Paranoia Agent

Paranoia Agent is a Japanese psychological thriller anime series created by director Satoshi Kon and produced by Madhouse. Music for the series was composed by Susumu Hirasawa.^[3] The series premiered in Japan on WOWOW from February 2, 2004 to May 18, 2004.

Paranoia Agent was previously licensed in North America by Geneon Entertainment who produced an English dub. In February of 2020, Funimation acquired the exclusive streaming and home video rights for the series.^[3] The English dub aired on Adult Swim's Toonami block from April 25, 2020 to July 25, 2020.^[1]^[2]

Plot[]

Citizens across Musashino, Tokyo are being attacked and terrorized by a juvenile serial assailant nicknamed "Lil' Slugger". None of the victims can recall the boy's face and only three distinct details are left in their memories: golden inline skates, a baseball cap, and the weapon: a bent golden baseball bat. Two detectives are put on the case, but will they be able to solve the mystery before there's another wave of victims? The plot relays between a large cast of people affected in some way by the attacks; usually Lil' Slugger's victims or the detectives assigned to apprehend him. As each character becomes the focus of the story, details are revealed about their secret lives and the truth about Lil' Slugger.

Characters[]

Lil' Slugger — The enigmatic figure the series revolves around. He appears as a grinning, baseball cap-wearing juvenile who travels on golden inline skates and attacks people with a gold-colored metal baseball bat that is curiously bent.

Tsukiko Sagi — One of the central characters of the series, she is a famous, but timid, character designer best known for a cartoonish dog named Maromi. She carries a plush toy copy of Maromi everywhere. She is Lil' Slugger's first apparent victim in the series, and the catalyst who jump-starts the plot.

Maromi — Maromi is a popular Sanrio-esque mascot created by Tsukiko. A pink dog with big black eyes and droopy ears, Maromi is a parody of real life iyashi kyara (relaxing characters), such as tarepanda and rilakkuma. In Tsukiko's presence (usually when she is alone), Tsukiko's plush Maromi toy walks, rolls its eyes, and talks to her.

Detective Keiichi Ikari — One of two police detectives assigned to investigate the attacks by the Lil' Slugger. He is extremely old fashioned and yearns for the simpler, less hurried times; he is often chastised for this by his young and idealistic partner Mitsuhiro Maniwa.

Detective Mitsuhiro Maniwa — One of two police detectives assigned to investigate the attacks by the Lil' Slugger. Young, idealistic, and a flexible thinker, Maniwa is the perfect complement as well as foil to the more rustic Keiichi Ikari. He is open-minded and unconventional in his methods.

Voice Cast[]

Character	English Voice Actor	Japanese Voice Actor
Lil' Slugger	Jaime Gallardo	Daisuke Sakaguchi
Tsukiko Sagi	Michelle Ruff	Mamiko Noto
Maromi	Carrie Savage	Haruko Momoi
Keiichi Ikari	Michael McConnohie	Shōzō Iizuka
Mitsuhiro Maniwa	William Markham	Toshihiko Seki
Akio Kawazu	Doug Stone	Kenji Utsumi
Old Man	William Frederick	Ryūji Saikachi
Old Woman	J.E.	Hisako Kyōda
Hatomura Shinsuke	Sam Riegel	Kiyonobu Suzuki
Masashi Kamei	Jonathan C. Osborne	Akio Suyama
Old Man's Son	Sam Riegel	Hiroshi Yanaka
Misae Ikari	Melodee Spevack	Kazue Komiya
Yuichi Taira	Johnny Yong Bosch	Mayumi Yamaguchi
Shogo Ushiyama	Steven Bendik	Makoto Tsumura
Harumi Chono	Erica Shaffer	Kotono Mitsuishi
Masami Hirukawa	Deem Bristow	Toshihiko Nakajima
Makoto Kozuka	Jaime Gallardo	Daisuke Sakaguchi
Taeko Hirukawa	Kari Wahlgren	Nana Mizuki
Kamome	Stephanie Sheh	Miina Tominaga
Fuyubachi	Doug Stone	Kiyoshi Kawakubo
Zebra	Patrick Seitz	Yasunori Matsumoto

Gallery[]

Paranoia Agent - Toonami Promo

Paranoia Agent Episode 2 - Toonami Promo

Paranoia Agent Episode 3 - Toonami Promo

Paranoia Agent Episode 4 - Toonami Promo

Paranoia Agent Episode 5 - Toonami Promo

Paranoia Agent Episode 6 - Toonami Promo

Paranoia Agent Episode 7 - Toonami Promo

Paranoia Agent Episode 8 - Toonami Promo

Paranoia Agent Episode 9 - Toonami Promo

Paranoia Agent Episode 10 - Toonami Promo

Paranoia Agent Episode 11 - Toonami Promo

Paranoia Agent Episode 12 - Toonami Promo

Paranoia Agent Episode 13 - Toonami Promo

Paranoia Agent - Toonami Bumpers (4-25-20)

Paranoia Agent Happy Family Planning - Toonami Disclaimer Bumps

Episodes[]

Color	Season	Episodes	Toonami Premiere	Toonami Finale
	1	13	April 25, 2020	July 25, 2020

Geneon previously licensed Paranoia Agent in North America and released the series on four DVDs between October 26, 2004 and May 10, 2005. On February 3, 2020, Funimation announced that it had licensed the series for its streaming platform with plans for a Blu-ray release later in the year.^[3]

Broadcast History[]

The series premiered in Japan on WOWOW between February 2, 2004 and May 18, 2004. In the United States, the English-dubbed version began airing on Adult Swim's Adult Swim Action programming block on May 28, 2005, with reruns airing until 2007.^[4] The series returned to Adult Swim on its Toonami programming block on April 25, 2020.^[1] In Canada, the series aired on G4TechTV's Anime Current programming block from July 27, 2007 to October 19, 2007.^[5]

Japan (WOWOW) — February 2, 2004 - May 18, 2004
United States (Adult Swim) — May 28, 2005^[4] - February 3, 2007; April 25, 2020^[1] - July 25, 2020^[2]
Canada (G4TechTV) — July 27, 2007^[5] - October 19, 2007

Toonami Broadcast History[]

The series began airing on Adult Swim's Toonami block on April 25, 2020 at 1:00 AM, replacing Food Wars!.^[1] On May 9, 2020, the series moved to the 12:30 AM time slot.^[6] On June 13, 2020, disclaimers were aired along with episode 8, "Happy Family Planning", due to the depiction of suicide in the episode. These disclaimers included information on how to contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and the Crisis Text Line. The series completed its Toonami run on July 25, 2020 and was replaced in the lineup by JoJo's Bizarre Adventure the following week.^[2]