Forum - View topicThe Dreams of Satoshi Kon: Chapter V - Beautiful Delusion
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Julia-the-Great
 Posts: 328 |
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This was the second Satoshi Kon work I ever saw, after Millennium Actress. I only knew the two were related because I had read about it in Anime Insider, and since I loved Millennium Actress, I knew I had to watch it when it was on Adult Swim.
Speaking of getting deals on used DVDs, anyone know a good place I can find this? I checked on Amazon, but the prices for singles (at least half of them) were way out of my price range (not to mention the box set is WAAAAAAY out of my price range), and I'm leery of buying anime DVDs on eBay because of bootlegs. Well, until I find them, I always have my VHS recordings off Adult Swim... Thanks for these articles! I've really been enjoying them, and they've spurred me on to order Tokyo Godfathers (which I've seen) and Paprika (which I haven't). |
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Gamescook
 Posts: 58 |
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I really hope that I don't sound like an ass for mentioning this, but it was actually Detective Ikari's wife that was surprisingly strong and level-headed, not Kawazu's. I'm not sure if the viewers even see Kawazu's wife, if he even has one given his nature.
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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Actually that was an editing mistake on my part and I have since fixed it. Thank you for pointing it out. It's been a long week! |
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Greed1914
 Posts: 4640 |
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This show was my first Kon experience. I don't know if I was ready considering it aired on adult swim, which typically doesn't go for shows like this. Perhaps the fact that the network stepped out of it's comfort zone with this show is a sign of Kon's skill?
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penguintruth
 Posts: 8502 Location: Penguinopolis |
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I thought I read somewhere that the theme song in the opening credits is purposely loud and lively because the show aired in the late night/early morning. Who knows if that's true or not, though?
I really liked this show, especially the episode where the two men and little girl try to kill themselves. |
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Charred Knight
 Posts: 3085 |
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It's true Kon wanted to make sure they where awake so he put a loud song as the opening.
Now this is the only Kon work I have seen till now, it was good, but frankly this type of show never really appealed to me, but considering that, I think the fact that I did like it showed what a great director he was by being able to appeal to more than just certain people. Paranoia Agent is probably the only mindscrew that makes sure that the story actually makes sense instead of taking the easy way out and using the mindscrew as an excuse to basically put anything on the screen like Anno did with Evangelion or Ikuhara and Utena. |
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GATSU
Posts: 15574 |
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You sure that wasn't just what they called it in the U.S.? 'Cus the literal translation I tend to get is "Delusion Deputy".
Yeah, they actually grated on me after a while. I'm glad the pay-off is in the second half, or I'd be hella frustrated about it not getting anywhere. |
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gartholamundi
 Posts: 316 Location: Gainesville, FL |
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EDIT: deleted.
Last edited by gartholamundi on Fri Sep 10, 2010 10:30 am; edited 1 time in total |
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gartholamundi
Posts: 316 Location: Gainesville, FL |
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Overall I really liked this show. I even bought it twice, once for myself and once for my brother.
But, man, that episode about video games. Total cringe. Good concept, but ... well, it's been a couple years since I watched it. Sad that one of my strongest memories of the series come from the episode I liked least. |
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ewsizemore
 Posts: 29 Location: Richmond, VA |
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Gatsu,
On the first disc, there is an interview with Kon. He explains the series title in that interview. I don't speak Japanese. The subtitles state that he chose 'paranoia' over 'delusion'. You would have to watch to interview to see what Japanese term is being used that is getting translated 'delusion'. |
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doctordoom85
 Posts: 2094 |
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Ironically, this was also my mother's favorite episode (only anime she's seen so far, but she has expressed interest in watching Gankutsuou, Code Geass, or Mushishi, so she may see another), despite me thinking when she first watched it, "this episode might be too much for her". Paranoia Agent is the only Kon anime I've seen so far, though I will get to his films eventually. I was lucky enough to get the Geneon boxset for a decent price at FYE a few years ago. |
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vashfanatic
 Posts: 3495 Location: Back stateside |
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Actually, he chose mousou over gensou, and like many words they have a fuzziness in terms of translation. "Mousou" means something like a wild idea, a grand delusion, and it includes paranoia, whereas "gensou" is more like fantasy or illusions. "Mousou" has a more sinister quality to it, as he explains in the interview, a sense of self-deception. As for dairinin, the word literally is "someone who does something in someone else's place." It could be translated agent, proxy (as it's translated in Ergo Proxy), representative, deputy, or substitute. But "Paranoia Agent" was the translation that the Japanese company chose (it's visible in the eyecatches... unless that was Geneon's addition?). Obviously a little something is lost in translation, but that always happens. In terms of purchasing this...good luck! I feel like such an idiot for not having gotten it 5 years ago when I first saw the series. At the time I (moron college student that I was) was pissed about translating "shounen bat" as the obnoxious phrase "li'l slugger"... only to learn much later that this was only in the English dub and in the subtitled version (the only one I watch) it's left as shounen bat. Stupid stupid stupid! Anyway, it turns out my local artsier video rental shop has the complete set, which is awesome for me, and I'm slowly working my way through it again. In the meanwhile, though, somebody rescue this!!! |
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ewsizemore
Posts: 29 Location: Richmond, VA |
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Vashfanatic,
Thanks for the terminology clarification. That help me understand the different better. |
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gartholamundi
Posts: 316 Location: Gainesville, FL |
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First, wow -- thanks for the look at the language breakdown that you detailed in your post. Awesome! But yea, it'd still be a great rescue ... for us fans. I hate to think of his work become a rarity item like "Royal Space Defense Force: Wings of Honneamise." Hopefully that's not inevitable. Like Carl Horn said in his letter to Erin Finnegan (Shelf Life, Aug 30, briefly noted in the column and expanded in the forum), a Kon film only made something like 1/100th (or less) of the money a Miyazaki film would regularly make. So, while there are a lot of international fans, it would take a publisher with serious grit to jump onto Kon's titles again. Last edited by gartholamundi on Fri Sep 10, 2010 10:30 am; edited 1 time in total |
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LordRedhand
 Posts: 1472 Location: Middle of Nowhere, Indiana |
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I didn't find lil slugger to be an "obnoxious" translation, I found it to be something equivalent to what Shonen Bat would be to a Japanese audience. A way of talking commonly used to describe a young baseball player (usually a boy) who has a measure of success. In the series itself that relatively positive and perhaps even innocent term is subverted in the series, and for a reason that the character and his philosophies are corrupt and that he can only be what others define him.. he started benign and innocent until the stories that Sagi and others told changed him. I feel that Shonen Bat would not have conveyed that if it was in English were Lil Slugger does.
So yes this series is worth getting, and I'm glad I got the complete set, as something like what Vashfanatic and others complain about shouldn't stop a great story from being told and supported. And to complain about something so trivial and easily explained makes it worse. Personally each episode in this series is a call to action, a call to change. But the one that stands out for me personally is Mellow Maromi I feel that every anime fan should see that one episode if they see any episodes from this series. But than each episode could have an essay written on them. |
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