Review of Paprika

To be, or not to be, many have considered the meaning of being and had it centered around one's needs and wishes. As human beings, we eat, we drink, we love, we hate, we sin... and we wish. Controversy has been flaming about the latter entry, as some parties prefer to say “we need”, while others think that “we want” is easier on the ear, but reality is absolute and fairly simple, very allergic to fantasy, and ruled by logic and basic physics, and as the wind blew across all the ages, people have always held places where they could be and do whatever theywanted as sacred, and found of dreams a holy paradise to beg the time of rest of coming for.
But as complicated the cosmos we pale in comparison by, the tiniest piece of a human brain still exceeds the most advanced technological artifact we've ever come to invent and in that complex fusion of organic specimens something of deep ambiguity that could even break a simulation by paralleling another one on top of it at the same time multi-tasking style, a more friendly term would be, dreams, and they come in variations of their own, there is the one heavy on fantasy, and there is the one that makes it hard to tell it apart from reality, and between the two resides many other stages. One other very interesting side of dreams are the so-called lucid dreams, dreams where the dreamer is partially conscious and able to act at will and play with all the physics-defying environment of his or her dream. Something so desirable, it inspired a lot of fictional works, the likes of the movie “Inception”, This movie had a quite different take on this idea by presenting an unbalanced shifter, so as you have your night and day, man and woman, dream and reality. A unique lone individual with no counterpart was thrown into the mix, somebody as troubling as an over-spiced Indian dish with a name that couldn't sound any more Indian to my ears, enter, “Paprika”.

- Story (8.5/10):
As quick as a wink, the introduction unwraps with no prior warning, throwing you right off the bat in the middle of the composition, with no explanation given at first whatsoever, which at some degree in the early moments was a bit frustrating for me for how complicated everything sounded, but as it clicked, later on, I only converted my earlier frustration to a massive appreciation for having it start that way, and to be honest, figuring out stuff by yourself as the story throws more hints at you as a huge part of the satisfactory realization of the plot, it feels like earning up your enjoyment with a sweaty hand rather than being spoon-fed every joke or reference.
The pacing started off very fast and remained as such in the entirety of the movie, as it focuses on multiple main characters and a lot of conflicting events, it just had to. As everyone was presented to be isolated individuals, they all started getting closer and made sense in each other's contexts as the same pieces of the same greater story they portray. Something you don't really get in a lot of shows is the balance of action and involving dialogue, and it seems that Paprika had an easy time mixing up both oils together, you'll often see characters in a rush, making it through a life-threatening situation while discussing crucial information on the fly making you both involved in their surroundings spotting action all over the place while at the same breathtaking off those loads of information like a goal-keeper.
Given the main topic be as complex and interesting as far as “dreams” go, on the surface, the idea is pretty simplistic and clear, a team of scientists has succeeded in creating a prototype for a device that makes it possible to share your dreams with somebody else, that is, unless multiple dreams start to intersect with each other, and as deep and confusing dream manipulation becomes, the line between dreams and reality becomes microscopically cellular and everything transforms into this nightmarish cage that sets one against the other.
More than anything else, every character is exposed to what they fear the most, and happen to encounter those fears in their dreams while dragging others with them whom they also bring up their fears along, making for a horrific terror-fest that's never worth being part of. In the end, it served as the perfect way to draw out the worse of everyone, making the saying “truth lies in panic” not a single bit less true.

- Art (9.8/10):
Ever woke up and had already forgotten what you've dreamed about as soon as you opened your eyes? I know that feeling, and it's very frustrating. And then came Paprika, a dream like no other, that is experienced when awake and thus sticks to the memory like a first brand glue, and probably it does because of the unbelievable quality put into its stunning visuals.
It does look like something, but honestly, after a good analysis, you'll start seeing how above mediocre it really is, so what really makes it feel better?
It's those fantastically detailed shading technics. I mean, look at Minecraft, beautiful game, but not quite visual in the sense of realistic context, and then you add shaders and it's a completely different atmosphere that retains the same geometrical graphics but still differs entirely. There was a slight warm gradient tint layering on top of the context, the lighting effects and shadows felt really, dynamic and spoke of “this is real”, it was the main factor that set the simple 2D animation into a whole new level which made for the perfect replacement of using CGI, and we all know who easily that can be badly implemented, and there is nothing worse than bad CGI.
Unfortunately, not to say CGI was absent, I had spotted a few occurrences where they've used it and it was not horrible per say but did feel weird as they didn't quite match the same shading they applied on the rest of the 2D animations, it was really quick and shore, I'd say about 2 minutes total worth of CGI, and it could have been better without it.
One other highlight I'd like to point out to is character design, I haven't been fascinated by this aspect since I first watched “Akira”. Realistic real-life human proportions with eyes the perfect size and anatomy so close to real but far from being uncanny. I really enjoyed how every character looked and moved, which brings us to movement. So fluid and satisfying as if every flexing muscle in their body has already been planned which made for such a detailed sequence of movement. One other thing that's worth to point out is the wallpaper-worthy backgrounds, no kidding, I could at least get 3 high-quality screenshots every minute worth of animation, they all felt natural hand drawn, I really appreciate the minimalistic CGI touches, something that's the product of effort is always better than the hacky stuff.

- Sound (9/10):
For the honest emotion and immersive involvement I got from listening to the voice acting I immediately raised my hat in respect of the passion the voice actors and actresses put in their performance. Dreams are a very personal experience, and to be able to express them requires you to not only put the matching words in place but also speak with an equally emotional tone of voice, and that was especially nailed by the female characters (Paprika and Chiba Atsuko, both voiced by the same actress “
Hayashibara Megumi” who's also known for voicing Faye Valentine from Cowboy Bebop, Haibara Ai from Detective Conan, you know what I mean, big deal), also, shout out to the cop Konakawa Toshimi that shares the same voice actor with Black Beard (One Piece), Ootsuka Akio.
One other very strong Yonko-level aspect was the killer soundtrack, seriously, I had to pause at the mark of the first five minutes of the movie just to make sure I bookmarked the golden OST I was hearing, it's fantastic, it's optimistic, oddly relaxing and sourcing of hope, I just love every tingling note of it.
Sound effects were also brilliant, there are the ones that sing of colorfulness, and the ones that scream of creepiness, in a good way.
I no joke was being shifted from one mood to the other given the strong rule of music in Paprika, and it's only normal that something as universal as music and dreams makes for a great pair. It's often viewed that nightmares and uncomfortable music come in one body, which good and happy dreams sound of relaxing ear candy, and this was of a massive presence in the entirety of the movie as it got you closer to feeling what the characters are feeling, fearing for them, rooting for them, and probably later, dreaming of them.

- Character (8.5/10):
A story can be the core, but characters add the topping.
Tackling a topic as transparent as dreams are demands for multiple use cases as referred to in experiments. A single individual will always give the same result, but different ones will result in a variety of results. That is to say, nobody is the same as the others in any way, including dreams, you never know what's in someone's head, let alone what's going on there while dreaming.
Paprika had us exposed to people with different treats and characteristics and examined how different every one dreams. A troubled cop will have different thoughts than that of a scientist's, just to present a basic point.
Depression is always accumulated by nightmares. A therapist will surely help by involving you in a simple conversation, but there is nothing better than dissecting it by hand and pressing the perfect cure for it, the problem remains to be that depression is something intangible , it's an idea that doesn't kneel in the world of simple physics, it can't be interacted with physically per say, but words have proven to traverse dimensions will keeping hold of as many deep messages. Given the plot of the story revolving around invading other's dreams makes that the other way around. You can for once intrude others' nightmares and give a helping hand when they are living the utmost of their fears. All that probable-incohesive talk goes to say, that character development is observed in a whole other level, you don't get person A exposed to event B and thus resulting in a character level up, and instead, you get to follow up everything about that development, it's causes, it's rate, it's origin...etc.
All the characters were likable, some even striking for pop-culture references. I couldn't put my finger on any possible weak character as every named one served a purpose in a way.

- Enjoyment (9/10):
As fancy as a dream, and as quick as one as well, such is the seamless first-time watcher experience I got at least.
Paprika nailed one sneaky aspect for one-shot stories, you get your serialized shows spanning episodes and still struggle with delivering the core message, and then you get Paprika. You start off as confused as a fresh new spawned player in PUBG and kind of work your way from there, it feels like a hard earnt fun time. More than anything, the concept was what drew me in and kept me up the tracks, I'm found with dreams as being the drug our brain is addicted to while we're asleep, and it's just as addictive as being captured on a movie's lore so easily.
Part of the enjoyment as well was the realization of how lucky we are to get a unique free dimension of illusions we can do all the sandbox-y stuff at, it makes you rethink the current AI advancement and how it could eventually affect this, I know I don't want to live in a world like that.

- Overall (9.0/10):
I feel like I've already spat some truth on why you should at least give Paprika a try for it is more than a self-contained story (if you've been able to keep up along), it simply requires a bit more hard work in putting some extra focus on what's going on, because getting distracted by the odd world of dreams is just as easy as falling asleep after a long day of exhausting work.
One other thing I'd like to point out is the several sexual intercourses, maybe you're somebody that minds avoiding shows like that, in this case, would be understandable, there are some screenings for nudity as far as showing off breasts (nipples included), as well as a fully exposed female naked body, however, no genitalia were shown.
I know I'm going to rewatch this at least a time every year from now on, and I'll get some company in too.