Greetings.
For you who have stumbled upon this link and content—somehow—I would like to
inform you guys that this is not the place where you will find any sorts of
download links for the anime which I am going to talk about in a moment. This
is going to be a late review—judging the anime’s release date—on Psycho Pass,
and I do apologize in advance for any mishaps in my writings as this is my
first attempt in creating such content. Spoilers alert. I am not sure that I
would be able to filter myself in terms of not spoiling the whole anime, so if
you are not ready and not willing to hear them spoilers well just watch the
anime first and then come back…Please.
Season 1
The first season of the anime consists of 22 episodes, and each is roughly 20 minutes long. It is your average format of anime, both in terms of its episode’s length and its season’s as well. Oddly enough, the copy that I have only consists of 11 episodes but the episodes are 40 minute-ish long and, as a result from my abrupt research, it is basically a fusion of two normal-length episodes. If you do the math (22 episodes with 40 minutes duration divided by 2 equals 11 episodes with 20 minutes-longer durations), you’ll get the idea—hopefully. The story is basically the same but more condensed.
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| An example of the actual visual of the anime |
Continuing
the review towards its basic and obvious features, the opening sequence along
with its soundtrack, of course, seems simple enough. The choice of art doesn’t
differ too much with the actual anime, and what was being presented during its
opening doesn’t seem to be spoiling the content, in terms of clues about
certain deaths, character appearance and so on. In terms of the music, I don’t
actually mind but it is not one of my favorites either—matters of taste.
The style
being portrayed seems to be similar towards anime that was released from 2012 and so forth, especially in terms of depth of color and smooth movement from images to images. Even though it is not as
overly exaggerated as the facial expression which we would see in Attack On
Titan, for example, the emphasis is enough to simply situate the chaos and the
intensity that the plot does provide.
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| An example of the CGI or 3D images within the anime |
The gore is
existent and quite one of the feature that the anime put as its main elements.
I didn’t find it too be too much to handle, or perhaps exaggerated like in
Another. It seems to have a role as an essential part to the violence and
action that took place. It is not the worse or the most gruesome gore that I’ve
found in an anime.
The plot
took place in some kind of 22th century Japan in which people’s attitude and
morality are judged under the system called the Sibyl system. It seems like in
the future the society have found a way to measure our psychological
coefficients so that the system can easily determine the things that are
supposed to make us happy. In addition, the system is also able to determine
certain coefficient that will point out whether certain person is a ‘good’ guy
or a ‘bad’ guy.
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| A Dominator |
Our
main focus will be towards Ms. Akane or Tsumemori Akane who is a freshman in a
police-like department that supposed to control every single commotion when a “latent
criminal” break loose. The interesting part is that the way which the system
attempts to regulate their community is through utilizing other latent criminal
who are being considered as a potential by the Sibyl system. It is basically
putting a murderer to stop another murderer. In addition, in conducting such
law-and-order both the Inspector (the ring-leader of the “bad” cop) and
Enforcer (the aforementioned “bad” cop) are equipped by some bad ass guns
called the Dominator. The guns are wirelessly connected to the Sibyl system and
thus regulated by it as well.
The conflict
of the whole plot eventually puts us grey, similar to the morality-related
questions which were being provoked or discussed in Death Note—in accordance to
my own perspective of course. Even though it was not as supernatural as the
book and the Shinigami(s) in Death Note, the problem that is being exposed
within the Sibyl system and the Dominator judgment procedure eventually leads
to an exposure and questioning of justice. The main antagonist named Makishima
Shougo created a turmoil within the system and even within the mind of both the
inspectors and enforcers through his abnormality of not having high level of
crime coefficient despite all the dubious things that he has done.
The value of
Sibyl’s law of justice starts to crumble as we could easily see how many
innocent people were misjudged. The scene where Akane’s friend died because of
the miscalculation on her Dominator was really upsetting to me. The incident,
yet again, pointed out the flaws hthat the absolute Sibyl system possess as
general judgement on people morality was based on simple numbers and
coefficient that didn’t always correlate with the actual good or bad deed being
committed. Such approach may be called as something that is equal or just yet
that only comes from the system who pointed the value out in the first place.
Moreover, another thing that upsets me is that Akane’s own inability to make a
choice by her own. Growing up in a society in which every single aspect of
one’s life was already determined by his or her dehumanizing values—the
psychological coefficient and what not—Akane looked unable to decide something
other than following the order that the system had given. She did experience some changes throughout
the anime but at hat particular moment we could see how horrible the system is.
Akane did attempt to shoot Makishima with a normal gun but she failed because
she was not ready and able (both physical and mentally as the result of the
burdening society) to take such risk and responsibility.
In the final
episode we were finally shown the true algorithm that worked behind the sibyl
system, and we also found out that the whole commotion towards Makishima were
simply based by Sibyl’s own intention to include Makishima’s abnormal
psychological state within their own panels—which was already constructed by
many brains of those who possess similar psychological symptom. The plot
decision to let the system win could easily be taken simply as an attempt and a
sign for a sequel. In addition, the access that Akane suddenly had towards the
true form of the Sibyl system ended up emphasizing the fact of a sequel yet
again. It is interesting in a way that by doing such situation we could see the
different point of view and intention that Akane did have towards the system
itself. On the other hand, such situation seems to situate an idea about how
powerful a ruling system can be despite all the fault Sibyl does have. Despite
the doubt that Akane and Kogami had towards the system, their position as mere
individuals and pawns to the system itself prevent them from actually doing
anything to fix the problem within the system.
Another
thing that I would like to point out is the various references that the anime
situated. I always have a soft spot for such attempt in any kind of content
whether it was a book, movie, etc. Different from some anime with satiric
attempt by mocking other anime like Sket Dance or Gintama, the references
presented in Psycho Pass looked a bit more serious as the anime seemed to
include various writings from around the globe. What I mean by writing is not
only famous books or work of art but famous discourses as well.
One of the
most significant reference is the book that Kogami read when he was recovering
from his injuries, Joseph Conrad’s “The Heart of Darkness”. As a graduate from
an English Department, it is interesting to see the appearance of such iconic
piece of literature in an anime. Even though I haven’t done any further
research in terms of its relevance and correlation with the anime, the
existence of such reference itself is already a fresh air for me. In addition
to Conrad’s book, there are some occasions in which the characters seemed to be
talking about various Western concepts and discourses relating to psychology,
society, and so on. One of the thing that I am aware of is Foucault’s concept
on panopticon; a concept of control similar to a jail in which the watch tower
is located at the middle and the cells were meticulously arranged around the
tower—read more if you want to understand. In terms of its relevance, the
closest I could perceive is with the Sibyl system itself. Sibyl put itself as
the center of the society and thus controlling the people through all of the
methods being portrayed—the Dominator, psychological coefficients—even though
it ends up putting the people in a kind of jail—dehumanizing confinement that
eventually diminishes their existence into coefficients and numbers.
Season 2
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| 2nd Season opening sequence |
As I seemed
to have blabber too much already in the first season’s review above, my
approach toward the second season wouldn’t be as much—hopefully.
The second season is shorter in terms of its episode count with only 11 episodes. Compared to the first the opening sequence of the season looks a bit more complicated yet without spoiling the plot of the anime. It seems to have more subliminal and mind-provoking images compared to the comic and noir-like opening. The song “Enigmatic Feeling” by Ling Tosite Sigure (凛として時雨 Rin Toshite Shigure, lit. Cold Seasonal Rain) complements the style and the content of the opening sequence well enough in terms its vagueness and mind-provoking features.
Looking at a piece from the opening sequence above, Akane has become the main protagonist of the season as Kogami, sadly, was gone without any trace—as a consequence from what he did at the first one I guess. Due to his father’s death in the first season, Ginoza’s coefficient increased towards the bad side thus he has appointed as one of the new enforcer under Akane’s command. In addition, there are some addition to the team such as: a rookie and annoying inspector Shimotsuki Maki (as has been pointed out from the last episode of season one), along with two new enforcers Sho Hinakawa, and Togane Sakuya. Maki is a bit more annoying than season one Akane as her “loyalty” and obedience towards the system annoys me to a point where I wish she was there to make things more complicated for the rest of the team. Even though she does have quite a role in the plot, especially in being easily exploited by the dark side of the sibyl system, I just want to punch her if I could. Maybe that was because I already knew the bad intention and problematic features that the Sibyl system does have from the first one. On the other hand, Sho Hinakawa’s appearance along with the increasing role of Kogami’s teacher Joji Saiga are interesting addition to the anime. Looking at Sho’s attitude and appearance makes me think of L from Death Note, even though he is not a sugar addict with weird sitting pose and hygiene. His expertise in Holographic stuff and awkwardness add something fresh to the overly complex matter at hand. In addition, Professor Saiga’s existence also adds some edge within the team. His micro-emotion observation and mere brilliance is proven to be an important asset for Akane’s team.
The second season is shorter in terms of its episode count with only 11 episodes. Compared to the first the opening sequence of the season looks a bit more complicated yet without spoiling the plot of the anime. It seems to have more subliminal and mind-provoking images compared to the comic and noir-like opening. The song “Enigmatic Feeling” by Ling Tosite Sigure (凛として時雨 Rin Toshite Shigure, lit. Cold Seasonal Rain) complements the style and the content of the opening sequence well enough in terms its vagueness and mind-provoking features.
Looking at a piece from the opening sequence above, Akane has become the main protagonist of the season as Kogami, sadly, was gone without any trace—as a consequence from what he did at the first one I guess. Due to his father’s death in the first season, Ginoza’s coefficient increased towards the bad side thus he has appointed as one of the new enforcer under Akane’s command. In addition, there are some addition to the team such as: a rookie and annoying inspector Shimotsuki Maki (as has been pointed out from the last episode of season one), along with two new enforcers Sho Hinakawa, and Togane Sakuya. Maki is a bit more annoying than season one Akane as her “loyalty” and obedience towards the system annoys me to a point where I wish she was there to make things more complicated for the rest of the team. Even though she does have quite a role in the plot, especially in being easily exploited by the dark side of the sibyl system, I just want to punch her if I could. Maybe that was because I already knew the bad intention and problematic features that the Sibyl system does have from the first one. On the other hand, Sho Hinakawa’s appearance along with the increasing role of Kogami’s teacher Joji Saiga are interesting addition to the anime. Looking at Sho’s attitude and appearance makes me think of L from Death Note, even though he is not a sugar addict with weird sitting pose and hygiene. His expertise in Holographic stuff and awkwardness add something fresh to the overly complex matter at hand. In addition, Professor Saiga’s existence also adds some edge within the team. His micro-emotion observation and mere brilliance is proven to be an important asset for Akane’s team.
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| They looked similar...or feel similar, in a way. |
Plot wise,
the second season still emphasizes over the problem that the Sibyl system does
have along with Akane’s struggle and effort concerning her own idea of justice
and the appearance of a new abnormal villain, Kirito Kamui. As someone who is
abnormally constructed from 184 different dead people’s body parts, Kamui was
not detected by the Sibyl system—a ghost of the society. Having a goal to
destroy the system and help others in clearing their hue and crime coefficient,
Kamui attempted to steal the dominators and use them to overturn the society.
In addition, Mind-provoking, disturbing yet awesomely enough Kamui attempted to
expose the flaws that the systems do have by; brainwashing an inspector, making
the inspectors kill innocent people and victim, and turning the innocent
civilians into ruthless murderers. Weirdly
and psychotic enough, I seem to be fond of this Kamui character even though his
method in actually overturning the system and clearing people’s cloudy hue were
too inhuman. It is then ironic to say such thing when knowing that the way
Sibyl controls the society no better than Kamui’s direct approach.
The question
“What Color?” became the main theme of the whole season as it provokes the
complicated situation which the society itself does have. The question,
obviously, does not correlate with one’s skin color but of course the color of
one’s hue and crime coefficient. The question was asked by Kamui in repeat
alongside each crime or scheme that he did commit and it seemed to be pointed
at different “classes” of the society; the inspectors when he killed an
enforcer with his own inspector’s hand and dominator, Akane in personal, the
society, and, in the end, the Sibyl system itself. Thus Sibyl’s approach
towards justice was once again being problematized. We were presented with even
more examples that show how dirty the Sibyl system really was. Togane’s
appearance may be taken as an attempt to replace Kogami’s bad ass attitude yet
his true role as merely a pawn to Sibyl’s dark side was eventually exposed. In
addition, interestingly enough in the two last episodes we could see that Akane
ended up “using” Kamui’s plan to break open the system. Even though she didn’t
technically join forces with Kamui (as she said it herself), Akane used that
chance to finally break apart the system and eventually restructuring the Sibyl
panels in a way that both Akane and Kamui succeeded to make Sibyl erase its
dark side and then implementing a new method in judging and controlling the
society. Moreover, it is heartwarming to see how Kamui ended up saving Akane
from Togane’s reach even though he seemed to be dead as well. I say seem
because at the end credit of the last episode I was sure that I saw Kamui
sitting in the health facility room with a smile over his face.
As the news
of the 3rd season keeps on popping up, it is hard to see the last
episode as nothing but another clue for the series continuity. The first clue;
even though the Sibyl system has been reformed as a result from Akane and Kamui
persuasion, Sibyl did mention that the reformation would take quite some time
and they hoped that Akane would still do her job well as an inspector—a rather
vivid implication towards her role in the next season along with Sibyl’s
possibility to repeat the mistake that has happened. Kamui’s appearance in one
of the sequences from the end credit makes me question on his presence and role
in the next season as well. Long story short, I’ll be waiting.
Conclusions?
In terms of
mind-provoking as Psycho Pass is considered as a science-fiction anime, it is
quite enough to mess around with our own morality—at least mine was provoked in
a way thus this review is born, no? Plot wise it is not overly complicated but
it is not something that can be glazed with ease either. The style doesn’t
bother me and it seems to fit the plot in general. If say I have to rate…7 and
¾ out of 10 I guess. That’s a wrap, for now.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psycho-Pass
http://psychopass.wikia.com/wiki/Psycho-Pass_Wiki
http://psychopass.wikia.com/wiki/Psycho-Pass_Wiki
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