Paranoia Agent: What causes the paranoia?

Fear is an extremely dangerous catalyst to an unresolved childhood trauma that we get to live through Tsukiko’s eyes in Paranoia Agent. The series is a disturbing accumulation of episodes that, rather than answering questions, only raises more. Tsukiko’s character seems like an introverted girl who animated a dog Maromi with which, people are obsessed. She gained her fame as an animator but is always shown occupied within herself.

Through her, viewers get to visit an overwhelming volume of psychological and mental health of the characters and how if they don’t receive their closures, they are trapped inside their heads without any escape. Satoshi Kon created his first and last animated series which is extremely disturbing and focused on the real consequences of ignoring closures and mental peace.

The horror of the created traumatic vision of one’s insecurities and false made-up lies that haunts them throughout their life, Tsukiko’s character is the testimony to this ideology.

Tsukiko Sagi, the central character, cause or effect of the chaos?

The first appearance of Tsukiko is shown riding a bus to her workplace, where people are envious of her fame and her demeanor that she does not care about it. Her thoughts wrapped inside her head lead her to be a victim of an accident, which is caused by Shounen Bat (Lil’ Slugger) who hits her head with a golden bat bent, and he comes rolling on skates.

Her timidness and introverted behavior lead everyone to suspect that she is the brains and that the attack on others by this Shounen Bat is orchestrated.

Maromi is her comfort sidekick, a stuffed pink toy that she created and got fame because of it, she is constantly consoled by Maromi that she has nothing to do with shounen bat and she was just a victim. Her stuffed toy seemed to have human characteristics which lead to is symbolic of her conscience making her console herself with made-up lies to not feel burdened by guilt.

The relentless attacks of the Shounen Bat increase terror in everyone’s hearts, but one of the investigators Maniwa realizes that the Shounen Bat only targets mentally depressed individuals and they seem to be alright after facing that attack.

Tsukiko’s backstory and a stroll of the other characters

The anime remains true to its title: Paranoia agent. With the extremely chaotic incidents and the paranoia that is caused in everyone, the viewers mix with the characters to determine and question which agent causes this paranoia to rage in everyone? Tsukiko Sagi must look like a normal girl but deeply, her work life had affected her mental peace with her envious colleagues and condescending deadlines.

With these daily life features, Satoshi Kon described how mental health is affected by the pressurized rat race of society and Tsukiko Sagi is an extremely explanatory example of it. With her life pressures, she forgot her unresolved childhood trauma, while her subconscious kept blaming herself with guilt, her facade of a life leading peacefully had led her to bottle her feelings. The famously well-known Maromi was revealed to be her childhood dog which she accidentally ignored leading it to get killed.

Unable to live with the guilt, she creates a false fable, putting her out of the dark shadow of her guilt, thus repressing it. With her unable to come up with new ideas, Satoshi Kon showed an obvious depressive creative block which does not get healed with the imposing pressure of deadlines. This is where Shounen Bat comes into the view, hitting her, after which, disturbingly, she feels more at ease with her ideas.

Chaotic conclusion

Paranoia Agent is a chaotically placed story that takes psychological turns, leaving the viewer baffled, looking for more answers. It is impossible to detect every occurrence that happens, as Satoshi Kon introduces different plotlines in his creation. There are tragicomic characters glorifying and fantasizing death, and Shounen bat lies in the background, playing his role.

But, ultimately, it is shown that after the closure that Tsukiko Sagi achieves after confronting her guilt and loss of her dog in the past, every character is shown to live better lives without the terror of the Shounen Bat.