Psycho-Pass season 1 (Naoyoshi Shiotani & Katsuyuki Motohiro, 2012-2013)

[Michael Kerpan]

Well, we will see how much of her "childishness" survives past ep. 11....

[Michael Kerpan]

Ep. 12 gives us a bit of a break. We get the back story of one of the other "enforcers" -- a young woman who was an authorized musician whose hue got "cloudy" and led to her confinement as a latent criminal. It may set up a possible future conflict -- but it is pretty much a stand-alone sub-story (for now). It does show us Kogami before he got tagged as a latent criminal, however.

[Mr Sausage]

It was nice in episode 9 to see Akane stand up for herself and behave like an adult, tho' what rankled her, being called a child, was essentially true. The sudden swing into maturity wasn't properly set up in the writing, so it's entirely out of the blue and unconvincing; but still, after a whole scene of her blushing and cringing over the suggestion she's going on a date, I appreciated her sudden self-possession and -respect.

The episode also sets up (at least explicitly) the duality of crime, that detective and criminal are linked in their shared pursuit. Dario Argento always had fun with this theme, to the point of having one of his detectives spend the final credits staring at his own face in a puddle of blood. So Kogami and Mikishima(sp?) are a linked pair, two criminals on opposite sides of the system both charging at the abyss. Nothing new, but I'm glad the show indulges the trope all the same.

[Michael Kerpan]

Makashima

[Mr Sausage]

The overall theme of these last few episodes (10 - 13) has, surprisingly, been religion. Not explicitly, but in a sci-fi guise it has taken up the themes of free will and faith.

Episodes 10 - 13Show

The Sybil System is designed to remove free will from society as much as possible. It's Makishima's goal to dig into the repressed desires of people and give their personality free play, see what they can do when unfettered. His challenge to Akane on the catwalk was one of free will: could she allow herself to assert her own private will, or stay constrained to the ethical and judicial judgements of the Sybil System when it would mean certain disaster? This is a Protestant/Catholic question rather than a fate vs free will question: those who put their faith in a priestly hierarchy, and those who listen to an inner voice, communing directly with the divine. Those who use mandates, rules, and prescriptions to guide their behaviour, and those who choose for themselves how best to uphold their values.

In ep. 13, we get the problem of faith. A system like Sybil only functions on faith--faith that it is perfect, that it can be trusted to direct the lives of its citizens as it sees fit. Any flaw in the system would undermine faith and therefore undermine the system at large. The system is unacceptable if it's not perfect, as a whole society of doubters would be impossible to regulate. Faith doesn't just extend to the system at large, either. The conversation between Gio and his dad reveals how much faith in one's basic role in society is necessary to avoid imprisonment. Doubt is the great enemy. When doubt begins to creep in, even doubt in the efficacy of your job, you're on an inevitable path to criminality, or what this society lables criminality anyway. Yet this is a series of convenient lies: the system is not only imperfect in terms of the occasional flaw, it's fundamentally imperfect: it requires human safeguards. It is not flexible enough to be trusted 100%. The mere existence of the police suggests that Sybil cannot be trusted to run everything itself, and yet the idea that it could run everything itself is necessary for the system to work in general. Doubt in the system's perfection is baked into the system. Such is the contradiction of faith: you only need faith if there's a good reason not to believe something.

The show never uses the word 'faith' itself, but what else could it be talking about? These discussions feel religious rather than political. There is no concern with formal appearances or obeisance or displays of submission as you get in a purely political totalitarian system. With these crime coefficients, it's a purely spiritual question: what you hold privately in your heart. And how systems like Sybil are there to make that public, interpret it, and apply to it The Law. The relationship between the spiritual and the religious.

Big Ben in The Trial thread quoted these lines from Kafka's novel, and they apply perfectly here:

The man has come to the law for the first time and the doorkeeper is already there. He's been given his position by the law, to doubt his worth would be to doubt the law." "I can't say I'm in complete agreement with this view," said K. shaking his head, "as if you accept it you'll have to accept that everything said by the doorkeeper is true. But you've already explained very fully that that's not possible." "No," said the priest, "you don't need to accept everything as true, you only have to accept it as necessary." "Depressing view," said K. "The lie made into the rule of the world."

What else is Sybil but the necessary lie made into the rule of the world? When Kafka talked of The Law, he was talking about something religious. Something quite Jewish, actually. Among other things, this passage is about our relationship to god. And so is the show in a way, how we relate to our own spiritual condition, and what it does to the spirit to be a matter for public judgement and prescription from an unquestionable authority. Like Kafka, the show is only nominally about authoritarian systems. Really, it's a lot more metaphysical.

[Michael Kerpan]

Makashima

Makishima.

Mr. S -- You have slipped by me. Maybe I will get to 12 and 13 tomorrow.

[Boosmahn]

Ep. 12 gives us a bit of a break. We get the back story of one of the other "enforcers" -- a young woman who was an authorized musician whose hue got "cloudy" and led to her confinement as a latent criminal. It may set up a possible future conflict -- but it is pretty much a stand-alone sub-story (for now). It does show us Kogami before he got tagged as a latent criminal, however.

Something interesting to note: episode 12 is the only episode to not be written by Gen Urobuchi and Makoto Fukami. Aya Takaha wrote it, with her most recognizable writing credit being the screenplays for The Ancient Magus' Bride. While I really like that series, I've always found episode 12 of Psycho-Pass to be on the weaker side, but it's nice to get insight into Kunizuka's motivations.

The overall theme of these last few episodes (10 - 13) has, surprisingly, been religion. Not explicitly, but in a sci-fi guise it has taken up the themes of free will and faith.

Very interesting read! I either forgot about that aspect of the series or never registered it. Religion is definitely a theme Urobuchi has explored before. (Furthermore, one Psycho-Pass character remarks in episode 16 that if Sibyl is God, Makishima is acting as the Devil.)

[Mr Sausage]

If Makishima is Satan, he's Milton's Satan, as all his criticims (so far) are sympathetic and justified, even if his actions are....not.

And I don't mind making such pompous references, because the show makes plenty itself. Ko was reading Heart of Darkness at one point, no doubt to show how he and Makishima are linked antagonists like Marlowe and Kurtz.

[Mr Sausage]

I'm extending the finish date a week. It'll now finish July 3rd.

[Michael Kerpan]

We'll be heading off to Quebec Tuesday. I'll try to watch as much as I can before then -- but doubt I'll finish.

Episodes 13 and 14Show

Well, Sibyl and psycho passes seem worth next to nothing -- as they seem able to be circumvented by at least a couple of different methods. And no one (and nothing in the system) seems able to stop crimes/murders in process -- even when fully observed by the public and spy cameras. And the enforcers and inspectors have essentially no weapons that allow them to stop criminals (whose psycho passes show "clear hues") or even to protect themselves). Makishima apparently wants to use (probably unlimited) death and destruction to free humanity from being "sheep". Abstractly (arguably) a noble goal -- but he doesn't appear to value actual people, just "humanity". Pretty grim situation -- for all.

[Mr Sausage]

Makishima seems to view life as a kind of game, and people objects to have fun with. You get the sense that what he loves in people is what he loves in himself, his freedom and individuality, but he doesn't want anything good for people from those things. Mostly he likes to test them and manipulate them, like a capricious god amusing himself. He's not all that different from the Sybil System; he just doesn't find control interesting when there's no conflict or unpredictability, ie. when it's no longer a game.

[Mr Sausage]

I have two episodes left, and Akane has finally become an adult. They ought to've updated her look along with it, tho'.

[Michael Kerpan]

I have 3 more to go. Wow -- that system is hellish. Far, far worse than I imagined. Makishima and Sibyl both seem equally bad -- each in their own way.

I think Akane began "growing up" a bit earlier -- but it has been made manifest now. I think her design finally gets upgraded in subsequent seasons....

[Mr Sausage]

Episode 20Show

Unsurprisingly, the crux of the show is not Akane's relations to Kogami, but the conflict between her belief in the system that defines her, and her own private morality. Her inability to find her place in the unit or settle her opinion on Kogami was set up for this last point of indecision or ambivalence.

Tho' she seems to've made her choice, or a choice: to stand by Sybil out of necessity rather than reject it like Makishima and some of the Enforcers, but to get a piece of justice out of it in the bargain by saving Kogami. Politically and even ethically, this is a poor solution it seems to me. But what do you do as a show when the satus quo you've set for yourself is monstrous, but also your only reason for being? Hard to be titled Psycho-Pass if there's no psycho-pass system. The show has tied itself politically into storylines in which only villains can be revolutionaries, and heroes have to be collaborators.

[Michael Kerpan]

Episode 19Show

Here we discover Japan is, in effect, a smiling-face version of North Korea. Totally cut off from the entire rest of the world -- in almost every respect (except for some hidden corners of the internet).And we learn that Sibyl is actually a bunch of interconnected, disembodied brains, collected from sociopaths and psychopaths. Which explains why Sibyl wants Makishima taken alive at all costs. Jeez. Things could hardly get worse.... Right now, I'm siding with Makishima's goal of destroying the Psycho Pass system -- even if I abhor his methods (and attitude).

[Mr Sausage]

I've finished. I enjoyed this series. I had my problems with it, and I've gone over some of them in the thread; but I remain impressed at how intently the show drove at its themes and ideas. This is something I've seen in a number of animes but not so much in American productions: an intense focus on heavy themes like identity, morality, the nature of the soul, and so on, and a willingness to pursue those themes and develop them where an American product is likely to raise them, but otherwise take them for granted. And this show in particular raised a lot of heavy, intertwined themes like faith, the soul, fate, justice, law, morality, fathers and sons, totalitarianism, utopia/dystopia. It never lost sight of those themes, either, and wrapped up quite a few of them in the final episode. The show's politics are...well, it painted itself into a corner, and its final sentimental speech was a band aide meant to hide the wound rather than an adequate response. But the idea behind its world was productive and led to good plot lines.

Not a great show, but an interesting one, with plenty to talk about. Good choice, Boosmahn

[Boosmahn]

I just finished as well. I'm glad you (and Michael?) enjoyed it!

It may be worth checking out Psycho-Pass: The Movie. I'm going to watch Psycho-Pass 2 and see if it's really as bad as some people think, and report back here or in the anime thread if it is self-contained enough to skip. I just don't want a poor season dissuading you two from watching an apparently pretty-good film.

[Mr Sausage]

Yeah, let us know what else is worth watching. I’d happily watch more, but the dire reputation of season 2 put me off. If the movie doesn’t hang on season 2, I’ll probably check it out. I’m also curious about the later movies, but I have no idea how they fit into the timeline or what I’d need to see first.

[Michael Kerpan]

Looking at the story lines of future installments (I never mind spoilers in such a case as this). I see very little additional that might draw me in. It really looks like most of the interesting aspects of the story got handled well in S1 already.

[Mr Sausage]

The first movie would certainly exceed your explosion (including human) quotient, Michael Kerpan. It's a straight forward action movie from start to finish. A decent one, too. But viewer interest depends on how much you like seeing people and machines blown apart in kinetic set pieces.

The movie not only repeats a lot of themes from the series, but treats them more simplistically. It's also deeply confused, politically. At times the movie is in favour of democratic rebellion, at others, the Sybil System is the hero (eg. it's stated that Japan is the only nation on earth not torn apart by sectarian violence; and unlike the series, where the ultimate problem was the system working as intended, the problem here is the system being perverted by a number of bad actors, with the system having to swoop in to save everyone). The movie does have an impassioned ending speech in favour of democracy, but it's not persuasive, not least because it seems to think democracy is still viable when people are voting on a system whose true nature is hidden from them.

The movie falls apart in the last 30 minutes, devolving into endless fights and deus ex machinas, with a lack of interesting villains (the last villain standing is only introduced at the halfway point, and is ancillary to pretty much anything--and yet the film halfheartedly tries to replay the Kogami/Makshima dynamic anyway).

Oh, and Michael Kerpan? They don't age up Akane's model at all, so her now mature character and voice acting really contrasts with the design. To the point that when they want to sexualize her (which they do randomly and salaciously), they have to invent gigantic breasts for her to heave at the camera, and then discreetly deflate them in the next shot. They also improbably hide her nipples in a gratuitous shower scene, which I thought was odd given there was no actress with modesty to protect. What was the thinking there? Also, why invent a competent, rounded, interesting female character, but demean her with unmotivated close ups of her ass while she changes or her breasts while she fights, ie. sexualize her in situations that are not sexual? Especially when she is otherwise not given a sexuality to express.

An imperfect movie and an odd choice to continue the series with. It's still entertaining, but not up to the standard of the (itself imperfect) first season.

[Michael Kerpan]

I'm not sure I've encountered any other series with such an artistic design failure for the main character (when the rest of the cast looks relatively "normal").

I saw the very beginning of a later movie -- and I assumed they had upgraded Akane's design a lot. But it turns out Akane wasn't even in the movie -- this was actually her sort-of-replacement. The rest of the franchise seems like rather a mess to me.

Trivia -- Akane was probably the most commonly used name for heroines during the anime season is just now ending.

[Boosmahn]

To the point that when they want to sexualize her (which they do randomly and salaciously), they have to invent gigantic breasts for her to heave at the camera, and then discreetly deflate them in the next shot.

I had heard there were a couple of out-of-place shots, but I was not aware they went that far. I doubt this was present in the script -- I wonder who made the decision to add it.

They also improbably hide her nipples in a gratuitous shower scene, which I thought was odd given there was no actress with modesty to protect. What was the thinking there?

Okay, I actually have some insight into this. Nipples are frequently absent in anime that air on television, regardless of whether they're on a male or female chest. However, some shows will give their male characters them while the female characters are left alone. Maybe some timeslots don't allow nipples at all, others allow them on male characters, and a few allow both? And of course, there are times when it seems they're censored to avoid sexualization -- a good example of this is one of my favorite series, Spice and Wolf. There is no possible way for the female lead not to be nude in some scenes, so the camera steers clear of sexual shots and just doesn't give her nipples. (It makes sense in context, I swear. )

Why is Akane sexualized but not given nipples in a theatrical film? Not sure. A disconnect between production departments?

[Mr Sausage]

I forgot to add, a third of the move is in English, but none of the voice actors seem to know how to speak it. You need subtitles for the English sections: whole words and sounds get swallowed, the stresses are all over the place, there's rampant katakana pronuciation--it's atrocious. I get it's made entirely for a Japanese audience, but still: how hard is it to hire English-speaking actors, or give your voice actors instruction in English? I taught English to Japanese speakers for a number of years, and my lower level students could do better.

[Boosmahn]

One fan compiled a cut (which I obviously can't link here), the "Engrish Eradication Edition," that gives the English-speaking characters the lines from the English dub. Japanese characters speaking in English retain their original lines, naturally.

[Michael Kerpan]

Actually, I like it when movies feature foreign characters who need to use English as a lingua franca to talk to other characters who don't share their own language -- and allow them to talk as "awkwardly" as people really would in that situation. Obviously when English is supposed to be a character's primary language (or one that has been mastered as a second language) this preference does not apply.