Psycho-Pass is a show that's been a high priority on my PTW list. The only thing I knew before going into this show was that 1. Hana Kanazawa is playing the female MC, 2. It's a cyberpunk anime 3. It has 3 seasons and is airing one right as I'm typing and 4. The main villain is supposed to be amazing, 5. I've seen a pic with brains that have to do with the show and 6. The extremely catchy yet chaotic opening.
Episode 1: It had an interesting first 2 minutes of something that would happen later (TTGL also did this), It's a flash-forward where the main villain and Shinya Kougami basically had a fight, where I'm predicting it will either fit in or reappear in some of the last episodes in the show, so as of right now, it didn't make sense but it probably will. Then, I got some really great exposition where I understood what the Sibyl System and what a Psycho-Pass was. Apparently, the world in Psycho-Pass has something called a sibyl system, where it's built to make your life as suitable to you as possible. It's a guide into everything you do and it tells you what suits you the most for your personality and taste. Everyone in the world has a Psycho-Pass, that they can use to make sure that their whole life are in order and that every desire that an individual has gets fulfilled, except if you're a criminal. When the psycho-pass gets clouded, that's when the police break in and force you to go to therapy or get killed. No one in this show seems to get arrested, the criminals either get to therapy or immediately get slaughtered.
Anyways, like I mentioned in things that I knew before going into Psycho-Pass, Hana Kanazawa is here! Now, Hana Kanazawa is someone that I really like but I wouldn't consider her to be one of my favorites, but on Akane Tsunemori, she has done a superb job. Speaking of Akane, what a bishoujo! She is not only adorable, good-looking and one of the highest-ranking students at her university, she also has a great sense of justice. This is noticed when they had to kill someone who has a high crime rate in her Psycho-pass but is a victim. It's clear that she is shocked and that she feels that this is something immoral, but what she then does was so surprising. She then shoots Kougami, which was so fucking suspenseful holy shit dude arghghghgghghgh! Everything from them killing the perpetrator to her shooting Kougami was amazing. Psycho-Pass has seriously one of the best first episodes in anime history, it's up there with Monster, Gurren Lagann & Steins: Gate.
Episode 2: After the high intensity and dramatic first episode. This one is more slowed down and focuses more on dialogue and is set during the daylight. Kougami is now in the hospital and Akane feels gloomy about what has happened. Everyone kind of ignores her, but when they see that is was truly an accident that happened on her first day of the job, they start to talk to her again. There is no mission in this episode like the last one, it's a much more calm episode and we get to see Kougami explaining his actions where we get to see a flashback off something traumatic that had happened to him.
Episode 3: As the episode begins, we see a grunting Kougami working out. I'm starting to like him a lot as well, he has definitely had some great characterization so far in the show. Now, the crew with a mission! I didn't think that this fight between the perpetrator and him was as entertaining, mostly because he didn't blow upright and there in the most epic way like in ep.1. What was so interesting about the perpetrator was that he was a guy you felt bad for. He was bullied by his colleges, but then Kougami starts thinking that it's him that murdered some innocent lives, which is why they're investigating at that place.
Alright, so this was some of Psycho-Pass! I'm looking forward to watching some more of this show, it's been really great so far. I have no complaints except for the fight in Episode 3 only being alright.
EPISODES 4-9
This show is starting to get really interesting. In the first three episodes, I was way more focused on the main two characters in the story. But ever since Ep.4, I've been much more interested in the plot of the show. The show has a structure now, instead of just a stand-alone complex which was the first 3 episodes. Now, they spend 2-3 episodes investigating the crime and finding out who the criminal is.
However, if there is one character that has caught my eye more and more, it's the villain by the name of Shugo Makishima. At first, I thought that he would just be a guy who was behind one of the crimes. The one where it looked like a game, anyways, Behind these two investigations, the villain has been behind both of these. I can say that this man is manipulative, since he disguises himself as f.ex a teacher, while in fact not being one.
Remember that scene in episode 1? Where the criminal blew himself up with a weapon and he died in the most awesome way ever? Well, that finally happened again! In episode 6, where they had found the guy who had killed two of the online personalities (cant remember their names at the moment).
If there is something that I can applaud this show for, it's the way it plays with your expectations, like f.ex in episode 3 where the guy who I felt bad for was, in fact, the criminal that they were looking for. Here's how it all went down, 1. They looked for a killer at a workforce, 2. The main two see a guy who the viewer feels really bad for. 3. They feel bad for him and help him. 4. It turns out that he is the killer that they were looking for with the clouded psycho-pass. Furthermore, in the first case that was in the span of episodes 4 to 5 was unexpected, it was so cool to realize that Tsunemori had gone to a person who had given her advice and then it turns out that person would die.
The characters are still developing and I'm liking them even more and more. I think that Shougi and Tsunemori will eventually end up in a relationship since everyone in the show hints at her liking him and she blushes and says "chigau", she's too adorable.
Speaking of Shougi, now we finally found out what had happened in his past that has made him so emotionless and deadpan nowadays. It was that his colleague that he was close with died in an extremely brutal way.
EPISODES 10-12
Shougi has gotten shot again! This was surprising since I thought that he had become more "bulletproof" since Akane accidentally shot him out of fear. Shougo has now gone personal and has used Akane's friend in order to capture her and Shougi. What happened is that because Shougi is such an ISTP, he had safely avoided being kidnapped. Someone who was less fortunate however was the victim.
And Jesus christ.... Shogo is one evil motherfucker! He has now killed a character that I never thought would reappear again. And yet she did, that was one of Tsunemoris friend who Shogo killed. Before this incident, Shougi never killed anyone, he made other people kill his victims for him. If he's the king of the chessboard, then the cyborg is the bishop, and every other killer is a disposable pawn, like f.ex that psycho schoolgirl and that cyborg killer.
Questions behind the morality o the Sibyl System has sprung up again! Now the question is more of how many people can escape the system without their psycho passes getting clouded. Apparently, Shougo has never had his psycho-pass clouded before and his criminal coefficient is too low for him to get shot. He's supposedly an outlier of the system, Therefore, Akane couldn't just kill him with the dominator. She had to use a real weapon instead of the dominator that she's used to using. But what then happens is this: He killed her friend because when Tsunemori tried to kill him with a shotgun that he himself had handed over to over, she was too afraid to do so and missed.
My god do I absolutely love the dominator. Just how the weapon focuses on someone that has a high criminal coefficient and kills them in the most awesome way possible. With them just imploding, it looks so fucking cool!
Anyways, the show goes in a calmer note in
Episode 12, which is an episode about a character that I haven't thought of at all so far: Yayoi. It was about her backstory and how she had eventually become an enforcer for MWPSB. What's so nice about this episode we get to see Sasayama, who later got killed. She was a guitarist in a band and what had happened that she talked with a person from another band and she got put in a type of jail because it interfered too much with her Psycho-Pass.
Again I have to applaud this anime for doing something really good, this was to bring up a character that you don't think is that important or noteworthy. Only to explore that person later on and bring them into the narrative and plot. Yuki, the school event and Sasayama are three perfect examples of this.
The sibyl system is questioned even more and more. Essentially, the sibyl system is really simple and effective, but it's also unfair and sometimes even inhumane. As we have clearly seen, there have been so many incidents where a person has a high criminal coefficient without someone being an actual criminal. There are also people, like Shogo who can surpass the sibyl system with other methods like f.ex using REAL weapons and therefore being independent of the technology.
Like in the previous opening, "There's so much beauty, yet I can't see the light". Because that's the thing. Even though the Sibyl System in Psycho-Pass is "perfect" for most people, it still carries out some issues. This brings me to a huge problem that has reappeared in Psycho-Pass. Everyone is too sensitive! No one can handle conflict and thus when their psycho passes just gets a little too clouded because of some trauma, they suddenly become criminals! Also, if you're an Inspector and have seen some f'd up stuff, then you automatically become an Enforcer just because of your Psycho-Pass getting clouded.
Speaking of the opening, it changed to a good one. The new one is not great, which is understandable since the previous one was so awesome. None the less, I still like it, just not love.
EPISODES 13-15
Episode 13 has so far been the only episode that's just good, not mind-blowing but just good. Here, Akane went through treatment basically experiencing her friend's death. We also found out that there is both a son and a father in the police department, that's pretty good, right?
Anyways, after that episode, this show has become unpredictable as hell. Holy sheeeeeeeeeeeeet! Why this show gotta be so unpredictable? Shougo Makishima is one hell of a villain. Since they figured out who he was around episode 11, he has now gone on to send anonymous, helmet-wearing gangsters to beat up and kill civilians. These last three episodes have as you may have read, have been insane.
EPISODES 16-20
So let's recap, Shougo Akashima got captured, escaped and we are now introduced to another villain, who is the head of MWPSB!
Also, rest in peace Kagari, my boy died only for the purpose of him not telling anyone what would happen. He was the one who made everyone feel easy and comfortable. Now, as a consequence of his death, the MWPSB is starting to break down because the steaks are getting higher and the mood is getting more and more tense and serious. Ginoza's psycho pass is starting to get clouded, Kogami has quit his job, etc.
I knew that there would be a twist, I just didn't know what it would be about and this was not what I expected. The twist has to do with the official reveal of the sibyl system! In previous episodes, we got a preview of how it looked like, where there where brains everywhere moving in different directions; up and down. The explanation is what happened and it's even more gruesome then what I thought it would be. Here's how the system works: The outliers of the sibyl systems' brains are used to read the criminal coefficient. What's practical about this it that those who don't belong anywhere on the sibyl system are the most useful for the system. Not only does this benefit the criminals, but also the citizens. It's decided on what makes them the happiest so the pressure of deciding what they want to do with their life is off.
But this has loads of problems, mostly that it's EXTREMELY immoral. Like I said before, just because you have a high criminal coefficient doesn't mean that you are the criminal, likewise, if you have a low criminal coefficient doesn't mean that you're
NOT a criminal. Also, why would criminals decide if you are a criminal or not? That's even more immoral. The sibyl system answer is that because this system can achieve perfection by using its outliers as the source, then the system transcends all morals and ethics.
So why explain this to Akane, who uses ethics more than any other person at Sibyl System? Well, because both the sibyl system and Akane share a similar goal: to remove criminals from the streets! But why tell this to just Akane, you might think? Well, that's because she is the only person at MWPSB who is the most goal-oriented and question-seeking out of her and her colleges and she's the least likely to tell anyone or do something about it. Which they're wrong about that because in late episode 20 we saw Akane taking action and making a promise with the Sibyl System that if Shogo gets captured, Kogami gets set free.
Akane's philosophy is the following: Humans should try to feel around what they want to do with their life and find the meaning themselves instead of a system figuring out it for them.
Kogami has now quit his job and is now on a mission to hunt down Shogo, which was the best thing he could do because if he stayed he had to be under control by the chief, who's brain is used by the sibyl system! I think now that she's the TRUE villain of this series.
I'm beginning to also understand Shogo's philosophy. That human should act on their free will and he has wanted to see what happens when humans can do when they're the most "alive" and "free", which in most cases means that he wants to see them fulfill all of their desires, no matter how illegal they are. He has been fucked since Day 1, since he is an outlier of the Sibyl System where his crime coefficient can't be measured, therefore he has been alienated at what makes him human where everyone can find out what makes them happy, except for him (and some other people)!
The fight that was, at the beginning as a flash-forward, which has now been shown again in Episode 17, is a beautiful fight between Kogami and Shogo, both of whom are masters at martial arts.
This show has now answered most questions but I have two. What I'm wondering now is first: How will the series end? Now, Shogo is planning to commit bio-terrorism at it seems like the largest manufacture facility of hyper-oats, which 99% of all food comes from. The second question I have is: Do the outliers have to switch brains with someone else in order to survive or do they just die when they become a part of the Sibyl System?
EPISODES 21-22 (FINALE)
Akane has become such an independent and awesome detective since she has been shown the Sibyl System. She is now my favorite character from the whole show and the one that I will remember the most, Shogo and Kogami are great as well, but I like Akane the most. First of all R.i.p Tomomi Masaoka. Ginoza's father got killed and he and Ginoza had a moment when Ginoza almost got killed by Shogo by then Masaoka jumped in to save him.
And R.i.p Shogo Makishima, your death was sad and made me tear up a bit. You were awesome and one of the greatest villains in all of anime. I really like the way he died. The sun was setting, there was sad piano music in the background and we got to see the first time in the show of him being vulnerable (him crying).
Lesbians? Yes, I didn't realize this until now. But, Yayoi is a lesbian and Kanamori is bisexual. This was very surprising to see, but a cool twist I guess. I feel a bit stupid about that since it was hinted so many times that she was interested in girls with her being in a band and in a special "relationship" with a singer from another band.
Akane is now a senpai who is the instructor to new members of the MWSP, at the end of episode 22 we got to see a new member getting instructed which is the exact same as how Akane got instructed in the last episode.
Conclusion: Psycho-Pass has become one of my all-time favorite anime. Even though the last half was awesome, I like the first half a bit more since it had less of an idea of what was happening. But I loved that in the first half I had many questions like f.ex; How does the Sibyl System work? or Why does everyone except this system except for Akane? or even What is the point of this system as well as who is behind it?
