Episode 5

"The Holy Warrior" is the fifth episode of Paranoia Agent.

Synposis
Ikari and Maniwa interrogate the boy known as Lil' Slugger, who turns out to be an eighth grade student named Makoto Kozuka. Kozuka admits to the attacks, but he believes that the world around him is a medieval-style role-playing game (or RPG). Kozuka believes that in attacking people, he is liberating them from a villain named Gohma, who has possessed them. Kozuka retells the chronology of attacks from his game-based perspective, and Ikari and Maniwa follow along in a narrative device quite reminiscent of the director's Millennium Actress; Maniwa, taking an emic point of view, especially gets caught up in Kozuka's role-playing. Various characters appear in different guises. Kawazu appears as a stepped-on frog, Kozuka as a warrior, and Maria as an evil butterfly woman. Maniwa cleverly pretends to be a minstrel who must record all the heroic details. The detectives see that his tale corresponds with all the attacks — with the notable exception of the case of Tsukiko Sagi. However, Kozuka points the detectives to someone whom he believes can help him take the game to the next level, and whom the detectives believe may be an important witness to that initial attack.

Characters Introduced
Makoto Kozuka