Spotlight Character: Makishima Shougo (Psycho-Pass)  MAL Character Information Page: Makishima Shougo Member Favorites: 1034 For the next week I would like to have everyone familiar with this character discuss what they think makes it an exceptional character. What attributes make it stand out in the ocean of interesting characters that exist in the realms of anime and manga. Unlike the other two subjects I will not force this conversation to fall into any set structure. Characters that are nominated typically get here because they are adept at breaking the existing character molds and defying definition. Because of this freedom I encourage everyone to do their very best to stay on topic and keep any and all debate civil. Have fun and I look forward to seeing what everyone has to say about this character. RESULTS OF THE YOU DECIDE POLL Makishima Shougo was obviously NOT inducted into the club Character list: 4 Yes - 6.3% 59 No - 93.7% 47 Don't know this character - 42.0% of the total number polled 2 Abstained - 1.8% of the total number polled |
Don_Don_KunNov 10, 2013 11:08 AM
leaveit2me said: I'm gonna give a resounding "waaaaaaat?" to whoever voted for this guy. By the way, who did? I'd like some defense for him, because I can't think of anything. Is it just me or did the whole show just seem underwhelming? I hope I'm not the only one.... Despite my disliking of the show, Shougo is certainly a character worth talking about. However, that won't be. |
| -Fixing- |
| Wilio, I actually have the opposite opinion. I think the show is decent, and in particular I think that the first half is an induction-worthy crime drama, but the second half of the show goes way downhill in large part due to this guy. As a character, he exemplifies the problems with Gen Urobuchi's writing. He isn't a person, he's just a belief system tacked onto a human body that likes quoting people. He was very good in the first half as a mysterious, chilling villain, but there was nothing more there than the quoting and "I want people to make their own decisions". I don't see how he is induction-worthy. |
 |
| Going to agree with Laudandus here and say that Makishima Shougo isn't much worth talking about unless we want to discuss how he pretty much single-handedly sank the second half of his show. The short police procedural arcs that comprise the first half of Psycho-Pass are much stronger (fight me!) than the corresponding "Stand Alone" and "Dividual" episodes from the two seasons of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, but while both seasons of S.A.C. manage excellent transitions into their overarching plots, Psycho-Pass falters and stumbles until it can be difficult to watch (or care.) Some might fault developments like "HAIPA OOTSU" and "BRAINS," but neither are particularly bad compared to the failings of Shougo as a character. Psycho-Pass opens with two edgy-looking figures saying edgy-sounding things to each other as one looks at the other edgily from atop an edgy-looking staircase. (I don't actually have a copy of Psycho-Pass handy so I might have made some of that up.) Fortunately, the show manages to escape the "two edgemasters, one destiny" paradigm, at least for a dozen or so episodes, and is somewhat successful, tentatively, in making Shougo seem, at first, like something resembling, perhaps, something like a potentially, maybe, interesting villain or, possibly, anti-hero, mayhap. But as Laudandus said, Makishima Shougo doesn't turn out to be much of a real person, but rather a ball of (half-baked) ideals pounded into the shape of a human being. This is readily apparent midway through the second half of the show, at which point it has also been made clear that the finale really will be yet another rendition of "two edgemasters, one destiny" after all. Works that follow such a cliche formula must lean heavily on the strength of their characters and in this context is clear that Shougo just does not hold up. (The other edgemaster, unfortunately, is not much better.) Personality? Who needs one of those? It's probably cooler if he's just some mysteriously dangerous and brilliant guy with that time-tested anti-hero mix of confidence and competence right? Sadly, it is not. Not even when he goes full Oshii and speaks exclusively in quotes for an entire episode. In fact, all that this particular episode does is lay bare his ideological lineage: books that Urobuchi Gen read recently. (Even Oshii usually knows better than to go full Oshii.) Time and time again when the story calls for a character that is interesting in some way—dynamic, or "deep," or delicate, or anything really—Shougo invariably manages to disappoint. So why is he dangerous? Well, uh it's built into the plot, and plus, he's like su-per competent at pretty much everything from hand-to-hand combat to quote dropping with the best, so danger danger! What drives him? Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh, well he hates authority met this equally edgy dude, and now they're rivals(!!!) so he's obsessed with proving that he's the edgier dude! What are his goals? Something something, vague political gibberish, something something, and oh, gotta bring down that Sybil System or at least become stronger than Goku have somewhat meaningful interactions with Rivalrun! Any interests outside of advancing the plot? Reading books to facilitate future quote-dropping and... b-beating Goku? And so on. At a certain point it becomes clear that he exists just to exist (can't make a plot out of "one edgemaster, one destiny") and just to represent a set of ideals that stand opposed to the uncomfortable ones that the protagonists represent. A good start for an anti-hero, but they forgot to make him a person. As a result, his eventual death ends up being almost completely meaningless, with it representing nothing more than the death of some sort of conceptual antagonist rather than the death of any actual character that we cared about or even cared to try to care about. If anyone has anything to say in his defense, I would be glad to talk more about not talking about Shougo. |
yuridiceAug 23, 2013 12:25 AM
| I dont think this character deserves it, but I disagree with _liar's opinion. My major problem was that makashima's character was: 1. Similar in some ways to characters done before eg:- Reinhard (LOTGH), Johann (monster), Kira (Death Note), Yaichi (House of Five leaves) but this is mainly reinforced because of what liar described as "Two edgemasters, one destiny", or rather the struggle between him and Kougami, which I did not feel ruined the show, but was rather underplayed and not well exploited; and 2. the character of Makashima, which in my opinion was stronger than both Akane and Kougami, wasn't well fleshed out,which I think is also a problem with the rest of the characters; There isn't much depth to any of the characters of the show. The rest is not really character related, but since _liar brought it up, I'll post it anyway. I had a small discussion with someone else on MAL about the show and this is part of what I wrote in his profile. We both agreed that Makashima was actually the most interesting character of the show: "you are right, makashima was the most interesting character in the whole show, and I feel that his 'rivalry' was not as well exploited in the plot as, for example, the one between kira and L in Death note, or yohan and Dr tenma in Monster. The struggle felt underplayed compared to what we've seen in those shows. A part of me thought that the ending you described was going to happen, that sibyl system would be destroyed or dismantled. That would have been too cliched imo. The ending that they chose felt more appropriate, but i wish Makashima's story was not cut short so abruptly. It did have some cowboy bebop AND (especially) Ghost in the shell SAC vibes, but it pales in comparison to both of those shows." I think the main purpose of Makashima was to bring down the system. His is the classic case of rebellion against absolute authority and arbitrary power. In a way Sibyl system is not much different from how things work today in the world, where behind the illusion of democracy, someone else is controlling things and calling the shots for their own benefit. |
eyerokAug 26, 2013 1:33 AM
| "...our faces marked by toil, by deceptions, by success, by love; our weary eyes looking still, looking always, looking anxiously for something out of life, that while it is expected is already gone – has passed unseen, in a sigh, in a flash – together with the youth, with the strength, with the romance of illusions.” - Joseph Conrad ('Youth') |
| The only thing that made him interesting was his furtive being, and his general high lit tendencies to use popular authors as his backbone for a mouthpiece. I guess it also helps that he didn't suffer from fabulous angst like the rest of the cast (or at least, not on screen). In a way, he's a principal while simplistic representation of Psycho-Pass' strengths and flaws: elusive from a glance, but ultimately pompous by design. |
| Koreye— I don't see where you give any reasoning for your claim that "Makashima was actually the most interesting character of the show," other than your statement that the rest of the characters are even worse. The rest of your statements, that his purpose is "to bring down the [Sybil] system," and that his rivalry with Kougami is somewhat reminiscent of some other highly-regarded (by some) shows that also feature dueling edgemaster leads, do little to paint him as any more interesting than, say, Choe Guseong. I also don't really get why you feel that the "two edgemasters, one destiny" aspect of the show is underplayed. Maybe it's just a matter of expectations and preferences, as you do consider to be favorable your comparisons with Reinhardo, that one blonde guy from that lousy Urasawa manga, and those other anti-hero-ish characters from series that focus on the plotting and scheming of two "brilliant" protagonists. (I like to refer to this genre, Code Geass is another big example, as "keikakucore," although I don't know how appropriate this term is for "House of Five Leaves" as I have not been exposed to that series.) However, I strongly believe that Psycho-Pass is at its best when it isn't trying to be a keikakucore anime. I'm sure that I sound like a broken record at this point, but Psycho-Pass's police procedural episodes are very strong, stronger even, due to their vastly superior pacing, than the analogous stand alone episodes of GitS: SAC, the show that Psycho-Pass is inevitably constantly compared to. The enormous drop in quality is when it loses slight of the workings of not-Section 9 (forgot the actual name of their unit, tee-hee) and consequently, the world that they inhabit, and focuses instead on the oh-so-very gripping trials of popped collar-chan and Rivalrun as they spend like 10 episodes—that's 9.5 episodes too many—preparing meaningful-sounding things to say to each other. |
| Translating from my blog: http://naomeapeteceestudar.blogspot.pt/2013/08/psycho-pass.html A note to Makishima Shougo. He's an interesting villain, appropriated to the theor of the series. Makes me remember archetypes like Death Note's Light, with some traits of the very genial Johan from Monster. However, it's hard to understand how his anarchist ideal gets involved with the murders and with the mantaining of psychopats, especially in the first part: was it really necessary to cause the chaos. His dialogue is very interesting, filled with references to books I did not read (well, some I read), but it also seemed a bit pretentious. Not from the character, but from the author ("look at all the books I read!"). Someone asked me "is he yuour husbando yet?". And I answer that it's very hard nowadays for a character to attain that kind of status. Makishima Shougo does not even get near it. |
 Waratte Oemashou Sore ha Chiisana Inori |
| @likelike I dont know man, tbh, I don't really 'like' Makashima, but I found him the most interesting character in the cast because of his ideals: fighting to bring down a messed up system that controls every aspect human life. Its basically him being a intellectually superior rebel against authority who actually has a purpose that can be related to considering how the world works today is basically the same way its working under the sibyl system (or at least moving towards it). Man, you really had to say that about lotgh huh...I really love that OVA :( Oh and BTW its not based on a manga by Urasawa, unless you meant it as a joke. Its not even based on a manga for that matter. I think you're simplifying it (Two edgemasters thingy) into a plot device, which is a dangerous tendency because there is more to Monster, and especially lotgh than that aspect, but I don't really want to argue about that. It just reminds me of how Archeon once said to someone that he didn't like the Last samurai because it has this plot device (he had a name for it just like you do for this one) which was basically the protagonist being one the wrong side first, falling over to the other side he/she then realizes how the 'other side' was good, and then fighting for that side. He gave the example of Dances with the wolves having that same 'plot device'. But that means a viewer should negate everything else, the direction, action sequences, choreography, scripts writing etc which is very unfortunate, because you can basically simplify almost every single movie like that. Sorry about that long-winded story...I think it probably is a matter of perspective. Like you think Psycho pass has better 'standalone' episodes, but I think that is nothing short of blasphemy (but that's just my opinion.) Also, House of Five leaves does not have that 'Two edge-masters, one destiny' thing you were talking about. I just meant that some aspect of their character was similar because Yaichi, like Makashima, is laid back, manipulative, taciturn, and knows more about what's going on than everybody else around him. But Yaichi has other traits, and a background that makes him a far more intriguing character. I'd highly recommend it, I really liked House of Five Leaves. |
eyerokSep 6, 2013 3:08 PM
| "...our faces marked by toil, by deceptions, by success, by love; our weary eyes looking still, looking always, looking anxiously for something out of life, that while it is expected is already gone – has passed unseen, in a sigh, in a flash – together with the youth, with the strength, with the romance of illusions.” - Joseph Conrad ('Youth') |
| Oh, looks like I was unclear—forgot that Reinhard was also blonde. I was refering to Johan from Monster. |
koreye said: They also share the same badass seiyuu. This makes their tone of speech very very similar, what with his slow speech/intermittent pauses.Also, House of Five leaves does not have that 'Two edge-masters, one destiny' thing you were talking about. I just meant that some aspect of their character was similar because Yaichi, like Makashima, is laid back, manipulative, taciturn, and knows more about what's going on than everybody else around him. But Yaichi has other traits, and a background that makes him a far more intriguing character. I'd highly recommend it, I really liked House of Five Leaves. |
nil- said: koreye said: They also share the same badass seiyuu. This makes their tone of speech very very similar, what with his slow speech/intermittent pauses.Also, House of Five leaves does not have that 'Two edge-masters, one destiny' thing you were talking about. I just meant that some aspect of their character was similar because Yaichi, like Makashima, is laid back, manipulative, taciturn, and knows more about what's going on than everybody else around him. But Yaichi has other traits, and a background that makes him a far more intriguing character. I'd highly recommend it, I really liked House of Five Leaves. oh crap, I cant believe I didn't realize that, despite noticing the similarities. I was wondering what else was similar other than their attitude. It makes sense, their tone of speech is...its the same frikkin guy!! O_o |
| "...our faces marked by toil, by deceptions, by success, by love; our weary eyes looking still, looking always, looking anxiously for something out of life, that while it is expected is already gone – has passed unseen, in a sigh, in a flash – together with the youth, with the strength, with the romance of illusions.” - Joseph Conrad ('Youth') |
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