Psycho-Pass

Psycho-Pass

Psycho-Pass Cover Art
Psycho-Pass Cover Art

Overview

Welcome back from a short two day hiatus! I was on a trip to the nation’s capital for the past two days so I figured what better way to come back than to write a an anime review about the government monitoring everything we do since that’s what they were probably doing to me.

That’s right, it’s time for Psycho-Pass!

The general plot of Psycho-Pass is that there are scanners all over the city which read the “Psycho-Pass” of individuals or groups. A lower number means that an individual is safe and normal, while a high number means they are a potential threat to others. The higher the number, the more of a threat.

Using this technology, law enforcement can take down would-be criminals before they even have a chance to commit a crime. However, this technology is not without its downfalls. There are many cases in which someone’s Psycho-Pass may become clouded due to stress, but the police still have to treat them as a potential criminal.

The weapons that the police use are also connected to the Psycho-Pass system. If someone has a healthy Psycho-Pass then the weapon cannot fire at them, if their Psycho-Pass is slightly clouded, then the weapon can fire in stun mode, and a lethal firing mode is also available when someone has a high Psycho-Pass.

Akane Tsunimori picking up a Dominator gun
Akane Tsunimori

Characters

I’ll just go through a few of the main characters in this section. The first is our main character, Akane Tsunimori. At the start of the series she is the new recruit and must quickly decide whether or not she is okay with how the Psycho-Pass system determines who is a criminal and who isn’t.

Akane’s senior partner is Nobuchika Ginoza. He has a strong mistrust for anyone who is deemed a criminal by the Psycho-Pass system no matter how little they are clouded. This is important because there are criminals who are also part of the police department.

Akane and Ginoza are known as enforcers. Those who work beneath them are simply hunting dogs; criminals who are no longer part of society, but are allowed to serve the police as extra help.

Tomomi Masaoka is one such person. He used to be an enforcer, but his Psycho-Pass became too clouded so he was demoted. I don’t exactly remember why his Psycho-Pass became clouded, but I believe it had something to do with him choosing to save his partner rather than taking down a criminal.

Shinya Kogami is the final character we’ll look at. Like Masaoka, Kogami used to be an enforcer as well, however, his Psycho-Pass became clouded after one of the criminals working beneath him was murdered by the serial killer they were chasing. After that, he was consumed by revenge and so he is now considered a potential criminal.

Conclusion

Overall I liked the plot and character development of Psycho-Pass, but I still didn’t feel like it was anything too special. In the end I’ll give it a 6/10, but there is a catch. There are two seasons of Psycho-Pass and the first season is definitely better than the second season.

The score I ended with is basically an average of my scores for both seasons, but leaning more towards the score for season one. While season two was still watchable, it felt forced and very unnecessary. Everything was basically wrapped up in season one except the one plot point which I felt was the worst part of the show. This is what they decided to continue on with in the second season.

Finally, the OP of Psycho-Pass is available to watch here.

My review of the Psycho-Pass Movie is available here.

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