MHz (Paranoia Agent)

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Paranoia Agent
"MHz"
Previous episode "Fear of a Direct Hit"
Next episode "Happy Family Planning"

MHz is the seventh episode of the 2004 animated series Paranoia Agent.

[edit] Prophetic Vision

"To begin with... If you strain your ears, the words of the sage will reach you... Somewhere between intuition and science. If you look around, tracing the fox's path back and forth... It's an ocean of cluster-amaryllises. Welcome, master detective. Here's some warm hospitality. Well..."

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Ikari and Maniwa receive word of Taeko's collapse; although it happened in another district, the attack fits the Lil' Slugger M.O. At the hospital Masami is devastated by his daughter's amnesia; Ikari looks on from the sideline since it happened in a different district. Ikari and Maniwa then interrogate Kozuka again to make him confess that he is merely a copycat and responsible for all the assaults. They manage to get out of him that he only attacked Usshi and Hirukawa but Ikari pushes for a full confession for all of the crimes. Maniwa has a series of visions featuring the old man, and soon discovers another connection between victims; they all were under intense stress from which they were relieved by the attacks. He soon figures out that Taeko was also emotionally stressed and that Taeko was attacked at the same time as Tsukiko fainted, all this while their prime suspect was in custody! This means that Lil' Slugger can be nowhere and everywhere, attacking whoever feels cornered. He pushes his theory on Ikari, but Ikari just shows him an application for vacation time and tells him to take a break. Maniwa forces the issue to the logical conclusion that their prime suspect is the next most likely victim — Kozuka himself! Maniwa calls Ikari to trust him and go to Kozuka. When they arrive Lil' Slugger is standing outside the cell holding a bloody bat. Lil' Slugger then skates away, through a wall? Ikari discovers Kozuka dead in his cell. The public believes that Kozuka committed suicide. Maniwa and Ikari are fired from the force for neglecting the suspect. Maniwa at his home was dreaming he was attacked by Lil' Slugger. This led him to call Ikari via a radio and tell him, Lil' Slugger is one person but he's not. He attacks people in a corner with nowhere to go any time, anywhere. Lil' Slugger is still at large!

[edit] Notes

  1. Episode Title Appearance: In the "radio room", it shows a monitor for a moment with a MHz gauge.
  2. This is the first time that Lil' Slugger kills his victims.
  3. Ikari accepted Maniwa's belief that Lil' Slugger was not a person. Due to the fact that he saw the true Lil' Slugger vanish through a solid wall after killing Kozuka, this being noteworthy as he was the more skeptical of the two.


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