Warning: This work is hard to place within one genre, but its plot, for the most part, is that of a mystery thriller. Naturally, spoilers abound. Even certain tropes on this page will be spoilers in and of themselves. It is advised you watch the movie first (or the novel, although this page is mostly concerned with the animated film). You have been warned.
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Main Characters
Chiba / Paprika
Dr. Atsuko Chiba / "Paprika"
- Voiced by: Megumi Hayashibara (JP), Cindy Robinson (EN)
A psychiatrist at the Institute for Psychiatric Research, and a member of the DC development team. She uses the DC Mini, a portable version of the machine to perform unauthorized psychiatric treatments as Paprika, her hyper-feminine, outgoing alter-ego.
- Adaptational Personality Change: In the original novel, the differences between Chiba and Paprika aren't quite as pronounced - notably, Chiba is more professional than her alter-ego, but has more moments of levity than her anime counterpart. Also, she's more openly affectionate around Tokita.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Atsuko Chiba is reserved, remote, and very much a strict professional. She's so psychologically repressed she can usually only convey the full extent of her compassion and joy through Paprika... but during the climax, Chiba not only shares a laugh with Dr Shima, but admits that she's in love with Tokita - and finally acts on her attraction to him in the real world once she's won the day.
- Dream Walker: Chiba plugs herself into her patient's dreams via the DC Mini so she can interact with her patients within the dreams as Paprika.
- The Jekyll Is a Jerk: In contrast to her friendly and unrestrained alter ego, Chiba is a strictly professional Ice Queen who never seems to dream for herself, never has fun, and reacts to the emotional foibles of her co-workers with irritation and even rage. For good measure, it's heavily implied that she represses her true emotions, hence why Paprika exists separately from her in the first place.
- Literal Transformative Experience: In the finale, Atsuko is separated from Paprika in the dreamworld, forcing the repressed scientist to unveil her true feelings and transform in the process: first, she manifests herself as a giant ghostly figure that embraces the Tokita robot and confesses her true feelings for him. Then, in the ultimate reconciliation between herself and her alter-ego, Atsuko merges with Paprika and is reborn as a giant infant that devours the Chairman's infectious dream so she can grow up again, literally maturing into a complete person in the process. As a result, Atsuko is much more affectionate and exuberant, having achieved the full potential of her dream self in the real world.
- Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Paprika, not only having the textbook personality, but also being one quite literally, too. In-Universe, this is most probably deliberate on Chiba's part (who herself absolutely averts the trope), since her work as a psychiatrist is helping people move on from past trauma.
- Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Chiba is this, which sets the visual contrast between her and her alter-ego, Paprika.
- Science Hero: Chiba's the protagonist and a psychiatric researcher.
- Sexier Alter Ego: Chiba is not unattractive by any means, but Paprika is friendlier, bubblier, and much, much flirtier.
- Secret Identity: Straight-laced psychiatric researcher by day, bubbly rogue therapist by night.
- The Shrink: The Awesome Shrink portrayal all the way, and then some. She uses the DC to go beyond the traditional, clinical approach to psychiatry, walking her patients through their dreams and interacting with them in a more casual, intimate way. Doubly so when the real world blends with the dream world and she has to physically subdue the culprit.
- Split-Personality Merge: After being treated as separate entities in the dream world for most of the film and physically separated in the reality-bending finale, Paprika merges with Chiba in order to give her the strength to defeat the Chairman. Though it's indicated that Paprika still exists in the dream world, judging by her letter to Konakawa, it's indicated that Chiba is now finally acting on the feelings that she could previously only express through her alter ego.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: She's a very cold and very professional woman in the real world, and at times even a little harsh. However, though she can usually only express empathy and joy as Paprika, these emotions do exist, resulting in surprising moments of friendship with Shima and Tokita.
- Superpowered Alter Ego: Played with. Technically, Chiba really does have the power to influence dreams and steer dreamers in positive directions, but her obsessive habit of alter-egoing in the dreamworld means that she can only express this power as Paprika - to the point that when Chiba realizes that she's been trapped in a Dream Within a Dream, she immediately transforms into Paprika. The climax takes this to its logical conclusion when reality breaks down, leaving the mundane Chiba existing alongside the superpowered Paprika. The finale ultimately resolves this by having Chiba and Paprika merged into a single superpowered dream goddess.
- Symbolic Hero Rebirth: In the finale, Chiba is eaten by the giant robotic Tokito, and Paprika flings herself backwards into it so they can merge into one persona - causing Chiba to rise from the fallen robot's belly in the form of a giant baby. For good measure, the Chiba/Paprika baby then begins feeding on the Chairman's nihilistic dream so that she can mature into a child that effectively eats the Chairman alive, growing up into a fully-realized dream-goddess in the process.
- Youthful Freckles: Paprika has these sprinkled across her face. In the original novel, Chiba mimicked these through makeup on the occasions in which "Paprika" had to be seen in the real world.
Detective Konakawa
Detective Toshimi Konakawa
- Voiced by: Akio Ōtsuka (JP), Paul St. Peter (EN)
One of Paprika's patients, a police detective suffering from stress and anxiety. He becomes an ally in the search for the DC Mini thief. He is secretly very passionate about film.
- Always Someone Better: Reveals that he felt this way over his deceased childhood friend. He felt that he was better and everything, and soon developed deep-sitting resentment towards him, something that mortified and haunted him throughout his life.
- Big Damn Heroes: Tears his way into Osanai's butterfly room and rescues Chiba.
- By-the-Book Cop: Konakawa doesn't really stray from proper procedure even as things around him start getting weird. Granted, the most he can do at that point is provide backup for Chiba/Paprika.
- Composite Character: Konakawa is technically a merger between two of Paprika's patients in the original novel, the first being an automobile company executive suffering from a nervous breakdown, the second being a detective suffering from chronic depression. The latter provides the bulk of Konakawa's characterization, but he's also one of Dr. Shima's old college friends and has a past fascination with filmmaking, character details drawn from the executive.
- Friend on the Force: Konakawa and Dr. Shima are friends from college.
- Hidden Depths: Despite his claims of disliking movies, it's very clear from the very beginning of the movie that he secretly likes it as an art medium. He also demonstrates a surprising knowledge of filmmaking techniques in the dream-therapy sessions he shares with Paprika. The reason he does this is because he used to be an aspiring filmmaker in his youth, but then his best friend and fellow filmmaker died young, and he could not bring himself to go on making movies. He also felt repressed resentment for his partner, since he felt he was better than him at everything, including film.
- Not So Above It All: He carries himself as a mature, dignified detective. However, when he's in his office alone after his action-movie dream, he spends a moment pretending to be an action hero, much like a little boy playing make-believe.
- Took a Level in Badass: As Paprika/Chiba's patient, he's initially pretty clueless in his dreams and has to be guided by Paprika in most of their scenes together. However, once the therapy finally helps him to come to an epiphany, he takes charge of his dreams and successfully rescues Chiba from Osanai. Then, during the repeat of the thriller film scene, he is able to turn the tables on his attacker and send him fleeing in terror. Finally, when Osanai tries to use Konakawa's neuroses against him, the detective not only fights through it but shoots Osanai dead, overcoming his past guilt in the process.
Institute for Psychiatric Research
Tokita
Dr. Kousaku Tokita
- Voiced by: Tōru Furuya (JP), Yuri Lowenthal (EN)
A young, brilliant scientist that created the DC system, and the DC Mini. Although clumsy and obese, he is very smart, and very knowledgeable of his own invention.
- Absent-Minded Professor: A very gifted scientist and inventor, but he is a bit childish and naive. It's suspected that his carelessness is what resulted in the DC Mini devices being stolen, but to his credit, they were actually stolen by the Chairman, an insider, so it was probably not his fault after all.
- Accidental Hero: Despite being driven nuts and turned into a Humongous Mecha by the parade dream, he ends up coincidentally coming to Chiba and Paprika's rescue by blowing up the Kaiju-sized doll with his missiles before it can attack them. For good measure, it's made abundantly clear from his dialog that he has absolutely no idea what he just did.
- Always Someone Better: Tokita doesn't realize that he is this to Himuro, who resented Tokita's genius.
- Manchild: His workspace is littered with action figures, he wears T-shirts from the amusement park he went to as a kid, and he generally gets too wrapped up in the cool factor of what he's doing to genuinely consider the repercussions of his invention until after they've unfolded. For good measure, in his first big expedition into dreams, he takes the form of a toy robot.
- Nice Guy: Manchild tendencies aside, he's a genuinely decent person who invented the DC Mini to help people, and is extremely upset by it being stolen and used to hurt others. He also takes it pretty hard when he realizes that Himuro didn't really consider him his friend.
- Non-Action Guy: Deconstructed. A frustrated Chiba criticizes him for trying to give some (well-meaning) opinions on how to handle the Himuro case when he, despite creating the DC Mini, doesn't seem to have the courage to enter dreams himself. Tokita's attempt to rise to that challenge ends rather poorly due to his inexperience, and he's quickly outflanked and enthralled by the mastermind.
- Rule of Cool: A significant contributing factor to him inventing the DC Mini. He thought it would be cool to invent a machine that lets people record and play back their dreams, so he did it. He even admits that he basically left it up to Chiba to determine how to use it therapeutically.
Shima
Dr. Toratarou Shima
- Voiced by: Katsunosuke Hori (JP), David Lodge (EN)
An older researcher involved in the DC project. He is an old friend of Konakawa, and a confidant to both Dr. Chiba and Dr. Tokita.
- Cloudcuckoolander: He is a tad eccentric. This is why it took so long for everyone to figure out that something was off when the mad dream was implanted in his head at the beginning: The occasional eccentricity in his speech is normal.
- Made of Iron: Survives jumping out of a three-story window, albeit with a running start and posture that presumably protected his head while being near a high-class medical center when he landed.
- Miniature Senior Citizens: Shima is notably shorter than the rest of the cast, only barely reaching Konakawa's hip. Notably, the Chairman, who is presumably even older than Shima, is of average height, wheelchair notwithstanding.
- Non Sequitur: The first sign that something was not quite right with him, right before he breaks down into full blown incoherence by the parade dream.Shima: I think we are getting sidetracked. We need to find the mini, not Paprika's bikini...
- Sacrificial Lion: Though he survives the attempt on his life, his near-death experience shows that the DC Mini can affect people who are awake.
Osanai
Dr. Morio Osanai
- Voiced by: Kōichi Yamadera (JP), Doug Erholtz (EN)
Another researcher for the Institute for Psychiatric Research. He has a thing for Doctor Chiba.
- Abhorrent Admirer: He has an unhealthy obsession with Chiba, and in the dream world has no problem with forcing himself on her physically.
- Always Someone Better: He admits to always having been a little jealous of Dr. Chiba, but he's far more jealous of Tokita, who is both more successful than him and more importantly, receives more attention and praise from Chiba.
- Depraved Bisexual: Hinted at. He is very clearly interested in Dr. Chiba to the point of unhealthy obsession, and despite anything Chiba herself has to say about it, but his relationship with his master, the Chairman, who is also male, also has sexual undertones, considering the Chairman wants them to "become one". Much more explicit in the novel. Satoshi Kon felt the portrayal was a bit too demonizing of bisexual men, so he toned it down significantly in his animated adaption.
- Karmic Death: Nearly raped Paprika, was involved with Tokita’s kidnapping, and tries to continue his use of Mind Rape by turning Konakawa's past traumas against him. Konakawa fights through all of his sick games and kills him.
- Sex for Services: When Paprika is trapped in the butterfly room with Osanai, she accuses him of sleeping with Himuro in exchange for the DC Mini. Given Osanai responds by screaming at her not to remind him of that, she was probably right.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: He is quite attractive.
Himuro
Kei Himuro
- Voiced by: Daisuke Sakaguchi (JP), Brian Beacock (EN)
A former collaborator in the DC project. He is the main suspect in the theft and abuse of the DC mini, since he bears a strong grudge against Tokita, who he used to be friends with..
- Body Horror: In both the novel and the anime, the prototype DC mini has merged with his skull due to overuse.
- Empty Shell: Exposure to the Chairman's madness-inducing techniques has gradually rendered him down to a mindless shell of his former self, envisioned in the dreamworld as a giant hollowed-out husk that Paprika investigates in pixie form.
- Depraved Homosexual: Several homoerotic magazines can be found in his apartment, and he is pretty much confirmed to be the culprit of the terroristic dream attacks. Subverted, when it turns out he was a red herring... And a victim himself. Again, much more prominent in the novel. In the movie his homosexuality is much more subtle, and it's portrayed as something incidental to his antics.
- Mouth of Sauron: Because the parade rarely speaks for itself, Himuro often ends up acting as a monstrous spokesperson for it, furthering the idea that he's the villain behind everything. Up until it turns out that he's actually just another one of the Chairman's pawns, whereupon Himuro is cast aside and the Chairman himself takes center stage on the parade's lead float.
The Chairman
Dr. Seijirou Inui, the Chairman
- Voiced by: Touru Emori (JP), Michael Forest (EN)
The elderly, wheelchair-bound Chairman of the Institute for Psychiatric Research. Heavily opposes the DC project, since he believes dreams are the last private sanctum humanity has left.
- Adaptational Villainy: In the original novel, Inui a bitter old man sabotaging the DC mini project due to a mixture of dogma and thwarted ambition, but at least he can at least believe that he's doing the right thing when he isn't boiling with envy over Chiba and Tokita's successes. In the anime, Inui's moral concerns are just a mask for his hunger for power - power over Osanai's body, power over dreams, and eventually, power over everything.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: In the novel, his abuse of the DC mini ultimately destroys his mind after his final confrontation with Paprika, leaving him withering away as an Empty Shell in the Institue's basement. The anime opts for a more dramatic finale in which Chiba's newly empowered dream-infant incarnation devours him alive, resulting in his death due to the real world and dream world being merged at the time.
- Disabled in the Adaptation: In the novel, he still has the use of his legs; in the anime, he's in a wheelchair and at least one of his motivations for seizing control of the DC mini is so he can use it to claim Osanai's healthy young body as his own.
- Just Desserts: After being reborn as a giant baby, Chiba begins to devour the Chairman's all-consuming dream, using it as fuel to grow up again. Enraged, Inui tries to crush the giant child's skull with his bare hand, only for Chiba to eat that too, drawing him into a tug-of-war that ends with the screaming Chairman being dragged into the rapidly maturing Chiba's jaws and eaten alive.
- Villainous Breakdown: Completely flips his lid when Osanai is killed by Konakawa, depriving him of the replacement body he was hoping for.
Other Characters
Jinnai & Kuga
Mr. Jinnai & Mr. Kuga
Jinnai (left) and Kuga (right)
- Jinnai Voiced by: Satoshi Kon (JP)Kuga Voiced by: Yasutaka Tsutsui (JP), Brian Beacock (EN)
The two bartenders working at Radio Club, an odd bar/website that serves as an entryway to the dream world.
- Creator Cameo: Jinnai is voiced by Satoshi Kon, who directed the film, and Kuga is voiced by Yasutaka Tsutsui, who wrote the original novel.
- Ink-Suit Actor: Although a bit stylized, they are clearly based after Kon and Tsutsui:
- Jinnai is a lankier and grayer Satoshi Kon. In particular Jinnai's glasses, mustache, and deadpan expression all resemble Kon's own features.
- Meanwhile, Kuga is a shorter and wider Yasutaka Tsutsui. They took some liberties with the hairstyle and mustache (Kuga wears a toothbrush, while Mr. Tsutsui appears to prefer a thin pencil style), but otherwise the lines of the face and the eyes match.
- Perpetual Frowner: Jinnai barely gesticulates, always keeping a straight, serious face.
- Perpetual Smiler: Kuga, on the other hand, always bears a friendly smile. Like Jinnai, however, he never changes his expression.
- Those Two Guys: Never seen apart.
Konakawa's other self
The Parade
The Parade
Nope, nothing unusual here at all...
- Voiced By: N/A
The subject of a mental patient's delirious dream. It is weaponized by the one who stole the DC Mini.
- A Glitch in the Matrix: Well, that's not something you see every day...
- A God Am I: About the closest thing to a coherent thought its victims seem to consistently have is a delusion of grandeur and power.A random victim: Truly, I am the one king chosen by God himself!About four other guys: I DON'T RECALL CHOOSING YOU!
- Justified in that the dream originated from a schizophrenic patient with severe megalomania. It's possible his own issues are transferred to the victims through the parade dream.
- Brown Note: Exposure to it, even while wide awake, is enough to drive a person to gibbering, suicidal insanity. Thankfully, it does not appear to be permanent... Yet.
- Faux Symbolism: Invoked. It's an incoherent mish-mash of Shinto, Buddhist, and Christian religious icons, with heaping doses of God-knows-what-else. Justified, because in real life dreams don't usually make much sense at all. Specially the dreams of people with severe mental illness.
- Leitmotif: Titled simply "Parade
". A grandiose march peppered with instruments that sound like vague, highly distorted vocals. It seems to sound more eccentric and deranged with every listen. The version heard in the movie is purely instrumental, but there's a version with lyrics (linked above), which are pure surrealistic gibberish. - Madness Mantra: The parade induces this in the bystanders it sucks into itself when the dream bleeds into reality."No more anger! Our world is happy and mundane!"
- Tickertape Parade: the parade is always accompanied by an endless rain of confetti.
- Word-Salad Horror: Its victims start sputtering long-winded nonsense right as they start losing their minds.
- Youkai: Figures of Tanuki and Oni can be found among its ranks.
- It also seems to be inspired by the Hyakki Yagyou, the "Night Parade of One Hundred Demons". In Japanese folklore, it refers to a massive horde of Youkai marching into our world... Which is exactly what The Parade does during the climax of the movie.
