And the system just continues to break down. Previously we were introduced to the rare case in which someone kills whilbe being perfectly mentally healthy. This time the dominators are limited even more by devies that mimic the Psycho Passes of others. I can only see this escalate and get better.
Also kudos to the directors in this episode. First of all, the gore in this series really hits the mark, especially the part where that woman was being beaten to death and how everyone just looked on. It most of all showed how desensitized to problems and violence this society is, and I was really at the edge of my seat. Later, when Makishima started kicking ass I noticed that we’re really talking about Production IG here: it’s been a while since they’ve done a fight scene like that, but I really like the style of trying to be as realistic as possible. That only makes it hurt more.
The one criticism I do have is that everyone is lumped together in this series. I would have liked to see in the minds of those bystanders for example, and why they found it interesting to film that incident. That really was the first time where we really got a good view of what was wrong with the Psycho Pass society, but it’s not in much detail. I’d like some attention on tha in the next few episodes, because it also serves as a good backup for Makishima’s motivations.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)
I guess now we know why Kogami couldn’t shoot the chainsaw guy from the first episode. This episode really felt like an upgrade in plot intensity, production AND cruelty (episode 11 aside). Right now this is the show I look forward the most of what I’m currently watching.
You literally said what I was going to say haha. The first scene from the show makes so much sense now after watching this episode. It looks like things are only going to escalate further.
Yeah. So good.
I’m always looking forward to this show so much.
Well, the person-dying-(or dead, or getting beat down)-and-nobody-stops-to-help thing happens in modern-day society not that infrequently too. I guess these are the kinds of easy opportunities you get when working with science fiction (loosely speaking, in the broadest sense of the genre), to draw references from or make comments about the current day.
To be honest, I’m not sure if all of the exposition in the past couple episodes on the system and Psycho Pass is really that necessary. Of course, we’re nowhere near seeing the end yet, but I feel like sometimes drawing too many lines and fleshing details out can limit the scope of possibilities and interpretations. There’s a fine line between providing too much structure and too little, where events seem unmotivated / plot holes abound / Deus ex machina.
That said, it looks like Makishima’s got plenty left up his sleeves. Overall I’d say that things are shaping up well for this show.
The problem with the exposition is that it doesn’t really add a lot to the setting. It keeps showing ways where the system sucks and fails. It’s like the series desperetaly keeps trying to convince us about something that was apparent from the start: Sybil is flawed and sucks.
At this point I have completely sided with Makishima (well, minus the whole killing people thing…).
Well, you are only assuming things that has never been elaborated upon at all, the Sybil system was made for a reason .. probably at some point crime rates hit an extremely high point that normal cops and methods weren’t working at all in terms of stopping crimes from happening (rather than clearing the mess and capturing the criminal after he/she commits the crime) .. so they thought the more effective way to deal with things is to remove criminals from society before they muster enough will to commit their crimes .. which is in fact very effective.
The way you assume Sybil is flawed and sucks is extremely short-sighted and flawed in and of itself .. with the exception of the first episode (guy refusing to take medication and resisting arrest by taking hostage) every single crime that happened is propagated by Makshima Shogo .. crime rates are probably extremely low (which means Sybil did a great job in that regard) and that’s what the scene with the woman being beaten to death while everyone watches silently SHOWS CLEARLY .. people were sanitized and didn’t do anything because crimes like these don’t happen anymore (becasue of the extremely low crime rates) and they couldn’t comprehend what was happening.
Shogo isn’t doing what he is doing becasue Sybil is flawed and sucks .. he is doing it becasue he is convinced that life isn’t worth it if you don’t live it fully .. he believes that human awareness and instincts are more valuable than human life and that humans who don’t have those aren’t humans anymore .. that’s why he is doing what he is doing .. Sybil doesn’t suck and no system no matter how elaborate can be perfect .. so saying it is flawed is silly .. of course it is .. any and all systems made by humans are flawed .. but compared to other systems Sybil is far less flawed (mainly because of people like Shogo being able to slip between the tiny cracks).
So just saying “It’s like the series desperetaly keeps trying to convince us about something that was apparent from the start: Sybil is flawed and sucks” shows you haven’t been paying enough attention to what the show is trying to say here .. every scene counts.
So why don’t they have episodes that focus on the system’s benefits instead of how bad it is at enforcing the law?
That’s left for the viewer who use their brains to deduce (and it ain’t rocket science) … like most people do in real life .. usually no one praises a government when it does well except those who make propaganda to it … people only speak out loudly against a governments mistakes and shortcomings and focus on it blowing it out of proportions (usually ignoring any good sides for it if the issue they are complaining about affects their lives directly).
Long story short you can easily deduce how the system is working from many observations out throughout all the episodes.
1-The one who planned 99% of the crimes since the start of the show is Shogo Makishima .. it’s almost as if the whole department have no other crimes to deal with (except maybe the one from ep1), remove Shogo and you will have the character sitting in their office playing cards all day (which is pretty much what the department manager says when she explains why they need to remove/erase Shogo from existence in secret).
2-The people’s reaction to the street beating is pretty clear indication that the people rarely have to deal with crimes to the point where they can’t recognize one happening in front of them.
3-Shogo himself wants to destroy the system not becasue it isn’t working but becasue it is working and that the complete lack of violence, tension, danger and crimes has left the people sedated and sterilized to the point where they are slowly losing their awareness and instincts which Shogo considers more important than living a life like a vegetable (which is an arguable matter).
Leaving all this for the viewer to discern is far better than the show dedicating an entire episode to praise the benefits of Sybil .. which IMO would be quite pretentious and forced.
Ever heard of SHOW, don’t TELL?
This show is just getting stupid, but that’s just my opinion.
The problem is that the setting is… well… shallow. It has been that way from the start. I don’t see how it has gotten worse in the recent episodes though. Care to elaborate?
Shallow !!!.. WTF !!? .. are you kidding, what are you even comparing it to .. what does that even make shows like Queen’s Blade and Fairy Tail .. PP Shallow, what !!?
This episode alone elaborates on a lot of things .. heck .. here is some food for thought .. Shogo might seem like he has a point when he says that humans have degenerated mentally and physically in order to live in a safer society .. but if you look at the bigger picture you will see that in fact this is what has been happening to humans ever since the dawn of history .. cavemen probably had sharper instincts, far better awareness and were far more nimble and stronger than the average human today .. but life was extremely harsh and dangerous .. the price humanity paid for the luxurious life most of us live to today is the same price the people in the future will pay to get their safe lives .. but how far will this go !!!? .. and will we even be recognizable as humans if we go further down that road (sacrificing our instincts and awareness for safety).
Shallow .. yeah .. i see that.
Damn, you really take criticisms of shows personally.
You may not know it, but trying to say too much is pretty the same as saying very little. The difference is that at least shows that don’t say that much know what they are. Psycho Pass is practically as bad as Guilty Crown in how it tries to make social commentaries that don’t even need to be made.
Damn, you seem to take other people’s opinions personally (i mean you came all the way from RC just to tell me that i really take criticisms of shows personally .. lols).
No, saying too little is just being lazy, impressionable and pretty much a sign you have nothing meaningful to say or discuss.
I don’t see how the social commentary in PP doesn’t need to be made or how does it even compare to GC (it’s ridiculous comparing PP to a crappy good-for-nothing show like GC) !!!
@HW: Calm down, man. The comparison is apt. It’s just a show.
Where did Queen’s Blade come from?
It’s like I’m saying “I don’t like this painting” and you’re saying “yeah but this child’s scribbles are much worse!”.
But if we’re going to play the “compare to” game, then… Ghost in the Shell and Texhnolyze. Texhnolyze even has similar themes to Psycho Pass to an extent.
This episode made the setting feel more half-assed and cheaper than it already was.
Half-assed and cheap .. yeah yeah .. whatever .. why are even still watching the show then !!? .. go watch your non-half-assed non-cheap shows.
Seriously .. just spouting baseless claims that make no sense doesn’t make you sound smarter nor above the people who enjoy a show like this .. don’t like it .. don’t watch it and spare us the pointless negativity.
The only thing stupid here is incomplete comments which make no sense and never elaborate on the accusations they contain in any way.
I kinda agree, mostly because this episode is regurgitating information that was already fed to us at least three or four episodes ago. Or it felt like the characters were needlessly repeating themselves. Pay attention to the first conversation with the main cast. To me, this was just a filler episode with some new Makishima sequences and more shock footage. Because that’s what Psycho Pass tends to run with when it wants to create tension.
Also, the public beating is probably Uro or whoever is writing this show pulling from the headlines when this happened to Shingo Minamino last year. Like those two host guys chatting on the train in Puella Magi Madoka. Sure likes twisting the knife, doesn’t he? Except, even if this is an anime with a supposedly desensitized sci-fi society, I find it tasteless how dull and dead the bystanders are to the event in front of them. This contrasts with the lady who was freaking out earlier in the episode so badly that it’s pretty dumb to me.
Still, I do have hopes that this is just a low spot for the show. I really hope the main characters start with their full investigation and search for Makishima soon -like they were hinting last episode- and not get caught up with his blatant pleas for anarchy to progress the plot.
@Honeykiss: I agree with the headline pulling comment.
However regarding the contrast you mention I don’t see it as a bad thing, though many people in this society are probably desensitized that doesn’t necessarily mean everyone is.
The reason why I said it’s tasteless is because of the ridiculously long statement at the end of each episode saying how these fictional events are “coincidental” to real life events, when that particular event borrowed pretty heavily from a real life crime. I understand the purpose of including criminal acts and the lifeless reaction shots of the crowd within the show’s premise. But, hamming up the negatives to try to make a point about Psycho Pass’s society is pretty lazy writing and was something that was already established episodes ago even.
It was a pretty pointless scene to me is what I’m trying in vain to say. It felt like it was crammed in to build on the Kougami-Makishima rivalry this show’s trying to build, and that’s sad.
I think the person who was taking the video was one of the guys who already knew something like that was going to happen.
Agreed, i think the Chinese Tech-guy who helps Makshima Shogo was there in the crowd and he is probably the one who sent Makshima the video, but don’t forget that he wasn’t the only one filming the crime.
Definitely one of the finest episodes so far, not only does it explain the scene from the prologue (the flash-forward scene in the tower building) in which Kogami fights a guy with a helmet which was immune to Dominators and eventually cracks his helmet and kills him (then Shogo shows up .. and now we know that guys helmet was probably copying Shogo’s PP at the time) but it also elaborates that while Sybil has flaws (like any other system) it was in fact doing a great job (the job it was made for) which is preventing crimes before they happen and lowering crime rates significantly .. it seems to was too good at that to the point the society became sanitized to criminal acts and didn’t recognize a crime happening in front of them.
And in a way that’s the price humans had to pay to get extremely low crime rates via Sybil .. they became sort-of-numb and sanitized, their instincts dulled and their awareness lowered .. many people would actually be okay with paying that price to live peacefully (majority of population) .. other people don’t like that and want to change things (like Shogo Makshima, who believes life isn’t worth living that in that sanitized way) .. but if you look at the bigger picture you will see that in fact this is what has been happening to humans ever since the dawn of history .. cavemen probably had sharper instincts, far better awareness and were far more nimble and stronger than the average human today .. but life was extremely harsh and dangerous .. the price humanity paid for the luxurious life most of us live to today is the same price the people in the future will pay to get their safe lives .. but how far will this go !!!? .. and will we even be recognizable as humans if we go further down that road (sacrificing our instincts and awareness for safety) .. just some food for thought.
There were hints at that before but this episode elaborated on it beautifully and in detail and started the final act of the show that will lead us to the first scene in ep1.
Before i end my comment i have to say the scene with the woman getting beaten to death in public was already quite disturbing by itself (specially knowing it did happen few times in real life .. check the ‘Bystander-Effect’ on Google” .. what made the scene far more creepy (and borderline black comedy at the same time) is the robot with the cute face addressing the woman being beaten to death and telling her she needs help and that she is distressed .. simply brilliant.
No, the episode doesn’t at any point elaborate that the system works at any rate.
It just told us that people react more to bad psycho pass readings than actual violence. And as you said yourself, what happened in this episode does happen today (the bystander effect) only in Psycho Pass’ universe it’s even worse. Yet another example where the series shows us that Psycho Pass’ society is even worse than ours. Sybil is working juust fine!
Also, in previous posts you accused me of making assumptions on things the series hasn’t elaborated on. And then you’re doing just the same. You make a ton of assumptions that the system is working and had positive effects on society when the series has shown us no such thing at all.
So here is a challenge. Show me a scene in the series where it is clearly SHOWN that Psycho Pass’ society has improved compared to ours (and hence proof that Sybil had a positive effect on society). Because all I see is a society where freedom of expression is limited (bands having to get authorised), where crime happens all the time and everyone’s fate is decided for them (everyone with a high-ish crime coefficient) and yet everyone feels just as lost as today.
I feel you are overreacting. For one it is feasible for the Psycho Pass system to have been slowly implemented over time. I highly doubt it was an instant thing. Even then it’s not as if the Psycho pass system is as constricting as the 1984 system. The 1984 system was pure domination and ultimately perfect at that. There was not way to counter it and many were not even in the position to try. The Psycho Pass system is much more free compared to that. There is still a place for self expression in the internet and even provides the illusion of choice. For one it doesn’t force people to take the jobs it recommends them, otherwise Akane wouldn’t be an officer.
Also you seem to be basing your impressions on the episodes shown which were there for the purpose of showing the flaws of the system and where also Makishima’s schemes. AKA the man who means to destory it. Taking a look at Psycho pass society it is pretty clear that it is safer. Nobodies mugging anyone, no sign of mafia or criminal organizations, no sign of drug use, no homeless and they even stated in this episode that people don’t even bother locking their doors anymore. If that isn’t a sign of a safe environment then I don’t know what is.
Even though there is still murder the chances of the murderer getting away with it is slim to none. Like you said, execution first ask questions later. No bullshit with lawyers getting out some asshole for self defense.
Not saying the setting or writing is perfect but I find it within feasible levels. Unlike “from the new world” who’s setting I find unbelievable.
Just because we don’t see drugs, mafia, or homeless doesn’t mean they don’t exist somewhere in the city. For all we know, there could be plenty of people as smart as Makishima that are abusing the system to hide themselves or cause trouble that just isn’t focused on.
Here’s an idea: Instead of having the protagonist be someone who was raised by this system to the point they can’t accept anything else (and thus being almost completely unrelatable because we have no idea what it’s like to be raised in that) have them be from a part of the country (or a different country) that still implements the judicial system like in OUR world. Maybe they’re there to observe the system for a foreign government to see if that country should use it as well, or something like that. This way, we could learn about the basics, history, perks, AND downsides of the Sibyl System as the main character does. Have the first 8 or 9 episodes be about developing the other cops (which PP barely does) and how the main character learns to adjust, accept, or reject this new system, examine pros and cons, take a look at how the system effects ALL citizens, with hints of Makishima’s schemes here and there.
It’s fine to be able to come to these conclusions that it MIGHT be working somewhere that we aren’t seeing, but the story itself makes no attempt to actually explain itself when that’s what it should’ve been doing from the start.
Maybe because it doesn’t need too. You keep saying maybe there is still crime but aren’t taking in all the factors. There are scanners all over the city. Before you even think of committing a crime these things will pick it up. Makishima is shown to be an abnormality which the system is not adjusted to fight. He is also the only person who can actively fight the system within the system.
Of course you may be thinking of those revolutionaries with the Molotov cocktails but honestly their attempt is laughable. They would be taken down before they could do any real unrecoverable damage because they simply can’t hide there hues from the system when going to attack it.
With all the blatantly obvious exposition Gen’s doing I don’t think it needs some throwaway lines to justify saying why the system is perfect.
There’s no way he is the only person who can do this trick. Sure he might be the only one actively making trouble for the police, but he can’t be the only one who’s so committed to his cause that his Pass doesn’t rise. He’s just a sociopath and they may not be common, but they aren’t rare either.
And I mean people from places that DON’T USE PSYCHO PASSES. The revolutionaries are inside and know they’re rebelling and that their actions are going against something, thus raising their stress levels. How does a dominator work against someone without a Psycho-Pass? I’m guessing not very well.
Didn’t the chief mention that they dealt with one before? They just are not very public about it. I do believe they mentioned how rare it was as well.
Someone without a psycho pass? Now you are just being silly. They are born with them! The scanners scan. There is no mention of implanting a psycho pass.
Just…just…are you even paying attention to the show you are complaining about?
Huh, really? I assumed it was an implant what with all of the cyberpunk and the HUD’s that people on the police force all get and cyber-implants are usually the way stories like this go. My bad.
Hate to admit but after double checking you are right. It is an implant. Though in that case it’s probably placed at birth and is impossible to remove so the argument still stands.
Lol, it’s okay.
Anyway, but then my argument about foreign attacks also stands, since the Dominator has no way of registering a person who doesn’t have an implant.
The wiki for Psycho pass says they have a device implanted to measure their psycho pass however the official site states that there mental state is just measured without any implantation.
So I was right…
You call that a challenge !!!, really .. i don’t need to be spoon fed the fact the Sybil is doing its work just fine, it’s freaking obvious.
1-The one who planned 99% of the crimes since the start of the show is Shogo Makishima .. it’s almost as if the whole department have no other crimes to deal with (except maybe the one from ep1), remove Shogo and you will have the characters and the whole police force sitting in their office playing cards all day (which is pretty much what the department manager says when she explains why they need to remove/erase Shogo from existence in secret to keep the people’s trust in Sybil .. why the heck would people trust in Sybil if it didn’t improve their lives significantly in the first place !!!).
2-The people’s reaction to the street beating is pretty clear indication that the people rarely have to deal with crimes to the point where they can’t recognize one happening in front of them.
3-Shogo himself wants to destroy the system not becasue it isn’t working but becasue it is working .. and being too effective for its own good … and becasue of that fact Shogo considers the complete lack of violence, tension and danger to have left the people sedated and sterilized to the point where they are slowly losing their awareness and instincts which Shogo considers more important than living a life like a peaceful vegetable .. no tension, no danger, no need to use your instincts (which is an arguable matter).
Why would they trust it? Because they’ve never been offered anything different, so know they have to live with it. If you were raised in Nazi Germany and you never knew there were any other type of government for your entire life, would you try to rebel or suck it up? PS: Rebelling results in death by gassing (or in Psycho Pass’s case, your body exploding from being shot with an enforcer gun).
Let me try and explain myself better through dialogue…
-Hey, I have an idea!
-What?
-Let’s make a system that controls every aspect of people’s lives!
-Uhhh, haven’t you read 1984? That’s a bad idea… At best it might reduce crime.
-No, actually there will still be crime all over.
-So what’s the upside?
-It will limit freedom of expression and censor music!
-Uh..?
-And the best part is, it will automatically execute dangerous criminals!
-I thought we were past the death penalty as a society…
-It will also destroy people’s lives because their crime coefficient got over some arbitrary value!
-Dude, get away from me!
A ton of fallacies.
1-It doesn’t control every aspect of people’s lives like Big Brother, people can still do whatever they want in their own houses and outside as long as it doesn’t raise their own PP.
2-Crime isn’t all over, pretty much the only one propagating and planning crimes around is Shogo, people’s reactions to the public beating shows they never saw someone being beaten, mugged or killed before, no one carries weapons around, there isn’t a single proof that crime is ALL OVER THE PLACE .. it’s just one guy behind the series of crimes from the start of the series.
3-The didn’t censor music, non-approve music was being played in the same place as Sybil approved music .. where did they say they censored it !!!?
4-And weeding out criminals have definitely led to a much more peaceful society, no thieves, burglars or organized crime whatsoever … so peaceful and stress free that people end up slowly turning into sort-of living vegetables … which means Sybil is doing it’s intended job just fine.
And that you weren’t paying attention during the show XD
1-That would be easy to accept if they weren’t making it increasingly clear that questioning the system is what raises your Psycho Pass. A society that doesn’t allow questioning of government is pretty much the same as Big Brother.
2-There also isn’t proof that there isn’t crime all over the city that’s just had to be more quiet. Makishima can’t possibly be the only person to find a way around this system, because otherwise the writers are just being lazy. Plus, giving the only authorized firearms to the cops (and very few at that) is fine for one city, but if there’s a foreign invasion from country that doesn’t implement this system, they are SCREWED. Especially if the guns will only fire on people who HAVE to be in the system AND have a specific level of psychosis.
3-The fact that they have to approve music is censorship in itself.
4-You’re saying people slowly going comatose is a GOOD thing?!
“4-You’re saying people slowly going comatose is a GOOD thing?!”
He didn’t say that it was a good thing. He said that Sybel is doing it’s “intended” job fine. The problem is that it’s doing it too well. Just saying.
So, if that’s Sybil’s intended job, why are we siding with the people enforcing it?
Who said you had to side with the system? The characters are pointing out whats wrong with the system every episode. They clearly don’t like the system but most of them don’t have a choice in the matter.
The only ones who have a choice is the officer who’s in love with it and miss Akane who clearly has doubts about it.
Yeah, that’s another thing. Isn’t being a “Latent Criminal” on the Enforcers sort of an Informed Flaw? So far none of the Enforcers besides Kogami have had any inconveniences or signs that they could do anything as bad as the people they fight, so building that up is kind of wasted, isn’t it?
Don’t change the subject just because you can’t argue back.
Okay, then. So we’re following people who don’t like the system but are enforcing it against a guy who also doesn’t like the system. So neither of them like the system. At least in other cop shows there’s more than one main character who actually likes and believes in the law they enforce. Why not here?
Because that’s the point.
So the point is that no one likes the system? Why should the audience like the system if all but none of the characters do?
When has this show ever tried to make the audience like the system? The main characters don’t like the system and they have more reasons after every episode.
Just because they can all agree that the system is flawed doesn’t mean it suddenly becomes okay for people like Makishima to kill just to prove it to the world.
But the system allows him to kill (and lead others to kill, assuming they weren’t doing it already) because it focuses on stress levels, but Makishima’s stress REDUCES by killing people, as it does with all the people he’s worked with and even the ones that didn’t. So the system’s not just flawed, it’s fatally flawed. Especially if you’ve conditioned them against stress, because when they finally get stressed because of something in their lives, they won’t have any idea how to work with it or vent it all without harming someone. Plus, even the thought of harming someone would raise their pass, which alerts enforcers, and the instant they hear police sirens, they’ll know their life is over and flip out, like the guy in the first episode. People caught in the crossfire will be too relaxed to know they are about to be killed (as seen with the school kids in episodes 6-8), meaning that most citizens are pretty much ticking time bombs that will inevitably take people with them before they die.
In fact, you could argue that Sibyl is actually making these murders MORE likely because of all the constraints and censorship and conditioning people to avoid stress instead overcoming it, so really they’re fueling the murders. The cons heavily outweigh the pros when you consider this.
Yo Hunter, I’m sorry that I hurt your feels.
How about you try elaborating instead of criticizing the show with no explanation.