Paprika

The world of dreams can be an incredible window into the psyche, showing one's deepest desires, aspirations, and repressed memories. One hopeful tech lab has been developing the "DC Mini," a device with the power to delve into the dreams of others. Atsuko Chiba and Kosaku Tokita have been tirelessly working to develop this technology with the hopes of using it to deeply explore patients' minds and help cure them of their psychological disorders.

However, having access to the deepest corners of a person's mind comes with a tremendous responsibility. In the wrong hands, the DC Mini could be used as a form of psychological terrorism and cause mental breakdowns in the minds of targets. When this technology is stolen and people around them start acting strangely, Atsuko and Kosaku know they have a serious problem on their hands. Enlisting the help of Officer Konakawa, who has been receiving this experimental therapy, they search both the real and dream worlds for their mental terrorist.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Paprika Main

Hayashibara, Megumi Japanese

Chiba, Atsuko Main

Hayashibara, Megumi Japanese

Konakawa, Toshimi Main

Ootsuka, Akio Japanese

Tokita, Kosaku Main

Furuya, Toru Japanese

Jinnai Supporting

Kon, Satoshi Japanese

Shima, Torataro Supporting

Hori, Katsunosuke Japanese

Inui, Seijiro Supporting

Tanaka, Hideyuki Japanese

Kuga, Mr. Supporting

Tsutsui, Yasutaka Japanese

Konakawa's Friend Supporting

Tanaka, Hideyuki Japanese

Osanai, Morio Supporting

Yamadera, Kouichi Japanese

Maruta, Jungo Producer

Kon, Satoshi Director, Script

Mima, Masafumi Sound Director

Katou, Michiya Episode Director, Director of Photography

Reviews

Sep 20, 2024

alenaphoenix

Recommended

Despite being a pretty big fan of anything surrealist and/or avant-garde, I have never seen anything quite like Paprika. Even Christopher Nolan's great Inception, which borrows heavily from the dream world established in this film, cannot come close to being as weird as Paprika. Satoshi Kon made something absolutely incredible here, and it's definitely one of the most mind bending films I've ever seen.

Paprika focuses heavily on the scientific, philosophical, and psychological implications of dreams. A scientist develops a device that allows dream therapy to take place while people are asleep, and all sorts of weird things happen as a result. When the device is ... stolen, dreams and reality start to merge, and this is just the beginning of the mind-melting that's about to come.

This is an incredible film, it's so utterly incomprehensible, yet it has such a consistent, stylish carefree nature that makes it an incredibly fun watch all throughout. I can confidently say it's one of the strangest pieces of media that I've ever experienced, and it still leaves so many questions unanswered. The direction of the film is utterly sublime, the characters all feel pretty well established, and the visuals are as trippy as they are unique. Paprika is undoubtedly one of the most unusual films I've ever seen, and one of the most impressive visual pieces of animation ever created. It's got an impeccable style, and it's one of the greatest representations of dreams and the psyche in the entire medium of film.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jul 21, 2024

DulnethP

Mixed Feelings

Yeah I had high expectations for this, specially after the masterpiece that is Perfect Blue by Satoshi Kon, I went in expecting another great character study but ended getting a very averagely executed movie of what could've been a thousand times better. To kick things off I had such a hard time connecting with any of the characters everyone seemed not even mildly interesting to me. Don't get me wrong the idea behind this and the premise was so smart, but I feel like it didn't get the runtime it deserves and especially after seeing multiple brain fucks this didn't hit as hard, I won't ... be surprised if this inspired Nolan to make Inception because the concept is very similar but Nolan just executed it perfectly.

The animation is really good, it was smooth and fluid all around and the plot direction was one of the few strengths of the movie, but the lack of a cohesive narrative and the storytelling being rather weak didn't help the case, I can totally see what Satoshi Kon was trying to do here, I am just convinced he is just a superior being when it comes to ideas such as this, but with the end product I think I was more confused than I was satisfied if that makes sense? I've seen many movies that made me say "Woah WTF", same thing here but I just didn't care enough to look into it more and had a much more neutral reaction.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Feb 26, 2023

Fondly_Acerbic

Not Recommended

Funny

I normally wouldn’t write anything so negative about any anime because there is so much hard work that goes into it, but I picked Paprika to watch with my girlfriend (who is already lukewarm towards anime) in an attempt to show her a more mature side to the medium. I was expecting something Bladerunner-esque, and while what we got was quite unique, large portions of Paprika were kind of like watching Looney Tunes if it didn’t have any comedy.
The script content, and dreamworld happenings quickly became so nonsensical that I was embarrassed to show it to her, she fell asleep about halfway through, and I ... only actually watched 2/3 of it before stopping.
I can see how this movie could be an absolutely wild ride for a certain audience, but my last straw was a point in which Paprika saw a man with some roots, or tentacles and didn’t immediately realize she was in a dream. Maybe there was a reason why he could have possibly existed in the real world, but I honestly don’t care.
Since I’ve already gotten my hands dirty I may as well point out that the quality of the artwork and animation seemed to dip in less important scenes. To be fair the shortcuts they used were only so glaring because the animation and artwork quality was otherwise impressive

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Poll: Paprika Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Krelian - Apr 24, 2007	305 replies	by Randomega »» Dec 2, 6:14 AM
	So, who killed the victim in that homicide case? Samu-tan - Aug 27, 2010	9 replies	by Beatnik »» Jan 1, 9:00 AM
	For what reasons do you like this movie? Unknow0059 - Apr 16, 2017	10 replies	by nekogaro7 »» Oct 17, 2023 7:29 AM
	What's the movie Konakawa watch at the end of the movie ? Tsunamii_ - Jul 13, 2022	3 replies	by Tsunamii_ »» Jul 14, 2022 3:14 AM
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