In the world of animation, there are well-known names like Walt Disney (Steamboat Willie) and Matt Groening (The Simpsons; Futurama), niche names like Rebecca Sugar (Steven Universe), and then there are names so large that they crafted entire houses around their vision like Hayao Miyazaki (The Boy and the Heron) and Satoshi Kon. The latter only directed four films and a television series before his passing in 2010, but the mark Kon has made on cinema is indelible. Now, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) seeks to honor Kon’s last picture which is considered among the greats in animation, the 2006 science fiction thriller Paprika (パプリカ), via a brand-new limited edition steelbook with a 4K UHD video remaster and Dolby Atmos 7.1 remixed audio track that also includes a new restoration featurette and all prior legacy features. With the acclaim so great for Kon’s Paprika, can the restoration hold up to the expectation?
In the off chance that you’re not familiar with Paprika, here’s a quick summary before diving into the new edition and offering thoughts on the film itself.
Dr. Chiba Atsuko (voiced by Megumi Hayashibara) is part of a research/psychoanalyst facility that treat patients using a newly-developed, experimental device which enables Atsuko to enter the dreams of the patient, interacting with the environment and the patient directly in order to better help treat their issues. However, when someone steals three of the portable versions from the lab and starts infiltrating the dreams of others in order to wreak havoc, Atsuko, Dr. Kōsaku Tokita (the genius scientist who developed the tech, voiced by Toru Furuya) Dr. Toratarō Shima (her boss and head of her department, voiced by Katsunosuke Hori), and Detective Toshimi Konakawa (a friend of Shima’s, voiced by Akio Otsuka), each take steps to investigate and catch the thief before all of reality is rewritten into dreams.
In the single new bonus feature, the eight-minute “Restoring Paprika,” home viewers are invited to listen to HDR Colorist Dai Kaneda (Out of the Cradle), Cinematographer CG Director Michiya Kato (Paprika), Color Designer Satoshi Hashimoto (Blade of the Immortal), Art Director Nobutaka Ike (Paprika), and Re-recording Mixer Shinichi Kita discuss the rather complex process of updating the 2006 release for modern home entertainment systems. As appropriate, they each go into detail on their respective portion of the restoration, explaining the technical portions as simply as they can while also dropping in some significant nuggets related to the version home viewers receive. Without spoiling too many pieces which make the featurette notable, what should give fans reassurance is two things: 1. as the scenes were restored/remastered with HDR, Kaneda would check in with unnamed members of the original Paprika release team in order to ensure that the look of the film matched Kon’s original intent; 2. Kita discusses how creating the Dolby Atmos track required going through the original audiotrack and only tweaking it for 7.1 channels when it made sense to do so. Every choice, every decision made to create the new 4K UHD edition was done so with a great deal of care and reverence for Kon and the original work. If, as a fan of this piece of Kon’s work, you don’t feel relieved in some way by the end of the featurette, then there may be no dissuading you. Truly, SPHE took time and care in every step of developing the restoration.
What’s fantastic is that you can see it when comparing the 4K UHD edition to the included Blu-ray. Since Kaneda made a point to comment on having the original team check things over, I went to look at two of the darker sequences to observe the changes, as well as to note any differences in some of the lighter ones. When Atsuko as Paprika is walking through a store room believed to be one of the thieves, some of the dolls’ heads vibrate with incredible speed before stopping. In the 4K UHD edition, the increased detail afforded by the larger amount of data and HDR allows the scene to be presented as if naturally lit, making it harder to discern individual forms or what is vibrating, therefore amplifying the psychological disquiet of the scene. In the Blu-ray edition, the lighting is such that there’s no real mystery to what’s happening around Atsuko. Conversely, in the scene early in the film where Atsuko has climbed down a ladder and lands in a hallway with childlike drawings adorning the walls, the colors and sharp detail on the 4K UHD are striking. One can even better tell the lines and markings on the blue butterfly that flits by Atsuko before she wanders out the door at the end of the hall. On the Blu-ray, however, this same scene remains well lit, but there’s less refinement, making things like the blue butterfly something you notice without it being notable. It’s worth adding that one of the things Kaneda discusses is using the HDR to specifically shift during dream sequences versus reality sequences in order to better convey a sense of frivolity and illusion in one and groundedness in the other. This comes across wonderfully in the visual portion of the 4K UHD edition.
While I’d like to provide information on the Dolby Atmos track, my home theater isn’t set up for that, but the available 5.1 DTS-HD MA track, available on the Blu-ray as well, is clear and clean. So while you may not get the added benefit of the new audiomix, one doesn’t have to worry about whether the experience is dulled in any measure.
With this being a steelbook, it’s worth noting that the design on it is quite beautiful, but, more importantly, is tied neatly into the story. The front cover depicts the Paprika persona with her visage made up of figures and aspects of the dream portions of the film, including, yes, the persistent parade. The back image is of a similar design, but with the Atusko persona depicted against the real world landscape. Some of the dream portions does invade the design a bit, but whereas the front features reds and oranges (indicating harshness and conflict), the back is blues and grays (conveying calm and control). This, of course, falls in line with the greater concepts explored regarding Atsuko’s character and her own internal conflict as it relates to the larger story. The internal design is that of the parade itself, going across the inside of the case, only fully visible when both discs are removed.
In terms of the packaging, one of the downsides to the collectible hardshell disc case is that if it gets damaged in any way, you, as the owner of the film, have to make a choice between dealing with the damage or getting rid of it entirely, losing part of the reason you paid extra for this version. In an odd turn of events, the review copy sent by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment arrived wrapped in bubble wrap and, yet, the top of the back portion of the case is bent backward and broken. It does close and seems to lock fully, but the plastic of the inner case is busted and there’s a chance that scraping could occur on the discs, thereby making a bad situation worse. This is only worth mentioning insomuch as that’s the risk you take when the case is part of the package deal with the purchase.
In terms of the film, there are few that tell stories like Kon did. This one, adapted by Kon and co-writer Seishi Minakami (Rescue Wings) from 1993 Yasutaka Tsutsui novel, remains as remarkable in 2024 as it likely was in 2006. Granted, now audiences are a little more used to reality-bending stories, but what they may not realize is how much of those films draw from the visual imagery within Paprika, the film or the novel. It’s obvious, looking backwards, how artists like the Wachowskis borrowed from Tsutsui for some concepts in their first Matrix (1999) film, including the notion of using humans as batteries or primary characters who walk worlds and start to lose their sense of grip on either one. Less obvious but still there is how Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), for instance, may draw from the film in the way that it represents the breaking down of one reality and another. But it asks important questions of its audience regarding identity, dreams, control, and the difficulty of navigating all of it that are still prevalent in a modern age. Atsuko seems so free and open, playful even, as Paprika, and, as the film goes on, even a little resentful of that side of herself. While we don’t have the technology to explore dreams, one could argue that online spaces have become a place for a similar interweaving of dreams and a place to explore oneself outside of the constraints of corporeal rules. Thus, a similar schism of self could/can occur in which my choices in the real world often may not reflect those of me online (this is hyperbole, of course, I’m a giant softie everywhere). The film’s antagonists challenge the way Atsuko comfortably navigates these spaces, believing themselves to the be the arbiters of what’s natural and who should control those spaces, implying that even the dream realm is natural to the male portion of the species and they should have dominion — not too dissimilar to masculine views of online spaces in our modern era. This means that while the driving portion of the plot is reclaiming the lost dream machines, what it requires Atsuko to do is confront all of herself in order to be the whole version of herself that she, in her professional capacity, works so hard to afford to others. This doesn’t even get into the philosophically rich or visually stimulating representations of the ideas present in the film that still grab hold of audiences in a way that live action just can’t.
On the day that the 4K UHD edition of Paprika hit shelves, a report dropped from cinema news and review site The Digital Bits providing information that Sony Pictures would be taking over physical media production for Disney. While I have my own personal concerns about the state of physical media and the current landscape that seems to be pulling away from quality home editions with plentiful bonus materials, one thing that SPHE’s proven is that their releases are often among the best. We don’t always get information about the remaster/restoration process like we do with this release, but the proof is more often in the final product than anything. If their upcoming work is anything as good as this one, physical media fans are going to be in safe hands. To that end, while the steelbook packaging itself provides a concern, the visual presentation on the 4K UHD does not and makes for an easy recommendation, should you be on the fence as to whether you should pick this up. It also makes one hope that someone, either SPHE or Shout! Studios (who has Blu-rays of the other Kon films), will release 4K UHD of the other three films so that we can get beautiful restorations of them all.
Paprika 4K UHD Combo Special Features:
4K UHD Blu-ray
- Feature presented in 4K resolution with Dolby Vision.
- Japanese Dolby Atmos + Japanese and English DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio options
- *NEW* Restoring Paprika (8:26)
Blu-ray
- Feature presented in High Definition, sourced from the 4K master.
- 5.1 Japanese & English Dolby TrueHD audio
- Filmmaker Commentary
- Tsutsui and Kon’s Paprika – Making-Of Documentary
- A Conversation about the “Dream”
- The Dream CG World
- The Art of Fantasy
- Storyboards and Original Drawings
- Theatrical Trailers
Available on 4K UHD Blu-ray Combo steelbook February 20th, 2024.
For more information, head to the official Sony Pictures Classics Paprika webpage.
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Categories: Home Release, Home Video, Recommendation, Reviews, streaming
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