Paranoia Agent

Crimson Seiko · Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2005 7:58 am Post subject:

Yeah, Zebra was apparently gay. And I'm pretty sure all three of them were already dead... remember when they jumped up and posed for that picture the girl was taking? They didn't notice them in the picture at all, and then when they're looking at it from her camera, they freak out... they caught ghosts in the photo. And if I recall, no one else noticed them throughout the entire episode. Plus, the guy walking away from the train accident... yeah, they were dead for a while.
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TriggerEXE · Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2005 11:07 am Post subject:

Hm, but were they dead for the whole episode? What about at the beginning when they all take those pills in that condemned building and end up outside on the street on blankets? We don't see them helped out of the building, but it is implied. Still, they did take all those pills and did not die. Or is that when they died? Or were they all dead from the start? I guess it is up to us to figure that out. Maybe the family planning thing at the end is pointing to the girl and why she wants to die. Maybe her family accidentally had her and she found that out or told her that. That is a heavy thing to deal with.

People say that spirits of the parted, especially if they die of peculiar circumstances, often linger and end up doing what they were trying to do just before they died. In this case...trying to die. lol How horrible.
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Crimson Seiko · Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2005 11:14 am Post subject:

Hmm... why were the construction workers destroying a building with people in it in the first place? I didn't really see a strong implication that they were helped out, and they were pretty much completely ignored when they left the building. In other words, no one saw them at all... because they were already dead. But your condom theory is pretty convincing... the only connection I could make with the condoms to anything is the fact this episode was named "Happy Family Planning."
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Shonshiwo15 · Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2005 2:53 pm Post subject:

eh, I really didn't care how much I understood the episode. It was funny and good! I hope they have more eps like that!

I tottaly didn't think that guy was gay at frist! *sigh* It freaked me out when I saw the locket though. The old guy and the Girl where the funniest. Zebra was funny when he was hanging from the tree. Laughing

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Crimson Seiko · Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2005 3:06 pm Post subject:

... hmm, what's wrong with him being gay? Honestly, I can't figure out the significance of his sexuality in this episode, though... But, yeah, this episode certainly was amusing... it seems PA's atmosphere and mood is different every episode. I can't help but still tack my favoritism on Ichi's episode (#2), though... that one was really enjoyable, and I love how Ichi looks. I mean, it's not like his design is anything really original... but there's something about his convection that I really admire.
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TriggerEXE · Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2005 3:12 pm Post subject:

I did what I always do in this situation. I went digging for info! Here is what I found from other message boards. The old man's prophecy for this episode:

"To begin, the animal trail that goes far beyond. The one who can follow is the Holy Warrior. A seagull, a zebra, and a winter bee...there are no shadows of them wandering from place to place. Sitting in a happy circle. Even dead branches add to the mountain scenery. Why do the crows caw? And then..."

No shadows... So you have to go back and look at the episode and see which point they don't have shadows anymore. You can either choose to do this when the show repeats on Thursday, or do what I did. Dig! If you want to try and see for yourself, then don't read on. Otherwise, read on!

From the same board: "When Zebra and Fuyubachi are in the building in front of the hibachi, they've got shadows. In the next scene, ironically, Fuyubachi says 'We'll come back as ghosts and apologize' when they're lying on the mats. At this point, they're dead. Kamome mysteriously appears. So, she either died on her own or snuck into the building while the other two were dead/unconscious and died from carbon monoxide poisoning."

"Then, the wall of the building comes down, and sunlight enters the room. No one has a shadow. Outside, as the three get up to leave, a murder of crows follows them. This is the first time the crows appear. When they're in the train station, note that those standing around them have shadows, and they don't. So, they definitely died in the building. The train jumper didn't have a shadow either. Nice touch."

Spooky yes? Read on.

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The LS attack at the resort is interesting for a couple of reasons:

1) LS has a shadow. It's clearly seen through the screen and on the floor as he skates away.

2) The two women on the stairs barely respond to LS. They don't respond to the ghosts at all (of course). However, LS falls down the stairs and then goes right by the two women. The woman in front turns her head to look down the stairs as LS goes by, and then the second woman, after a moment, looks down the stairs. If a boy came falling down the stairs, shouldn't they have more of a reaction? If that boy also happens to be the fabled Lil' Slugger, shouldn't that reaction be even more pronounced?

If LS were present and caused Tsukiko to injure herself, this could explain why the old woman didn't see him.

I also liked the woman looking as if she heard something in the bath when she walks by.

The chartroom stuff is cool too. I looked at the screenshots of the sub. Kozuka's discussion took place on 9/23. In the subbed version, he makes the following comments: "Of course, before you die, you gotta clean your body and soul!" (sounds like his Gohma schtick). "I'm going to get revenge on society!" (may be a tie with LS). The trio's chat about committing suicide together is on 9/30. Maniwa enters the chat on 10/02. Maniwa is the ONLY person in the chatroom when he appears. This is the only time there is one person in the chat. When Maniwa enters his radio room at the end of "MHz", there's a September calendar on the wall. So, Kozuka started his copycatting and died the week of 9/23. The trio died on 10/01, and Maniwa entered the chat on 10/02.

More Maromi creepiness: While the trio are sitting on the bench, the backpack next to Kamome is looking to the left, away from her. In the next shot, the Maromi backpack is looking to the right, towards Kamome and Fuyubachi. Kamome does not touch the backpack to make the eyes jiggle.

In the end, I think Fuyubachi knew they were dead once he didn't see shadows. This is why he was suprised Zebra's hand felt warm. I don't think he told them, though. He knew they could be happy in death, hence "Happy Family Planning".
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It makes a creepy sorta sense. O_o I was thinking about a theory that is sorta Donnie Darko-ish where "Fox" is somehow the attacker, but is doing so from beyond death, and before (or after?) he atually dies by way of an artifact, in this case, his bat. Or maybe not. I dunno. Its just odd that he would look EXACTLY like LS and then be killed by him.
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Crimson Seiko · Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2005 3:18 pm Post subject:

A lot of that makes sense, yes... but there's still that condom thing that hasn't been explained yet, and that seems to be the only missing puzzle piece. I read a really... "unique" theory on a TV.com review. The writer says he thinks the three people had AIDS (his only piece of evidence to back this up, though, was that Zebra was gay) and that's why they wanted to die. But, there's plenty of things wrong with this... mainly being I'm pretty sure AIDs isn't as big a problem in Japan as it is over here, so I doubt it'd become such a big plot element in an episode of a Japanese anime...
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Shonshiwo15 · Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2005 3:39 pm Post subject:

eh, I don't care if anyone's gay or anything, I just didn't expect it. Thats all. *sigh* I want that group to come back again. I wish I had taped that ep.
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Crimson Seiko · Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2005 3:52 pm Post subject:

Watch it Thursday... or buy the DVD. All of PA is available on DVD... 4 volumes, or a boxset.
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Unknown Neo · Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2005 3:56 pm Post subject:

*reads trigger's post* *thinks* Don't you just love this show? Laughing

TriggerEXE · Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2005 6:17 am Post subject:

I don't think the condoms themselves may mean much of anything, so much as the name of the condoms. "Happy Family Planning" condoms. Like what that one guy said in the post I made. He realized that they were a happy family now in the after life.

And yes, this show is quite good. lol Any show that makes you stop and think is.
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Wackoman.EXE · Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2005 10:58 am Post subject:

I thought this epsiode (while somewhat confusing) was quite good. I agree that they definetly were dead. The whole thing was rather odd. The condom thing left me kind of with a typical WTF? look on.
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Toto · Net Savior Joined: 28 Mar 2005 Posts: 184

Kazuki_Torai · Joined: 05 Jul 2005 Posts: 4 Location: End City

Paranoia Agent is great! I love how they made the opening song, it's not like anything I've seen and I think it suits the series, or maybe I'm crazy? I don't get the story that quite well either, but I didn't need to, in order to love it. Razz

Enzan Chaud · Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2005 12:32 pm Post subject:

Okay, I decided to bump this up from page 2. Anyways yesterday's and the week's before episode was a filler-type. There are only 2, but they were made to help the mystisim that make him alot like an urban legend. There are only 2 episodes left, and I'm looking forward to the ending.

[edit]: The ep had some kinda joke or moral to it, I think. Take a rest or you'll get conked out eventually...that's what I thought, anyways...
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TriggerEXE · Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2005 6:44 am Post subject:

Maybe it was more like take a rest or you'll end up dead. lol

That last episode was a lot like a Tales From the Crypt episode or something. It had that kind of super-natural horror flick feel to it. I liked the part where the guy was in his car and the main theme song came on the radio. Laughing

It is on one of my CDs in my car and comes on when I am going to work. Hehe.
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Crimson Seiko · Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2005 7:30 am Post subject:

I missed the episode after "Happy Family Planning," but I did manage to catch the latest episode, "Mellow Maromi." It was especially interesting... I liked all the educational tidbits of the animation production, and then you got all that insane psychological mumbo jumbo to go along with it. It's one of those things that makes plenty of sense in my head, but I couldn't even begin to explain it in terms that'd make sense. Regardless, Li'l Slugger chasing the guy down as he was driving the van... that was especially awesome.
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Sai-kun · Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2005 8:04 am Post subject:

Mellow Maromi was great. XD I love how Maromi introduced each job/person. And then he introduced Kane (sp?) while she was at her desk.

Dead.

XDD But that guy, Saruta. He pissed me off. Like seriously, I got really really mad at him. The end kinda scared me though.

"take a rest....take a rest....take a rest...take a res-"

;-; I was freaked out. i've actually purchased all 4 DVDs, so...I'm gonna watch the fourth one today. :O
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Crimson Seiko · Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2005 8:28 am Post subject:

I'd buy the box set, but I still think even $75 is too much for 13 episodes (and that's Amazon's 25% off sales price!) I guess I'll have to buy it now, though, since I missed an episode... (and I highly doubt Adult Swim is going to replay the entire series again anytime soon)
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Shonshiwo15 · Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2005 9:12 am Post subject:

Yeah, Interesting episode. I liked it! Too bad I couldn't see it all, my dad was like all pissed and said "Do you know what time it is? Get your butt to bed!". *sigh* I wish I could spend $75 but I have to save up for my moms B-day and Christmas.
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