Psycho-Pass Episode 5 Discussion

solman said:
This episode baffled my mind, they shot an unnarmed suspect for no actual reason.

Morridine said:


when did they have a reason besides the judgement of those fancy guns xD

solman said:
This episode baffled my mind, they shot an unnarmed suspect for no actual reason.

MellowJello said:
That was awesome. Plot, character development, more details on the setting, everything!

Although I question their "shoot first, don't ask questions at all" policy. But hey, that's the police for ya :

The ultimate painkiller that allows arms to get blown up? Time to get addicted on that..

Lelouch22 said:
This was definitely the strongest episode since the first, as it effectively served to render a temporary reprieve from the increasingly dull monotony that had gradually filtered into the narrative. Following the mediocre pacing of the last few episodes, this one was actually rather well-paced. As such, the repetitive nature of events has diminished, allowing for an episode that's both exciting and riddled with a plethora of seemingly far-reaching developments. The atmosphere in the latter half of the episode evoked a certain intensity that was quite impressive in it's effectiveness.

This episode continued it's focus on a very engaging case, as the story benefited considerably by the extended, familiar nature of the crime. I greatly enjoyed the meticulous deconstruction of Spooky Boogie's death. Though expected, one of the most interesting developments, since it pertains to the larger narrative, is that others, such as Mido, are able to carefully avoid detection from the Sibyl system, thus illustrating yet another flaw within the system.

The ending was definitely the best moment in the episode, as it's revealed that Kogami was once an inspector. Though the initial development wasn't particularly unexpected, it was quite surprising to learn that he was, in fact, Ginoza's former partner, since I assumed that to be Masaoka. This excellent cliffhanger of sorts also, once again, distinctly illuminates the likely possibility that Kogami's rise in criminality and subsequent demotion were due, in large part, to a specific confrontation and, perhaps, a heightened involvement, with Shogo.

The distorted visuals that were used throughout the latter half of the episode were extremely effective, as they evoked a certain chaotic atmosphere and claustrophobic paranoia that complemented the tension of the moment supremely well.

All in all, Psycho-Pass, following several slightly underwhelming episodes, has improved immensely with this one. There still appears to be a disappointing lack of ambition, but the revelation at the end of this episode gives me hope that the story will return to fully delivering on it's exceptionally promising potential. One of my largest criticisms, aside from the unnecessary restraint and inconsistent execution, is that the narrative has been needlessly fragmented in a manner that doesn’t fully explore the advantages of an episodic nature. As such, I'm hoping for a gradual broadening of the character interactions, since, up to this point, they've been noticeably lacking, save for Akane and Kogami's occasional conversation.

danmari said:
symbv, thanks for the detailed explanation.



You should probably ask someone who's perfectly fluent with English because I'm not sure I can explain it properly, but Plato basically had a theory that ideas are not just something that the human mind can come up with, but actually exist in a reality we can't grasp with our senses. Ideas (or Forms) are like the essence of something, for example various shades of the color green can look very different but there must be something they all have in common which lets us identify them as "green". According to Plato that's the Idea of the color green. So everything we see, feel, taste or smell is always just a copy of the real thing (its Idea) but we can't possibly know what the real thing is like because it's outside our reality.

Midou said to the avatars that he believes they are closer to the Idea of a person than real people because unlike real people they have no actual physical manifestation.

Edit: wrote "probably" when I meant to say "properly"

Higashi_no_Kaze said:
Good episode. Old Man Flamethrower still easily is my favorite character of the season.

Dessiato said:
People are mistaking development for characterization.

Kogami being an ex inspector is characterization.

Development would be the progression to him once more becoming an inspector through improving his psycho pass.

NeoBasch said:
What?!? Holy cow balls on a stick, I did not see that coming. I always expected Masaoka Tomomi to be Gino's former partner. In fact, before watching this episode, I had rewatched the previous four and found so many references to their relationship and how it all made sense if Tomomi was the detective. So this clearly came out of left field to me. I had no idea Shinya would be the one. It never even occurred to me, despite how much it makes sense now in retrospect. This only makes me more curious about Masaoka's history with Gino.

Urobuchi manages to surprise yet again. And hell, it seems to keep getting deeper and deeper. Is anybody else wondering how he can keep this up for 17 more episodes? God, the man is a genius! I envy his skills as a storyteller. >_<

EDIT: It will be interesting to see if that first scene of the show was a flashback or flashforward. I'm banking on the latter. One just doesn't simply walk away from such a fateful meeting. lol

Also, am I the only one dreading the ending. For some reason I expect Akane and Shinya to become enemies. Probably over the whole Sybil system in general. I'm guessing Shinya will be the one pushing for reform whereas Akane seeks to defend it. A character reversal of sorts, I suppose. If my hunch is right, I expect this anime to get even more dark than it already is.

danmari said:
I wish they wouldn't just randomly throw philosophers into the conversation. The Plato reference wasn't even followed by an explanation, and somehow I doubt most viewers get it or even care enough to look it up, so what purpose did it serve? The show raises some interesting questions, but it isn't really deep or anything, so philosophic references just come off as pretentious.

That said, I'm enjoying this so far.

Deicario said:
I assumed that Mido was also operating Talisman (as Talisman was one of the Avatars in his room at the end). The 'Big Bad' who was funding the case also didn't really seem interested in the taking over Avatars shtick, more so in Mido himself, as well.