Final Episode

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Final Episode is the last episode in the Paranoia Agent series.

[edit] Prophetic Vision

[edit] Part A

"To begin, the black shadow finally appears, swallowing up the calmer of the people. The cries coming from the source of purgatory fill with bright red blood. Are they for the eternal goodbye, or the first cries of the newly born shoes of gold? The last episode of a dream, an illusion, a bubble in a shadow, period."

[edit] Part B

"To begin, the story that seems to have ended spins back to the place where it began. Following each stepping stone and connecting the dots, you find the eternal castle of recurring dreams. No mystery remains unsolved forever...and no answer is without mystery. Well then, we bid you farewell."

The Sage writes down a large equation, which may or may not lead to discovering the retelling of the series of events, repetitively, almost like The Big O by Bandai.

[edit] Plot

A dark formless flow that Maniwa identifies as Lil' Slugger starts to overrun Tokyo as a result of Maromi's disappearance. Meanwhile in Ikari's world, Ikari comfortably hangs about his world with Tsukiko tagging along. With the help of the old man, Misae appears and says goodbye to Keiichi as she fades away. Ikari realizes that the world he is in isn't real and tears it apart (with a bat ironically) as the building blocks of the false world turn out to be Maromi dolls. Back in their dilapidated world, Lil' Slugger appears as Maniwa appears with a weapon that can destroy Lil' Slugger... or not. Like much of Satoshi Kon's work, the ending to Paranoia Agent is ambiguous. At the end Tsukiko was not attacked in the first episode, but had actually hurt herself in order to stage a phony attack to buy her time and sympathy. This lie ended up growing into mass proportions, and her anxieties and trauma came to life in the forms of Maromi and Li'l Slugger.

As Maniwa finds out near the end from Tsukiko's father, all of this started because as a young girl, Tsukiko had a real dog named Maromi. In a moment of brief neglect, possibly due to menstrual cramps, Tsukiko witnessed Maromi being run over by a car. She was so traumatized by this, that in her head she came up with the Li'l Slugger as a mental scapegoat to take the blame so she wouldn't have to deal with the pain. This had become a repressed memory in Tsukiko's mind. Tsukiko's father who felt great guilt over having raised her so strictly and harshly, actually played along with the Li'l Slugger lie despite knowing the truth, and told the police and the media that Tsukiko was attacked by a boy with a bat.

How Maromi and Li'l Slugger came to be alive is completely unknown. Regardless however, Maromi overprotects Tsukiko from bad memories and thus pressures her into setting in motion the events of the series. Although she does it for Tsukiko's sake, she is inadvertently being counterproductive to Tsukiko. Li'l Slugger, on the other hand, seems to be a malevolent being that is fueled by paranoia, fear, and rumors. He is a temporary escape for people to escape their trauma and stress. However, he is a shallow solution, as Misae and Keiichi prove to Tsukiko. When Li'l Slugger becomes a mysterious and destructive blob which overruns Tokyo and all of its inhabitants (including most of the cast), Tsukiko confronts her worst memory and instead of succumbing to the temptation of Li'l Slugger, faces reality and apologizes to Maromi for having failed to protect him. When she finally does this, the blob, Maromi, and everything disappears leaving a ruined Tokyo.

In the end, two years later, Tokyo is nearly rebuilt, and we find Tsukiko sporting a new haircut and wearing a school uniform. It is hinted that she has finally begun to live her life again by starting from scratch. The fate of the rest of the cast is left up to interpretation; however, it is hinted that some of them have ended up on better ground. There are also hints that the events that transpired will repeat themselves. The anime ends almost exactly as it began, with sounds of the people with cellphones on the train making excuses and complaining in all overall negative attitude. A billboard displays a new cute cat-like character-- a new emotional crutch to take Maromi's place.

As for Maniwa... he has mysteriously taken the place of the deceased Old Man, writing formulas on the ground. His hair is now prematurely white, and suddenly he freezes, gasps, and - exactly as the old man did in the first episode - looks up from his work on the pavement at something unseen just ahead of him in horror.

The series ends.

One of the show's many mysterious images. Maromi and the show's cast forming a question mark.

[edit] Maromi Explanation

Maromi is theorized as a conscience to Tsukiko. In episode 2, right before Tsukiko is starting to think that she was wrong about her lie, Maromi tells her to stop thinking about it. It seems like Maromi is a manifestation of the part of Tsukiko's mind that used Lil Slugger as an escape mechanism towards her problems. This gives support to the theory that Maromi and Lil Slugger are one and the same. The fact that Maromi protects Tsukiko in episode 13, can be theorized that Tsukiko finally was able to overpower Lil Slugger and face the consequences of her lies. This theory can also be supported by the fact that nobody else saw Maromi alive except Tsukiko until the very end.

[edit] Lil Slugger Explanation

Lil Slugger is basically a scapegoat. When someone is under intense stress such as trouble at their home or at work, they are backed into a corner with nowhere to go. From this emotional corner people have two choices. They can either call upon Lil Slugger to help them escape their problems or face their problems head on with strength and courage. Lil Slugger is an escape for people who are not brave enough to face their problems and accept reality for what it is. So, in conclusion, he hits those who refuse to face their problems with his trademark golden bat.

[edit] Notes

-Episode Title Appearance: When everything is running amuck, Lil' Slugger (as a blob) knocks over several large signs, which fall together and make the kanji for "The Final Episode", as a tire rolls in to make a maru, or Japanese period.