One of the most ideal topics for animation is the `world of dreams`. Kon Satoshi`s [Paprika], based on the film by Tsutsui Yasutaka, unfurls a novel world of sci-fi animation, which takes the world of dreams as its subject matter. Twenty-nine-year-old Dr. Atsuko is a psychotherapist who has the 18-year-old girl “Paprika” as his alter ego. Paprika enters people`s dreams and tries to cure their psychological problems. One day, `DC-MINI,` a psychoanalytic tool that is being developed at the Foundation for Psychiatric Research, where Paprika works, gets stolen. Paprika sets out on a mission to recover it. In the process, she uncovers a plot by the research center director to dominate the world through controlling people`s dreams. Satoshi Kon portrays, with stunning visual effects, the world of dreams that Paprika enters. Of course, this is a magnificent world of desire, dreamt by human beings. The film, which depicts the director`s fall from grace, provides a sharp critique of modern society and its material changes. (Kim Ji-seok)