Dr. Atsuko Chiba, a scientist who moonlights as the enigmatic "Paprika," a dream detective. Atsuko and her team develop the DC Mini, a device meant to aid psychiatric patients by delving into their dreams, but when it falls into the wrong hands, it threatens to wreak havoc on people's minds.
When a prototype of the DC Mini is stolen, Atsuko, in her Paprika persona, embarks on a mission to recover it before it can cause irreversible damage. The film explores a battle between a dream terrorist who manipulates shared dreams to induce nightmares and a research psychologist who transforms into Paprika to investigate these mysterious occurrences.
"Paprika" premiered at the Venice International Film Festival and received critical acclaim upon its release in Japan in 2006.