Kōichi Yamadera, and Hideyuki Tanaka .
Paprika
Theatrical release poster Directed by
Satoshi Kon Produced by
Jungo Maruta
Masao Takiyama Screenplay by
Seishi Minakami
Satoshi Kon Based on
Paprika
by Yasutaka Tsutsui Starring
Megumi Hayashibara
Tōru Emori
Katsunosuke Hori
Tōru Furuya
Akio Ōtsuka
Kōichi Yamadera
Hideyuki Tanaka Music by
Susumu Hirasawa Cinematography
Michiya Katou Edited by
Takeshi Seyama Production
company
Madhouse Distributed by
Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan Release date
September 2, 2006 ( Venice )
November 25, 2006 (Japan) Running time
90 minutes Country
Japan Language
Japanese Box office
$944,915 [1]
Kon and Seishi Minakami wrote the script, and Japanese animation studio Madhouse animated and produced the film alongside Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan , which distributed it in Japan. The score was composed by
Susumu Hirasawa.
Plot
Edit
In the near future, a revolutionary new psychotherapy treatment called dream therapy has been invented. A device called the "DC Mini" allows the user to view people's dreams. The head of the team working on this treatment, Doctor Atsuko Chiba, begins using the machine illegally to help psychiatric patients outside the research facility, using her alter-ego "Paprika", a sentient persona that she assumes in the dream world.
Paprika counsels Detective Toshimi Konakawa, who is plagued by a recurring dream. Its incompleteness is a great source of anxiety for him. At the end of the session, she gives Konakawa a card with a name of a website on it. This type of counselling session is not officially sanctioned, so Chiba, her associates and Konakawa must be cautious that word does not leak out regarding the nature of the DC Mini and the existence of Paprika. Chiba's closest ally is Doctor Kōsaku Tokita, a genius man-child and the inventor of the DC Mini. Because they are unfinished, the DC Minis lack access restrictions, allowing anyone to enter another person's dreams, which poses grave consequences when they are stolen. Almost immediately, the chief of the department, Doctor Toratarō Shima, goes on a nonsensical tirade and jumps through a window, nearly killing himself.
Upon examining Shima's dream, consisting of a lively parade of objects, Tokita recognizes his assistant, Kei Himuro, which confirms their suspicion that the theft was an inside job. After two other scientists fall victim to the DC Mini, the chairman of the company, who was against the project to begin with, bans the use of the device completely. This fails to hinder the crazed parade, which manages to claim Tokita, who went inside Himuro's dream trying to find answers and intruded into Konakawa's dream. Paprika and Shima take matters into their own hands and find that Himuro is only an empty shell. The real culprit is the chairman, with the help of Doctor Morio Osanai, who believes that he must protect dreams from mankind's influence through dream therapy. Paprika is eventually captured by the pair after an ex
