William French
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Paranoia Agent episode 13--Part 2, series finale!
🕑 Added 2021-05-18 02:33:35 +0000 UTCClick here for the full episode.
Click here for just this half.
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Man. What a show. That kept me guessing all the way through. The core mystery of is-it-magic-is-it-not really kept me going for a while there. A compelling cast of characters, too--even the one I utterly fucking despised.
Tsukiko and Ikari’s parallel stories converging as each of them hits the breaking point and finds it within themselves to accept the way things truly are was masterfully done. And that’s all it took, in the end--looking within oneself and no longer denying the truth defeated both of their inner demons and in the process saved countless lives. We could all do with a bit more introspection from time to time.
“My place disappeared from this world a long time ago. The reality is that there is no place for me anymore. But that’s the reality I have to face!”
The world changes, the world moves on. It’s up to us to decide if we want to join the new world or whether we want to wallow in our self-pity over being left behind. That is definitely a lesson a lot of people in the modern day need to learn, and the source of no small amount of societal ills befalling us. Words of wisdom.
As for the individual victims of Li’l Slugger...I wish we got resolutions for some of them. Taeko in particular being amnesiac and back in the grip of her pedophile father seems a rather horrific end. Harumi also makes me wish we’d gotten a resolution to her issues; I’ll forever wonder if she got treatment, if she resolved her DID or if it consumed her and destroyed her marriage.
Hopefully Maniwa’s getting the help he needs. He’s in the care of a mental hospital, at least, though I don’t know how well he’s being treated. What would you call his deal, anyways? A psychotic break? Paranoid schizophrenia where the paranoia part happens to be about something that actually happened? Or is it just “Mental IllnessTM” and leaving it at that?
And...Tsukiko. Tsukiko, who appears to have moved on with her life to some degree. (How she managed that swim back home is beyond me.) It’s not like anyone would...actually, hrm. The destruction happened after all the Maromi merch in the country spontaneously vanished. I’ll bet at the very minimum Tsukiko is the subject of some very dedicated conspiracy theory communities, even if the larger society doesn’t have enough information to put together her involvement. Still, she’s moved on, past the disaster she was responsible for; I’m not sure what sort of consequences she should have actually seen, in a Watsonian sense, but approaching it with Doylist intent, the message of finding peace and moving on after accepting the truth trumps that.
This is the first of Satoshi Kon’s works I’ve seen, though I’d seen a copy of Tokyo Godfathers on my local library’s shelves years ago--I meant to borrow it, but never did. Maybe I should change that; this was certainly an excellent work, one I’d happily seek out more of.
Rest in peace, Satoshi Kon. You’ve touched the world, by all accounts, and you especially touched the patron who chose this show.
Thank you, by the way. This was an excellent show, and your support over the past two years has helped me immensely. I’m glad we’re friends.
Well! That’s Paranoia Agent. That’s the end of this particular Patron Pick; the patron opened up their spot and another took their place immediately, so in the next cycle of liveblogs you’ll be seeing something new! It’ll be a surprise, though, since I’m sure a bunch of you are excited to see me do it. That’ll be it for tonight; up next is going to be Baccano, which we’ll continue Wednesday. Also, tomorrow, I’ll be completing my playthrough of Resident Evil Village on the hardest difficulty, so tune in at my Twitch channel or catch old streams on my Youtube if you’d like!
As always, thank you for tuning in, and thank you to my 62 patrons who make it so I can do this for a living! And especially thank you to the people who have been so kind as to donate over the past few months of mental health issues I’ve been having, you’ve been lifesavers. I’ll see you guys next time!
