The finale of Psycho-Pass 3 feels more of a setup episode than a proper ending to the third season and it bores well in delivering an exciting future for the franchise overall. It does nothing to bring closure to the overarching plot, has a couple twists and just an utterly chilling ending.
After the last episode’s climactic conclusion to the Heaven’s Leap case, the fallout from Maiko having to put down Torri craves out an exciting new storyline that ventures into unknown territory for the Psycho-Pass franchise. Psycho-Pass’s antagonists have always had this clear-cut dynamics that while they had valid points to their ideology, they never did form partnerships with the MWPSB by having this confrontational mentality with the main characters or the Sibyl System. However, in this season, Kei is desperate enough to form a deal with the devil as the Sibyl System that he trusts fails to bring his wife back to his side. On the other side of this arrangement is Shizuka Homura, someone who I never got a handle on in the entirety of the last seven episodes, and now he’s making his play in an also desperate maneuver to stave off the very calculating Koichi Azusawa. It’s all games within the games with Kei now becoming a double agent through being the thirteenth inspector and Homura with his own agenda within Bifrost creating this dynamic that we have never seen before.
The interview scenes conducted by Yayoi did seem a little out of place where they interjected themselves the continuing investigation into Bifrost. It does drive home how the latest case has spilled over to the point of affecting Kei/Artra’s public faces. I don’t know why Azusawa would target her since she’s only a reporter now. While she does know about the foxes that make up the hierarchy of Bifrost, I’m not sure what kind of special knowledge she processes that Unit One isn’t already aware of. As for her current status, despite what Azusawa says that this is the end for the legendary detective, she not dead until there is a body but I supposes that how they intend to dangle the hook for a new season. Despite being having the airtime equivalent of seventeen episodes (having the ED/OP play only once adds up over eight episodes), it feels like Arata/Kei’s story with Sibyl and Bifrost is just starting. Neither of them knows the criminally asymptomatic nature behind the Sibyl System like Akane or Mika do and I don’t think it’s that big of a deal even if they knew the secret hidden deep within the sub-basement of the NONA Tower. After all, the nature of the Sibyl System storyline has already been done at least twice and we haven’t even gotten how Artra became so special in his mentalist abilities and psycho-pass or what transpired with his parents. At the conclusion of this season, there is indeed more Psycho-Pass to look forward to as the Psycho-Pass 3: First Inspector movie was announced for 2020. Unfortunately, it looks to be just a compilation film which doesn’t do anything for the average follower of this series. In either case, whatever format the unannounced sequel will take, I’m absolutely eager to see the next installment of what this franchise might be.
It’s a little odd to think of the Psycho Pass’s third season as a soft reboot since there have been four quite good movies released since the much detested second season in 2014. A vast majority of the previous characters have been relegated to the background and pops up one in awhile while the much beloved Akane is on lock-downed by the Sibyl System. I was a little hesitant to see how this entire new cast of characters would perform considering that Gen Urobuchi no longer involved and writing hacks like Tow Ubukata are still around. However, the current team of writers have proven me wrong by crafting this season’s Unit One to be a fresh and likeable crew of inspectors and enforcers. They even managed to make Mika, someone that completely sucked major balls in season two, somewhat likable as a person who is sandwiched between her “creative” subordinates and the bureaucracy of every other Japanese agencies. The only new thing they introduced this season that is divisive the whole Arata’s mentalist ability that somewhat breaks the believably of this future dystopia. Other than that, Production I.G have crafted a fantastic looking show that is basically on par with the previous movies and pushes the series forward with bold decisions with its story, characters and its forty -five minute episode runtime. It really doesn’t get better than this for those of us who want mature anime that doesn’t devolve itself into isekai bullshit or less than savory fetishes. Psycho-Pass 3 gets my pick as the top show of the fall season and easily makes to my list of shows to watch in 2019.
