Paranoia Agent: Difference between revisions

* [[Art Shift]]: Usually a sign that things just got [[Mind Screw|weird]].

* [[Bait and Switch Credits]]

* [[Blame Game]]: The entire anime boils down to Sagi {{spoiler|blaming an imaginary villain for an accident that she was responsibe for}}. However, [[Post Modernism|as if reflecting back on the core issue]], Sagi's co-workers also place the blame on her repeatedly for whatever goes wrong, continuously talking about her behind her back. Ironically, although this comes from their own dissatisfaction, jealousy and ineptitude, because Sagi is constantly trying to avoid feeling guilty about the one thing that she can be blamed for, {{spoiler|the death of her pet dog}}, she is [[Never My Fault|unable to confront any kind of blame whatsoever]], using Maromi is a shield.

* [[Book Ends]]: {{spoiler|The last scenes mirror the very first almost perfectly.}}

* [[Dirty Cop]]: {{spoiler|Masami Hirukawa looks like an honest cop, but in fact he takes bribes from the Yakuza to cover up a prostitution ring.}}

** {{spoiler|He is also [[Incest Is Relative|dirty]] [[Lolicon|in other]] [[Squick|ways]].}}

* [[Disproportionate Retribution]]: {{spoiler|The entire city of Tokyo is swallowed up by a giant black blob because Tsukiko lied about how her dog died when she was in sixth grade.}}

* [[Doppelganger]]: {{spoiler|Makoto Kozuka and Lil' Slugger.}}

* [[Ear Worm]]: The OP is tremendously catchy, despite being very ''weird''.

* [[The Ending Changes Everything]]

** At this point, [[Satoshi Kon|Satoshi Kon's]] name might as well be synonymous with [[Mind Screw]].

* [[Moving the Goalposts]]: In "A Man's Path," the [[Yakuza]] boss keeps raising the amount of money the corrupt cop owes him so he'll be forever in his debt.

* [[Noblewoman's Laugh]]: "Princess Flyer" in Makoto's story.

* [[Nostalgia Ain't Like It Used to Be]]: Ikari's [[Lotus Eater Machine]] is powered by this trope; [[Averted Trope|rejecting it]] is how he eventually breaks out.

* [[Sanity Slippage]]: Most of the cast suffers it over an episode. Three suffer it over the series. One does not ever lose it. Two recover from it. Everyone is smiling by the end. {{spoiler|Unless they died already. Except in "Happy Family Planning," where all three died and were singing happily in the end.}}

* [[Shadow Archetype]]

** Ikari's younger self also looks identical to young Genya in [[Millennium Actress]] both of whom are played by Shozo Iizuka so it could double as an an [[Actor Allusion]]

** Radar Man hitches a ride on "Speedy Bat" delivery truck in a nod to [[Batman]] also a play on words since you know...Shonen Bat.

* [[Surreal Horror]]

* [[Superhero]]: "Radar Man". Although, how much of his "powers" are made up and how much is actually happening is, [[Mind Screw|as always]], up for debate...

* [[Theme Naming]]: Nearly all the major characters have animal names - Sagi (heron), Ikari (boar), Maniwa (horse, also his internet handle), Ushiyama (cow), Chouno (butterfly), Hirukawa (frog), the [[Otaku]] Kamei (turtle), the internet handles of Zebra, Fuyubachi (Winter Wasp) and Kamome (Seagull) in "Happy Family Planning", and so on. Note that some of them have character-related double meanings, as well - written with a different kanji, Tsukiko's last name, Sagi, means "fraud".

* [[There Are No Therapists]]: Partially subverted in that Harumi Chono is seen talking to one (all those ''other'' loony characters, on the other hand....) He doesn't seem to help much at all though, so rather than [[There Are No Therapists]] one could say All Therapists Are Useless....

* [[This Loser Is You]]: The unnamed otaku. {{spoiler|Even his figurines don't give him any respect.}}

* [[Together Umbrella]]: One is seen drawn on a door in a school, in Ikari's dream world.

* [[Tomato Surprise]]

* [[Trick Twist]]