Why You Shouldn't Pass on Psycho-Pass

Anime Review: Psycho-Pass [No Spoilers]

     We finally got around to watching the second season of Psycho- Pass, and thought we should probably do a review of Psycho-Pass for anyone who hadn’t heard of it or still had some reservations about watching it. So here we go.

    First off Psycho-Pass was produced by Production I.G., the studio behind Ghost in a Shell, Attack on Titan, Blood: The Last Vampire, Guilty Crown, and Moribito; so right off the bat you know that even if the story doesn’t resonate with you or is lacking [Guilty Crown I’m looking at you], at least you’ll be watching some great visuals. Luckily for all of us Psycho-Pass is overall great. The story is engaging and thought provoking, while its characters are compelling.

    The story takes place in a future dystopian version of Japan. To keep its citizens safe Japan has closed itself off to the rest of the world and has created a crime management organization to work alongside the government to keep the country’s crime rates down. This organization is known as the Sibyl System. “That which needs to be done is carried out by those capable. Such is the grace bestowed upon mankind by Sibyl” is the slogan of the Sibyl System whose purpose it is to maintain peace and order. To do this it uses various software programs to monitor and analyze the country’s population to find those with potential criminal inclinations.  During these scans they rate your Psycho-Pass levels.

    A Psycho-Pass is basically a culmination of a persons’ personality, temperament, emotional and mental stability, and criminality rate. All these things are measured to predict whether you are likely to commit a crime. If your Psycho-Pass levels are lower than 100 you are in the clear, if they reach between 100 to 299 though then you are labelled as a latent criminal, and anything over 300 you are considered a serious threat to society. Complacency and submissiveness are encouraged in this world and anyone found not following this mandate is sent to have their Psycho-Pass rehabilitated, or in the cases where the Psycho-Pass levels reach over 300, the subject is eliminated. It brings to mind the old Japanese saying “the nail that sticks out gets hammered down.”

    The ones sent to deal with such cases are the Ministry of Welfare's Public Safety Bureau’s Inspectors and Enforcers, who are the main protagonists of this story. Inspectors are the leading agents of the Division Unit, while the Enforcers are people whose Psycho-Pass is no longer clear, and are therefore considered latent criminals; basically they are found guilty before even having committed a crime, and were hired to give criminal insight and analysis. Essentially they do the dirty work so that the Inspectors do not risk jeopardizing the level of their own Psycho-Pass.

    The main protagonist is Akane Tsunemori, the new rookie Inspector joining the 1st Division of MWPSB. Though top of her class, nothing could have prepared Akane for stepping into the world of underground misdoings, where every corner is filled with the dark recesses of the human psyche. Thankfully she is in possession of a naturally clear Psycho-Pass, which allows her to interact closely with the Enforcers on her team without the worry of being influenced by their latent criminal Psycho-Pass levels. One Enforcer that she forms a close bond with is Shinya Kogami, who was a former Inspector himself until a tragedy occurred and he became obsessed with seeking revenge.

    This show raises many philosophical questions. The idea of the Sibyl System itself is interesting, could humans one day achieve a world without violence and turmoil? The Sibyl System like many theories can look compelling on paper, but when applied to the real world can be a bit more problematic. The issue with running simulations on real world applications that tackle human behaviour is that more often than not it will fail, due to the simple fact that humans are not made up of neat and orderly sets of numbers. Humans are too random, too emotional, even sometimes acting against our own best interests.

    The Sibyl System tries to control this by also taking charge of making your decisions for you; which career you should have, what you should eat to have the right amount of calories, what you should read, and so on, this is all so people do not become overly stimulated or anxious. And People give up their freedom of choice to feel safe. But in a world void of choice, where the Sibyl System dictates your every move, can humans still be considered living or are they simply robots in a fleshy, soft outer shell?

    We have seen these worlds depicted various times in movies and literature such as Blade Runner, Equilibrium, Divergent, Minority Report, and The Giver. In all these often times grey, dull and art absent worlds, there is a system in place to predetermine your path in life, and yet in each one someone takes exemption of this and tries to destroy it. This is also why it’s no surprise that the ones society has given up on, such as the Enforcers, are the ones who seem to be enjoying themselves the most. Once they no longer have to worry about their Psycho-Pass levels or when they are no longer being censured, that is when we see humans most at ease.

    WATCH IT! This anime is definitely worth your time.

    ~ Stay Obsessed