Aha, a great type of episode so right before the climax of this series: one that nearly entirely consists out of people talking to each other and exploring the ins and outs of the setting here. Discussing the advantages and disadvantages of the Sybil System. With this episode it’s clear that the creators knew full well what kind of flawed system they created with Psycho Pass.
I really liked the atmosphere of this episode, especially at the time where Akane was talking to those canned brains that make up the Sybil System. This episode also revealed that just about every pair of brains there comes from some kind of latent criminal, some of which did even worse things than Makishima Shougo did. That explains why they took an interest in him. It creates this interesting paradox here: when they contribute so much to society, does that make up for their actions when they still had a body?
And I wondered about this many times, but with this episode it’s really clear to me that the lack of security is intentional. Gen really intended this to be a criticism of modern society, and the way in which it’s heading. Having everything done and decided for us makes us lazy. We don’t take any insurances for the worst case scenarios, we don’t think for ourselves.
So this seires will get more epic and all, but there is one point that this episode stressed that I really like about it: destroying the Sybil System isn’t going to solve anything. It’ll just create chaos and nothing more. This is not a case in which we can just kill the evil big bad guy and have things automatically fixed. Also, since Makishima Shougo is far more interesting than your average villain, this is one finale I’d really want to see.
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)
“And I wodnered about this may times, but with this episode it’s really clear to me that the lack of security is intentional. Gen really intended this to be a criticism of modern society, and the way in which it’s heading. Having everything done and decided for us makes us lazy. We don’t take any insurances for the worst case scenarios, we don’t think for ourselves.”
This is key here, it seems a L O T of people haven’t realized this yet. Its like the anime community forgot when they had to read books and study literary devices and social commentary in which this show is chock full of!
I’m glad that SOMEONE in the anime community has read a book at some point in their lives.
Psgels 1, anime community 0
Not a fan of most of the anime-community myself, but I do not think it is as blind to this as you think it is. Maybe we are visiting different places though? At least in the forums I frequent I feel like the opinions regarding this are really diverse.
As for my opinion, I consider myself well-read and recognize the lack of security being intentional. The problem for me is: It’s just too much. There are holes popping up everywhere and I see myself seriously struggling with the suspense-of-disbelief. At this point I’m just hoping he’ll concentrate on character interaction and their personal viewpoints on Sybil for the last episodes.
You know I would tend to agree with you about the heavy handedness of the obviousness of what Gen is doing, he’s basically beating the well-read viewers over the head with all this stuff.
Thing is, a lot of people just DON’T GET IT, even with Gen treating a lot of the viewers like idiots. . .It’s probably because he thinks anime viewers are, especially lately which is probably another “hidden message” he’s trying to get across.
I mean most of what he’s been saying isn’t even hard to figure out, if you’ve taken some sort of schooling. I mean there are some criticisms gen is making that’s Japan specific, but most are not, and even the Japan specific ones CAN be used for other countries as well. Plus I don’t think given his experience, he would make rookie mistakes. . . if you trust that he knows what hes doing, you can see some of the message that hes trying to convey quite clearly.
but yeah, the place I go and check out the discussion. . .its like the idiot train hit 99% of the posters there.
Agree with all of you guys, the review was right on, and this has easily been one of my favorite shows in some time. And that it pretty much had to be this way because even still a good portion of people are missing the point of some of these key issues/criticisms the show is intentionally bringing up.
I really liked the internal monologue that Akane had with herself. It’s also interesting to note that the monologue stops before she states her decision to herself. By looking at what was discussed her thinking appeared to fall more on the ‘Free will’ side of the argument, which is NOT what the Sibyl system wants. I think her request to Sibyl to save Kogamai was a bluff.
Akane just….blew me away.
A wonderful way to develop her character by visualizing her thoughts through everyone that she’s encountered. I had always suspected that she would turn out like kougami early on the series, but delaying that and weaving it in a way that isn’t contrived is so fresh you can believe it when her team members are genuinely surprised.
Indeed this is one finale I want to see.
Makishima sure is full of it. Normally anime has this habit of exaggerating villain features to the point of being ludicrous. But Makishima, with the most innocent/carefree smile when he strolled in the oat field, you can’t help but feel he’s the happiest man in the world. Creepy.
Kougami, awesome as usual.
***WARNING: Minor spoilers below***
Even I, the one praising Urobuchi’s works to no end, have to wonder about Tsunemori finding Kougami’s digital message in the victim’s throat. I mean… what the heck? It’s like she pinpointed it out with magic or something. Or did I miss something? XD
But this definitely makes her my favorite character in the show. Kougami is smarter than she is/was, but he doesn’t bring any surprises in his character. Makishima is a big surprise for a villain and it was interesting to see what new things we learned about him in every episode, but he’s a bit TOO perfect to be anything more than a great villain (with a human, almost protagonist voice). Tsunemori just seems the most down-to-earth-yet-determined character and with this episode, even more so than previous episodes, she’s the one taking charge. I would be quite happy with the show ending as she leads the group under the “guidance” of (but not complete obedience to) the Sybil System.
But more so than that, my main concern is what this show does with its themes. That’s been the part of the ride that’s hit me closest, considering I researched Urobuchi so much beforehand and predicted so much, and yet he still surprises me.
Akane was so badass in this episode, she recovered from the initial shock of learning the truth about Sybil really fast and stood up for what she believed is right while also assessing the situation carefully (really enjoyed her vivid inner-monologue that was presented as a dialogue .. it was an interesting way to present her both her thoughts and how she obtained them or who influenced them).
Her top badass moment was when she aimed the Dominator at her own heart and fearlessly mocked Sybil .. who could have thought Akane can be this badass when she has a huge responsibility/secret burdening her, also the way she mimicked Kogami’s deductive thinking and understood his personality anticipating he will leave a hidden-clue for them was fantastic too.
Agreed. Loving how far Akane has come, yet another fantastic part of this show.
re: security
Security stresses people out, so it HAD to go for the sake of psycho passes and hues of the people. And Sybil does what it does so well that what little internal security is still around suits more than 99% of people just fine.
I don’t think they actually said that in the show, though it would make sense if that were the case. I still think it has to do with the Japanese perspective on crime in their country anyway, though.
I hope both Kougami & akane survive.
will they survive?