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Year: 2012-2013
Genre: Crime, cyberpunk, mystery
Episodes: 22
Rating: 4 out of 5
What would the world be like without any crime or stress? Just think about it: no murder, no theft, no sexual assaults, and no worries of things that really make your blood boil or causes you extreme stress. What would one have to give up for this society? Maybe all the weapons in the world. Perhaps a weekly meeting where we discuss our feeling and sing songs. Disney songs could be a great start. What if, just hear me out for a second, what if I tell you for a society without any crime or stress, all you have to do is give up some freedoms. Not too many but ones where you might have a little privacy. There will be a system that is set up to monitor your stress levels and whether or not you might commit a crime. You won’t fell a thing. Just routine scans of your brain. One downside is that if you are too stressed, then you will be named a criminal and be arrested. If you are way over the limit, a person might come and blow you up. Those are extreme cases. So, do we have a deal???
Psycho-Pass explores a world where crime and stress are almost non-existent. Yet even in a perfect world, someone always finds a way to bring the ideal system down to its very knees.
Overview:
Set in a futuristic world in Japan, society is controlled by the Sibyl System. The Sibyl System is a powerful network of psychometric scanners. The scanner measures the minds and mentalities of the population using a scan of the brain. The scans are now referred to as Psycho-Pass. Psycho-Pass is a calculation of the likelihood of an individual committing a crime that is measured as their Crime Coefficient. Once the Crime Coefficient exceeds a certain level, the individual is pursued, apprehended, or in high cases, killed if necessary. Inspectors uphold the law while working with elite officers labeled “Enforcers.” Inspectors and Enforcers are equipped with handguns called “Dominators” to can blow people up like balloons.
Psycho-Pass begins with the introduction of Akane Tsunemori. Akane is a young, rookie inspector with the desire to do whatever is right and help the world. During her first assignment, she is teamed up with veteran Enforcer Shinya Kougami and works a series of cases. As Akane and her group of Enforcers solve each case, they soon realize that the mastermind behind all the crimes is one that can’t be scanned. This individual is out to destroy the very world and system that Akane is bound to protect.
Review:
Psycho-Pass is a great anime that explores many societal and psychological themes in a way where one might debate giving up certain freedoms to live in a world without fear. It is a crime/mystery anime that will make you think of the price of giving up certain liberties to live another way. As the story progresses and the stakes become higher and higher, the anime devolves deeper and deeper into the mind of not only people but society as a whole. The main antagonist is one that wants to destroy everything that is proceed as helpful and free the minds of humanity.
What does Psycho-Pass resemble??? Take Ghost in the Shell with the futuristic feel and add the movie Minority Report that starred Tom Cruise. In Minority Report, the police could see into the future “sensing” who might do a crime. If this story, people’s minds are scanned and based on their mental state could cause harm to everyone around them. Just one scan, and you could be labeled a criminal. Better not be thinking anything bad, or you could end up in prison. The way people help keep their levels down is through therapy and/or drugs. Being a criminal in this anime is not a good thing. The higher your level, the bigger the chance of you just going to get killed.
The story does a phenomenal job showing what happens with society as things slowly crumble and what society sacrifices. In a world where people wanted peace from stress and crime, they decided to implement a system that scans their brains. As crime went down to record levels, the fear of stress and crime seemed to be nonresistance. People were getting beaten on the streets without anyone batting an eye. The question comes in, “what would one give up for a stress-free world? And is a stress-free world really that great without freedoms?” The story becomes split up in a way that you see society going deeper and deeper in despair. The main villain gives subtle pushes from the background. With each incident, the stakes become higher and higher. When the people with masks come around, and they start causing destruction, then it’s like, the Sybil System doesn’t work at all. The pacing for this anime is spot on. It’s not extremely fast, nor is it extremely slow. It moves at a nice pace that keeps one interested. I would say that when things pick up, the story does an excellent job of keeping you wondering what is going to happen. The primary way it does this is by keeping the main villain hidden as it seems he couldn’t be captured for some odd reason.
The characters are what propel this whole anime. Learning about each Enforcer gives excellent character development. Learning about how each character ended up where they were is quite interesting. How each one tried their hardest not to have their crime coefficient cloudy but ultimately failed in doing so. The main character Akane Tsunemori starts off as a young inspector. She is wide-eyed and has a particular view of justice. As time goes on, even though her view of the world changes, her demeanor really changes. She becomes harden at what she went through.
The two characters that are awesome are Shinya Kogami and Shogo Makishima. Kogami is an absolute BOSS! He knows his stuff as he seems to be able to figure out many situations in a matter of minutes. He also takes physical training and activity to the highest level. Dude beat up a training robot at the highest level. He is on a personal search for Makishima, who killed his partner. Makishima, on the other hand, is a genuinely worthy criminal. More on the likes of the mastermind that can out-think everyone. Makishima is a person who is obsessed with cruelty, chaos, and destroying the order of the world. What sets Makishima apart is that the dude can commit any crime without risking his crime coefficient. With this, he can’t be judged properly.
Psycho-Pass is an anime that clearly draws some of its motivation from different sources (i.e., Minority Report/Ghost in the Shell). Even with those two serving as the backbone of this anime, the story is fantastic and fascinating. The show is presented in a way that is dark and action-packed but also will make you think about what it would take to have a stress free society free of all crime. If you like mysteries and a charismatic villain, then Psycho-Pass is for you.
