For a show about a great mystery going unsolved, Paranoia Agent is filled to the brim with characters that are smarter than your average person. As with real life, there are different types of intelligence, and the show does a good job of including a wide variety of smarts.
With an abundance of smart characters, these ten hold a special place for the use of their smarts throughout the series. Anyone can be considered, even if their smarts are accidental since that is just another way around the tree of intelligence. Paranoia Agent doesn’t allow all of its characters to make it out alive, but, thanks to their brains, these ten live on as the top tier of smart characters in the show.
10 10. Kamome
The least smart-smart person on this list, Kamome is the young girl who appears in the episode “Happy Family Planning” alongside Fuyubachi, the sick old man, and Zebra, the tall man. The plot of the episode is three people meet in person after talking ad-nauseam in a suicide chat room.
That is where her smarts kicked in, as neither of the men knew that Kamome was a school-aged girl, meaning she held herself in an adult-like manner. When the men decide to leave her, she manages to find them easily, even though she had no way of knowing where they were. Finally, she is also emotionally smart (read: manipulative) such as when she cons the men into taking her along with them multiple times.
9 9. Yuichi Taira
Yuichi had three main characteristics in the show. He was cool, good at baseball, and he was smart. As a straight-a student and top of the class, Yuichi had the world in his palms. Sometimes, however, there is a chance of being too smart that it becomes a delusion.
Yuichi believes himself to be the top of the food chain in smarts and popularity, and, while he is originally correct, the shift of the popularity also drives himself into psychosis. The brain does amazing things, and that doesn’t just mean good things. As Yuichi is driven into delusions, he is becoming smarter, learning about the world around him. It just happens terrifyingly and tragically.
8 8. Harumi/Maria
Paranoia Agent introduces one of the few solid representations of split personality disorder at the beginning of episode three, “Double Lips,” where Harumi and Maria are the focus. Two personalities sharing the same body, the two get along and work together quite well.
They have a system of communicating and making sure the other is respected. As with any situation, when you have two personalities whose identities clash, there will be a butting of heads, but Harumi and Maria clash internally. With a brain containing two personalities, a physical and mental brawl take place. Harumi wins in the end, but not until some psychological scarring is done.
7 7. Akio Kawazu
To be a journalist, you have to be book and street smart to get your stories done and done well. Akio Kawazu is a character whose skills are perfectly honed for his job as a gossip journalist. Seen as a bit of an antagonist in the first few episodes, he uses plenty of skills to get the information he needs for his story.
He cons a nurse into giving up the room number of a patient, digs up dirt on several people throughout the show, and he has the ability to perfectly recreate someone’s voice. These skills take time and energy to hone, yet Kawazu can think on his feet and quickly gather information.
6 6. Old Man
Regardless of if we can count the narration this character does each episode, ala Tales From The Crypt Crypt Keeper’s introductions, the old man is incredibly intelligent. Every time his character is seen, he is doing something important to the plot, though it may not be noticeable on the first watch.
In the very first episode, he is working on an extremely complex math equation, which also happens to be a premonition. Add in the fact that he is the master of the mind (called that by the third smartest character), and the old man proves himself smart time and again.
5 5. Detective Keiichi Ikari
Detective Keiichi Ikari is a good detective, though he is a bit hot-headed. Because of this, he sometimes misses the little things like empathy for victims. He has the widest character arc on screen as he goes from being a detective to working at three construction jobs and as a security guard. Each of these jobs requires a certain amount of smarts to thrive and survive.
At the end of the series, he is trapped in his own world, safe from the dangers of the darkness. Knowing that he cannot be happy over helping others, he destroys his paradise so that he can jump back into the action around him. He breaks down the mental barriers using only his brain and a tiny wooden bat.
4 4. Maromi/Lil Slugger
Much like Harumi and Maria, Maromi and Lil Slugger are two sides of the same coin. Originally both fictions in the head of Tsukiko, the two manifest themselves as the light and dark of the world. Maromi can stay sentient and impact the world around her, while Lil Slugger relies on the people around him to become real.
When something created as a mental image can make itself real, that being is one of the smartest in the world. Both have their faults, but, in the end, they are both god-like beings that came out of imagination. They also can manipulate those around them to gain more power, though one does it much more subtly.
3 3. Detective Mitsuhiro Maniwa
Detective Mitsuhiro Maniwa is a kind-hearted police officer who is the good cop to Ikari’s bad cop, wanting to help the victims and, in some cases, the assailants, to get to the final answer. He is a much more tuned investigator, especially since he is the first to suspect that Lil Slugger was more than one person, and later that it might not even be a person.
To become smarter, Maniwa sets out on a journey to discover the truth behind his messed up world, becoming a knight in a way. He uses his smarts to save a lot of lives and end the reign of the darkness that was Lil Slugger.
2 2. Tsukiko Sagi
Tsukiko is the creator of not one, but two god-like beings. Even if it was on accident, that is incredible brain power right there. Though her smarts are slightly jaded by her disturbing past, she continues to prove how smart she can be.
Maybe not through her own planning, but she has an incredible knack for misdirection, which she uses on practically every person she meets. Tsukiko also has the best defense for herself by acting dumb around the “better than thou” men she meets around her. She is a skilled liar, and, ultimately, the fate of the world ends up resting on her shoulder. More specifically, it rests on her brain since it is the most powerful force in the world.
1 1. Misae Ikari
The smartest character in the entire show gets a whole episode devoted to her being smart at the darkness that is Lil Slugger. Misae Ikari, the sickly wife of Keiichi Ikari, faces off against Lil Slugger head-on but only uses her smarts as a defense. In fact, the entire altercation, she remains sitting in one position.
Just by talking, she finds his weak points, which are Maromi and confidence in yourself. As the viewer learns her backstory, they feel for Misae and everything she has gone through. Her happiness is not taken lightly, and, while she does have some issues, they do not define her. She is the only person to encounter Lil Slugger as a victim and walk away unscathed because she outsmarted the darkness.