History Literature / Paprika

** The tagline is an obvious one for the ''This Is Your Brain on Drugs'' PSAs by Partnership for a Drug-Free America.

* EmotionlessGirl: Chiba, at times.

*** [[spoiler:Her dream avatar provides several hints too. Paprika suspiciously looks like how a child of her and Tokita would look, her personality takes more after his than Chiba's own, and she drops everything she's doing in Konakawa's dream when he realizes Tokita entered the dream world. Also, why would a no-nonsense psychologist like her would name her avatar after ''food''?]]

The film also stars Katsunosuke Hori as Torataro Shima, Creator/KoichiYamadera as Morio Osanai and Creator/HideyukiTanaka as Guy.

TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, scientists have created a device called the "DC" that allows people to go into other people's dreams and record them. One of these people is the titular Paprika, a colorful and perky young dream therapist. She's the dream avatar of Chiba, one of the scientists involved in the creation of the DC. Things start to go wrong when prototypes of the DC-Mini, a portable version of the DC machine, go missing; the prototypes are missing a vital piece of programming which, basically, protects DC-Mini users' minds from being hacked.

Things get even ''more'' dangerous when it's discovered that the thieves are using the megalomaniac dream of an insane person as a WeaponOfMassDestruction. People who used the DC machines frequently in the past, such as Dr. Chiba, are at risk for being "infected" by the mad dream, and it's up to Chiba/Paprika, the DC's naive yet brilliant creator Tokita, and one stressed-out detective to save the day before reality gets invaded by the unstable DreamLand. The result is a beautiful, intelligent and often quite light-hearted film (though there are some heavy adult themes as well), with a very, ''very'' high JustForFun/HolyShitQuotient.

This movie is, more or less, a [[ReunionShow voice actor reunion]] for ''Anime/GhostInTheShell'' and/or ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', by the way. In particular, the title character is voiced by Music/MegumiHayashibara.

* CreepyDoll: If you thought large objects attacking buildings were not scary these days, you obviously haven't seen this film yet. [[spoiler:[[NightmareFuel That laughing...]]]]

* AuthorAvatar: Some have interpreted Konakawa, an original character created for the film, as an avathar of Satoshi Kon himself and his interests and doubts as a filmmaker. The character's own name (''Kon''akawa) even suggests it.

Things get even ''more'' dangerous when it's discovered that the thieves are using the megalomaniac dream of an insane person as a WeaponOfMassDestruction. People who used the DC machines frequently in the past, such as Dr. Chiba, are at risk for being "infected" by the mad dream, and it's up to Chiba/Paprika, the DC's naive yet brilliant creator Tokita, and one stressed-out detective to save the day before reality gets invaded by the unstable DreamLand. The result is a beautiful, intelligent and often quite light-hearted film (though there are some heavy adult themes as well), with a very, ''very'' high HolyShitQuotient.

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* AmusementParkOfDoom

* AuthorAvathar: Some have interpreted Konakawa, an original character created for the film, as an avathar of Satoshi Kon himself and his interests and doubts as a filmmaker. The character's own name (''Kon''akawa) even suggests it.

* BaldOfEvil: [[spoiler:The Chairman]].

* CoolOldGuy: Shima.

** DreamLand

** DreamWithinADream
** RecurringDreams:

* GeniusDitz: Tokita.
* GentleGiant: Tokita.

* PluckyGirl: Paprika.

* SchrodingersButterfly

* {{Tulpa}}: Paprika.
* TwitchyEye: Konakawa.

* {{Yandere}}: [[spoiler:Osanai]].

** Subverted by Tokita. Possibly the nicest person in the movie, who is also very overweight. Despite his morbid obesity, however, Tokita's appearance has baby-like innocence to it -- he's no {{Gonk}} by any means.

* DepravedHomosexual: [[spoiler:Possibly the Chairman, though his attachment to Osanai seems more a master/slave thing (puppeteering his body) than a sexual or romantic relationship. Also possibly Himuro, who seems to have fetishized Osanai -- we briefly see dirty magazines in his apartment with Osanai look-alikes on the cover, and his dreamscape features a towering statue of Osanai as a Greek god]].
** The gay angle is ''much'' more pronounced in the rather politically incorrect novel version. Kon, being a touch more liberal-minded, tried to emphasize the unhealthy nature of the characters' obsessional relationships while making the orientation incidental, though YMMV on how much it worked.

* GreenThumb: The Chairman. In his dream world, he takes on the attribute of a tree to fit his distaste of technology and obsession with controlling reality.

* HollywoodOld: Shima mentions he and Konakawa knew each other in college and hung out together, which is shocking considering they appear to be vastly different ages. As dates are not mentioned, we don't know if Shima is YoungerThanTheyLook or Konawa is OlderThanTheyLook, but it's undeniable that the doctor could pose convincingly as Konakawa's father.
** The dialogue states that they attended college together. That doesn't necessarily mean that they're the same age. Shima could have been an older/non-traditional college student.

* RescueRomance: Played straight at first when Paprika saves Konokawa during his repeating dream sequence. He starts to become attracted to her especially as she helps him work through his repressed regrets. [[spoiler:Then it's brutally parodied when he saves her from the Chairman and kisses her in their shared dream; her first instinct on waking up is smacking the nearest guy. Konokawa eventually accepts that Chiba loves someone else, though he's morose about it]].

* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:The Chairman, who believes that technology is violating the privacy of dreams. His response to this is a dream-based apocalypse]].

*** There are two: Konakawa AnxietyDreams and Himuro[[spoiler:Everyone's collective]] dream.

* {{Kuudere}}: Chiba, again. Her emphasis on self-control and remaining stoic makes her cold and aloof to others but she still maintains a great deal of care for others when things become serious and has an inner passionate side.

*** [[spoiler:Her dream avatar provides several hints too. Paprika suspiciously looks like how a child of her and Tokita would look, her personality takes more after his than Chiba's own, and she drops everything she's doing in Konakawa's dream when he realizes Tokita entered the dream wold. Also, why would a no-nonsense psychologist like her would name her avatar after ''food''?]]

* DepravedHomosexual: [[spoiler:Possibly the Chairman, though his attachment to Osanai seems more a master/slave thing than a sexual or romantic relationship. Also possibly Himuro, who seems to have fetishized Osanai -- we briefly see dirty magazines in his apartment with Osanai look-alikes on the cover, and his dreamscape features a towering statue of Osanai as a Greek god]].

* AuthorTract: Subtly. Watch carefully during the parade when [[spoiler: it merges with reality]]. Businessmen laughing as they jump off buildings? People transforming into religious symbols? Men with mobile phones for heads taking pictures up the skirts of a group of girls with phones for heads? (That last one in particular, seeing as Kon [[Anime/ParanoiaAgent had previously criticized pedophilia.]])

* BaldOfEvil: [[spoiler: The Chairman]].

* BodyHorror: What [[spoiler: Osanai]] does to [[spoiler: Paprika]].
* BondOneLiner: Konakawa [[spoiler: after shooting Osanai]] in the English dub, which makes the parody of cliched movie endings even more hilariously biting. "Lights out," indeed.

* EvilCripple: [[spoiler: The Chairman]].

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Loaded with it. Especially crucial in [[spoiler: making the revelation of Chiba's love for Tokita not seem out of the blue. She never goes through the typical tropes that would indicate she liked him that are common in anime such as the LuminescentBlush or [[SheIsNotMyGirlfriend He Is Not My Boyfriend]], but there are three crucial things that lead up to it: she seems a wee bit obsessed with him at times, her avatar looks like the way a child of her and Tokita would look, and her dismissing Osanai's suspicions of him. Also, see Chiba's reaction when Konakawa pays more attention to her than to Tokita when Tokita is talking enthusiastically about how he invented the DC Mini.]]
** A picture of Tokita's face being pasted onto a toy robot with the words "Help me!" beside it is shown in Himuro's apartment.

* HellIsThatNoise: The doll's laughter. [[spoiler: Which becomes a thousand times worse when the doll grows to gigantic size.]]

* HugeGuyTinyGirl: The portly large Tokita and slender Dr. Chiba.

* PrettyButterflies: A constant element of the parade. [[spoiler: They're really a manifestation of Osanai within the dream]].

* ScienceIsBad: The Chairman keeps saying this again and again. It's far from the message of the film, though; without science, we wouldn't be able to appreciate all the awesome and strange things in the universe, would we? [[spoiler: Also, the Chairman is lying his ass off or at least being hypocritical, 'cause he just wants to hoard all the dream-power to himself]].
* SexierAlterEgo / SuperpoweredAlterEgo: Paprika to Dr. Chiba.

** A creepy doll from ''{{Anime/Monster}}'' appears as part of the parade and talks a bit to Paprika; the same studio had done the manga's anime adaptation.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Overlapping with WhatTheHellHero and PoorCommunicationKills. Chiba gives a rather ''epic'' one to Tokita calling him out on his immaturity, recklessness, and only doing what he wants instead of what needs to be done. [[spoiler: This unfortunately leads Tokita to go into Himuro's dream to figure his motive for stealing the DC Mini. It doesn't go well]].
-->'''Chiba:''' You were so selfishly wrapped up in what you want to do that you ignore what needs to be done. You never coded the DC Mini. That was just irresponsible. It cost lives, don't you get it? Of course not. Not much gets through all that protective ''fat'', now does it? Here's what does: "What a scientist!" "He's so amazing!" It's like a really bad joke! What good is a scientist to mankind if he doesn't care about people, hmm? If you want to be the king of geeks with your bloated ego, then just keep on doing only what pleases you. Go ahead, indulge in your freakish masturbation, because that's what you're ''good'' at!

* UglyGuyHotWife: [[spoiler: Tokita and Chiba]].

* {{Yandere}}: [[spoiler: Osanai]].

* ObviouslyEvil:[[spoiler:The Chairman looks like someone who is up to no good.]]

* SexierAlterEgo/SuperpoweredAlterEgo: Paprika to Dr. Chiba.

* [[FirstGirlWins First Guy Wins]]: [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] -- [[spoiler:Konakawa is the first male that Paprika, Chiba's avatar, is seen interacting with, but it's ''Tokita'' who we first see her interact with as her real self. That's probably pretty meaningful]].

* WhamShot: Overlapping with WhamLine; Chiba, Shima, and the Chairman are having a rather heated and serious discussion concerning the dream therapy machines having fallen into the wrong hands, the potential ramifications thereof, and in whom to assign blame. Shima's musings on the situation rapidly give way to [[TalkativeLoon incomprehensible gibberish]], shortly before he throws himself out a window, running full speed. This is how we learn that whomever has the DC Mini can use it not only to invade a person's dreams, but can "infect" those dreams with nightmares of insanity, and the victim doesn't even have to be using a DC Mini themselves at the time.

* {{Leitmotif}}: "Nigeru Mono", which first plays during the opening credits, acts as Paprika's theme and [[ThemeMusicPowerUp signals her appearance]].