(L) Moso Dairinin (Paranoia agent)

[Ballz]

Given the screenwriter also did Boogiepop Phantom, a surprise twist like that wouldn't be all that erm... surprising.

[Ballz]

Originally Posted by hunterx

I like it, finally an adult show to watch. I think the pattern is obvious after eps3. I'm not sure if shonen bat even exists, wouldn't he have to know exactly what is going on with these people?

Yeah, but I don't see a link between the second and the third victims (the sleezy reporter and the fatty). Unless that hasn't been revealed yet, which is perfectly possible.

I love the speculation. Something physical is definitely happening, or else we wouldn't be having people hospitalized in critical condition. Who or what the cause is... I dunno, after seeing episode 3, I think I'll rule out the "obvious" suspect I mentioned earlier as being the culprit. If you've seen Boogiepop Phantom, I'm starting to think his role will be a bit more tragic, much like Manaka's was (Boogiepop's "butterfly girl").

Anyone ever read Jhonen Vasquez's "Johnny the Homicidal Maniac"? I swear, Sagi's plushie is gonna turn out like those dolls did. Watch out, Sagi-chan!

[aroq]

Originally Posted by Ballz

Yeah, but I don't see a link between the second and the third victims (the sleezy reporter and the fatty). Unless that hasn't been revealed yet, which is perfectly possible.

Yeah the fatty seems to be a bit of an anomaly. Hmm. Also there was some pretty strong implication in the 3rd episode that Shounen Bat is actually helping or "liberating" the people he's attacking. Of course fatty didn't look much better off, unless Shounen Bat believes in some sort of perverse social Darwinism lol.

God the beginning was morbidly hilarious. That fat bastard living out his squalid fantasies. Can someone more knowledgeable than me say who those little women dolls he had where? I thought I saw sailor moon among them lol but it was probably my twisted imagination.

Anyway, what a great show. Best I've seen. Literally beats the pants off everything on tv in America.

[Ballz]

Wasn't he yelling out a Puni Puni Poemi reference or something? >_<

Some episode 2 spoilerish info:

Spoiler:

Back to the fatty, it may've been done more in conjunction with Icchi. To help him fully realize his desperation, he smacked the fatty simply to set him up. Orrr... we only saw half the story with that episode. It wouldn't surprise me if a future episode goes back to set up the fatty's story. We might also learn his connection to the sleezy reporter (if there is one), and maybe even the identity of the anonymous photographer who set up Icchi. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if the fatty was all that involved in Icchi's defamation. He just took advantage of the situation, but wasn't the ringleader.

[aroq]

Originally Posted by Ballz

Wasn't he yelling out a Puni Puni Poemi reference or something? >_<

Some episode 2 spoilerish info:

Spoiler:

Back to the fatty, it may've been done more in conjunction with Icchi. To help him fully realize his desperation, he smacked the fatty simply to set him up. Orrr... we only saw half the story with that episode. It wouldn't surprise me if a future episode goes back to set up the fatty's story. We might also learn his connection to the sleezy reporter (if there is one), and maybe even the identity of the anonymous photographer who set up Icchi. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if the fatty was all that involved in Icchi's defamation. He just took advantage of the situation, but wasn't the ringleader.

Hmm, yes I was wondering about a couple of those things:

Spoiler:

It could have just been to help Icchi, that was my initial thought. But it seems rather severe lol. Although of course whoever or whatever Batboy is, he probably isn't too concerned with innocent bystanders. Hmm I hope they do touch on it in future episodes, that would be interesting. Yes I forgot about the photographer setting up Icchi hmm, that would seem to suggest that they might elaborate on that in future. I totally agree the Fatty wasn't involved in Icchi's defamation. It just seemed like Icchi's paranoia to blame him, no?

Lol all these questions reminds me of watching "Twin Peaks" when I was younger, and there was even the cherry stem trick in the first episode lol. Not that any of this is remotely relevant.

[Go-lytely]

[QUOTE=Ballz]Wasn't he yelling out a Puni Puni Poemi reference or something? >_<

Nah, puni puni is one of those Japanese nonsense words for something soft and squishy (and very hugable).

[takuan]

Well, since people are posting theories, here's mine. I've seen up to ep 2.

Spoiler:

I don't think Shounen Bat is helping or liberating his victims. He seems to appear/strike when a person is mentally agitated. In the first two incidents, he acts on the doll designer's agitation. First on her stress at having to come up with an even more popular doll, and then on the nosy reporter who was bothering her. In the third incident he (shounen bat) seems to latch onto Ichi's hatred/paranioa towards the other kid. He appears to take out the other kid right as Ichi was wishing for exactly that. Except it doesn't quite work out the way he wants. I'm thinking that Shounen Bat might be the physical manifestation of various people's negative mental enegy or something? Perhaps the old man is mentaly challenged and therefore able to pick up what Shounen Bat is up to? Yeah, grasping at straws here, I know. :P

At any rate, I'll be interested to see more of this. I hope this is/or gets licensed if it isn't already. If the rest of the series is as good as the first two eps, I'll be sure to want a sparkly new copy of my own.

[hunterx]

Originally Posted by Ballz

Yeah, but I don't see a link between the second and the third victims (the sleezy reporter and the fatty). Unless that hasn't been revealed yet, which is perfectly possible.(

Spoiler:

how about this? the investigator was on to something, he did have quite a bit of contact with the first victim. The fatty's role in Ichi's story was also significant. Remember Ichi wanted the fatty to get whacked, and the first victim probably also wanted the nosy reporter to get whacked so he would leave her alone. It seems all the primary victims (we will see about the 3rd one) can summon shonen bat boy to take care of anyone they want to dispose of, including themselves. That's my theory so far anyways.

[Ballz]

Oh, and I forgot to ask earlier, but in episode 3...

Spoiler:

Dude, wtf was with the clown makeup at the very end?! Are they just purposely trying to creep the audience out?!

[aroq]

Originally Posted by Ballz

Oh, and I forgot to ask earlier, but in episode 3...

Spoiler:

Dude, wtf was with the clown makeup at the very end?! Are they just purposely trying to creep the audience out?!

Lol. I would say the answer is YES. And it worked.

[wao]

Oh... oh my god. This series is going to be one of my favourites. It seems so uncomfortable and weird and I LOVE it. Beautiful animation, interesting soundtrack, great acting, great directing and scriptwriting - there is a LOT of great allusion featured in this anime...


(spoilers up til ep 3)

For example, right after the scene where Harumi gets attacked by Shounen Bat, it says "All messages have been deleted" - a wonderful way to connect to the whole rest of the episode with the messages motif, and also to signify that all of her schizophrenic life has finally been taken care of. I was VERY drawn into this episode - not just because of the detailed animation and voice acting, but the situation itself...

And that clown face thing - it totally freaked me out. O_O But I think it's signifying how Harumi, all her life, has been wearing a mask over her face, just like a clown... how she's always tried to be happy and not been as she is. Is it a good thing Shounen Bat hit her? Noone knows...

And I wonder what about that butterfly the old jii-san was drawing on the floor (O_o; ) - during the short break mid-episode (you know where they say Paranoia Agent and then it's supposed to be the ad break), they were showing butterflies weren't they?...

And I think SHounen Bat hit Icchi later because Icchi almost certainly would have been put to VERY big shame and dishonour because he happened to be with Usshi when Shounen Bat was hit. Everybody knows Icchi dislikes Usshi - and with him being attacked, it confirms their suspicion. I think Icchi would have desparately want to be attacked too, so that he is cleared of any blame. And he was! He said he was happy about that...

The problem is though, what if Shounen Bat starts... killing people?

Ah, and now we've had two cases of otaku-appearance in the anime. w00t.

And takuan, if you noticed the forum in which this post is in... DVD & Licensed - you'd notice it's already been licensed. It's pre-licensed by Geneon USA. Please please please let's hope they'll release it soon - if they pre-licensed it they must be putting their money on it that it'd sell well outside of Japan. (I'll definitely be buying it!)

[Ballz]

I was thinking that each character is being represented by an animal that the old man was drawing... mainly because he also had drawn a frog. I'd have to go over it more carefully to see if he drew anything else besides a frog, butterfly and bird.

episode 3 spoiler:

Spoiler:

I was thinking the butterfly and "bird" he drew both represented the two sides of Harumi. The cute innocent Harumi was the butterfly, and the black, menacing crow was Maria.

[The Faction's Lord]

Well the crow definitely has some significance as whenever Harumi saw one she thought about Maria, however the connection between Maria and the crow is uncertain.
Also, it seems that Shounen Bat wants the best and the worst for everyone, the best is the sense of relief he gave some of the people, the worst is things like the photo's of Icchi bullying and attacking the two people who wouldn't have reason to feel relieved.

[Ballz]

Originally Posted by The Faction's Lord

the worst is things like the photo's of Icchi bullying and

What makes you think Shounen Bat took that picture?

attacking the two people who wouldn't have reason to feel relieved.

That remains to be seen. In episode 3, one of the cops remarked that all of the victims seemed to be rather at peace with themselves, especially given the trauma they underwent.

[SwiftStar]

I have a question. I just watched ep 3 and maybe I missed it, but I didnt see any clear indication of which side of her personality survived.
Very disturbing episode. Very good series.

[hunterx]

Originally Posted by SwiftStar

I have a question. I just watched ep 3 and maybe I missed it, but I didnt see any clear indication of which side of her personality survived.
Very disturbing episode. Very good series.

they didn't really say it but there were good and strong indications her slutty side disappeared

[Keitaro]

Originally Posted by SwiftStar

I have a question. I just watched ep 3 and maybe I missed it, but I didnt see any clear indication of which side of her personality survived.
Very disturbing episode. Very good series.

Well obviously her normal side survived. Every victim of the bat boy has miraculously been cured of their problems they had before there incident. Good show so far reminds me of 100 stories a lot.

[wao]

Originally Posted by Keitaro

Well obviously her normal side survived. Every victim of the bat boy has miraculously been cured of their problems they had before there incident. Good show so far reminds me of 100 stories a lot.

But what about the stupid reporter and Usshi?

[Keitaro]

Originally Posted by wao

But what about the stupid reporter and Usshi?

Oh yeah them. Well maybe in the next episode will learn what has become of them. I would think they would be same as the other bat boy victims.

[Quarkboy]

My theory:

After rewatching the first episode, look carefully at the second attack scene, when they show shonen bat standing in front of Tsuki-chan, muromi-chan (the plushy) is positioned in shonen bat's shadow so that it looks like shonen bat's face.

That's why I think Tsuki actually created shonen bat, like she created muromi, except shonen bat is running amuk. Perhaps she has some special power...