LogFAQs > #910406570

Spoilers below for Paranoia Agent:

What I find especially poignant is how Ikari himself recognizes that the world is fake multiple times especially as he starts seeing Tsukiko as the daughter hed always wanted but he keeps going with it anyway. Thats where the fear comes from. Ikari is the closest thing this show has to a protagonist, and hes certainly among the most clever, but hes ready to break. Thanks to Satoshi Kons magnificent writing and direction, we wouldnt even blame him for giving in the the illusion entirely.

Yet Ikaris bond with his wife was so strong that she was able to transcend dimensions, transcend illness, transcend death itself for long enough to snap him out of it as her final act to the man she loved so much. I cried for like 5 minutes straight the first time I saw that, and I still get misty whenever I see it again. The Cardboard World wasnt Ikaris actual world. His wife was.

PAs saviors pay a price for their victory. Ikari has lost the job that defined him and the woman that was everything to him. Maniwas mind snaps under the pressure of comprehending how fiction and delusion translate into reality the very knowledge that let him figure out Shonen Bat in the first place. The world post-disaster still doesnt seem to have learned much from the potential cataclysm. But theres still life, and where theres life, theres hope.

Thats why I cant ever see another anime topping PA in my mind.
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E come vivo? Vivo!