Psycho-Pass

[Kraco]

I don't get the madman this episode though. Was he under full control that this was an experiment to test if Inspectors could be shot, or did he just go on his own fantasy run of trying to save people by beating the living shit out of them? I do sympathise with him a bit in that he had his life pretty much taken from him. The "eustress deficiency" he described is pretty much how you'd look if you're overtreated with antipsychotics.

I think he knew Kamui's goal or at least a part of it, but his own was a separate one. Of course that was also made possible by Kamui, but they were allies, so why not. That shop was for people getting those drugs which turn people into zombies, so it wasn't a random place they chose. All the people present, save the Inspector and possibly employees, were the same kind of zombie people he was. I'm not sure if he foresaw all of them getting slaughtered, but perhaps he did. It would then be like a suicide bombing to send a message, even if the message was lost on the specific people he was "treating" on site. But then again, many of those died anyway receiving his treatment, so it's questionable if they were the intended ultimate audience. All in all he was a bit too passionate to have done all that to only incite Aoyanagi.

[Ryllharu]

I don't understand Akane's character. She never gets stressed despite being so moral in an unjust world? How is that even possible?

Akane believes in humanity and that the system can be used for good I suppose.

I actually think it is the opposite. Akane believes that humanity is capable of truly terrible things, and as such, the shit that people are truly capable of doesn't shock her anymore. That's what keeps her baseline.

It may have been true last season, where she was as much of an aberration as Makishima was. She was simply mentally stable because she was never really all that engaged in events personally.

Over time, she realized that the system identified people as undesirables (all of the enforcers) that had a firm belief in what justice is (Kogami/Masaoka), were thoughtful (Kagari/Masaoka), and genuinely cared about others but were burnt by it (Yayoi). She knows it can make errors. She doesn't trust the system at all, but sees it as the only available avenue to prevent further crime. They've shown she much rather would stun people than execute them. She's willing to wait and talk them down to do so, on numerous occasions.

When her friend was murdered in front of her, she recognized that not everyone in this world is pleasant. She was horrified by the act, but isn't naïve enough to believe that there aren't others equally capable of such acts. That's what got her over it, and what keeps her from losing it.

Those who seem to have the most fragile psycho passes and the most easily clouded hues are those who believe that everyone around them is inherently a good person, and that the system can fix them if they get out of line. They have faith in humanity, and believe the system itself is righteous. They believe that life is fair and just, that people will be rewarded for good behavior, and that they're protected by society, that drugs and therapy will save them every time.

Akane doesn't have that faith anymore. She's seen enough to know that isn't true. It is her determination to actively protect others that keeps her sane.

[Buffalobiian]

I agree with the above. "She believes in humanity" was a poor way of expressing that she believes society can be maintained by using (not necessarily obeying) the current system. Sybil isn't perfect, but won't make everything fall apart. She needs to work with it, and to an extent keep it where it is. It makes you wonder how that professor ended up being locked up for having a high psychopass. You'd think that he'd be well past the disillusion phase and well into the acceptance phase.

[Kraco]

Episode 5 - Horrible




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Uhhuh...

What I found unbelievable is that there's apparently no military, just some bots guarding the borders. Is it because they couldn't find a way to exclude soldiers from the Psycho-Pass mess, and thus they all would have been doomed social outcasts?

And in this episode we learned they do indeed have a military, as opposed to what the previous season suggested. Aaaand...

... or rely on robots and hope the enemy doesn't use EMP or have hackers...

The military has armed terminators that are easy to hack and difficult to shut down forcefully after being hacked. Not only is the country haunted by the Sybil, it's even cursed by a military as stupid as a rubber boot. The dystopia is even worse than it seemed to be. It's difficult not to root for the psycho wishing to bring down the rotten order. It's a sad state of affairs when the madmen are the last hope for the sane.

[Ryllharu]

Well, this season was nice while it lasted.

Too bad it already jumped off the deep end into Guilty Crown territory.

I don't even want to list everything wrong with this episode because I'll have to remember it to type it. Better if I just do my best to forget it until next week.

[Buffalobiian]

While the drone-killing was uncomfortable, the creepy Enforcer's photos topped the list. He's so close to her as well it's not funny. Face-transplant aside, I still don't think Kamui is Kogami. Kogami wouldn't treat this as a game. This guy's too much of a kid. If he expected police to arrive though, why leave behind clues about face-transplants?

[Kraco]

I don't think there's any chance of Kogami being Kamui. Kogami wasn't ever crazy. He was one of the more sane individuals, aside from the stupid Sybil's all too error-prone evaluation. Sanity is just statistics in this show anyway, as it's up to a computer to decide who is sane and who needs treatment. I have no such recollection of Kogami that he would be willing to kill random people to further his goals. Would Akane even have fallen for some senseless murderer?

[Kraco]

Episode 6 - HS




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What a sucky arc.

The only good part of this episode: Removing the masking in the game, making the players see what they did, thus wrecking their hue, and then telling the idiot inspector to deal with the situation because it's her bloody job.

The worst part of the episode: Not shooting the boat if Akane really didn't want to shoot the serial killer. It was no fricking military boat, it would have taken decisive damage and either stopped or sunk.

The bad parts of the episode: Everything else but the above.

[shinta|hikari]

I agree with the worst part you mentioned. More people will die just because she didn't want to shoot the dude. She even stopped someone else from doing it.

The rest of the episode I liked. Kamui taking advantage of Sybil's weaknesses was fun to watch.

[Inazuma]

I'm no 4 Start General but ...

Japan has missiles.
The boat is named What Color

The boat is named after the crime scene's quality stamping for fuck's sakes !

If Ben Laden was cruising on the motherfucking Al Quaaeda Royale I think we would have found him in sixty second with a google search on the fucking international boat registry. Don't they use keywords in their investigation ?

[Kraco]

If Ben Laden was cruising on the motherfucking Al Quaaeda Royale I think we would have found him in sixty second with a google search on the fucking international boat registry. Don't they use keywords in their investigation ?

This single guy is apparently a better computer expert than the rest of Japan combined. I doubt his boat would be in the registry. I'd guess the boat would be invisible to electronic surveillance as well; he must have inserted some firewall somewhere that filters it out.

In the end a lot of the stupid shit happening all the time in Japan in this show is due to the system. Sybil doesn't give a shit about individual lives. It's like Stalin and considers lives nothing but statistics. A hundred random innocents can die no problem if it has a chance to benefit the system. Unfortunately for all the people in Japan, Sybil also considers dangerous human aberrations something that may benefit the system, so psychos can sometimes run around freely killing and destroying if they have attributes Sybil finds especially interesting.

[neflight86]

Just to get my two cents in, I'm finding this second season much more entertaining than the last for some reason. I imagine it's because I like the villain much more; we can actually guess at what he is trying to accomplish (without him waxing philosophical to some accomplice).

Also, Leorio... I mean Togane apparently has some problem with Akane's always-clear hue. I look forward to that climax.

[Kraco]

Episode 8 - HS






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Shimotsuki really is a model of a person who puts the cart before the horse. A researcher who has a planned result in mind beforehand and then goes out to look selectively for any evidence that supports the intended result. Although I can't really understand why she was so hellbent to get Akane removed that she wasted good effort and even some real results only to cook up such a stupid plot, which was doomed to be a failure. I guess she's simply stupid and naive even if she did have some talent as an inspector. The worst part was that the last move in her plans was always going to the chief to whine about Akane. I hope she's finished with this. She was of little use to Akane's team.

Where the hell is Kogami? Still no sign of him. I want to see how cute Akane will be when she finally meets him again!

[Buffalobiian]

It was my understanding that Shimotsuki's report was a stunt to get around the fact that uncovering the facts would raise her psycho-pass. By telling herself that it was all going towards writing a report about her senior's danger towards society was a way for her to convey those facts without being someone who was out to upturn society.

That's why she said "the chief would understand". Too bad the chief understood it all too well.

[Ryllharu]

It's a shame really, Shimotsuki it turns out, was a really good investigator. She puts Akane to shame in that regard. Now, she stupidly focused in the wrong direction (getting Akane relieved of duty), but she basically cracked the entire case...and found the truth that Akane all but stumbled upon last season. Akane's "investigative" skills is reliant on epiphanies, asking her subordinates to do research, and becoming a target. Shimostuki's was to sit at the library for hours and logically and methodically go through information.

Had she gone to Akane with her findings instead of the Chief, Akane probably would have realized what poor Mika had found, praised her investigative skill, and warned her off before things turned out the way they did.

[Kraco]

It was my understanding that Shimotsuki's report was a stunt to get around the fact that uncovering the facts would raise her psycho-pass.

No. I'm sure she realised that her unreasonable effort to get rid of Akane was tainting her hue, and thus she instead tried to fool herself by making it a proper investigation, after a fashion, that just happened to support Akane's dismissal, surprise surprise. So, I think you got it backwards. Her sole motivation was to get rid of Akane. Ironically enough it was such a big motivation that it drove her to the core of the real shit, to her demise.

I agree with Ryll: If she handn't had the anti-Akane obsession, she would have been a merit to the team. Even though Ryll seems to doubt Akane's personal skills, but in truth the fact she can use every single member of the team to the max (except the one who's trying to remove her from her position) speaks highly of Akane's skills. A team needs a coordinator to be a team. Otherwise it's just a bunch of individuals doing whatever, wasting lots of effort, just like Shimotsuki did, since she thought she's so much better than Akane. I wonder how dark her hue would turn if she learned Akane has known more or less everything she now believes she found out, yet still retains her perfect hue.

[Buffalobiian]

I don't think so. She became worried about her psycho-pass after delving into the AA stuff. It was only through passing it off as "concerns for an officer/case" that she kept the rise to a minimal.

Her entire research investivation about patents had been based off the real case with some Togane suspicion on the side. Targetting Akane hasn't really been Shimotsuki's agenda for some time now until when it came to report writing.

I think the episode explained quite well about the link between psycho-passes and people looking up the trap term AA.

[Kraco]

Damn. I only noticed today that season 2 isn't written by Urobutcher. No wonder it turned stupid so soon. Gen usually manages to keep things together until it's time to end the show, and that's when he finally fails. The dunce behind the 2nd season didn't hesitate to fail much sooner.

[Buffalobiian]

HS - Episode 09

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I have to say that my enjoyment doesn't deviate too much from Psycho Pass 1. Perhaps it's a matter of relativity. Urobuchi builds things up so well that the ending can't help but be a disappointment. I also came into this series with that lowered expectation, so it hasn't really disappointed me any further.

I'm confused as to why Sybil allows the Togane mother to act in this case though. She's stirring the pot instead of solving the crime. Certainly that's not Sybil's objective.

[Ryllharu]

I'm confused as to why Sybil allows the Togane mother to act in this case though. She's stirring the pot instead of solving the crime. Certainly that's not Sybil's objective.

Togane's mother is Sibyl. She and her team invented the entire system. She's the whole reason the program exists, in some ways, she's the central brain.

She wants Akane dead, or at least discredited and incarcerated. She has a much more loyal (if unstable) stooge in Shimotsuki now that they decided not to kill her after telling her. Stupid twit is so black and white that she is happy to follow the manipulation if it means she can get purge her life of Akane's gray world outlook.

I'm not sure they really care about Kamui to be honest. He's annoying and a thorn in their side (also because it is her fault), but they seem more than happy that it is starting to break Akane. It seems that her non-criminally-asymptomatic-but-perfectly-nominal psycho-pass is a bigger problem for them than Kamui body swapping people and brainwashing others. In the end, Sibyl can simply override the Dominators directly like we saw last season, so long as no one else notices they're doing it.

Akane seems more like proof the system is broken than someone who is invisible or doesn't register (i.e. the members of their brain trust). Akane goes up and down, changes colors, but never very far and she always recovers.



As an aside, brainwashed investigator is kinda hot. She's not a great eyepatch-chan, but she has a nice body. She's a bit more of a Ryomou than a Valmet though.