Atsuko Chiba serves as a psychotherapist and lead researcher at the Institute for Psychiatric Research, specializing in innovative dream therapy techniques. Her appearance features attractive features with black hair typically secured in a bun showcasing left-swept bangs, pale skin, and dark eyes. She wears professional attire including suits, pencil skirts, black pantyhose, and high heels. Utilizing experimental technology, she adopts an alternate identity named Paprika within dreamscapes. As Paprika, her physical presentation shifts to a younger, more vibrant look characterized by short red hair, a slightly darker skin tone, and casual Western-style clothing: a red blouse, white belt, blue jeans, and red-and-white sneakers. Her personality displays a distinct dichotomy between identities. Dr. Chiba maintains a serious, reserved, and professional demeanor, sometimes perceived as cold or controlling at work. This contrasts sharply with Paprika, who embodies carefree, cheerful, and empathetic traits, enabling greater emotional expressiveness and patient connection. This duality reflects societal pressures on women to conform, with Paprika representing suppressed aspects related to freedom and self-expression. She demonstrates high intelligence and analytical problem-solving skills in both roles, though her professional persona involves greater emotional restraint. Professionally, she collaborates with Dr. Kōsaku Tokita, inventor of the DC Mini device enabling shared dream experiences. She initially used earlier prototype technology illegally as Paprika to treat patients outside approved channels, specializing in addressing psychological trauma and anxiety disorders through dream intervention. Her method involves guiding patients through symbolic dream narratives to resolve repressed conflicts, as seen in her treatment of Detective Toshimi Konakawa's recurring nightmares tied to unresolved past trauma. Her background includes childhood experiences of sexual assault, contributing to repressed trauma surfacing in nightmares. This history informs her professional approach while creating personal emotional barriers. Over approximately six years, she developed therapeutic expertise using dream technology during a ban, necessitating complete secrecy. During this period, she formally established her Paprika persona through physical alterations like hair changes and artificial freckles, adopting a younger behavioral presentation. Her professional journey involved treating high-profile male clients requiring mental health treatment discretion. Key relationships shape her development. With Tokita, she shares mutual professional respect evolving into romantic love, appreciating his childlike creativity despite societal judgment about his obesity; this culminates in marriage following the DC Mini crisis resolution. Dr. Morio Osanai, a colleague, develops an obsessive fixation combining professional jealousy with sexual attraction, leading to a dream-world assault where he attempts to forcibly remove her Paprika identity. Detective Konakawa develops feelings for her Paprika persona during treatment, representing therapeutic transference. Her character development centers on integrating dual identities. Initially maintaining strict separation between Dr. Chiba and Paprika, she gradually acknowledges their interconnection as manifestations of her whole identity. The DC Mini crisis forces confrontation with repressed emotions, particularly her love for Tokita. During the climactic dream merger event, she symbolically reconciles these identities through Paprika's transformation. This psychological integration allows acceptance of previously suppressed aspects, including romantic feelings and the validity of emotional expression within her professional identity. Following resolution of the DC Mini incident, she continues therapeutic work while adopting Tokita's surname, maintaining her connection to the Paprika persona as part of her integrated identity. The conclusion suggests ongoing therapeutic application of dream technology.