Now this episode marks the time for Psycho pass to take a more in-depth look at its setting. In the first half we got to see what it’s like to live in this society, and now this series really starts to question it, and it does so in quite an interesting way. It’s not like the Sybil system is currently evil now, this episode looked at it from quite a few different angles and perspectives. I really liked that.
Nobody in this episode actively questioned the Sybil system, yet everyone talked to each other as if they did, to try and reassure each other. Akane in particular did bother her time to question that system, but rather actively challenged her emotions by reliving her memories, going along with the system. In this episode she was shown that her crime coefficient does not rise really high, but in the end, what does this mean really? She is a great asset to the flawed Sybil system.
Also, take note: this episode had a small bit that played at the end of the ED, which is rather important. In this episode we’re introduced to who is probably the one who manages the enforcers and the entire police. I already like her character: I like her dialogue and how she is trying to manage the Sybil system without things going out of control. And at the end of the episode a connection between her and Makishima was revealed, which should hint that her hidden agenda could become really interesting for the next few episodes.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)
I think we have already seen the commisioner before. In episode 6, I believe.
and it looks like she’s a cyborg too.
I said this over on the shoutbox before but someone had some idea that that woman may be a relative of Makashima’s based on her appearance though at that point thats wild guesswork.
“It’s not like the Sybil system is currently evil now, this episode looked at it from quite a few different angles and perspectives.”
I am not sure I understand what you mean here. Sybil is *evil* and has been from the start.
From my perspective the series has done a very poor job to show any advantages to the sybil system. It has consistently shown the Sybil system producing a lot more problems than it solves. It was supposed to take care of crime, but we are shown that gruesome crimes (from the first episode I might add) are taking place every day (and we have no point of reference… Was it even worse before maybe?). It supposedly made people happier, but most people are unhappy with how it judges their lives and makes decisions for them. How were things before the Sybil system? Maybe they were worse? How did they decide to use such a system? What were the positive effects it had on society? The series has implied that the Sybil system is not that old (something about 20 years or so?). It seems that it’s not enough time for people are not questioning it more, especially since the positive effects are vague or even missing completely.
And this is where the series confuses me. The setting seemed to be set up to show us pros and cons of a controlling system like Sybil. It seemed to be set up to have some philosophical extensions conscerning free will. To do that it should have shown the positive effects of the Sybil system. It could have started by showing us a Utopia, at least on the surface, and slowly introducing us to disadvantages of the system. That’s kind of a cliche, but with the right execution, it could be interesting. The series *does* follow that structure, with one difference: The starting point is already a dystopia.
When I watched the first episode and the Sybil system was introduced I thought “well, that sounds like a bad idea”. Then the series kept hammering that the Sybil system is full of problems. 12 episodes later I am thinking “Yeah, Sybil sucks, I GET IT ALREADY, what is your point?”.
I still can’t decide if this is a flaw of the series, or if it’s deliberately set up this way for some reason that is not apparent yet.
i can really draw a parallel between this series and shinsekai yori
but i think previous comment is right, we’ve not really seen why anyone would think the system is a good idea.
Perhaps it should have done a bit more background setting to show how people got to Sybil and decided it was better than what they had before.
My history knowledge is kind of rusty but there has been several times where a country has been ruled by an authoritary state, and if that’s the case I assume there are and were gray areas in that regard.
In this series what I see is a convention of the pragmatic state were order and progress are the top priority and I suppose that’s the positive thing the commisioner was talking about and I agree in the sense that other cyberpunk stories show upright how there is anarchy, rebellion or wars on the street. How is shown here is that indeed there are but the exposition is very controlled to keep peace I suppose.