Review Piece: Paprika (Secret Santa)

Here it is guys. This is my choice for the Secret Santa our friends at Reverse Thieves are running. But why did I choose a film like Paprika specifically to review? Check after the jump to find out.

Why Paprika?
If you recall back in August, Mr Satoshi Kon director of famous anime works such as Paranoia Agent or Perfect Blue unfortunetly passed away due to having pancreatic cancer. What made me feel bad about this is that even though the anime fanbase were crushed by this event, I too was sad but I never actually got to see any of his works. It wasn't until I decided to check out Paranoia Agent one week when I could clearly see how this man managed to inspire many people in the industry as well as having so many fans (some of which aren't even big anime fans). From that point on, I've decided to check out all of his works that he made. One of his most famous works is the one I'll be reviewing today. In case you are wondering, no part of this reminded me of One Piece in any way, what drew me into Paprika specifically was the art style but I'll get back to that one. For now, I should tell you (in case you haven't seen it already) what this film is about.

What is it about?

Paprika revolves around a certain device called the DC Mini which allows whoever is wearing it to explore peoples dreams. This was invented in the assistance of psychotherapy but in this case it is referred to as "dream therapy". Unfortunetly, this device is later used by someone who could only be described as a "dream terrorist" and tries to use its capabilities to take over both the dreams of everyone and possibly the very world itself. The only people who can stop this are the psychiatrists who attempted to use this technology for good in the first place as well as an anxiety ridden detective and our titular character whose real identity is unknown for a while, but in reality she is still a strong woman.

Who are our characters?

 
Like I said before our titular character is Paprika, a mysterious therapist but also quite cheerful. She only seems to pop up in the dreams of others. This is because Paprika is the alter ego of our real main protagonist Atsuka Chiba. Why does she only seems to treat people in their dreams under the guise of Paprika? I really do not want to spoil this film for you.

Our other main protagonist is Toshimi Konakawa, a detective who has some trouble dealing with his past in the form of a recurring dream. But the sources of his anxiety may go back even further than he realises. But with Paprika he's ready to solve not only his own personal problems but the problems that plague both the real world and the dream world.

Now believe me when I say theres more characters to talk about, but I don't really have too much to say about them. They are DEFIINITELY likable characters and intergerable to the plot, but as I said before I really don't want to risk spoiling this. It is that good. Here we come into the meat and potatoes of Paprika in my opinion, the audio and visuals.

How good does it look/sound?

Satoshi Kon managed to stun me with his art style and sound tastes in Paranoia Agent, it was perfect. He's definitely got this covered in Paprika also. If you've seen other dream themed films like Nightmare on Elm Street or Inception, you'll remember those films having surreal yet visually impressive styles. The difference in this case being that Paprika is a animated film it looks absoultely gorgeous. The guys at Madhouse have done it again.The audio also matches up perfectly with the visuals giving a distorted, subtle techno music (in fact, this was the first film ever to use a Vocaloid in the soundtrack). When I watched this film I watched the english dub and its a great dub. You've got your big name VAs like Yuri Lowenthall or Paul St. Peter as well as people who don't get as much recognition like Cindy Robinson. I haven't watched it in Japanese yet but seeing Megumi Hayashibara or Akio Otsuka means you're in for a great Japanese voice cast. Going back to the art style one more time, Satoshi Kons works seems IMPOSSIBLE to put in an art book in my opinion. This is a film where you need to watch the animation come together to piece this beautiful film. VERY well done (although the same could be said for any of Kon's works).

Overall

Paprika is one of the most surreal yet beautifully animated films I've ever seen. I can see why this film got so many awards and great critiques by so many people. I believe that this could be considered a gateway film for people not familiar with anime (particularly you artists and animators out there). But if you are an anime fan and have not seen this film...GET ON IT. It is soooooooo worth it. But if you have watched it before and just wanted to see my opinion of this, thank you for reading. Heck, thank you to ALL who read this. I'll be sure to check out more of Mr Kon's work in the future. May he rest in peace.

On that note, I wish to all of our readers a very Merry Christmas. But if you don't celebrate Christmas, then Happy Holidays. See you all later.