Review of Paprika (Review)
Sunday, 23rd December 2007, 00:03

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Introduction
There really aren't that many superstar icons in the anime industry. Sure, there are famous animation and production studios, and certainly some well known voice actors, but unlike your Kurosawa or your Ozu in film, or your Miyamoto and Kojima in video games, there aren't that many household names synonymous with their own brand of product. But in some respects, that makes those that exist even more recognisable. The late Osamu Tezuka is one, in fact, probably the one. Considered the godfather of anime in Japan, he created the ever-so-popular mecha genre of anime when he brought his own manga creation, 'Astro Boy', to screens in the 1960s. I suppose you could think of him as the Walt Disney of his field. Probably the most recognisable name outside of Japan is that of Hayao Miyazaki. The mind behind 'Laputa: Castle in the Sky', 'Princess Mononoke', 'Spirited Away', Studio Ghibli's Miyazaki is anime's equivalent of Steven Spielberg.

And then there's Satoshi Kon. Despite a small body of work, he's one of the most highly respected anime directors in the field. Something of a maverick, his auteur style and often complex, somewhat surrealistic approach has led to much acclaim for his features 'Perfect Blue', 'Millennium Actress' and 'Tokyo Godfathers' and television show 'Paranoia Agent'. Despite the abject obviousness of it, his equivalent is, in all likelihood, David Lynch, the master of phantasmagoric restrain. Or, you know, weird stuff.

Kon's latest is 'Paprika', a feature based on a 1993 newspaper serialisation of the same name by Japanese novelist Yasutaka Tsutsui. The film follows the story of Dr Atsuko Chiba, a psychotherapist and part of a team trialing a new psychiatric treatment device that allows them to enter the dreams of patients and explore the unconscious anxieties that cause them distress. As it's still in a testing stage, the DC Mini device is kept top-secret, something made all the harder by Atsuko's moonlighting as a dream detective for private patients under the guise of the superhero-like 'Paprika'. But when the DC Mini is stolen from its research headquarters, the world of dreams starts to blur with reality for Paprika and all close to her, and, unless they find out who has it, for everyone else soon after.

Video
A fantastic-looking 1.85:1 transfer. While it isn't perfect -- there's occasional noise and colour banding in the backgrounds -- it's a sumptuous looking piece. A rich palette fed by a diet of primary colour, it's pin-sharp with deep blacks and solid tones throughout. Madhouse are known for their vivid animation, but they've definitely outdone themselves this time. The sharp-lined, realistic approach with a dash of the obtuse works well throughout the movie, and the Blu-ray transfer brings out the best of the detail crammed into every frame. Despite almost a half of the scenes involving CGI work, the line between the two, aside from a few obvious moments, is near invisible and the character design is beautifully realised in a world where the squat, pudgy and exaggerated co-exist alongside the tall, lean and angular seamlessly, as if there wasn't any other way.

* Viewed on a 32" 1366 x 768 panel at 720p

* The screenshots featured here are for illustrative purposes only. They were not taken from the Blu-ray source, and as such, the images are not representative of the quality of the disc.



Audio
Uncompressed PCM 5.1 is the big boy on the disc, but only in native Japanese. I'm not in a position to review uncompressed soundtracks, so I won't, but there's a wealth of Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks on the disc which I am. Japanese and English are there of course, and the English dub isn't half bad. Personally though, I chose to view it with its native track, but unlike certain dubs, I'm confident you won't want to plug your ears with hand grenades five minutes after the feature starts. Quality-wise, the surround tracks are good. Strong and bold with well implemented direction, the score has a tendency to dance around the soundstage for effect, and there are enough whizzing spot effects to grease your ears a few times over.

Also present are full surround tracks in French, German, Italian, Spanish, Czech and Polish. The disc is also home to a ridiculous amount of subtitles, with almost every European language catered to.

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