History Anime / ParanoiaAgent

* GainaxEnding: Creator/AdultSwim said in a blurb "we've got some new shows that are pretty f'ed up. And we know f'ed up - we saw the end of ''Paranoia Agent''". To wit: [[spoiler:Tsukiko, enveloped by the Lil' Slugger ooze cloud, has a flashback to the incident that killed her real puppy Maromi and takes responsibility for her negligence at the exact moment that Lil' Slugger is formed in young Tsukiko's mind. The forgiveness causes Lil' Slugger to evaporate, both in the memory and the real world. She awakens floating in Tokyo Bay. Time skips forward two years to a rebuilt Tokyo, where the first scene of the series plays out again, suggesting that another escalating problem is just on the horizon. A white-haired Maniwa has replaced the Old Man writing the equation in the parking lot, and he gasps upon realizing the answer to the equation. Cut to credits.[[/spoiler]]

** "Happy Family Planning' has a lot for its twist ending where it turns out [[spoiler:the trio in a suicide pact are already dead:]]

* GainaxEnding: Creator/AdultSwim said in a blurb "we've got some new shows that are pretty f'ed up. And we know f'ed up - we saw the end of ''Paranoia Agent''". To wit: [[spoiler: Tsukiko, enveloped by the Lil Slugger ooze cloud, has a flashback to the incident that killed her real puppy Maromi and takes responsibility for her negligence at the exact moment that Lil Slugger is formed in young Tsukiko's mind. The forgiveness causes Lil Slugger to evaporate, both in the memory and the real world. She awakens floating in Tokyo Bay. Time skips forward two years to a rebuilt Tokyo, where the first scene of the show plays out again, suggesting that another escalating problem is just on the horizon. A white-haired Maniwa has replaced the old man writing the equation in the parking lot, and he gasps upon realizing the answer to the equation. Cut to credits.[[/spoiler]]

** "Happy Family Planning' has a lot for its twist ending [[spoiler:where it turns out the trio in a suicide pact are already dead:]]

*** Finally, [[spoiler:they cast no shadows.]]

* GainaxEnding: Creator/AdultSwim said in a blurb "we've got some new shows that are pretty f'ed up. And we know f'ed up - we saw the end of ''Paranoia Agent''".

* EpisodeTitleCard: It's always worked into the episode somehow.

* {{Yakuza}}: They drive the plot of "A Man's Path" by demanding money from Konikawa, causing him to [[spoiler:turn to crime]].

* GenericCuteness: Averted as Satoshi Kon's fond of this.
%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

** One of the gossiping women telling stories about Lil' Slugger's actions tells a story about a boy and an IllGirl in love; the ill girl claims she will die when the last leaf on the vine she can see out her window falls. The boy spends all night atop a ladder, painting over the fallen leaf until he makes a perfect painted recreation of it, [[ShootTheShaggyDog only for him to see Lil' Slugger kill the girl and fall in horror off the ladder to his own death]]. Another woman starts to [[LampshadeHanging point out]] it's from a famous [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Leaf story]] by Creator/OHenry, but is cut short by the other ladies' angry glares.

* IllGirl:
** The girl from the one of the stories the housewives tell.
** Misae Ikari, an ill middle-aged housewife with traces of PluckyGirl.

* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: Tsukiko [[spoiler:created Lil' Slugger]] as a way to avoid her strict father's scolding for losing Maromi. However, Maniwa reveals that [[spoiler:her father always knew the truth. He only went to search for Lil' Slugger to avoid the fact that he was so strict that his own daughter feared him, so he lied to the police and took a bat and pretended to search for Lil' Slugger to show Tsukiko that he cared about her]].

** "Happy Family Planning' has a lot for its twist ending [[spoiler:where it turns out the trio in a suicide pact are already dead.]]

*** When Li'l Slugger meets them he seems freaked out at their enthusiasm and promptly runs [[spoiler:when instead it's because they're ghosts and even he doesn't want to deal with that!]]

*** When they're trying to throw themselves in front of a train, someone beats them to the punch but seems to walk away in an act of NobodyCouldSurviveThat. [[spoiler:He didn't.]]

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Far on the cynical end.

* EarlyBirdCameo: The TitleSequence contains almost every character, even though many don't show up until later in the series.
* TheEndingChangesEverything: [[spoiler:Revealing Lil' Slugger's true nature, origin, and purpose puts virtually everything that happens in the series in a new context, given that the majority of episodes are about how people encounter and react to him.]] This is {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in "The Final Episode", which has an OnTheNext sequence that invites you to watch the series again, because knowing how it ends will alter the experience for you.

** More like Everybody Laughs ''Beginning'', as a rather chipper opening plays as characters are laughing [[SoundtrackDissonance in the most bizarre of places, some of which that go to hell very quickly]], [[spoiler:foreshadowing Tokyo's PerceptionFilter that would give birth to [[AnthropomorphicPersonification Lil' Slugger's]] EldritchAbomination form at the end of the series, and would destroy the city before a two year TimeSkip has Tokyo rebuilt.]]
** In a meta example, the anime had a late-night schedule for its original Japanese airing. Kon foresaw how a series like ''this'' would be overlooked for its non-action premise. To remedy that, he had the opening be ''incredibly'' weird to understand the first time people tuned in so they would stay and watch. Similarly, the ending theme ended up being a soothing theme so people would go to sleep.

** A lot in the opening:

* LyricalDissonance: The song accompanying the opening credits. In a sense, it also applies to the superficially soothing song that plays over the end credits, although the dissonance is with the images rather than with the non-existent lyrics. This was done intentionally due to the late timeslot the series received in Japan.

* MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot:

* NuclearWeaponsTaboo: There is a clear mushroom cloud in the opening as a part of the background of Ikari's scene.

* ThemeTuneCameo: In "Mellow Maromi", one of Lil' Slugger's victim accidentally turns on his car radio and the series' opening theme song plays.

* BarefootSuicide: The opening of the series starts with Tsukiko standing at the edge of the building with her shoes off, laughing. It's easy to infer what she's about to do.

The anime was originally licensed by Creator/{{Geneon}}, who released it on DVD in North America. After Geneon folded, the series went out of print for well over a decade until Creator/{{Funimation}} finally acquired the license in February 2020. The English dub aired on Creator/AdultSwim in 2005, and re-aired on Creator/{{Toonami}} on April 25, 2020.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The first episode's airing on Creator/AdultSwim had the word "bullshit" uncensored. This was fixed for all future airings. However, by the time the series ran on Toonami in 2020, standards had become less restrictive and the word was allowed. The porn that Kawazu downloads for some kids was also shown completely uncensored, which was still somewhat pixelated anyway because the image wasn't fully downloaded yet on an early-2000s internet connection.

* {{Bowdlerise}}: On the UK DVD, "Happy Family Planning" was edited to remove the comic hanging sequence,[[note]]Where the trio's attempt at hanging themselves in the woods goes awry when the 20-something man slips off the rocks and strangles the old man, with the little girl following suit and bungeeing on the noose until the branch snaps and all three of them fall down a hill.[[/note]] as the UK still edits suicides from movies and TV shows on home media formats out of fear that the suicide will still be imitated due to out-of-context playing and repeating of the part by more vulnerable/idiotic viewers.
** Averted with the UK Blu-ray release, which has exactly the same content as the US version.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: A lot in the opening:
** Tsukiko stands on top of a building with a sky that's sunny, before it suddenly turns into a storm. [[spoiler:She's the source for everything that goes to hell in the series.]]
** Maniwa is falling to the ground from the air, [[spoiler:which hides his decent into madness.]]
** The two ladies laughing next to each other [[spoiler:are one and the same.]]
** During the part when Lil' Slugger is rolling up to the screen, characters in front of him are laughing before disappearing, except for Ikari and Maniwa, [[spoiler:which not only foreshadows what Lil' Slugger [[AnthropomorphicPersonification really is]], but that Ikari is TheOnlySaneMan in the entire series, even breaking out of his LotusEaterMachine, while Maniwa also fights against Lil' Slugger and reveals the truth behind him, but sacrifices his sanity to do so.]]
** A lot of the places the characters are laughing at are ruined areas, with Kawazu standing in blasted ruins with no life, Yuichi and Ushiyama laughing in a storm before a flood carries them away, Ikari standing on top of TokyoTower as a nuke goes off behind him, and the Old Man laughing on the moon as sonic booms are shown happening on the Earth. [[spoiler:It all foretells the coming destruction of Tokyo at the hands of Lil' Slugger's final, inhuman form.]]
** In the first episode, Lil' Slugger tells Tsukiko, "Hello again." [[spoiler:It's not until the last episodes we learn they "met" before when she was in middle school.]]

** The girl from the third story the housewives tell.

** Kawazu is a sleazy, perverted reporter who stalks and harasses marks for potential stories. At the beginning of a story, he's dealing with a lawsuit after hitting an old man with his car, and views himself as the victim of the circumstance; after all, he's the one who's had to pay so much money after hitting him.

* TimeSkip: [[spoiler:After Lil' Slugger vanishes with Tsukiko accepting her own fault, his black ooze form goes along with it, freeing everyone who was trapped, but Tokyo is devastated; "[[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII it's just like after the war]]" according to Ikari. Two years later, Tokyo is fixed, but [[BookEnds the ending scene mirrors the beginning]], only this time with everyone actively taking personal accountability instead of blaming their circumstances on everything else. Meanwhile, Maniwa has descended into madness due to becoming Radar Man, and has become the next Old Man.]]

* TimeSkip: [[spoiler:After Lil' Slugger vanishes with Tsukiko accepting her own fault, his black ooze form goes along with it, freeing everyone who was trapped, but Tokyo is devastated; "[[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII it's just like after the war]]" according to Ikari. Two years later, Tokyo is fixed, but [[BookEnds the ending scene mirrors the beginning]], only this time with everyone actively taking personal accountability instead of blaming their circumstances on everything else. Meanwhile, Maniwa meanwhile has descended into madness due to becoming Radar Man, and has become the next Old Man.]]

** In a meta example, the anime had a late-night schedule for its original Japanese airing. Kon foresaw how a series like ''this'' would be overlooked for its non-action premise. To remedy that, he had the opening be ''incredibly'' weird to understand the first time people tuned in so they would stay and watch. (Similarly, the ending theme ended up being a soothing theme so people would go to sleep.)

* EverybodyLaughsEnding: More like Everybody Laughs ''Beginning'', as a rather chipper opening plays as characters are laughing [[SoundtrackDissonance in the most bizarre of places, some of which that go to hell very quickly]], [[spoiler:foreshadowing Tokyo's PerceptionFilter that would give birth to [[AnthropomorphicPersonification Lil' Slugger's]] EldritchAbomination form at the end of the series, and would destroy the city before a two year TimeSkip has Tokyo rebuilt.]]