Tsukiko Sagi
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Tsukiko Sagi (鷺 月子 Sagi Tsukiko?) is a fictional character from Satoshi Kon's animated psychological thriller, Paranoia Agent.
Arguably, she is one of the series' main characters. In a series with seemingly many different main characters, Tsukiko is one of the few who take a central role throughout the series. Tsukiko is a character designer who has made a highly successful Hello Kitty-esque character known as Maromi. Tsukiko carries about a small plush toy named Maromi, a pink dog-like creature.
Although seemingly a victim herself at first, there seems to be much more to Tsukiko than she lets on.
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[edit] Story
Under intense stress to create a new character, Tsukiko becomes the first victim of Lil' Slugger (Shonen Bat in the Japanese version; Shonen Bat literally means "Bat Boy".) The investigation into this as well as subsequent attacks from Shonen Bat become the main drive in the show's plot.
Meek-tempered and quiet to almost traumatized levels, Tsukiko may seem to be a mere victim at first. But because Tsukiko's Maromi plush appears to come to life in order to converse with her, the viewer sees almost immediately that something is not quite right about Tsukiko.
Detectives Ikari and Maniwa continue to attempt to piece together the bizarre mystery surrounding Lil' Slugger's attacks. At a total loss for evidence, the two repeatedly question Tsukiko. Although holding to her story, Ikari seems to suspect that Tsukiko seems to be holding something back.
[edit] Revelations
As the series progresses and the victim count increases, Ikari's suspicions of Tsukiko seem to be proven justified. Episode 6 eventually reveals that Tsukiko faked the first attack. She had struck herself on the leg with a nearby lead pipe and had claimed that she was attacked by the Lil' Slugger. This information is given to Ikari and Maniwa by a homeless woman who, unknown to Tsukiko, had been at the scene of the crime. At the mention of this, Tsukiko seems to spin into a state of denial, as if she herself did not know she had done this. Shortly after, she is subsequently knocked unconscious by a seemingly invisible blow right before Ikari and Maniwa's eyes. At this exact moment, however, Taeko Hirukawa, the daughter of Masami Hirukawa (the main focus of Episode 4) was struck by the Lil' Slugger.
Despite the fact Tsukiko is proven to have lied about the first encounter, attacks continue to happen. Baffled, Maniwa does some researching and begins to come to more "out of this world" conclusions. Lil' Slugger is not actually a person but something of an unexplained entity who "relieves people backed in a corner from their pressures". He realizes that Kozuka, the boy whom they had previously caught and accused of being the Lil' Slugger in Episode 5, was in a state of overwhelming stress. He was a prime target for the Lil' Slugger. Taking a disbelieving Ikari and one other cop to Kozuka's hold, they find Kozuka murdered in cold blood and the real Lil' Slugger in front of the cell. As they attempt to pursue Lil' Slugger, he seems to disappear into thin air. The scandal gets Maniwa and Ikari "forced leave" from the department. The case is considered closed with Kozuka's death, but not without an increasingly peculiar-acting Maniwa sneaking a cryptic message over the radio, "Lil' Slugger is still out there..."
With Tsukiko seemingly now in the clear, Maromi's popularity soars like never before. Maromi merchandise has become an extremely hot commodity, and a new anime series starring Maromi is set to air. After a brief interval in the series to explore other people's lives during this period of time, we find that Maromi's popularity has grown to almost dangerous levels. The entire city of Tokyo seems entranced by Maromi merchandise and fight over it violently. One lone voice of reason among the increasingly warped media claims Maromi is dangerous, and it is easy to see why at this point.
In-between all of this, Tsukiko has remained her usual aloof self, seemingly riding off Maromi's popularity with little care. She almost seemed to have very little clue as to what was going on around her. However, as the violence sweeping the city due to Maromi's popularity and increasing paranoia about Lil' Slugger begins to slowly creep its way into Tsukiko's life once more, former detective Maniwa finds Tsukiko's father and discovers the shocking and bizarre truth.
When Tsukiko was a young child, she had a puppy named Maromi who, in a brief moment of neglect by Tsukiko (as she was distracted by what appeared to be stomach pain, possibly her first menstrual cramp) was run over by a car and killed. Tsukiko was so devastated by this that she blocked out the memory of the entire event. In her mind, she created Lil' Slugger as a scapegoat so she would not have to live with the guilt, as well as to avoid punishment from her father. Her overbearing and strict father felt so sad for his daughter that he played along despite knowing the truth. And thus, the Lil' Slugger was born.
Armed with this new information, Maniwa confronts Tsukiko over the telephone but is cut off by Maromi before he can finish his statement. He rushes to see her personally. Lil' Slugger, in a much more hideous and demonized form proving his inhumanity, attacks Tsukiko and Maniwa at this point. Earlier, Maniwa found a new "Weapon" — a mere bat he found at Senior Sagis' house which he sees as a magic sword of some kind. Although Maniwa uses it to hold off Shonen Bat, Maromi comes to life once more and seems determined to shield Tsukiko from the truth which Maniwa stated.
She transports Tsukiko to a bizarre, fake world, where Ikari (now a lowly Traffic Guard after being dismissed) is stuck in a neverending trance of his own yearning for the good old days. At the prompting of Maromi once again, Tsukiko begins to tell Ikari that she is his daughter in order to further deepen themselves in the illusion. It is only with the heroic intervention of Ikari's dying wife, Misae Ikari, that Ikari is finally able to see the pointlessness of living in such an illusion. He breaks through the illusionary world seemingly created by Maromi in spite of Tsukiko and Maromi's attempts to stop him. Upon realizing Misae has finally died, Ikari is thrown into a rage. He states that this world and solutions like it are only temporary and shallow, and that he belongs in reality rather than an illusion born of self pity. Referring to the Lil' Slugger's apparently "shallow" form of relief as well, Tsukiko and Maromi respectively seem both shocked and amazed by Ikari's passionate statement and actions.
Upon leaving the illusion world, Ikari, Tsukiko, and Maromi are greeted with the ruins of Tokyo. Apparently after Tsukiko and Maromi "left", all Maromi merchandise disappeared and almost all of Tokyo was struck into a paranoid frenzy at the loss of their "relief". Meanwhile, feeding off this, Lil' Slugger, or at least the entity that it really is, has taken the form of an enormous blob which is slowly absorbing the whole city.
They are also greeted by Maniwa, who finishes his revelation to Tsukiko about the truth he found out from her father. Maromi tries to stop him but is unable to. Tsukiko seems to be thrown into a state of denial and seems to be fighting with herself at the sudden revelation. But before she can come to any conclusions, the four are attacked by the giant blob and Maniwa is knocked out (literally). The remaining survivors of Tokyo are engulfed as the blob formerly known as Lil' Slugger seems enraged at Tsukiko finding out the truth. Ikari tries to outrun the blob with Tsukiko, and Maromi seems to try to stop the blob to buy them time. In spite of this, the two are eventually absorbed by the blob, but not before Maromi seemingly transforms into its true self, the real dog Maromi from Tsukiko's childhood.
Within the blob, Tsukiko is forced to confront her traumatic experience by watching her younger self and Maromi play out the events. However, at the point where young Tsukiko creates the story of Shonen Bat in her mind, older Tsukiko intervenes and stops her. Picking up Maromi's dead body, she apologizes finally in a burst of emotion, with her younger self looking on. The shadow of Shonen Bat appears on the floor and says "Good bye", and as Tsukiko seems to have finally confronted her demons, the blob dissipates and releases all of Tokyo's inhabitants. The city, however, is still in ruins.
Tsukiko awakens in the bay nearby Tokyo.
In the ending, we cut to two years after the incident, and Tokyo has recovered from the disaster. We catch a glimpse of Tsukiko, now sporting a high school student uniform and a new haircut, walking by a huge screen of yet another Hello Kitty/Maromi-like character being animated. She seems to walk away without giving it a second thought. She comes across Kawazu from Episode 1, who only smiles and walks on. Tsukiko's fate is unknown, but it is hinted that it seems she has finally come out of her trance and is making up for the time she has wasted.
[edit] Symbolisms and Analysis
Many believe that Tsukiko was suffering from a type of Paranoid Delusional Syndrome as well as a possible slight case of schizophrenia. Although the events leading to Shonen Bat and Maromi's creation are explained, the true nature of Shonen Bat and Maromi, or for that matter, even what on earth they are, is left ambiguous. Some believe that Tsukiko has some kind of unknown ability which allows her to manifest her anxieties in the form of Shonen Bat and Maromi — manifestations which happened to go beyond her control.
Another popular theory is that Tsukiko somehow came into contact with some kind of both physical and mental entity who somehow became involved in Tsukiko's trauma. Others claim that Maromi and Shonen Bat may both be merely spirits — Maromi the spirit of Tsukiko's dog, and Shonen Bat some kind of spirit who wanted Tsukiko to face her inner demons and unwillingness, as the intervention of Maromi happened to take the situation one step too far.
This also leads many to question whether Shonen Bat was truly the villain. Maromi protecting Tsukiko in the end showed she had Tsukiko's best interests in mind. Many believe, however, that in a way she was also blocking Tsukiko from facing her past and thus ending the nightmare. Maromi may have cared deeply for Tsukiko's safety, but her efforts may have been counter-productive. Arguably, one of the series' greatest mysteries is whether Shonen Bat and Maromi were extensions of Tsukiko's mentality or separate entities somehow connected to her.
In the end, however, while her resolutions and reasoning are explained, much of this character's role in the events of Paranoia Agent remain unsolved. Many are happy enough to shrug it off and say her anxieties somehow came to life... simply because they did. Satoshi Kon is known to not be above using this kind of plot device from time to time.
Some say that Tsukiko's character is vaguely reminiscent of that of Alessa from the video game series Silent Hill in that her anxieties become real through unknown means. Other see both her physical and mental characteristics reminiscent to that of an older version of the spacey Osaka of Azumanga Daioh.
[edit] Slave to Anxiety
Tsukiko seems to be a representation of the concept of being a slave to one's own anxiety. Tsukiko is presented as an aloof, "not quite there" character. Her most pressing decisions are practically made for her by an overprotective Maromi. Tsukiko's anxieties are largely believed to have formed because of a strict and tough childhood. Because of her unwillingness to question herself and deal with these anxieties, it can be said that the events of the TV series happened because Tsukiko was unable to find the strength inside her to deal with much of life and its hardships. Possibly, it is only through the example of Keiichi and Misae Ikari that Tsukiko is, to a small degree, able to finally look at herself and defy Maromi's misguided protection.
Her coming to terms with her own problems is the final resolution to the show's plot.
[edit] Fate
One of the often asked questions about Paranoia Agent's ending is the depiction of Tsukiko in what seems to be a kind of school uniform, seemingly high school. This has put into question Tsukiko's true age, which is never revealed, although in the newspaper account of the childhood incident "10 years ago" when she accidentally killed her pet puppy, she is described as being 12 years old, thus making her 22 at the time of the story. Some believe that Tsukiko may have dropped out of school and happened to have drifted into a successful career thanks to Maromi. Upon ending that period of her life, she has returned to see through her proper course of life. On the other hand, if her age is taken to be 22, the uniform may simply be looked upon as a standard-issue company uniform for a typical OL (Office Lady), not a school uniform.
Others think similarly that Tsukiko wanted to go back to school in order to claim a real life for herself. Her fate is unknown, but she seems to be forever off of cutesy characters like Maromi or the Hello Kitty-esque character from the ending. She comes across Kawazu, the reporter who tried to get a scoop out of her in the beginning. Kawazu seems to hint that he will just leave Tsukiko alone.
[edit] Name meaning
Tsukiko literally translates as "Moon Child". Many characters in the show have names which allude to something. Moon Child is fairly easy to guess, as Tsukiko is pretty much a space cadet in the head..[citation needed] But it could also possibly allude to the idea that she holds some kind of psychic power that even she is not totally aware of, or to the development of those latent powers at the onset of menstruation, as we see her crouch and hold her stomach in pain just before her puppy is run over. Her last name, Sagi, is a homonym meaning both a type of bird (often associated with a free spirit but awkward behavior) and also meaning fraud (Shown by many characters not believing her story)..[citation needed] Moonchild is also the name of the Empress of Fantasia in the Neverending Story by Michael Ende. This character kept Auryn, which had the ability to grant one's wishes but also created physical manifestations of subconscious needs for the human who carried it at one point.
| Paranoia Agent |
|---|
| Characters |
| Shougo Ushiyama | Mitsuhiro Maniwa | Misae Ikari | Tsukiko Sagi | Maromi | Lil' Slugger |
| 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 |
