Interviewing the "novelist".

Episode 7 of Un-Go continues from the introduction of the “novelist” who writes stories in reality. The great detective, Shinjurou Yuuki, has been selected to play a part in his next story. As the detective, he must reveal the identity of the murderer, no matter how difficult the consequences. In the process, this episode picks up, and studies the major theme of this series from a fresh angle. We look once more at the relationship between Truth and lies, or we might say this episode studies how we humans create “truth” to satisfy our need for meaning.

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"What a damn fine world we live in."

Paranoia Agent is a Madhouse production TV series from 2004, and an important part of the artistic legacy of Satoshi Kon, who passed away at the age of 46, in 2010. Paranoia Agent is a 13 episode series that might be classified in the Police Procedural genre, as, on the surface, it concerns itself with a series of murders, the police investigating the crimes, the lives of the victims, and the effect of the crime spree on the population at large. As with several of Kon’s works, Paranoia Agent really is an exploration of the grey area that exists somewhere between reality and fiction. One can say that the real subject of the series are Lies, those we tell to others, and those we tell to ourselves.

This review is intended to be spoiler free, but for those wanting the bottom line: Paranoia Agent is well worth watching.

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