Psycho Pass: The Movie

By: Robert Murphy

In the past Psycho Pass has merely been focusing it's stories inward as people have come out in opposition of the Sibyl system and all that it stands for, they've wanted to turn it up on it's head and make those who loyally follow it question what kind of world they are living in. Psycho Pass: The Movie however looks outward to the world outside the "peaceful" society that Japan has established for itself and tries to spread it's grand views to other lands. Naturally, it's people are not as accepting as those who have spent so long under the watchful eye of Sibyl and so Akane Tsunemori must travel to a land ravaged by civil war and a guerrilla force that is led by a former member of her team.

Thus far, the plot lines for both Psycho Pass and Psycho Pass 2 have been so engaging that I never found myself curious as to what the rest of the world was like outside of Japan's borders. While the story focuses merely on the shores somewhere in Asia's mainland there is a distinct impression that the world is dire need of stability and safety everywhere you go. Sibyl is willing to offer just that in this latest entry into the series but it appears to be going poorly as an unknown group of terrorists breaks into Japan in order to punish those who have unleashed this force on them. Akane and her team fortunately got wind of the attack before anything serious occurs but something even more disturbing comes about once the situation is investigated further. It would seem the  leader of these terrorists is Shinya Kogami and he has been preventing Sibyl and their sympathizers overseas from gaining control over the land. Determined to discovers the whole truth for herself, Akane sets out to find Kogami and have him reveal the whole story as well as determine what Sibyl is really planning. 

Immediately the situation seems bleak for Akane and this land as it's cities and people are battered from the constant fighting and unrest that has plagued the land. The only prosperous area is the technologically advance island city just off shore of the mainland where Sibyl and the areas leaders have settled and begun to implement the new order of things. The area looks just like Japan but there are some very disturbing sites when you look closely at the peaceful atmosphere. Many of the citizens inside are forced to wear collars that constantly check their psycho pass due to so many people having above average hues with war, violence and hate being overly common. 

These people sadly have become a servant class inside of the city where they are treated as lesser for just having a questionable hue. They must take separate buses, are only allowed to work menial jobs (if they get any at all) and are also immediately blamed in altercations if the other party is a none collar wearing person. What's even more disheartening is the simple fact that if any of these people's hues go too far above the already agreed upon new limit under Sibyl then they are killed instantly by the governments aggressive military police force. It is a tough pill to swallow and since Akane has no authority here she must look the other way in the hopes that she can eventually get to the bottom of what is happening here.

This is where the movie definitely shines however and it's with Akane front and center confronting yet another Sibyl debacle. After two series Akane has become something of a potent force against all of Sibyl's misdoings and it in turn actually values her input when critical moments arise. It's made her so much stronger than the scared little girl who first joined Kogami years ago on their first mission and so when the two of them come together again it is quite the interesting turn around. Akane is able to read Kogami and determine what he is feeling, knowing instantly that he did not intend to become leader of a resistance force. Kogami along side of her is also still rock solid as a character and his current situation leaves for some unflattering parallels to a man he once killed for being able to bring out fanatical devotion in people. This is because he has done just this with the rebels around him, not deliberately, but the people in the camp all look to him as some sort of savior to their cause and it worries him. 

While Akane and Kogami are at the forefront, the rest of the cast manage to garner some interesting screen time in the movie. Ginoza has changed drastically alongside of Akane by becoming more relaxed and open with what is going with himself personally and this includes revealing his needing to punch some sense into Kogami. It's not anything major for the story but it's a bit of light fun in another dark Psycho Pass entry. But by far the most interesting side characters to come out of all this was Akane's partner Mika who has taken a different path after discovering Sibyl's secret. She has essentially become the systems willing watch dog since then and her role as this is far more established here as she not only brutally tortures someone to get information but also she is constantly challenging and critical of Akane's methods. Mika praises Sybil here at the end when everything is revealed and played off as a massive success, it ultimately feels like a massive conflict between her an Akane will be coming in a possible new season.

That factor alone is the only thing wrong with the Psycho Pass: The Movie and that's the fact that it is less of an overall movie as it is a continuation of everything that came before. The story furthers many different plot lines and creates an overall solid new story to go along with all the new developments. So the fact that the story itself is not a beginning to end or stand alone event is not a bad thing to have here in any way. Adding on top of the excellent story pieces you have Akane and Kogami together once again and showing off just what type of characters they have become. As always too Sibyl is on constant source of intrigue for the story and seeing how it can effect the outside world is a terrifying thought. In the end, all the pieces come together and Psycho Pass: The Movie proves to be a stepping stone to greater things down the road. 

Good:

- Akane and Kogami together again

- Seeing Sybil being used on another society is both terrifying and interesting

- Side character development and stories that could lead to future plot lines

Bad:

- The "movie" is less stand alone and more of a continuation of everything we've seen so far

Scully Rating: 8.8 out of 10

Psycho-Pass 2

By: Robert Murphy

**Heavy amount of spoilers**

The original Psycho Pass was an anime that I had no prior knowledge of going into it when I began to watch it and it instantly became a program that I wanted to watch every single week. This wonderful sensation returned when the newest season, Psycho Pass 2, made it's arrival just a few short weeks ago. The show depicted a futuristic world in which everyone lives under the law of the Sibyl system, a faceless body behind society that watches everything that you do and will remove you from society if you present a threat to it. It does this by measuring people's intent to do wrong doings such as commit crimes or acts of violence because this affects everyone around them and their Hue. Hue is the color system by which everyone is judged, having a clear Hue means you will live a happy life, a dark Hue and you either are imprisoned or killed. It is a dark and marshal law type of town but everyone lives in peace, from the outside looking in the society under Sibyl is a paradise but those like Akane Tsunemori know the truth.

The story this time around is a further continuation of what happened from the first season of Psycho Pass. Akane has returned as the now veteran inspector and works with a mostly new team of faces but never the less, she returns to trying to protect society after learning the truth about Sibyl last season. Her new threat though is something of an entirely different level, a man named Kamui has arisen from the shadows and not only is he committing horrible crimes but he doesn't even register on the Sibyl system. Where as apposed to our last bad guy could simply keep his Hue levels low while committing crimes, Kamui simply doesn't even exist. Kamui though isn't acting out randomly, no he is a character with a plan and I watched it meticulously unfold each week and I absolutely could not stop watching. You find out that he wants to know how the Sibyl system works, taking down Enforcers, kidnapping Inspectors and testing Dominators, all to find out how Sibyl judges society. All this was incredibly interesting as I said but at the same time, insanely frightening because these experiments usually involved gross amounts of death, violence or mutilation of people to get what he was after and he just unflinching moved on to the next problem. 

This brings me to the other point of the season I enjoyed which was the Sibyl system itself getting revealed. Yes, we learned that the Sibyl system is a being run by the minds of societies most intriguing criminals but other than big reveal we don't learn much. This time around the origin story behind Sibyl and how even some of the people volunteered to be apart of it. It sets the ground work for most of what we know in the new season and despite having a short time to do so, it manages to present the information smoothly. 

Earlier I mentioned how we are introduced to some new characters, while most of Akane's former team were lost in the first season some still remained but a new junior detective has joined the team, Mika Shimotsuki. While she is the junior, she has been in the field with Akane and the Enforcers for some time now. She is an overall mix for me as a character for the simple fact that she does serve a purpose to the story that I liked but her actions are so irksome that it's hard to notice. Mika excepts the Sibyl system to a fault, she views criminals as people to be judged and removed and Enforcers are the lucky tools to be assisting in Sibyl's justice. She in turn hates the actions of Akane and her attitudes toward dealing with latent criminals, Mika would just want to shoot them and be done with it and not trying and save them if possible. Mika does in the end learn the truth about Sibyl herself and her response as a pure believer proves the feeling that most of society would make if they found out the truth as well. People cannot question the will of the "God" that they live under and excepting is the best course of action.

As for Kamui as the new villain, he may have had an enjoyable plot that wrapped me up each week but as for a character, he is fairly flat. The brief moment where you finally get to know what he's all about is right at the end before he pops into a blood bubble and then you're left to think about the rest of the time you actually learned nothing about him. He was a ghost in all honesty, even when people talked to him on screen it's almost like he's not even there and he just seems to be another faceless entity like Sibyl. This was overall great to further the plot in the story but as a villain you would think with all he's done he would inspire more emotion in you. 

For a final sort of warning though I would like to note how immensely bloody this season was. Psycho Pass 2 already has the mature rating, Psycho Pass had it too, this time however it is more than warranted with the number of people that you will watch implode all over the screen and warp your senses. There is also a puppy scene I don't want to get into, psychological and physical torture will ensue and you will be watching it all. It is a mixed sort of feeling I had because the show does not do it for any shock value whatsoever but it is a lot and I wonder if it was really all that necessary. 

My final thought is that Psycho Pass 2 continues the already great ground work that was put forth from the first season. Not only do we learn more about the Sibyl system this time around but it itself gets to be judged by another entity and has to decide whether or not it can evolve or be destroyed by it. The story also sees the return of some great characters, Akane herself becomes more of the main character that I wanted her to be and carries herself stronger than ever after the incidents with Sibyl. I do however wish that Kamui had been a much more dominant presence, I didn't get to like him until the very end and then he was gone and unable to make a further impact. But else wise, if you can handle the mature rating and are a returning fan, I would recommend watching Psycho Pass 2.

Good:

- Akane and a couple other returning solid characters as well as some new ones

- Learning more about Sibyl and it's origins 

- Kamui's plan and unraveling the Sibyl system had me wrapped up every week

Bad:

- Kamui himself isn't too dominant of a bad guy

- Mika was a hard to like character and her actions certainly don't help

Scully Rating: 8.8 out of 10

Psycho-Pass

By: Robert Murphy

In a distant future of Japan, its people are all monitored and watched by a technological break through that measures citizen’s psychological states, mental inclinations and aptitudes right down to its core. This technology is known as the Sibyl System and it has paved the way for what many believe to be a perfect society where crime is almost none existent, people are all employed and live in an almost utopian society. Psycho-Pass tells the story of the people who stop the few crimes that still occur in this day and age and bring them to justice by either capturing them for therapy and treatment or removing them from society all together. Sibyl decides whether a human life is worth being around in the new society founded here and people known as Enforcers are the executioners that carry out its judgment.

The world of Psycho-Pass gives off a very Ghost in the Shell feel to it when I first starting getting into, a futuristic world of technology being extremely well advanced with holograms and robots all over the place. However, the concept is far different from Ghost in the Shell where people live in almost numbing bliss free from cares or worries about the people around them, almost like they live in Canada or something. At first I quite enjoyed the state in which people lived in but as the show progressed I soured on it, not because of the shows story telling but because the people were in fact numb and lived shallow lives do to the bubble world they lived in under the Sibyl System. Sibyl monitors peoples true feelings and looks deep into just what kind of person you are, not by the actions you take or how you live your life, that doesn’t matter to Sibyl because if you’re deemed a bad egg you’re going to be cracked. This is fine for most people though because a majority of the population is happy but it doesn’t seem too great from the other side especially if you’re someone that is deemed unable to be fixed by therapy and are removed from society all together, either by killing you or putting you in an isolation facility.

The story itself follows the people who work at Public Safety Bureau's Criminal Investigation Division, those who track down criminals that either refuse treatment or have been scanned by Sibyl and seen to have clouded emotions or Hues as the show calls it. Akane Tsunemori is the newest member to this team and she works as an Inspector, people who give orders and are generally in charge of the criminal cases that are found by Sibyl. Then we have the Enforcers, these people are what is known as latent criminals people that should be removed from society but are used to help track down others with high crime statistics so Inspectors crime statistics don't go up. Akane is a shy and seemingly fragile girl who you wouldn't expect to work in a job like this but she chooses it as her career because she recieved a high aptitude for it from Sibyl and joins to find out why. Akane almost right away shakes the foundation of what Inspectors are suppose to be like and she treats the Enforcers like normal people, not looking down on them and judging them. Alongside her, I found the Enforcers all to be loveable characters but weren't to deep as far as characters go this was the case I found with Nobuchika Ginoza, the other Inspector working with Akane who even when he had a something personal about his life come into the story it kinda fell flat or you saw it coming. My absolute favorite character had to of been the antagonist, Shogo Makishima, who was the one in the story to actially make me feel the sourness I mentioned earlier about the society under Sibyl. Shogo does an excellent job of being that bad guy you hate to love and makes the story what it was for me which was great. 

Psycho-Pass is one of those animes that comes along and makes a stand on something and says okay this happening, this is what society or something is going to be like and makes you really question whether its right or not. Much like in Death Note, criminals are being punished and removed from society and Psycho-Pass does the same thing except that it’s sanctioned and it’s an every day thing that people welcomed. Whether you agree with it or disagree with it is something you will have to watch and decide for yourself.

Good:

- A solidly paced and compelling story

- Shogo is probably one of my top anime antagonists and really drives the story

- A great setting in a Ghost in the Shell like futuristic world

- Makes you question whether or not you’d want to be lived in a world under Sibyl

Bad:

- Characters could have used a little more work

Scully Rating: 9.0 out of 10