Let's Review! Psycho-Pass

I am on a roll here. Today, I am going to be reviewing another hyped (is it?) anime called Psycho-Pass. It is produced by the infamous Production I.G. (Blood+, Ghost in the Shell, xxxHolic) under the direction of Naoyoshi Shiotani and Katsuyuki Motohiro, and it is written by Gen Urobuchi (Fate/Zero, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Aldnoah Zero 2nd Season). It's been on my to-watch list for quite some time. A lot of people that I know personally has recommended this to me, as well. The same goes when I surf the web for top anime lists. This made me even more puzzled about the series. Finally, iFlix's free trial has allowed me to see it. Currently, the anime has two seasons. But for this review, I shall focus on the first season, because season 2 follows a different story and doing a critique on both storylines might give me a headache. So here we go.

The following review is spoiler free.

Plot

forums.jordantrudgett.com

Okay, let me break it down for you; In the 22nd century, Japan has completely given in to the wonders of science and technology. The biggest breakthrough is the Sibyl System, which is a high form of technology that serves to uphold law and justice. It does so by looking at everyone's Psycho-Pass, which measures one's mental state and crime coefficient (the higher the number, the most likely you are to become a criminal). The Psycho-Pass determines how mentally healthy you are by looking at your hue or color. If it is light and clear, then the Sibyl System will be able to give you a good job and a very stable life. If it becomes dark and cloudy, then you are in need of therapy. But when worse comes to worse, your crime coefficient may be too high, making therapy an impossible option. You either become a latent criminal or you have to be severely eliminated. We get to view this dystopian world in the eyes of Japan's police force or the MWPSB--particularly Unit One and their enforcers, who are latent criminals who are given a chance to work-- and we get to see how they uphold the standards of the Sibyl System. 

The entire team in the second opening. (From: aminoapps.com )

Just by looking at my attempted synopsis, it is easy to tell that this anime has a very complex storyline. And it actually does. In the first episode, you can get overwhelmed with explanations. I guess it was necessary because the setting behind this world is a bit complex. The society shown here works in a certain way and this may not be easily understood. But I thought the explanations didn't need to be overstuffed. There were some elements that didn't need excessive dialogue, and can be self-explanatory with just the animation and action sequences. 

But this anime is not just heavy with explanations, but in dialogue. Most of the time, the dialogue can get technical or deep. The themes tackled in this anime discuss about the matters of free will and what justice truly means. It even questions what makes a person a criminal, which aggravates the very core of the story. This leads to a reality of what the world would actually be like when a collective group no longer fears crime and depends on a system, until they become exposed to something that involves crime. The Sibyl System creates standards that makes Japan, a black and white society. It is already imposed what is considered good and bad, and the police are tasked to maintain these so-called standards. Apparently, as you progress throughout the show, you eventually see that this is easier said than done. Because every perfect or dystopian society always have a catch to them. And we get to see how this affects our main characters. This is one of the many things that I like about this anime. It's very deep, but it can get very complicated so getting confused may be frequent. The setting is fantastic and it has a good premise.

I also appreciate the pacing of this anime. It doesn't take that much time for the real plot to kick in, because there are a few teases about what is going to happen in the first eight episodes. You will have an idea of who the villain will be, but you don't get to know what he is like until he finally has an arc. Apart from the challenging comprehensibility, I wasn't able to find that much major problems with how the story was being told.

Score for Plot: 

Characters

From left to right || Bottom to top: Toyohisa Senguji, Choe Go-sung, Shogo Makishima || Left to right: Akane Tsunemori, Shinya Kogami, Nobuchika Ginoza, Shusei Kagari, Yayoi Kinuzuka, Shion Karanomori, Tomomi Masaoka (from www.heypoorplayer.com)

The story's main characters are Akane Tsunemori, a rookie inspector and Shinya Kogami, an enforcer or simply Akane's subordinate. Akane starts out as one of those naive and innocent protagonists. However, she manages to surpass this arc and learns to hold her own. This only makes her a serviceable protagonist, because most of the time her character is just a window to our other protagonist, which is Kogami. Now, Kogami is an amazing character. To me, he's like the Spike Spiegel of the 21st century. He's got an interesting past that strongly connects to one of the main issues of the story, a very well-grounded personality, and he can kick some serious ass. He's not only the best thing in this anime. I like the professional relationship he has with Akane. It is very realistic and it works for the story. My only issue is that I wish Akane had a stronger arc that can equalize to that of Kogami's. I wouldn't say she has the weakest character development, but the transition was a bit too drastic for my taste. There could've been more scenes wherein she is able to learn more from her job, and not just her simply being complacent with everything else.

Apart from that, we get supporting characters. Unfortunately, this is where the anime falters. The screen time for each of the supporting characters is insufficient and inconsistent. For instance, Yayoi is another enforcer and doesn't get that much scenes, yet she has an episode dedicated to her backstory. But after that episode, she returns to being part of the white noise in the background. Kagari is also an enforcer, and his character teased an interesting backstory that was eventually glossed over during the course of the story. These characters have interesting stories, but they weren't distributed in the correct way. The only supporting characters that get more depth is probably Masaoka, who is a very old enforcer with a lot of things to say about the past, and Ginoza, a senior inspector who struggles in maintaining his psycho pass.

Finally, we have the primary villain. Shogo Makishima reminds me of a mixture of Pain from Naruto, the Joker, and Lex Luthor. He's one of those villains who questions one's beliefs. Here, he is able to test the main protagonist's sanity and skill level, by giving some heavy dialogue that has been aforementioned. In short, he's really insane yet his motives are very interesting.

Score for Characters: 

Music

The music tries its best to keep things interesting. It changes opening sequences and ending sequences, depending on what is happening in the anime. This makes the anime a bit more engaging to watch. There is also a mix of classic and techno punk music. This is able to set the mood and tone of the scene. But in my opinion, there's nothing much to say about it other than it being forgettable some of the time. Here, I am going to show you the second opening of the anime, which is my favorite track. It is called Out of Control by Nothing's Carved out of Stone.

Score for Music:  

Art

Shusei Kagari and a dominator, transforming into a lethal eliminator. (From: www.entravity.com )

The art gives off the feeling of futurism. Everything is designed in a mechanical way, showing off how advanced this society already is. The design of the dominator--the weapon of choice in this anime--is something that I found the most interesting. I have to admit, I found it very cool and I like how intricate it looks. Basically, there was a whole lot effort in putting colors and design into the setting and world of Psycho-Pass. As for the characters, their designs are very passable and this anime does not really show off exaggerated emotions or goes full-on "chibi". This anime had very realistic details, which is something that I found refreshing. The violence and action sequences in this anime are also great. Seeing the expressions of horror and anger for me stood out, making the anime almost seem real. 

Score for Art:  

This anime knows its world very well, so it was able to make a very mind-boggling story. Although it can get a bit complicated at times, I think this anime can be very engaging in terms of mystery and suspense. And yes, the parts where they talk about crime scene investigation and psychological analysis are also very interesting. This makes the anime somewhat educational, since it tackles issues that even different present societies in reality can relate to.

PSYCHO-PASS HEREBY RECEIVES A

SEAL OF APPROVAL!

Recommended if you are interested in: Shows that involve Crime Scene Investigations, Psychology, Philosophy, Dystopia, Justice, Gadgets, Deep dialogues

This anime is definitely worth watching, but it does not really mean that it's the best anime I've ever seen. It has its flaws, but if you are able to get past through them then you will most likely enjoy this anime. With that, that concludes part 1 of my Psycho-Pass review. There will definitely be a review of Psycho-Pass 2, and that is coming up very soon. But it will not be the next blog post. The next blog post will be an interesting discussion about one of my fandoms, which is The Mortal Instruments or also known as the Shadowhunters series. I think it is very appropriate to talk about it next week, because the TV series finale is going to happen this week. I am very excited to do a full-blown discussion because I just love this series to pieces and I would like to share my thoughts with you on it. The concept will be revealed by the time the post is up so for now...till the next post~

Previous blog post: Let's Review! Tokyo Ghoul
Next blog post: Let's Review! Psycho-Pass 2