Konnichiwa, listeners! This week, we take on our first Japanese anime (on the show) with Grant of Chip & Ironicus and James of Geekspotting with Satoshi Kon's Paprika! This incredible, fascinating film follows the search for a stolen dream device, which is being abused to 'hack' into people's dreams and causing them to disappear and blur the lines between fantasy and reality. As the walls of the dream world begin to warp and collapse, it's up to the sprightly, powerful dream-warrior Paprika (and her more sedate real-life alter ego Chiba) to save the day.
It's a tremendous work of animation, with an incredible, fluid visual style and plenty of thematic material to unpack - we do our best in the episode, along with our custom cocktail and drinking game!
Relevant Links:
Every Frame a Painting's Video on Kon's use of space in time in his films, including Paprika
Radioclub.jp (click on the GUEST BOOK to find our secret message)
ANNOUNCEMENT: We recently contributed to a book on the Thin Man series of detective comedies, called Thoughts on the Thin Man, which you can find in print and Kindle form on Amazon!