Mellow Maromi
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| Paranoia Agent | |
|---|---|
| "Mellow Maromi" | |
| Previous episode | "ETC" |
| Next episode | "Entry Forbidden" |
Mellow Maromi is the tenth episode of the 2004 animated series Paranoia Agent.
Contents |
[edit] Prophetic Vision
"To begin... by the twist of the passage of time, the King of Azuchi takes the command. And a monkey entertains a fox. Healing patches the pieces of a dream. Flames break out left and right. A falcon runs and runs, holding it in his arms. Who's plotting the Honnoji incident? And then..."
[edit] Plot
Maromi, the famous Japanese character created by Tsukiko Sagi (as we learn in the first episode of Paranoia Agent) is getting his very own anime! However, the staff begin to fall behind as the deadline approached as they get rough with Saruta Naoyki, the Production Manager. Things get even worse as each member of the staff is unable to work on the anime because they mysteriously end up in the hospital (or the morgue). The staff begins to get knocked out one by one until Saruta is the only one left. But he soon falls victim too.
[edit] In-Depth Summary
This episode is about the stressful production environment of an animated tv show featuring Maromi. We meet each of the people that work on the title, what they do, and how well they handle their stressful jobs. Most of the scenes are a flashback from Saruta's last few days. He's presently driving through heavy rain to get the first Maromi episode to the tv station on time, yet he keeps dozing off. (Entire episode summary was written by Animetique.com.)
The animation starts with a kid walking sadly by a toy store, where Maromi pops its head out from under a pile of other plushies and follows him to a baseball field. He's depressed because he's no good at baseball. As Maromi talks with the boy, he drops his bat and it rolls into the river. He should take a rest for awhile. Cut!
Saruta is the Production Manager who keeps the job on schedule. Unfortunately, he also gets a lot of heat. Today, there's something wrong with the sound - which Sound Producer Akihiro Takamine berates him for - so they can't dub the episode like this. And they only have two weeks until deadline.
Producer, Yoshiro Hiranuma, steps in. He's the highest on the totem pole and brought in to designate salaries and deal with complicated issues. Today's problem is that the director quit and it's virtually impossible to bring in a new director on such short notice.
Present: Driving in heavy rain, Saruta is on the verge of falling asleep when he receives a call from the tv station. Where is he? It's already 7 - the show is scheduled to start in 30 minutes.
Flashback: Shonen bat has taken out the writer, who is now paralyzed and lying in the hospital (most likely the husband from ETC). After some office banter about whether he'll be able to finish his job, they move on. Shinichiro Tatsuta is the Director of Photography. Tatsuta takes the single pictures and puts them together to complete the production phase. He's usually under a compressed deadline. Cut to Production Manager, Nobunaga Oda, who sets the overall schedule and tries to keep everything on track. He gives Saruta the main beating.
As everyone is frantically trying to get this episode completed, Hatomura from M&F walks in and hands them all stuffed Maromi pillows as a token of appreciation.
Present: Saruta is awakened by a honking truck. The clock reads 7:10, so he smacks himself several times to keep awake.
Flashback: Saruta wakes up to find Episode Director, Yoshihiro Wanibuchi, extremely pissed. He looks down to find that he accidentally unplugged his co-worker's computer. As Wanibuchi is about beat up Saruta, Oda lets them know that Hiranuma was the latest Shonen Bat victim.
Saruta relieves some of his frustration at being everyone's lackey by pounding a few boxes in the storage room. Unfortunately, he hits the power switch.
Present: Saruta turns on the radio where everyone's talking about Shonen Bat. Paranoid, he looks in the rear view mirror to see him skating behind the car. Frantically, he flips the radio off and double checks his mirrors - nothing... 7:15.
Dream: He arrives late at NBN where the station managers berate him. They can't show this now. They've already started the replacement episode. He looks down to see himself being a character sketch and awakens - 7:16.
Flashback: Wanibuchi's attack will hurt production. Now what will they do? Enter Satoko Kayama, the Color Coordinator who decides which colors to use, steps in and asks for the production cuts. She doesn't have time to wait for Hitomi Kanie, the Animation Director to finish with them. Saruta admits the Animation Director - the person responsible for making sure all drawings done by different animators are in the same style - took them home, so Oda screams at him to stop slacking and go pick them up.
Saruta arrives at her home and grabs the sketches. He doesn't even notice that Kanie is Shonen Bat's latest victim, lying dead in a pool of her own blood.
Present: The memory excites Saruta and he curses Oda - anyone would have thought she was sleeping. 7:20 and Shonen Bat's on his tail. Saruta speeds up trying to avoid him.
Flashback: Takenori Kumakura, the Director of Art, is responsible for backgrounds. Saruta reaches towards his masterpiece, and Kumakura warns him not to get it wet. Saruta takes the background and folds it, to Kumakura's horror, once again invoking the wrath of Oda, who pleads with him to quit or to just die.
Present: 7:22 and Shonen Bat is skating beside the car. The radio is playing the Paranoia Agent theme song. He looks up. 7:25. Saruta really begins to panic
Flashback: Saruta breaks it to the Color Coordinator that they need all work done by today or they'll miss the deadline. She flips out - no one can make such a tight deadline - and calls Oda over. He again yells at Saruta.
Present: The car slams against the wall on the left side of the road as Shonen Bat swings wildly. Saruta barely dodges.
Shonen bat catches up. radio turns on 7:22. He drives faster. Theme song playing. Shonen bat is now beside him. 7:25.
Flashback: Color coordinator - she can't finish it by today. they'll miss the deadline. She demands he get oda - this is the first time she's heard this schedule. He then yells at saruta.
Present: The car smashes against the side of the road. Shonen bat swings, but he swerves. Pan to Kayama lying unconscious in the road and yet another victim of Shonen Bat.
Flashback: Saruta recalls Oda firing him and he goes crazy.
Present: Saruta has lost his mind. He is filled with paranoia and madness. Shonen Bat is in the backseat of the car.
Flashback: The video's finally done (The last worker holds it in his hands, dead, Oda not caring), but Saruta can't take it anymore. He was driven to the point of madness. He goes up to Oda and bashes him with a baseball bat, presumably killing him. On the cell phone, Sata from the station is calling about the video - where is it?
Present: Saruta lies on the ground, dead in his blood, with the tape in his hand. We hear voices saying if everything is okay but they are just talking about the tape, completely ignoring the corpse. The Maromi episode continues with the pink fuzzball in the screen of an empty office to take a rest. Take a rest. Take a rest. Take a rest.
[edit] Notes
- Episode Title Appearance: "Mellow Maromi" is the title of the series to be aired, and is shown many times: Posters, on the video tape to be delivered, etc.
- Everytime Saruta falls asleep in his car, the next scene is of him waking up in the production office. Everytime Saruta falls asleep in the production office, the next scene is of him waking up in his car.
- Throughout the episode, Saruta is sometimes seen with various Maromi merchandise, particularly items that can be worn (a Maromi mask, Maromi hat, Maromi slippers). He even requests for some Maromi mugs. He is also seen sleeping with Maromi pillows at some point in the episode.
- Maromi pops up during the episode and describes the certain jobs of each member of the Maromi animation team.
- Li'l Slugger actually attacks Saruta while he is driving his car on his way to deliver the first tape of "Mellow Maromi".
- Before Saruta is attacked by Li'l Slugger in his car, his radio turns on and plays the theme to Paranoia Agent: "Yume no Shima Shinen Kouen" by Susumu Hirasawa. Another song written by Susumu Hirasawa can be heard when Saruta is switching the frequency on his radio, though only the first three seconds can be heard. This song is known as Philosopher's Propeller.
- The first worker to fall victim to Li'l Slugger is the Scriptwriter, who may be the husband from the previous episode, ETC.
- In one of the first scenes, when it shows Saruta driving his car, Little Slugger can be seen following him in the background.
- At the end of the episode, several voices are asking worriedly about what happened and if everything is okay. It seems at first they are referring to Saruta, who lies in a pool of blood, but it is shortly revealed they are referring to the tape lying beside him. Even after a car crash, the first episode of Mellow Maromi is considered more important than their production manager. This is the case throughout the episode, whenever an office worker is attacked their first instinct is to question their ability to continue working.
- The prophetic vision references the Incident at Honnōji, an event that seems to parallel the events in this episode. It also references the Azuchi, Shiga or the Azuchi period. Oda Nobunaga is also referenced as the Production Managers name.
| Paranoia Agent |
|---|
| Characters |
| Shougo Ushiyama | Misae Ikari | Tsukiko Sagi | Maromi |
| Episodes |
| Enter Lil' Slugger | The Golden Shoes | Double Lips | A Man's Path | The Holy Warrior | Fear of a Direct Hit | MHz | Happy Family Planning | ETC | Mellow Maromi | Entry Forbidden | Radar Man | Final Episode |
| Other |
| Paranoia Agent Original Soundtrack | Satoshi Kon | Susumu Hirasawa |
