Well, I guess since I'm this far in, it's time I watch the last of Gen Urobuchi's three big anime. I'll just be watching Season 1 for now, but Psycho-Pass...
Psycho-Pass is a dystopian anime about a world where the police monitors everyone's mental states to arrest latent criminals before they commit any crimes, kind of a cross between Minority Report and Equilibrium. This so-called Sibyl system has a lot of flaws, but not in a way that you might initially expect. The first half of the series feels like a procedural, with rookie detective Akane solving cases, and the flaws of the Sibyl system only being hinted at. It's a fine start, though fairly lacking in amazing episodes for a while. Still, it lays out some great world-building so what happens next hits so much harder, because starting around halfway through, the tone and structure changes. Psycho-Pass becomes a serialized show about stopping a (great) villain from demonstrating the system's many flaws to the entire world. This second half is where the series really gets good, characters start to die, the uncomfortable truth of the Sibyl system is revealed, and the city starts to completely fall apart. While many dystopian stories try to deconstruct how their own systems are flawed, Psycho-Pass feels like it goes just a bit further than most. The Sibyl system isn't just flawed, it's filled with loopholes, oversights, corruption, and genuine horror, and part of what makes the story here so compelling is watching how the characters deal with it.
Psycho-Pass's greatest strength is probably in its characters, boasting one of the better anime casts I've seen so far. I'm a big fan of naive rookies getting their beliefs shaken and being forced to mature (after all, Ahsoka is my favorite Star Wars character), so I thought Akane is a great protagonist. I like that the show actually focuses on the fact that her naivety and faith in a flawed system could cause her to make a dangerous decision. Kogami is also great, his cynical opinion on the Sibyl system makes him a great foil for Akane, and he gets some of the best fight scenes. I also loved the villain here, Makashima. His rivalry with Kogami, cruel nature, and great fight scenes reminded me a lot of Cowboy Bebop's Vicious, though the increase in screentime and stronger motivations made him a much better villain, in my opinion. The rest of the cast has some pretty solid material, from Ginoza's character development, to Masaoka's calm and reflective attitude, to Yayoi getting a full on backstory.
Oddly enough, my biggest issue with Psycho-Pass lies in the presentation. While there some cool fights, frames, and backgrounds, the animation was a bit weak across the board here. There were some obvious budget cuts especially later on, the character movements were stiff at times, and the use of bloom was a bit overwhelming at times. I do really like the world and character designs though. Akane, Kogami, and Makashima all have striking and interesting designs, and elements of the world like the police drones and especially the Dominator definitely stand out. The music was also pretty uneven at times. Some of the jazzy background music from the first half was alright, but during the more serious moments, it was fairly generic. As for the OPs and EDs, they were fine at best (I did like ED 2), but at worst, the first OP might be one of the worst I've heard yet. Thankfully, the voice acting is great for both the Japanese and English dubs, and the writing and excellent world-building still make up for the otherwise weak presentation.
Psycho-Pass has some great episodes, especially in its second half:
Saint's Supper: This episode was the big game-changing "that one episode" of the series. The first half was entertaining enough, with Senguji getting a very satisfying kill from Kogami, but it was the painful second half that really made it for me. The reveal that Makashima has a "pure" crime coefficient is shocking, and what happened next with Yuki is the Urobutcher at his most heart-wrenching and compelling. The combination of plot twist, shocking death, great performances, and massive belief shaking for Akane made that one of the best anime scenes ever.
Sweet Poison: This episode had one really insane scene that made it memorable for me. The scene where the girl gets beat up on the streets in front of a shocked public and an unhelpful police drone is an amazing scene, painfully demonstrating the faults and loopholes with the Sibyl system. And the ramifications it had on the city was massive and wide-spreading.
The Gates Of Judgement: Similarly to Saint's Supper, this is one of the big episodes of the series. We get that big fight between Kogami and Makashima from episode 1, which definitely lived up to the set-up. Akane arresting Makashima was a surprising turn even though I knew he'd escape soon. And the big cliffhanger where a cyborg Kasei kills Kagari to cover up the Sibyl system's secrets is shocking.
Iron Heart: While this episode was a bit more exposition-heavy than the last few, it does come packed with the big reveal of how the Sibyl system works, being a supercomputer of asymptomatic criminal brains. It's a really creepy reality, and Kasei's attempts at covering up the events of last episode are pretty hard to watch. Makashima destroying Kasei's body was also a pretty shocking end.
Blood-Stained Reward: This episode is the first half of the season's big final battle, reunited the cast and setting the stage for Kogami and Makashima's last fight. But the real highlight is Masaoka sacrifice himself to save Ginoza, an emotional and heartbreaking resolution to both characters' arcs.
Perfect World: This was a pretty great finale for the season, both tragic and kinda satisfying. The final battle with Makashima was tense and exciting, and his death is kinda heartbreaking given the ramifications. The Sibyl system still won. I also like how the second half focuses on tying up loose ends for most of the cast, with Ginoza being an enforcer, Akane getting promoted, and Yayoi and Shion being together all making a lot of sense.
Overall, Psycho-Pass overcomes a slow start and some weak production with its amazing exploration of its world, strong cast, and insane twists.
4/5 Stars
Favorite Episode: Saint's Supper
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