Review:
The Institute for Psychiatric Research uses cutting edge technology to view and even enter patients' dreams and treat psychological issues. Although their work is finally legal, in the early days of their work their researchers often used pseudonyms. Atsuko Chiba is one of the Institute's most brilliant psychotherapists...and also secretly the dream detective Paprika, who helped high-profile clients with delicate psychological problems back when her work was illegal.
Paprika hasn't been needed for several years, but Atsuko's boss convinces her to bring her out of "retirement" in order to treat a friend of his, a senior executive at a car company, suffering from anxiety and panic attacks. As she works with her secret client, Atsuko also attempts to find out what happened to several stolen DC Minis, smaller dream machine prototypes. Someone within the Institute seems to be using them to "infect" her colleagues with the dreams of schizophrenic patients. If news gets out, it'll discredit all the work she and Tokita (the genius developer of the dream technology) have done and possibly interfere with their chances at winning the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Paprika isn't my favorite Satoshi Kon movie by a long shot, but I enjoyed it enough to be excited when I learned that the book it was based on was being translated into English. This, however, is definitely one of those cases where the movie is better than the book. Yes, the movie had some aspects that made a little more sense after reading the book, and the movie cut out huge amounts of the original book (you'll notice that the Nobel Prize isn't mentioned at all in the movie adaptation), but it was really for the best.
Where do I even start? Paprika was sexualized in the movie adaptation as well, but that was a toned down version of what was in the original book. Atsuko essentially fell in love with every patient she treated (all of whom were male), and it wasn't uncommon for there to be some form of sexual aspect to her treatment. There was a brief mention of professional ethics, but it was mostly brushed off because, hey, it was just dream sex so it didn't really count. Although by the end of the book even those flimsy excuses don't hold up, since dreams and reality blended together to the point that the whole Paprika/Tokita/Noda/Konakawa/Osanai group became one giant orgy with Paprika at the center.
Elements of the premise were interesting enough. I particularly liked Paprika's investigations of Noda's dreams in order to figure out what was behind his sudden panic attacks (the twist involving his memories of certain events was great). I did wince a little when I realized that the "cutting edge technology" that Tokita and Atsuko relied on was apparently based primarily on Freudian and Jungian psychology - the technology moved forward, but I guess the psychological theories never did.
The actual story was...pretty messed up. While there was some concern about the various researchers ending up psychologically injured by schizophrenic dreams (much was made of schizophrenia's contagiousness), it seemed like the primary concern was really and truly about the Institute's reputation and Tokita and Atsuko's chance at winning a Nobel Prize. At some point, human safety should have been of greater concern. Certainly, when the very fabric of reality started to shred and people literally began dying from dreams made reality, the Nobel Prize should've been the last thing on everyone's minds.
I don't know what the point of the stuff with Jinnai and Kuga was supposed to be. They were the minorest of characters throughout most of the book, and then for some reason they were a vital part of the final battle? I don't even know.
Well, I read this. I have no intention of reading it again.
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