous “Perfect Blue”, but undoubtably more imaginative, both in terms of its liquid story as well as its visuals. “Agent” gleefully tosses aside its A-plot at will in service of character studies of broken people, eventually tying things back to the central narrative with an inevitable appearance from Shonen Bat, which works well enough as his being a walking deus ex machina is pretty much the entire point of the character. I don’t know that this is Kon’s best—I’d need to rewatch “Blue”—but this is outstanding stuff from beginning to end.

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