Review of Paprika

I want to start this by saying that I am a big fan of two of Satoshi Kon’s other works, Paranoia Agent and Perfect Blue. I watched those two before watching Paprika, so it isn’t the blend of delusion v.s reality that makes me dislike this anime. Really, it’s everything else. (spoiler free) 
Story - 5 What story? Sorry but this anime was so boring that I forgot what the main objective even was. It takes so many weird turns and doesn’t stick to a firm plot. The concept isn’t even that interesting and it’s definitely not exciting to watch. 
 Art - 7 I’m never too picky withart, but the color scheme in Paprika is a little too orange and bright in my opinion. I prefer the simple, neutral colors present in Paranoia Agent.


Sound - 7
The only sound that was catchy was the track used for the parade thing. And even that wasn’t the best I’ve heard, however, it was pretty catchy when used.


Characters - 3
What characters? Yeah, sorry to pull that again, but the characters are so forgettable and basic. I didn’t even grow a liking to any of them, therefore I didn’t really care what would happen to them. Even the character who has their name as the title of the movie (Paprika) is incredibly boring, and isn’t even present much through most of the anime. It’s shocking to me, as Satoshi Kon has been great with characters in the past. Paranoia Agent, for example, had some characters that were only present for one 20 minute episode, yet they are much more fleshed out than the characters who are present throughout this 1.5 hour movie. Another problem is the lack of character development. By the end of the movie, I could think of one character that might have changed a little. That’s it. One of the characters had a pretty bogus and unexplained change, so I wouldn’t call that character development. How am I supposed to be attached to the characters if they start out boring and end just as boring?


Enjoyment - 3
I can’t enjoy an anime when boring characters and put in boring story. It was hard to follow and overall didn’t have much of a meaning besides “your dreams can say something about you”, which isn’t explored that well.


Overall - 4
This is the worst work I have seen do Satoshi Kon. I’m not even sure how it can be classified as psychological or horror. Paprika is nothing compared to the terrifying Perfect Blue.


TLDR: If you are looking for a psychological horror, watch Paranoia Agent or Perfect Blue, they are from the same director but a thousand times better! If you like the concept of traveling through dreams, watch Inception!