Mousou Dairinin

The infamous Shounen Bat is terrorizing the residents of Musashino City. Flying around on his rollerblades and beating people down with a golden baseball bat, the assailant seems impossible to catch—much less understand. His first victim, the well-known yet timid character designer Tsukiko Sagi, is suspected of orchestrating the attacks. Believed only by her anthropomorphic pink stuffed animal, Maromi, Tsukiko is just one of Shounen Bat's many victims.

As Shounen Bat continues his relentless assault on the town, detectives Keiichi Ikari and Mitsuhiro Maniwa begin to investigate the identity of the attacker. However, more and more people fall victim to the notorious golden bat, and news of the assailant begins circulating around the town. Paranoia starts to set in as chilling rumors spread amongst adults and children alike.

Will the two detectives be able to unravel the truth behind Shounen Bat, or will the paranoia get to them first?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Shounen Bat Main

Sakaguchi, Daisuke Japanese

Sagi, Tsukiko Main

Noto, Mamiko Japanese

Ikari, Keiichi Main

Iizuka, Shouzou Japanese

Maniwa, Mitsuhiro Main

Seki, Toshihiko Japanese

Maromi Supporting

Momoi, Haruko Japanese

Chono, Harumi Supporting

Mitsuishi, Kotono Japanese

Old Man Supporting

Saikachi, Ryuuji Japanese

Ikari, Misae Supporting

Komiya, Kazue Japanese

Taira, Yuichi Supporting

Yamaguchi, Mayumi Japanese

Kamome Supporting

Tominaga, Miina Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Gotou, Hideki Producer

Tanaka, Shinsaku Assistant Producer

Kon, Satoshi Director, Storyboard, Original Creator

Reviews

Aug 22, 2024

SlushPuppy007

Recommended

I love experimental stuff. I feel like most things can fall into either an inspired concept or an innovative concept. With very little things capable of doing both. This is one of those things that manages to fall into both. Inspired by the themes of anxiety and escapism the story is told through the lens of multiple people who are all loosely connected to each other socially in a post world war 2 Japan. Each episode could be its own standalone episode, but they also connect to one overall plot…Little Slugger/Shounen Bat. A boy on golden skates who attacks people who are on the brink ... of despair with a bent golden baseball bat. The overarching conflict of the story is whether Shounen Bat is real or a figment of people’s imagination, spread by word of mouth, and born by a desire to escape the despair of their lives.

Looking into interviews with Satoshi Kon, I found that this concept was born from two things…
1) A kid who would lie about having a stomach ache to avoid school and the struggle of whether or not to believe such things vs the possible reactions of ignoring it. What is escapism and what isn’t? Could someone lie something into existence or was it always there to begin with?
2)After World War 2 Japan massively downplayed their involvement in the war to the people and would use news, media, and merchandise to distract people from the truth. Forcing mass escapism to all its residents. This idea is present in the show from the first episode with Maromi being a massive maskot and the industry wanting to force out new mascots quickly. It is also present by the spreading of the Shounen Bat urban legend via word of mouth and medi, as well being shown in the opening via a huge mushroom cloud in the background of the characters laughing

All of this is a very inspired and unique concept that is fleshed out enough without overstaying its welcome with a modest 13 episodes that explore different perspectives on the struggle of the human experience and how running away from your problems will only make them worse. It will often explore these concepts in a psychological/horror/thriller style way which which mirrors the fear a person can have from anxiety. The characters all have unique personalities and motivations, the music is atmospheric and captivating, the animation still holds up today, the production of how the show was made is almost as interesting as the source material itself, and the episodes, philosophy, and mystery are all very memorable.

There isn’t too much to gripe about without being nitpicky or this genre/idea just not meshing with whatever your personal taste is. For instance if you are a fan of big spectacle action sequences or isekai power fantasies then maybe this isn’t what you are looking for. If you are a fan of those kind of things then I can respect that as well. I’m not trying to make this seem like it is some masterpiece that can only be understood by only the highest IQ Rick and Morty watchers. I’m just trying to give an unbiased opinion based on as much objective facts as possible. I also try to base my review on what we got, not I want.

For instance, some people could say that the short run time leads to more shallow characters in this series. While that is a valid complaint that I wouldn’t argue, my counterpoint would be that each character is fleshed out enough to be humanized and although there may not be much character development with certain characters, the ability to humanize a huge cast of characters with such time constraints is a writing ability worth praising on its own. Too many reviews these days are written by people who seem to believe that if something doesn’t align with their own niche, personal, contrarian opinions then the show is garbage and you have shit taste for liking it. Im also aware that not everything needs to be this complex to be enjoyable(for instance I am a huge Lupin the 3rd boomer fan), but this is something you will need to read between the lines on a little bit. However, the mystery and concept should be enough on its own to carry you through. Whether you watch it at a surface level or whether you want to dig deeper into it like I have, it’s something I feel like could entertain and relate to anyone regardless of age or gender.

With its short runtime it is a low risk, high reward show that I would recommend anyone to watch at least once.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Aug 8, 2024

sanander

Mixed Feelings

Is it worth a watch? Definitely. Is it good? Maybe.

This is one of those shows that start off strong and then fail to keep up along the way. Frankly, it's a mix of brilliant episodes and episodes that waste your time. In the middle of its runtime you will see actual filler episodes that do not connect to the main story in anything other than featuring Shounen Bat, the poster boy of the show, one of those episodes is even openly framed as a collection of fictitious rumors that bear no resemblance to reality. Personally, I do not feel that a 13 episode show ... can afford to pad its numbers with filler in good conscience, but you may have a different opinion.

Looking at the plot itself, it's unsatisfactory at best. It ends up feeling as if the entire journey between episodes 1 and 13 focused on all the wrong things. Sure, it was supposed to be misleading at many points, but in the very end the show only confused itself. What it identifies as its main antagonistic forces ends up being superficially inflated. Suddenly, it's everybody's problem when there is nothing to actually support it being so.

Reading this over, it feels like a 'Not Recommended' review, but I leave it at 'Mixed' because the good parts of this series indeed rattle your brain and are very enjoyable, the art is pleasant and the opening is top-notch.
Go for this if you think you like weird anime. Or don't, because it's not going to be weird enough and you're not going to lose too much.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Oct 23, 2024

GrabFluffyTails

Not Recommended

Funny

Paranoia Agent is chinese and korean propaganda. I watch anime to not be bombarded with woke garbage. I don't want to watch woke garbage (Japan). Satoshi Kon outed himself as a JCP voter that wants more Zainichi koreans to help north korea abduct Japanese citizens through the making of this trash. I will not disgrace the word anime by using it to descirbe Paranoia Agent. Paranoia Agent is pure trash.

That being said. If you are a Westerner you will not get the messaging of Paranoia Agent and you will probably be able to enjoy the series like the dumb idiot you are. But you ... should not be content in your ignorance; you should join the more observant of us that can see the series for what it is. Read the post about Paranoia Agent on the blog "Historical Musings". The post begins with a slog of chinese and korean propaganda but then transitions to an analysis of Propaganda Agent's symbolism and plot. A less than cunning reader would be able to put two and two together to see the big picture.

Anyways... 1/10—the darkest of coal. Brimstone, even.

Reviewer’s Rating: 1

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	Poll: Mousou Dairinin Episode 13 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) katsup - Apr 3, 2008	218 replies	by Randomega »» Oct 26, 9:40 AM
	Poll: Mousou Dairinin Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 ) aero - Jul 22, 2009	78 replies	by Zapad81 »» Oct 6, 1:09 AM
	Poll: Mousou Dairinin Episode 8 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Frash - Oct 4, 2008	196 replies	by Bororus_Rooroo »» Sep 2, 10:08 PM
	Poll: Mousou Dairinin Episode 7 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Arashi89 - Aug 7, 2009	71 replies	by Monkey1510 »» Aug 13, 12:03 AM
	Poll: Mousou Dairinin Episode 6 Discussion ( 1 2 ) LibreKoi - May 23, 2009	67 replies	by Monkey1510 »» Aug 12, 6:38 PM

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