Paranoia Agent Volume 3 : Serial Psychosis

Image of DVD cover (50k jpg)

Released by: Madman Entertainment.
Region: Four.
Aspect Ratio: 16:9 (anamorphic)
Disc 1:

Taking a break from the central ensemble cast of characters this volume of Paranoia Agent we watch Little Sluggers' spread out into the community at large. First we deal with a group of people who agreed to a suicide pact together, having only met online when arranging this however meeting each other in person produces a variety of surprises that they find complicated to deal with and which naturally involves Little Slugger sooner or later.

Next we listen in as a group of bored housewives meet and exchange tall tales of the exploits of Little Slugger. Invariably the stories get bigger and grander as each housewife tries to outdo the story the previous one told. All of which expands the scope and scale of events that Little Slugger is linked to. Finally, in the closest return to the core cast we get for this volume, we watch the staff members of the animation studio trying to produce episodes of the 'Mellow Maromi' series. These were the people on the other side of Tsukiko's manager's frantic phone calls and they are under a considerable amount of stress thanks to Tsukiko's delays as well as various internal issues.

Naturally such a high stress location is a ripe breeding ground for precisely the kind of person Little Slugger likes to 'help'. Such creates further stress as members of the staff, one by one, begin to be picked off by the ever so helpful ministrations of the golden bat. In a dominoes effect the problem just gets worse and worse...

While these are clever and well told stories in their own right there is a distinct disappointment here in that these don't feature the character revealing twists that the first two volumes had. Indeed the plotting is a bit looser here compared to the earlier stories. It almost could be called filler material except for the fact that it does expand on how far and wide Little Slugger's reach has become.

On the technical side we have the same 2.0 audio, clear anamorphic transfer, strong dub and general lack of significant extras the previous volumes have all featured.


Philip R. Banks
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