Interestingly, Psycho Pass had the same idea for episode 12 as Robotics;Notes: develop a side-character. Overall, this always is the episode for side stories: right after the big halfway climax. Psycho Pass’ case is interesting, because of how little the character in question showed of herself before that episode. She was just there, but with this episode, Yayoi got a character.
Dead people are often glorified in these kinds of series, but here is one who actually turned out to be quite an asshole when you learn who he actually was. Or at the very least he is incredibly rash. Beyond being about Yayoi, the rest of the older cast also got some interesting details added to them.
I found it quite strange that all of the latent criminals were just lumped together like that. Yayoi for example still could think quite clearly, but she was put together with people who had very obviously lost it. Or was that meant to show how she was special? That she was one of the few people who did not go crazy from being locked up for so long, being denied her artistic expressions?
Artistic expression is one of the surprising themes of Psycho Pass, by the way. It’s almost as if there is no normal art to be found and instead it seems like this show hates artists. Or more precisely: the Sybil system hates artists. In this series, you’ve got the psychopaths, like with the murdered schoolgirls, but the other artists are labelled as liberalists and freedom fighters. I can’t believe I’m spotting similar themes as AKB0048 here…
Also, the new OP: I liked the old one better. Mostly because of the dull vocals that you hear everywhere else in rock-songs. The ED is similar: quite generic, in my opinion. Although it does have some nice visual ideas.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)
We did knew few things about Yayoi before this episode, she cares about Kogami as a colleague (maybe sort of mentor), probably is lesbian and in a relation with Shion and she is also into violent and passionate stuff as Shion said in ep6.
It was interesting to see that she was a musician (a Sybil licensed one too), the discrimination and prejudice against non-licensed artists also shows the impact a system like Sybil could have on all facets of society, as for why she seemed to be the only sane person in that “rehabilitation” facility, i suppose they just lob everyone with high psycho pass rating into the same facility .. they don’t categorize them or separate them, that’s why you might find a guy with a psycho pass of 300 next to someone with 130 .. and of course they seem to deteriorate over time (and don’t forget we saw the artist guy before and he seemed to be quite sane too, sane as in Salvador Dali sane XD)
Seeing more of a character like Sasayama was also a nice surprise, Kogami clearly said that Sasayama was flawed but he still cared about him and was his best friend … and what he did wasn’t really that different from what Kogami did in the first ep, as if Kogami embodied part of Sasayama’s character when he too became an Enforcer.
I also wonder if they will follow up on what happened to the freedom fighter/musician friend (possible love interest) of Yayoi, if she plans to bring down Sybil it’s very likely she will cross roads with Makishima Shogo.
From this episode and what we know about her relationship with Shion, I would say that Yayoi is a lesbian (I mean, it could be possible that she is bi or pan, but she is most definitely not straight). Hmm, and I don’t really see Yayoi as a artist or musician, not in the way Rina was/is. After all, Yayoi was *selected* to be a musician by the Sybil System, and no doubt these regulated bands just sung propaganda, while Rina *chose* to be a musician and sung about a variety of topics I would assume. The reason Yayoi was so worked up about the guitar when she was locked up and why she took such good care of her fingers was because of her feelings for Rina (which appears to have been an extremely big crush or even possibly love).
Music being regulated is not a surprising thing at all, because music is extremely powerful (even without lyrics) and once lyrics are added, music can become a carrier for messages, independent thoughts and ideas, and motivation. We see this with Rina and her “Resistance.” Speaking of that “Resistance,” I suspect that it will be a similar concept to what is found in 1984: a “Resistance” that really isn’t even a resistance at all and just a trap constructed by the leaders in order to weed out trouble.
There were many other parallels to 1984 that showed up in this episode alone, and this is an episode that deals heavily with the concept of power play. Rina wants to try and change society by the outside, in, while Yayoi sees and knows that to be worthless – but everyday people in this society have no power. So, instead, she takes the path of gaining power (something she has been heavily denied when instituted) and doing something that could possibly bring about change from the inside, out, if she wanted to.
In this episode, love or at least romantic feelings lost to power.
Now, I am going to copy and paste some of what I wrote up on my Tumblr when it came to this episode (the write up also have some more discussion of the parallels between this society and the one found in 1984, if others want, they can read it here: http://lilyginnyblack.tumblr.com/post/40243128005/a-commentary-on-power-play-in-devils-crossroad).
Kougami, who in this episode was still an Inspector, used power as well. He basically bribed Yayoi at first into trying out being an Enforcer. But, he does not only use power, he gave power as well. He shared his power with Yayoi, even if it was only a bluff in the end. When it comes to our two Inspectors (and one Enforcer): Kougami has power and distributes it, Gino has power and utilizes it, and Sasayama (from what I was able to gather in this episode alone) has power and takes advantage of it.
When I first heard Kougami describe Sasayama I was put off to the character, but I also just kind of shrugged it off, too. But in this episode, when we finally got to see Sasayama in action, I was actually disgusted by his behavior. He was so quick to pull the trigger on those two men by the bar, so quick to pull the trigger on his gun. He is ready and waiting to shoot the musician and the girl he took hostage (after he was attacked first by the Inspectors and Enforcer) before the Crime Coefficients of either reached a level that would require action.
This is so vastly different from Akane who couldn’t pull the trigger of the Denominator, despite knowing that the person in front of her was most certainly a criminal. When Akane shoots off her Denominator, the Sybil System is most definitely the one who is doing the thinking and the killing.
When Sasayama pulled the trigger of the Denominator, he was the one doing the thinking and killing. Sasayama had power, he liked the power that he had, and he used it every chance that he could -you can see it in his eyes when it was in the club, that was not just “reckless” behavior, he was getting off on being able to exert power over others. He appears as if he is getting drunk on power.
This makes me realize just how much of a latent criminal Kougami really is not. The other Enforcers present don’t really seem to have this same type of behavior, either. Case in point being Yayoi. She pulled that Denominator trigger after a long, hard debate within herself. Of course, like Sasayama, she was the one who pulled the trigger, not the Sybil System. But, unlike him, she did it out of her love and desire to protect Rina – not out of some power trip.
Really, this shows how the Sybil System may be able to catch one or two people who are actually a danger to society, while also imprisoning many who simply need some therapy, freedom, and love.
Sorry, I wrote a lot, but this episode had so much going on in it. I really loved it on an intellectual level.
I enjoyed reading your post more than psgel’s, hah. Nice observations there.
Thanks, I always enjoy reading psgel’s thoughts though. They tend to be nice and concise (something I can never be) and they have to be (since he watches far more anime shows than I do). Oh, and I do agree with him on the OP, I liked this one well enough, but I did like the first OP better. The ED though, I really liked. So, we disagree a bit there.
Excellent post.
The running theme with latent criminals is that they’re all either capable of the arts, literature, and critical thinking in general. Tomomi is a painter who reads a lot of philosophy, Sasayama is a great cook, Yayoi plays music. Rikuko Oraya is an artist and a fan of shakespeare, Masatake Mido reads 1984 and Plato. And so forth and so forth.
Honestly, while part of me realizes what it’s trying to say, part of me feels like that aspect of the show is kind of bull. Being more creative, intelligent, and capable of critical thought may make you more rebellious against the system. It may also make you break the law more. But it doesn’t make you a psychopath like alot of the latent criminals in the show. Lack of empathy, greed, and egocentricity makes people kill others.
It’s also fun to notice how there’s a “Madoka-level twist” nobody got from this episode. Turns out 99% of latent criminals never rejoin society once they undergo therapy. That means once your psycho-pass goes up to a certain level, you’re imprisoned forever. That woman Akane saved in episode 1, she’s either going to stay in prison for life or have her psycho-pass go up so high that she’ll be killed.
Which means that our main characters are enforcers of an Orwellian state where people have to force themselves to remain a compliant part of the system. If you are too intelligent, or creative, or participate in thought-crime you’ll be taken in by the Enforcers and disappear. Fun.
Well, the stated reason for locking people up is that they’re latent criminals, but that needn’t be the only or actual reason. What’s the algorithm, anyway?
Or alternatively, Sybil just keeps a low false negative rate at the expense of a high false positive rate? (i.e. low detection threshold. Not sure? Lock ’em up.) If that’s the case, then Makishima is really the outlier or special case, hence the focus of the series on him.
I checked out episode 2 again, and Akane says that the woman from episode 1 is doing well in therapy (supposedly?). I can’t read the Japanese, but there’s some kind of picture of her talking with a doctor and a medical form with a 56.3 and 58.7 on it. Psycho Pass figures? Seems okay.
On a side note, I’m extraordinarily dense and didn’t notice the first time around in episode 2 how Yayoi exits the lab Shion’s in when Akane’s coming to check on Kougami’s status, and they make a show of both Yayoi and Shion adjusting clothes.
Well keep in mind the person who said she was doing well was Akane, who is shown to be really naive, especially to how the Sybil system operates. That and we never see the woman get released from custody. Maybe they’ll follow up on that plot point later.
Although they did say her crime coefficient was dropping and I didn’t notice the numbers I could be wrong if that was her crime coefficient.
The world of psychopass seems to be a libertarian’s worst nightmare.
Normally I wouldn’t like a flashback episode at this point of the series (even know I’m not exited about the idea of the rest of the cast getting their own flashbacks) but this was really interesting to help understand the maybes of why Shougo can’t be judged by the Dominator. It seems like Sybil judges in big part based on the potential of the individual to defy the order of society and Sybil itself. Shougo’s actions question Sybil, but at the same time uses said system o carry on his “tests” so, in a way: his crimes are special because they work and make full use of the Sybil system until he comes to an answer (maybe if he comes to an answer that completely denies the system, then he will be able to be judged). At least that’s what I thought while watching the episode.
Am i missing something? why and how did Yayoi’s PP increase to the stage that she’s registered as latent criminal? Was on my mind the whole episode..