Psycho-Pass 2

TLDR: Inverted Parabola. Starts out all right, gets better towards the middle, crashes and burns at the end.

Psycho Pass made a huge splash in 2012 as a successful Urobutcher series. Its creativity, style, and execution flowed into an enjoyable and imaginative show - albeit with some missteps. Without Urobuchi at the helm, Psycho Pass 2 tries to take his universe and tell a unique story and, honestly, fails pretty hard.

If you've seen the first season, you probably wonder where the plot for this dystopian thriller could go. After all, much of the original Psycho Pass was an introspective exploration into the world it created. Where, ... given all the plot developments of the first seasons, could this new series explore?

Well, as it turns out, nowhere. Striking similarities to the first season become quickly apparent and there's an overlying feeling of deja vu throughout the entire series. The story revolves around the same conflict debated in the first series and doesn't add anything new. As the plot progresses further, it desperately tries to distinguish itself through forced and melodramatic plot twists that ultimately amount to a bizarre and nonsensical finale with a confusing, out-of-left-field take-home message.

Most annoying is the lack of continuity from the initial series in characters. In some ways, Psycho Pass 2 doesn't feel like a sequel so much as a parody of the first series. Development seems to only really carry over for Akane; she is the only one in the cast who feels right. Ginoza, the other main protagonist from the first series, takes a backseat role. No, not like the backseat of a car; if Psycho Pass 2 was a Boeing 747, Ginoza would be sitting in the rear flight attendant's area. His developments from the previous season are ignored and he receives something like...15 lines of dialogue?

Instead, Psycho Pass 2 introduces Shimotsuki, one of the most infuriating characters to watch on screen. Her backstory is left unexplained and viewers are left to decode the infinite mystery that is her decisionmaking logic. Tougane, on the other hand, exhibits the makings of a good character and is certainly the most entertaining aspect of Psycho Pass 2. Unfortunately, the last few episodes don't really capture the potential of his character, instead bogging him down in the far less interesting main story.

Kamui, the main antagonist, is a washed-up recycle of Makishima with essentially the same character traits and demeanor. These similarities make it incredibly difficult to appreciate him as a stand-alone character. While he may have had some distinguishing features, the resemblance to Makishima in both his methods and his goal detract from an otherwise decent antagonist. Psycho Pass 2 tries to throw in some twists to make him more interesting, but the show can't escape the shadow of the first season.

All in all, a much weaker cast than the original Psycho Pass, which wasn't even that great to begin with.

Of course, the animation and sound of Psycho Pass 2 reflect the budget. Animation more or less matches the original show - perhaps slightly better given an 11-episode length compared to 24-episodes. The soundtrack is good, but worse than the first season. Ling Tosite Sigure offers a serviceable opening; however, not nearly as catchy as their work in Psycho Pass's first OP and Tokyo Ghoul. The ending song is my easily favorite song of the show and accents the ending of each episode nicely. The removal of the "Dominator" insert song brings down the score a full point, however.

I really wouldn't recommend watching this show if you've seen the first season. Even if you haven't, just watch the first season instead and leave it at that. Episodes 1-6 build up suspense and anticipation that Psycho Pass 2 fails to deliver on. Everything you'll see about the Psycho Pass universe occurred in the first season; Psycho Pass 2 doesn't offer anything dramatically different. It's simply a less interesting version of the first season that leaves you with questions like:

"What the fuck is wrong with Shimotsuki?"

Story: 4/10
Character: 3/10
Art: 9/10
Sound: 7/10
Enjoyment: 5/10

I suspect that the writer for Psycho Pass 2 created the script after surfing through conspiracy theorist sites written by potheads, followed by using the most hackneyed checklist of what constitutes a ‘dark, edgy thriller’: Somewhat sympathetic villain. Devoted, eye-patch wearing female accomplice in a red cleavage-baring outfit. Innocent puppies being killed mercilessly. Mutilated human faces hanging on walls. People being burned alive while ‘Nessun Dorma’ plays in the background. (No, I am not joking about the last one.)

Psycho Pass 2 is a terrible sequel. By ‘terrible sequel’, I do not mean a mediocre sequel that paled in comparison to the original but served ... as a solid continuation of the story otherwise. I mean a sequel that ripped out all the things that made the first season interesting and shoved the pieces up its ass.

Let’s start with the distinguishing factor of the Psycho Pass universe: the Sibyl System. An utilitarian system that valued the collective happiness of everyone, viewing certain strong emotions as impediments to its ideals. Although it suppressed free will and denied space for self-actualization, it was successful in creating a stable society that escalated levels of happiness. It was not evil, it simply prioritized values differently - and this, interestingly, was what made it such an unsettling system. However, the Sibyl System in Psycho Pass 2 is clearly evil. Its once cold, calculating nature has been replaced with a comically wicked persona that involves itself in all sorts of conspiracies for selfish reasons. It might as well be a maniacal, moustache-stroking dictator plucking sandwich crumbs from his beard.

The writing decision to make the Sibyl System act too human ruptured the thematic axis built up by Season One. The original delivered a compelling critique of utilitarianism by highlighting the dark side of optimized rationality, but season two depicted a form of broken irrationality that didn't even resemble utilitarianism. The chaos did not stop there: the show abandoned its allegory on individual-society relationships and delved straight into a conspiracy thriller plot. The result was a mess of nonsensical conspiracies that ignored the rules established in the previous season. The writer seems to think that the more complicated the villain’s scheme, the better the story. The main villain, Kirito Kamui, is an expert programmer, hacking into several security systems, pulling convoluted tricks on the police, brainwashing people into becoming his cult followers, carrying out multiple organ transplants, and God knows what else. The twists and new details created too many logical gaps in the story to keep the viewer’s investment. It only got more pretentious towards the end with all the theories that have no substantial contribution towards the show’s themes.

As for the characters, the main Inspector Akane Tsunemori started off promising and confident. However, she displayed no real growth by the end of the series, even after all the tragedy she witnessed, after how Sybil System was revealed to be a corrupt dipshit. Her pacifist beliefs did not shake one bit, neither did she offer any new insight. The new characters were nothing interesting either, although Sakuya Tougane, the Enforcer with the highest Crime Coefficient ever recorded, had potential. Of course, he eventually descended into self-parody along with the show. There’s also Mika Shimotsuki, the new Inspector whom everyone wanted to electrocute since episode 1. It was obvious that the show was trying to make her a poster child of the Sibyl System, but her character was utilized very poorly. Lacking initiative, useless, with cow manure for brains, it is hard to imagine how she even qualified for the job. Even after witnessing violent accidents that were partially her fault, she did not come to any realizations, her behavior painted her more like a caricature than an actual person. Yet, the show continued to focus on her childishness, which only served to annoy the audience further instead of articulating any interesting points.

In regards to the art and music departments, the animation is passable, although it took a slight dip in quality compared to the first season. I’ll give extra props to the music department though, for giving us the comedic gold that was the ‘Nessun Dorma’ scene.

In conclusion, Psycho Pass 2 had me questioning if the writer paid any attention to the first season at all. In fact, the show seemed to undermine its audience’s intelligence with the sheer stupidity of its plot and made-up fictional details, every episode in the second half did a good job of destroying half of my brain cells. To put it straight: Psycho Pass 2 failed to add anything meaningful to the original. It tried too hard to be ‘deep and edgy’ by throwing in shock and violence, even though it lacked thematic resonance of any sort. It’s like trying to improve the taste of burnt buffalo wings by pouring a bucket of hot sauce on it: not only does it still taste terrible, you are probably going to end up with a bad case of diarrhea, idiot.

Truth be told, after Season 1, I am highly disappointed as of Episode 5. While I understand the aspect of mystery, most of events that take place in the anime and the story itself don't make a lot of sense.

Not only it goes against the logical nature of the first season of the show, it also overuses previous themes, such as the faults of the Sybil System, at the same time paying no respect to them... Because one of the faults of the system was its over-control of human life... control, that now somehow vanished, apparently for the sake of the plot.

The premise of the ... world itself was police investigating incidents in the world in which machines can read a person's mind and judge it. However, none of it is left. Instead, everyone focuses on some kind of "ghost" who uses abilities more akin to magic or at least methods working with magic-like efficiency.

Earlier, it was pure logic and psychology, with some action. MWPSB tried to discover the culprits behind crimes and hunt them down. To do that, they investigated crimes that occurred, looking for leads - something like this barely occurs now that the show focuses on a single mystery of a ghost, and every criminal is suddenly clean.

Changing someone's Crime Coefficient regardless of their thoughts, tendencies and motives is illogical ability - because Crime Coefficient itself was a measurement and judgment of thoughts, tendencies and motives. It's like changing a measurement on thermometer without changing temperature.
It's obvious it will be explained, but the execution of the idea is done rather badly, if instead of interest, it causes aversion to the writing.

The new season also seems to easily disregard some parts of the world we saw in the first season. For example, eye scanning was outdated technology in Season 1, but for some reason, it's used by Dominators to work in Season 2. Similarly, anti-hacking measures in drone factory were particularly tight, while nothing of it was reflected in latest, drone-related episode.

While the first season had criminals trying to work their way around the system, they were still fragile to it once found out. This new season however disregards ordered nature of the world completely, dumbing down its safety and security, while severely overpowering criminals and making them immune to most attempts of enforcement.

Sequels have always been expected to fill the shoes of it's predecessors. And it should go without saying that a great deal of sequels fall short. Either because fans of the 1st season carry high expectations or elements of the 1st season is missing in its follow up.
Unfortunately Psycho-Pass 2 isn't an exception to the rule. It didn't quite live up to the success it garnered back in 2012/2013..

Story: 4/10

One of the most noticeable flaw starts with unresolved tension build up from season 1. Instead of following up on the friction between the collective entity of the Sibyl ... System and Akane, it places in on the back burner. Even going as far as making Sibyl passive as appose to the hands on approach the fans would have been used to. Instead we follow Akane as she investigates the new and rather bland antagonist who stirs up trouble in the system. the 11 episode runtime also further dampers the story, giving it less time to be fully fleshed out.
With a new writer behind the helm, PP2 feels rather alienated from it's predecessor. The absence of Gen Urobuchi's knack for chair gripping thrill rides is ever present. The new writer isn't bad per say, but lacks the flare for the dramatic that the Butcher is known for. This shift in tone makes the story of PP2 feel more like a run of the mill tv cop drama than a dystopian/cyberpunk neo noir experience.

Art: 7/10

Luckily the art for PP2 doesn't go through studio changes. Making the transition with no noticeable hickups. The color pallet also remains the same, which in turn gives the city and surroundings it's familiar atmosphere. But it isn't all well, as there's a obvious dip in aesthetics and cinematics. Some frame shots felt devoid of any substance. These problems won't be something apparent to the untrained eye and shouldn't ruin your experience.

sound: 6/10

The soundtrack is very forgettable. With none demanding any attention of the viewer, they simply play in the background for added effect. The voice actors retained their roles, so those familiar with them won't find any complaints. They also introduce 3 new parties to the cast line up but we'll talk about those later. The opening made for an enjoyable listen and keeps the pace set by the other 2 of season 1.

Characters: 4/10

This is where things go to shit. The new characters introduced range from being bland to borderline annoying (I'm looking at you Mika!).
Shou Hinakawa: smart shy guy
Sakuya Tougane: deranged lunatic
antagonist (unnamed for spoilers): no personality to speak of.
and then there's Mika Shimotsuki, ohhh God MIKA... for the sake of not going off on a tangent I'll leave it at that. Akane was also a disappointment, her unchangeable plot device "Psycho-Pass" holds her back from getting any development and because of that she remains stagnant throughout the show's duration.

Enjoyment: 5/10

Other than seeing the continuation of Psycho-Pass, season 2 dropped the ball. It lost all the charm that made the show great to begin with and I was left more disappointed than satisfied.


Overall: 4/10

From being a show I hold in high regards to one I won't bother acknowledging, Psycho-Pass 2 failed on many levels. If you were a fan of the series and have yet to watch this, I suggest you skip it and go on in ignorant bliss. A decision I wish I had follow for myself.

**SPOILER FREE REVIEW**

Well, what started as a massive disappointment was able to somewhat redeem itself towards the end, thankfully, only to completely collapse yet again. I think it's hard to debate that at least the first half of the highly anticipated Psycho Pass 2 was a complete and utter failure; I referred to it as criminal, unbelievable, sickening and disgusting. An absolute butchering. Psycho Pass 2 was on pace to be the biggest disappointment I’ve ever had in my entire anime watching career, and still might be. Of course, I expected there to be some serious growing pains with the staff of this anime considering ... the mass exodus it had experienced since last time, with a massive number of previous team members leaving after the first season (including lead writer Gen Urobuchi). NOTHING, however, prepared me for THIS. The plot is clumsy and shallow, the characters are shadows of their original selves (or gone entirely), and the animation is laughably directed and significantly downgraded. This is the definition of a bad sequel. Ladies and Gentleman: Psycho Pass 2:

Synopsis: After learning “the truth”, Inspector Akane Tsunemori continues to try to maintain peace in her nameless utopian society, where a new threat has emerged: A man named Kamui threatens to tear down the Sibyl System once and for all and expose it for what it truly is by turning peace and order into complete chaos.

While I normally start a review by discussing the plot, I’m just going to get right to meat of the primary reason why Psycho Pass 2 is had such a different feel to the first which resulted in its inferiority: The characters. The original cast of Psycho Pass was loaded with memorable characters, such as Kougami, Makishima, Ginoza, Akane, and more. This was a legitimately interesting cast because all of them were treated with the time and attention necessary to properly flesh them out. Each had a personality, each had motivations, and each one added a lot the show. However, everything that the original did right, the sequel does very wrong. This anime fails not only to build upon the pieces it had in place, but it supremely fails to show us who any of the new characters are. Until very late. Psycho Pass 2 bombards us with a slew of new faces who we know nothing about, and doesn't cares to let us know who the hell those faces are until it's too late to give the time and attention necessary to make them good characters. This makes the way they think, why they think that way, what their motivations are, their identities, or anything else that we would need to know about a good character all feel half-assed. They feel completely soulless. Hell, the show doesn’t even have the courtesy to give some of them any personalities at all beyond the most basic stereotypes in anime! Now I know what you’re thinking: At least we still have Akane, Ginoza, and Kogami to fall back on, right? Hahaha… Wrong.

Shinya Kougami? Gone. He’s not even in the sequel at all for reasons I can’t even begin to fathom. However, to be honest, I wish Akane and Ginoza weren’t in the show either, because then at least I wouldn’t have to witness them be butchered right before my eyes. Akane Tsunemori, one my favorite female characters in anime, has been reduced to the most boring and uninteresting excuse for a thriller protagonist I’ve seen in my entire life (until very late, I suppose). She has been completely disconnected from the audience. She no longer shows any emotion what so ever and has a personality comparable to a ham sandwich. I know that she was supposed to become a colder character because of her development in the first season, but she has become so distant from the viewers that we simply have no clue what is even going through her head anymore, making it impossible to relate to her. Remember the intriguing inner monologues we got from her in season one that made her really likable and sympathizable? Gone. The only inner monologues she gets this time are plot related and exist only to spew exposition or explain plot events. Not ONCE does the show touch on her inner conflict and how she can’t decide what to make of the Sibbyl System! Let me repeat that using more clear phrasing: THE MOST VITAL ASPECT TO BOTH THE PLOT AND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT FROM THE FIRST SEASON IS GONE ENTIRELY. But hey, even worse than that is what the show does with Ginoza, or rather, what they fail to do with him. One of the most dynamic characters in the original might as well not be in this one at all; he has done nothing. Said nothing. Contributed nothing. If he didn’t exist at all, nothing about the show would be even remotely different. The character chemistry between all of the characters in season one? Gone as well. Ginoza and Akane both NEVER have a SINGLE conversation that’s not related to the plot or exposition; not a SINGLE one! Coming off the awesome chemistry between Akane and Kougami, as well as others, this is an unfathomable downgrade. How are we suppose to emotionally connect with anything that happens in the show is we know NOTHING about what the characters are thinking or feeling (again, until very late)? If the characters don’t care, neither does the audience. That’s story telling 101, and as far as we are concerned, the characters don’t care.

Oh hoho, but I’m STILL not done ripping this cast of characters new one. That’s right: THREE paragraphs dedicated to characters alone. That’s a new record. The one thing I haven’t talked about yet is the antagonist: Kamui. Stepping in for Shougo Makishima, one of the most compelling antagonists in recent memory, he had big shoes to fill. If you’re picking up on the trend that’s occurring here, you can probably guess that he doesn’t even come close to filling them. For more than half of the show, we don’t have the slightest clue who he is, what his motivations are, or even what his end goal is. This is literally the complete opposite of what we are used to; Makishima had clearly defined motivations and goals, making the show a matter of questioning whether or not he was justified. With Kamui, he's just a mystery box until all of his ideals and goals are spunrg upon like some sort of asspull. I don't think it's debatable that the method they used in season 1 was far, far superior. Kamui comes across for quite awhile as just a bad guy wrecking havoc for reasons that we can only guess, and for a show that is supposed to be about grey morality, that's not okay. Even though his motivations and goals are eventually reveled, nothing can change the fact that he was a blatantly awful antagonist for the majority of the anime. When it comes to characters, Psycho Pass 2 stands firmly as a major fuck up.

The plot has also seen a massive downgrade from what we are used to, as the once heart-throbbing thriller feels like nothing but a collection of random violence for the purposes of shock factor in the form of a perpetual attempt for the show to 1-up itself with each passing episode until the final stretch, all under the narrative of a carbon copy of season 1's exact same plotline. While the original Psycho Pass had a lot of time dedicated to world building and character development, the sequel says fuck all that, let’s blow shit up. We see tons of blood, guts, and gore go flying across the screen, this time in quantities exponentially higher than what we ever saw in season one. The problem? …Nobody cares. I find myself unable to give a damn about anything that’s happening on screen, simply because the people dying are a bunch of nobodies. When someone dies in an anime, it’s supposed to be a big deal! It’s supposed to drive the plot forward and seriously affect the characters! Here? Massive numbers of people dying is an every episode occurrence. It’s not shocking anymore, it’s not entertaining anymore, it’s not moving the plot forward, it’s not developing the characters, so WHY IS IT HAPPENING?! Granted, the show eventually does manage to cut this crap out and actually get to the point, but it just feels like too little too late. Honestly, it's almost so jarring when the show gets to the point that it doesn't even feel natural; it comes completely out of left field. This is especially a problem because season 2 tried to shift from a character driven show to a plot driven one, and when a plot driven show has a terrible plot, it can only devolve into a trainwreck. If you can stick it out, you are rewarded with a very solid series of episodes that actually touches upon character motivations and the morality of Sibbyl, y'know, what the ENTIRE show should have focussed on in the first place.

The last thing I have left to talk about is the animation. The original Psycho Pass had some of the most incredible animation I had seen in my entire life; certainly in my top 3 all time favorite uses of animation. With that in mind, you can imagine my surprise when Psycho Pass 2’s animation looked not better, not the same, but worse. Significantly worse. While it still looks GOOD, I suppose, it’s nowhere near what is used to be, which was GREAT. Whoever the new art director is for this show seriously fucked up. The first thing wrong with the animation is the drastic change in color pallet; it hardly looks like the same show anymore! The original show used a mix of bright blues/whites and blacks for the environments to create a beautiful contrast and really give off the aura of a futuristic, utopian society; it worked beautifully. The second season, on the other hand, is all over the damn place. Sometimes it uses reds and oranges (for some reason), sometimes it uses the old blues, sometimes it uses something completely different. There is no consistency what so ever! The sky will be one color is one shot, and then a completely different color in the next one. There is no attention to detail what so ever! The backgrounds, once bursting at the seams with objects and completely filled out, are now completely barren. It feels rushed, lazy, and passionless. In fact, the shot composition in general is absolutely terrible. So many poor decisions have been made about the angles, lighting, and settings that I couldn’t count them if I tried. Again, the animation is still good compared to other anime, but it is a shadow of its original self.

Well, there's no question that Psycho Pass 2 did not live up to the original. While I may have called this a travesty or a worse-case scenario at some point, it does manage to significantly improve. If you were a fan of season 1, I won't particularly recommend or NOT recommend watch the sequel; it's up to you. Just make sure you go in with low expectations. This anime could have been so much more, but we got we got I suppose. Such is life.

I'll try to keep it short and simple.

Story: 2/10.
The main antagonist Kamui's motives are never very interesting, and seeing as how that's the whole thing moving the story that is a huge problem. Not to mention that the ending makes the whole plot irrelevant. I can't go into more detail without spoiling it, but if Sibyl had just done some upkeep on itself and taken out the trash, Kamui would have never done any of the things he did. Sibyl is horrifically stupid in this series, reduced from a morally ambiguous but effective system in S1 to an evil and dumb-as-shit system ... in S2. There is nothing to care about except Akane, but we'll get to that in the Character section.

Art: 4/10.
Passable at best. While it never had the QUALITY art some of the later episodes of S1 had, it just felt uninspired. The cinematography was lacking and there was no decent animation of note whatsoever, save the OP. TatsuPro is clearly an inferior studio to I.G. in this department.

Sound: 4/10.
The OP is really great if you can enjoy that style of music. Great visuals and a fitting song to boot. And there's this one scene where opera music is playing and it's ridiculous how seriously the show's taking itself. But that's about it. There aren't any memorable tracks from the OST. At very best they just blend into the background. I guess the ED is okay too.

Character: 2/10.
Ginoza is listed as a "main character" on MAL's database here. What a joke. He has been neutered so much and matters so little to the story at all that they might as well have killed him off in episode 1 for some shock value. So Ginoza's bland, okay, that doesn't ruin the whole series. But when your main antagonist is also bland and boring that is problematic. In fact, there is not a single interesting character in this entire show except Akane. But Akane is not developed or played with in an interesting way, she's just likable because we got to know her in S1 and they didn't screw her up too badly. If the best thing you have to say about any one of a show's characters is "they maintained her status quo", then that's not great.

Enjoyment: 5/10.
At least it wasn't boring enough I wanted to turn it off. But I'm biased because I really like futuristic settings.

Overall: 4/10.
If the plot's crap and the characters are crap and the art's crap and the sound's crap there's not much left to watch for. If you want to watch the movie when it comes out (which is being done by Production I.G. and written by Urobuchi, unlike this garbage!) then just read a summary of this online to save your time. Not much even happened so you'll be fine.

Psycho Pass 2 feels like a cheap reboot. In episode 1 we get another introduction to how dominators work, how enforcers are expendable, how some inspectors follow the rules while others think for themselves, how Sibyl can change its mind on lethal force, etc. After the first episode it's like they skip to the 2nd half of Psycho-Pass 1 where instead of hunting Makishima they go after this guy named Kamui. I’ll leave it up to you to stumble through this mess of a sequel but it suffices to say that Kamui is no Makishima—in no small part due to the series’ lack of a ... Shinya equivalent to act as a foil Kamui.

But it almost doesn’t even matter because ask yourself, do we really need another Makishima? Remember, the great mystery Season 1 (evident from the first episode) wasn’t the evil master plan of Makishima, it was the true ‘nature’ of the Sibyl System. Makishima was a tool for revealing these creepy revelations (which I won’t spoil) to the audience and Akane. With that in mind, in Season 2 you can’t just insert a new, watered-down Makishima to fuck shit up and expect that to suffice. That’s like making bank robbers the main villains of a super hero movie sequel. I’m way more interested in Sibyl.

This brings me to Akane. I loved her character in Season 1 because she broke away from the hero/heroine tradition of blindly following childish idealism. She demonstrated an ability to work within the system and make compromises when necessary for the greater good. Starting the sequel, I had really hoped her comfort with this moral grey zone would be explored and tested. How far would she support a corrupt system? What's her breaking point? How is she able to reconcile her duty with what she knows about Sibyl?

Sadly, Season 2 never addresses these questions and Akane largely behaves as if she never learned the truth about Sibyl to begin with. She lacks the fire she had in Season 1 and seems almost blasé when witnessing Sibyl-sanctioned atrocities. Even in her private thoughts, she doesn't reflect much on the lessons learned in the first season. This is not just problematic for character development but also for the plot, as Akane and many characters who directly witnessed Makishima manipulate crime coefficients (helmets) in Season 1 are baffled by this concept in Season 2. For some reason the old cast still treats Sibyl as infallible despite demonstrable proof to the contrary.

The characters are either predictable to the point of boring or unpredictable to the point of irrational. The only unifying theme amongst the cast is that they are all universally forgettable. What started off as a bizarre and intriguing dystopian (or utopian depending on perspective) society in the first season has evolved into a silly, fucked up Disneyland. Sibyl and all of its instruments come across as inept, brittle and feeble. It seems like every episode the police or the military get hacked and lose control of a secure network or automated system. With so many vulnerabilities and blind spots, it begs the question why the chaotic events unfolding in Season 2 never happened sooner. The awe of Sibyl is just gone.
Expect plot holes galore. It’s too convoluted to go into great detail but just prepare to be disappointed.

Season 2 keeps the same gritty feel from the first season. The blood and gore content go up a notch and the death scenes are a hard 17+.
In Season 1, a single murder was a really big deal. I alluded to this concept in my Code Geass review but briefly, different animes place different value on human life. For example, Ein from Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom can be depicted killing 20 nameless soldiers without any moral implications whereas human death in Full Metal Alchemist is less gratuitous and treated with more reverence.
Anyway, In Season 2’s ham-handed effort to satisfy its viewers’ bloodlust, it clumsily altered the value of life in the Psycho Pass universe. Now we can have 10 detectives get blown away without anyone giving a shit. Atrocities, mass casualties, piles of dead civilians? No big deal. Your friend got murdered last episode? Who cares! Out of all of the flaws in this 11 episode waste of time, this was the worst. Not only did it trivialize everything about the new plot, but it changed the conscience of the characters I grew to like in the first season. Fuck you Season 2.

Season 2 is a violent, low IQ detective story rather than a psychological thriller or critique on human nature like the first season. Maybe if you go into it with reduced expectations then you’ll get something out of it. Personally, I could have dropped it by episode 4 and not missed much.

Deja vu is a weird feeling to have. It's bad enough on its own (unless its bringing up something good), but what does it feel like when a series does it? Well, according to this series, you get a horrible product.

*SPOILERS FOR PSYCHO-PASS 2*

If there were ever two words to properly describe this series, they would be: "repetitive" and "dumb". It is exactly what happens when a sequel tries to play it safe but somehow manages to take the most dangerous approaches possible. It's trying to stay within the comfort zone of the franchise, yet it manages to damage the franchise in the process, in ... more ways than one. Well, how? How does it ruin itself as well as tamper with its predecessor and its previous events? Why is it being labeled as repetitive and dumb? Well, let's find out, shall we?

STORY: 1/10

Let me preface what I'm about to say with this: I would be a madman if I tried to point out every single plothole this series has. It is ridiculous how an 11 episode series can have so many. Quite frankly, it's disgusting. Got that? Good.

This series is a total rehash of Psycho-Pass, and not in the same way as Star Wars episode 7 was to A New Hope, or Frozen was to Tangled, but much, much worse. Those films could be accused of ripping off, but while they follow similar story beats, they go off in their own directions and have actions that don't perfectly mirror their predecessors. This show? No, It rips most of its entire story structure and many of its events from season 1, and it is glaring. A stand alone complex in the early half of the series involving villains that commit seemingly unrelated crimes only being linked by their puppeteer? A villain that disposes of most of his lackeys and creates massive hysteria among the people while exploiting holes in the Sybil? The main villain doing his evil deeds while being undetectable due to something that the central conflict involving Sybil's imperfections just so happens to center around attaining info about to improve itself with Akane wanting the man with that to live for that purpose? If you've seen both seasons, you can see the obvious and glaring parallels. Hell, it even tries to recycle Akane's development from season one and implement both a Kogami character and a Masaoka character. Goodness, have some courage.

Let's talk about said story beats. Turns out, a bomb was placed in a hologram and it went off, forcing Akane and Co. to track him down and arrest him. After capture, he goes insane and talks about this mysterious master named Kamui (getting Makishima flashbacks yet?) before being dealt with for our first kill of the season by one of the more violent enforcers. After Togane (the not-Kogami) calms her down, she talks with Ginoza who both before and after this, tries to make sure Akane doesn't make any rash decisions that may cloud her Psycho Pass (even though season 1 put her through hell and she still came out fine). After a few more criminals, we get introduced to the big bad, Kirito (not that Kirito) Kamui, and I'll touch on his character later. Turns out that he actually kidnapped one of the inspectors and stole her eye do that he could use a dominator, but makes another person kill a bunch of people to ensue some of the most violent circumstances in the show (here we go again).

This person is dealt with after a bunch of innocent yet scarred people get shot and killed by the MWPSB in a scene that completely cheapens the impact of lethal dominators due to the fact that about 6 people are killed by them in rapid succession and another 4 die within a few minutes around that time. Later, after hacking drones for citizens to unknowingly play with and kill people with, the gang thwarts that too and Akane confronts the big bad guy but can't shoot, so he gets away (goddammit). Then we find out that Togane wants to blacken Akane’s hue and we'll touch on why that's stupid later. He wraps Akane’s subordinate, Mika into getting Akane’s grandmother killed somehow as after a hospital housing illegal immigrants is burned in flames by Kirito’s lackey (who we never see again) Togane opens up the trunk he kidnapped her in, and beats her to death with a dominator. Then it all comes spiraling down to hell, but I'll touch on that in a bit.

I will only address some of the plot holes and dumb writing from this point on. For starters, in episodes 1, 2, and 4, how is our main antagonist able to switch the undetectability of his subordinates off and on without being present? In episode 4, when a boy tries to shoot one of the criminals, why does Inspector Risa stopping him in order to try to use her dominator on him when in the same episode, it has been established that that doesn`t work on him? When the boy turns out to be a hologram controlled by our main villain, was he expecting Risa to be stupid, because that's not how Batman Gambits work. You're supposed to stall and outsmart your opponent via a crazy and elaborate strategy in order for it to be a proper Batman Gambit. Just look at Lelouch from Code Geass. There is so much wrong with the way the game in episode 5 ties in with the military drones that I would go insane trying to point them all out, like how the camera is in third person view and able the switch perspectives when the camera of the drone is in a fixed and linear position, or how in episode 6, the good guys reveal the disturbing real footage to the gamers which would easily raise the area stress level to criminal levels when they could've easily just locked them out of the game via a kill screen. You get the point by now. You don't need me to name every single plot hole in this series.

The finale ends up about as well as you expected. Status quo. Togane and Kirito reveal their crappy motives, Togane reveals his deeds like an idiot and is horrified that it didn't work on her, he and Titans blast each other, and before Mika can deliver the finishing blow, Togane dies (he was shot by a fatal dominator shot yet he didn't implode…). However, the final villain becomes a lot more inconsistent and for no good reason. I'll get to that later in the character section. The main goal of our villain was to make the Sibyl system judge collectives that way it could judge and destroy itself. One problem. All of the brains of that system are criminally asymptomatic, meaning that they cannot raise the crime coefficient of the Sybil system to dangerous levels, so the fact that it destroys some of the brains is very stupid. Also, how did he know about the inner workings and location of the core system? It has been established that it is top secret; so much so, that most of the inspectors and enforcers don't even know about it.

CHARACTERS: 3/10

Let's start with the returning cast. For some reason, Akane goes through the same developments she did in season 1, but this time, she's more badass and not willing to shed as many tears. They didn't damage her character here but they didn't really add to it at all. Yayoi and Shion aren't really affected, besides showing more of the fact that they are a lesbian couple. Ginoza for some reason tries to be Akane’s limiter, advising her against doing decisions her could cloud her Psycho Pass, when she's done and been through worse in season 1 but was perfectly fine. Kougami only appears in Akane’s head to clear her up on things (cool to see and glad they didn't drag him into this mess). Risa is basically there to make one kill and then make a whole lot of dumb decisions before she gets wasted. That seems to be a running theme with these guys now, whether they're even fighting humans or drones, which, the fact that they're so corruptible, speaks ill of the whole organization and of how these guys work. Jouji is a bit watered down here, not making these badass and ok the mark assumptions as much as he used to and asking a lot more questions that spouting the answers to them.

Ok, now for the new guys. I'm sure we can all agree on this, Mika is the worst character in this show. She is an impudent, incompetent, asshole who picks a fight with anyone and everyone before getting used by Togani in a scene so brilliant for to him pinning her down and making her scream and beg for mercy. She reminds me way too much of Shinn Asuka from SEED Destiny, and that is not s person people want to be reminded of! As for Togane, he seems like a cool, collected, veteran at first, but then it turns out that he wants to darken Akane’s hue. Why is this approved by Sibyl? Why has no one tried to stop him when he did this to 5 other inspectors prior to the series? Also, him motivation for wanting to kill Kirito (his life is a stand on mommy’s legacy and he might have killed my grandma) is pretty flimsy and is spouted out way too late for us to care.

For the lackeys, they're all one dimensional hive-mind idiots why kill, worship Kamui, go crazy, and die, in that order. Kirito is inconsistent and quite frankly, hypocritical, which no one calls him out on. He says that he wants to help people and he even killed the “aliens” for killing so many people with their plans, when he himself has caused so much civilian death with his plans, “but that's ok since there was no other option”, as he puts it, which is dumb. He did all of this and even kill some of his own when in episode 2, he cries because the MWPSB didn't spare one of his own. That's not even counting the last episode when the multiple personalities are displayed. Did I forget to mention that the reason he had multiple personalities is because he has body parts of 184 other people inside him, and how that is stupid, because I definitely should have by now.

ART: 5/10

As some of you may know, this season was mostly done by Tatsunoko Production, which can explain why this show looks mediocre, especially by 2014 standards, and when stacked against the look of the original, which makes the downgrade even worse. There are some beautiful looking moments, which were obviously done by Production I.G., due to how much better they are compared the the art and animation of the rest of the series. The typing animation in scenes that require it, is done terribly, some of the show's more ambitious shots and actions don't work as well as they wanted them to, and the artstyle of the characters looks off, due to this generic they look in comparison to the interesting and more realistic yet stylized designs present in season 1. Plus, the CGI here is terrible. In season 1, they managed to make it blend well with the world, but here, no dice. That's horrible considering how much more prevalent the CGI is this time around. The gore also looks inferior.

SOUND: 7//10

There aren't a lot of many memorable background OSTs this time around, but some are pretty good, like in season 1, but the slapped in opera one done in the burning scene really doesn't work as well as they wanted it too. The OP, “Enigmatic Feeling” by Ling Toshite Sigure, is pretty catchy and cool, and considering the band’s track record, it's no surprise. The ED, “Fallen” is probably my favorite EGOIST song to date, and that says a lot given their track record. I love this song so much.

The dub is almost as good as in season 1. The voices all come back, the new ones are mostly good, but some of the one-offs don't fit the bill, but then again, it's not often that they do. Good dub though. There; a section where I complimented Psycho Pass 2. Happy?

ENJOYMENT: 2/10

Aside from that one moment where Mika is pinned down, and one moment where Togane runs like a little bitch , there really isn't anything this season that didn't make me frustrated. A lot of that comes down to two things: the stupidity of the script, and the awfulness of Mika. They made so many scenes downright infuriating, especially any scene with Mika in it. The stupid contradictions to the first season only made things more aggravating, and there wasn't any moment in which I could really take solace in, aside from the two above. It also gets pretty dull at times too. There isn't much redeemable here at all.

OVERALL: 3/10 RAW SCORE: 3.43/10

What a stain in the legacy of Psycho Pass. This is an putridly stupid series that started bad and only got worse without any episode to halt the downward spiral in any way, and this is currently the only series I can say that to. It is the SEED Destiny of the franchise, in more ways than one, and her is not a positive comparison to make. I'm willing to bet that the writer for this series, Tow Ubukata, was actually watching the first season while working on this script, for some of the reasons mentioned above. It's all just a sloppy mess. Maybe if our Psycho Pass A-team (Urobutcher, Shiyotani, and Motohiro) were more present in this production rather than working on the film, this series would've actually been something of a worthy follow up, but alas, this is what we have now. With all that said, I bid you adieu.

Psycho Pussy 2 - The Sybil System: Batteries not included.

Pretentious pile of cocaine that attempts to be clever, dark, edgy, epic and fails to utilise its setting to begin with!

The main terrorist of what made this show so “nice” was Sibyl: A jacked up hypocrite that failed to nail its purpose. Right from the start we are informed that Sibyl is formed by extracted human brains and judges people as criminals if their emotions seem negative, who are also strangers and unelected by the public, which is a broken system in itself because bullies would feel real good after hurting innocent victims making them an ... ideal citizen while leaving the victims victimised, and who thought of legal raping should exist? This is why Sibyl Rebels are Einstein’s in comparison. Sibyl becomes even more broken as you see it not doing its job right, at an elusive 40% occasion, Sibyl can regard anyone (even non-psycho's) to have a Psycho Pass of 300 demanding them to be executed when meeting an eliminator. You call Sibyl perfect? Why the hell is it not doing its job?! This in turn makes the message of the story not a challenge, but an intellectual piece of bollocks that is down right stupid because the show is stupid! Did you know that Sibyl has a wife and a son? How does Sibyl funtari work?

Cast is stupid, cast love Sibyl, and cast thinks Sibyl is the saviour the universe. As if her IQ was that of a room temperature, the protagonist took two years of work experience to notice that a good Government requires the votes of the people. Who the flip even thinks, that this Sibyl System is holy? They can't even use common sense for flip sake! Only one character ever had their “blast to their past” shown, and his Mum drumming addiction felt really off. How can we care about these people? It is instant klutz writing as you see this blonde man you just met half a second ago got shot by a hacked machine, and you I was like “LMAO, to keep my Psycho Pass Clear!”

Since this is a “MYSTERY” show, the Epicness of the reveal feels underwhelming under the critics view of it feeling horrifyingly bad! A Sibyl Rebel Master used one of the dozen ways to be unrecognised by Sibyl: By attaching his body with thirty other bodies to confuse the Sibyl System as an unrecognised terrorist and no one acknowledges to even arrest him! Or the opening of why this guy joined the police force was because he was a semi-one dimensional psychotic douche who simply wants to cloud other people's psycho pass because one: He is the son of Sibyl, and two: It's simply explicitly normal.

Let us remember this show for just sharing the Urobutcher name... Wait a minute, the ending suggests there could be Season 3? How thoughtful!

SCORES:
STORY: 2/10
CHARACTERS: 3/10
SOUND: 7/10
ANIMATION: 7/10

FINALE: 3/10

This show is bad. A lot of people say its a bad sequel, but i think its just a bad show in general.

It has bad animation and is boring to look at, not fun to watch with awful pacing and information you have to take in, the story itself has plot holes and just annoying characters, and the action scenes are patched together making no sense how character got from A to B and always trys to cover it up with ultra violent deaths.

The show seems like it had no purpose and takes forever to find out what the main villain is trying ... to do and even when he explains himself your still sitting there wondering what was the point of any of this.
The only way you can enjoy this show if you have a very low suspension of belief in what is happening. everything in this show is unbelievable and impractical. At Episode 5 is when the show complete jumps the shark and just talks BS out of its mouth

After watching season 1 for the second time I was still chasing the high that psychopass' amazing writing, philosophy, and reaching mysteries provided me with. I hadn't exactly heard great things about season 2 but I was willing to give it a chance simply because I'm a fan of the franchise, wow was this a mistake. Everything is bad, the new characters, the lack of the mc from season 1, the writing, the plot, everything falls short.

I found myself constantly confused and irritated with the choices of the characters and the non-sensical things they would do and say. It seems as though the methodical and ... analytic nature of the first season was completely thrown out to encompass a poor carbon copy of what made Psychopass so great. The villain of this season follows the exact same formula as the one from season 1, except he's less interesting, nor does he have the same enigmatic, cold calculating aura as Makashima, that made the story so interesting in the first place.

The new enforcers are boring, lifeless, and simply not engaging. Unlike the first season where the viewer could relate to each enforcer for their own reasons, like interesting personality, wittiness, cool backstory, these new characters feel like empty shells purely created to move the story forward. Don't even get me started on the new enforcer, whose name I can't be bothered to remember. Unlike Akane, whom some people initially weren't fans of, as we got to see her character arc and how she grew as a person, a detective, and a friend, the new enforcer is just unbearable. The writers don't even try to give her any redeemable qualities and made her an extremely unlikeable person. It detracts from the viewing experience when a character is so frustrating that they basically ruin the flow of the show and dynamic between characters.

I honestly don't know if I'll be able to finish this season, every time I try to pick it back up and give it another chance, I'm met with another wave of reasons why I dropped it in the first place. Typically I don't leave bad reviews like this (as normally I just wouldn't watch an anime I don't like) since I had such high expectations it just feels like a huge let down. My advice would be to just watch season 1 and stay away from this dumpster fire.

Here it is. The worst case of franchise rape I have ever witnessed in an anime. This is literllay the gateway into the worst parts of Cash-Grabbing-Hell. Just clicking on this entry makes me wanna vomit. But whaterver...where do I start with this burning piece of dogshit with a plastic bag on top of it?..Oh I know the story.

What damn story???!! This pile of junk literally has no story. Just randomly thrown together scenes that don't even make sense on their own, yet alone making sense with anything from Season 1. Its really baffling how fanboys can actually write more than 500 characters just for ... the story and pretend how deep and sophisticated the story is, when there IS NONE! Just one random scene after another acting like it just did something. You can't even deem this as fanservice cause this season disregards and igrnores all happenings and characters from Season 1. Everything S1 established as far as regularitys for the overall universe go, S2 spits on it and make the whole world look like a joke. It even brings back characters that were dead an burried for good without any explanation of course. And you mean to tell me thats good writing? Uhhhhh..I don't think so.
Speaking of writing: the one who wrote this season all by himelf and with that singlehandedly destroyed one of the greatest franchises in the cyberpunk genre is Tow Ubukata. Gen Urobuchi wasn't involved in this mess at all, cause he was working on the movie at the time this season was made. And despite some false statements: NO, UROBUCHI DID NOT REVIEW THE SCREENPLAY OF THIS SEASON! Otherwise he would be listed as a consultant in the credits.

As for the characters themselves: FUCK' EM ALL! If they are not some cheap rip-offs from S1 characters, they are so fucking anoying and cumbersome that you can't take them seriously yet alonne care for them even in the slightest. It goes without saying that character development is totally non-existent.

Art and sound are actually ok. But just for the principle of it: Fuck the art and the sound too!

Overall the second season is way beneath garbage, for garbage has some right to exist. This abomination doesn't. If you truly loved and understood the first season, DON'T WATCH THIS ONE! You will just be appalled and devastated. Don't believe these fanboys. They are just talking shit to cover up for the fact that their beloved "ships" have been shot down in a very gruesome way.

One last thing: FUCK TOW UBUKATA! May he burn in hell for all eternity!

Psycho-Pass 2 is a disgraceful continuation of Psycho-Pass. The mediocre execution of Psycho-Pass is extenuated to a new low. Nothing in the first season was inherently bad, yet that is not the case here. The sound directing, voice acting, directing, pacing, etc. are all executed poorly. I would love to give it a (1), BUT, it at least tries to be good. It extends on its premise. Even if it does so completely nonsensically. It makes sense in the eyes of the anime and the eyes of the creator. For that and that alone, this avoids a score of (1) from me. Given that we ... understand what it's trying to do, we shouldn't judge it so harshly. Regardless, don't watch this. It's complete trash and it doesn't make much sense, in any matter. It starts really bad, then it somewhat stabilizes and ends on a high note (again, assuming it made sense in the writer's eyes).

TL;DR – Bad story, boring characters, good art, OK sound, frustrating to watch.

The show has a pretty clear idea/premise that it feeds down your throat at every chance: “A future where our lives are controlled by computers is flawed; here is an 11 episode anime about why.” The creators must’ve thought that the idea was cool and interesting (and it is), but they also must’ve looked over the fact that any cool idea quickly becomes dreadfully boring when repeated a million times just in other words. Watching this show is like being in science class: We know that “f=ma” but the teacher just keeps giving ... us problems to practice how to use this really simple equation.
The first season had the same problem of repeating itself and rehashing old ideas/concepts/ideas; it was a shame to see it repeated in the second season. Especially because after the main story of the first season was over, the only reason to watch this show was for its new characters and possibly different plot. But instead the second season is just more repetition of the “why computers ruling humans is bad” idea.

On top of the story being incredibly boring and repetitive, the characters are also uninteresting and stale. In the first 6 episodes we were introduced to 6 new characters (new in the sense that they were introduced in this season, not carried over from season 1) that we, the viewers were supposed to care about. By episode 6, one of those characters had gotten less than 5 minutes of screen time, two had died (one of which in the same episode they were introduced), one had changed personalities with a complete 180 without any explanation, and the other was extremely annoying (so much that I had to skim through her dialogue). The only new character that I showed the slightest bit of interest was Enforcer Sakuya Tougane, who seemed to be up-to-something which I unfortunately will never know because I have to drop this god-awful show right now. To sum this paragraph up: the viewer can’t give a single shit about any of these unmemorable, stale, and seemingly disposable characters, while interesting characters are the second biggest selling point of a season two following a successful season one.

The art is exceptional as it is very well made. The colorization is very dark and pale, which creates a certain aesthetic that compliments the story. The art style is actually very good at making gore look realistic, to the point that some scenes really had my stomach turn. The only negative comment I have is that the way peoples’ eyes are drawn is eerie to me.

The sound design is terrible. Sound effects are repeated a lot with no variation, stock sounds are used (listen whenever something metal is hit), and there isn’t too much attention to detail. Sound effects are only used for big events you can’t miss. Meaning you won’t hear small details like a chair exhaling when someone sits down. I personally love it when a show goes above and beyond with sound design with small touches like that. The only reason why I raised the score from a 3 to a 4 is the soundtrack, which is really catchy.

Now the misc. section where I can rant:

What the fuck is up with this world? The story goes on in this futuristic dystopian statist Japan where the government keeps records on everything about its citizens including their mental health and the police can’t remotely shut down their own military servers? Who the fuck was in charge of cyber security? How couldn’t the fucking military detect thousands of random TCP connections to their servers? Aside from that, why don’t guns exist? I was told by someone that “people in that world are doctored to trust the dominators unconditionally, they don’t know any better” which I think is bullshit. If two seasons aren’t enough for the police to go “Huh. These dominators almost never work against the type of irregular cases that we investigate and have cost the department more than a dozen lives. Maybe we should stop using weapons that are software based and prone to failure and switch to manual firearms”, I don’t know what is? Three seasons? How long until these characters overcome autism and realize that pointing a software controlled gun at a criminal that obviously can bypass detection (which we know because they have clearly shown us that they can in the past 5 episodes) doesn’t work?
As you can tell, the story is full of pot-holes and illogical things that make it very hard to watch. The tipping point for me was episode 6 because of how retarded it was, and now I wonder how I every kept going after episode 4.
And before you call me autistic or overly-attentive, watch the show yourself and tell me it doesn’t make you frustrated that they would rather remove the holo from the game in episode 6 and risk citizen psycho-passes to be clouded rather than just shutting the game down entirely (which should be super easy to do given that the government, hence the police, has direct fucking root access to the server).

Imagine finally finding your dream car online for a too-good-to-be-true price. It’s got leather seats; it’s your favorite color; and it has every bit of technology you’d ever want in a vehicle. That is, until you actually go to the seller to look at it and it’s nothing like what you wanted. It may still be the same model, but the seats are in terrible condition and the paint is peeling. That essentially is what the second season of Psycho Pass is—a sad imitation of its predecessor that leaves the watcher feeling frustrated and betrayed.

I actually quite liked the first season, having rated it an ... 8. While it does have its issues, each character is fleshed out and likeable, and the underlying plot manages to keep one on the edge of their seats all the way to the end. This time around, however, it falls short on... well, everything, and there is a strong sense of déjà vu I felt whilst watching it. I understand that perhaps they were trying to maintain the same feel of the first season, but it screams laziness. Clearly, the B team was tasked with handling this one.

We have a new inspector, Mika Shimotsuki, thrust into our faces without ever getting to see any back story whatsoever to her. She has the personality of a twig, and her sole purpose in life seems to revolve around undermining Akane every step of the way. The Enforcers this time around are reminiscent of the ones before them, albeit much duller. The animators don’t even try to hide the fact that they regurgitated Kougame’s personality traits and stuffed them down the throat of the main Enforcer, Tougane. He talks in similar patterns and smokes the same cigarettes, for God’s sake. Ginoza seems to have become a man of few words, and having been a major character in the first season, you would think they’d have done something more appropriate with him. Instead, they gave him the shortest script known to mankind which completely stifles the development we saw in the first season. L—I mean, Hinakawa—falls victim to this as well—though he is meant to be one of the more quiet Enforcers, it doesn’t excuse the fact that the studio didn’t care to put much effort into a more interesting script for him. He seems like he could be a very intriguing character, but right now, he’s just a cardboard cutout.

The ear rape that is to be called the OP, sung by the same band that did Unravel, is quite possibly the worst thing my ears have ever had to endure. Why the studio ever thought it was a good idea is beyond me. The ED, on the other hand, is actually quite good, summing up the dark theme of the show well. But that's where the positivity ends.

Overall, the show is, sadly, a miss in the Psycho-Pass franchise, which is a shame because there was lots of untapped potential. The (albeit ridiculous) spat with the antagonist was overshadowed too much by Tougane’s own villainy, and it felt like the show itself was confused as to what direction it needed to take. It’s fine to have other conflicts that are different from the main one the characters are trying to resolve, but that’s only if they’re handled well—something the second season doesn’t quite know how to do. And yeah, yeah, I know everyone complains about Kougame being gone, but I’m no exception. He absolutely is the strong point of this show, and without him, the second season spins off into the abyss from which there is no return.

And hey, it’s only 11 episodes long, so that’s way less time that you have to slog through the muck of it.

As a follow-up, Psycho-Pass 2 serves little to no purpose.

This season does not lead to anything, it doesn't present any new ideas and worst of all, it tries to copy many things that are good about the first one, but fails miserably.

This could mainly be the fault of the staff being switched. The first season was made by Gen Urobuchi, Shiotani Naoyoshi and Production I.G. While they went off to make the upcoming film, another studio and staff went on to create this season in the meantime.

In the first season: The pair of Urobuchi and Production I.G was a match made in heaven. ... Since Urobuchi is known for his grim and dark stories that include many twists and lots of exposition (I.e Madoka Magica & Fate/Zero) & Production I.G are a studio that are famous for making cyberpunk shows with tons of world-building like Ghost In The Shell & Eden Of The East, while also being involved with other classics such as Evangelion & FLCL. So, a writer of grim and dark stories and a studio famous for their cyberpunk with tons of worldbuilding and action was a great choice. But what sold Psycho-Pass for me was having Hana Hanazawa as the main role, who is one of my all-time favorite seiyuu!

Anyways, Psycho-Pass 2 is made by a completely different team, which already dismisses the originals show’s vision. This is noted clearly in terms of it lacking things that made the first one so awesome, shittier characters, a boring plot, and a much, MUCH worse villain.

First of all, the villain is a Makishima-Lite. They’re both eerily calm villains who had been outlined by the sibyl system, thus wanting to destroy it, but what this new guy lacks is the charm or even intellect as Makishima had. What made Makishima so scary compared to Mr.school shooter was that Makishima wanted to see the splendor of human souls. Nothing about the new villain stand out. He just feels so vanilla and plain and also what a coincidence that his name is Kirito.

Secondly, speaking of the characters, most of them were really bad and poorly written. When they are presented to us, they have no characterization like f.ex a backstory, quirks, and motives. Many of them fill in the role of characters that are absent this season like f.ex Kogami who is replaced by Togane or Makishima who is replaced by Kirito. However, the characters that aren’t a replacement are either completely boring or so dislikable that you want them out of the show. Those that are boring are not apart of the narrative like all of the characters in season 1 where. F.ex a boring one was this guy who is a read head and all that we get to know about him is that he’s shy but actually really smart. We don’t get a backstory as to why this might be, we the viewers have to just accept this. And an example of someone who was dislikable was Mika, who I rooted for at first. But with her arrogant and naive attitude and her at first, holding a grudge against Tsunemori and then trying to help her only to fail miserably was disappointing to see.

Togane was, however, an exception and he was one of my favorites from this season, I thought that he had the most interesting progression and I thought that the way he hides his true intentions was interesting because he is quite an enigma. But still, one of the reasons why I liked him was because he was similar to a character that isn’t in this season.

With many of these characters, they lack some flesh to the bone with the characters. What made the characters in the first season so interesting was that most of them used to have a motive, but over time lost it, like f.ex Kogami became jaded and lost his purpose for being a detective since his college buddy got slaughtered. Masaoka had similarly to Tsunemori, the instinct of justice but lost it when he realized that he didn't have control over who was or wasn't a criminal. Ginoza became stressed out after an incident that happened and has been frustrated ever since then. The only one who still had a purpose was Yayoi, who wanted to be an enforcer because her girlfriend had become a latent criminal, but that was still revealed later.


Thirdly, there are no new questions that have been raised like f.ex Is the Sibyl System moral and who counts as a criminal? These questions got risen up in the very first episode of S1. But here, no new questions have appeared. One of my favorite things about the first season was all of the ideas that it presented and questions like “What is law”, “What makes someone happy”, “What is moral and immoral” while showcasing many different sides to the spectrum.


First, we had the MWPSB where everyone had great intentions and carried out them with hoping to serve good, while usually doing so. Then, we had the critic of the Sibyl System, Shogo Makishima and his crew. He and his crew were totally against the idea of the Sibyl System and only wanted people to make sure that they were right. Then, we had the main sibyl system, which used criminals' minds to govern people and their crime coefficient. These people were outliers, who had strange ideas and ambitions while also being criminals themselves and criminally asymptomatic, meaning that they are unreadable. What’s so great about this is that if any of these are good or evil is completely up to the viewer. My view is that even though the Sibyl System may not be perfect and a bit immoral, it’s fucking awesome since it makes sure that most people are happy with only a tiny fraction of outliers.

Fourthly, the very first 3 episodes were all TERRIBLE! We are immediately rushed into a situation where they are trying to arrest a criminal who's bombing different locations for Kamui. But we get absolutely no information about what's happening, why there even arresting him and why we should care. We just seem to have to figure that out ourselves. Which in some cases might be understandable and even necessary, but doing that in the FIRST episode of a NEW season just feels useless and out of place.

The missions that appear in the first couple of episodes lack the excitement that the first season delivered. Since none of the new characters question the system, the stakes are incredibly low and the criminals are just crazy lunatics compared to in S1, where the criminals were more or fewer puppeteers by Makishima. And yes, the criminals here also seem to be that as well, but he feels like he controls them extremely poorly. Like f.ex he just lets his buddy die without any reason. Whereas in S1, Makishima disposed of his pawns for a REASON.

Conclusion: Psycho-Pass 2 is a really bad follow-up, even the things that it does well are things that were common in earlier episodes.

(Blanket warning for minor spoilers.)

What a shame - that's really all I can say at this point.

The second installment of Psycho-Pass - the riveting 2012 series which had all the makings of an intelligent psychological thriller - is terrible. There's no two ways about that. Considering that Urobuchi is merely supervising the sequel and not writing it, like he did for the original, the cracks show.

Being a sequel, Psycho-Pass 2 is susceptible to being compared to the original for obvious reasons and as such, it fails to deliver.

- SOUND (9/10): I enjoyed the OST used for the series and both the OP and ... ED are pretty fantastic. The OST in particular is excellent, especially with the orchestral pieces used to enhance dramatic tension. It was fantastic in the first season and this has been carried over to the second, which works for me.

- ART (8/10): Akira Amano's character design definitely has a couple of flaws - anybody who's read Katekyo Hitman Reborn can confer the same face thing, but it's a stylistic issue and a personal gripe for the most part. What I liked here is the minor design changes to reflect the passing of time. Shame that only Gino and Akane received these and not the rest of the cast. I liked the backdrops too and it's fairly the same as to what I'd come to expect from from the first season, including the gory shots of blood and guts.

The problem for me was perhaps the usage of CGI and how it momentarily distracted me, but it was otherwise pretty good.

- STORY (4/10): And here's where Psycho-Pass 2 begins falling apart.

The first season ends with the Sibyl System still in place and the initial problem still present. The second season deals with exactly the same problem as the first, but with about 200% less charisma and grace. Kamui's motives and his method of getting things done make absolutely no sense, Tougane starts off with obvious parallels to Kougami but falls flat at the end, and the less that is said about Mika's bumbling, the better.

Probably the second biggest oversight - after the cast of characters - is how often the previously established rules of the Psycho-Pass world are ignored and dismissed and, worse, how incompetent the MWBPS appear to be this time around. Sure, it's explained away as the collective Sibyl System's problematic judgement, but so is everything else. Psycho-Pass 2 is successful in establishing the fact that the Sibyl System is not perfect, but that in itself doesn't make it interesting or compelling.

Another problem is the frequent use of gore. Too many people blown to bits this time around, to the point that it feels like it's being used as a shock factor. Psycho-Pass doesn't shy away from difficult to watch scenes - let's consider the first episode of the first season, for one - but there's no purpose to them here. Virtually half of the secondary cast is killed off messily and there's no real emotional impact to their deaths, neither on the other characters, nor on the audience.

And, finally, probably something less people comment on but - fanservice. Male-centric fanservice to be specific, with Shion, Kunizuka and the 2nd Division's Aoyanagi being stripped down to their underwear. I have no problem with it since it's not very distracting, but I wish that they'd levelled the playing field with some female-centric ones. I mean, we got shirtless Kougami in the first season; I could've done with more of that. :P

- CHARACTERS (3/10): The meat of any good psychological thriller is it's story, brought to life with compelling and well-developed characters. What a shame that we get neither the story nor the characters.

Akane is perhaps the most interesting out of all of the rest of the cast, which is not saying much. Her growth and position as a respected Inspector is a good watch, a far cry from who she was at the beginning of the first series. I liked the little detail with the cigarettes, a good way to exhibit her attachment to Kougami.

The problem is that while Akane is a good character, the entire weight of the story is placed on her and the poor girl can't deliver while being exactly as pacifistic as she was the first time around. Akane needs a foil and for that we get three - Mika, Tougane and Kamui reprising the roles of Ginoza, Kougami and Makishima from the first season, and all of them fail at them utterly.

Kamui and Tougane's motives are lacklustre and they are explained via info dumps - something that automatically lessens their impact. Their development is non-existent and the chemistry between Tougane and Akane had potential, but it failed to deliver as such. Kamui's motives and actions have such laughable contradictions, and that's made even more annoying with Kamui being capable of doing nearly everything. Both Tougane and Kamui's methods of affecting a person's Psycho-Pass are explained, sure, but it's a hard swallow.

Let's not forget the side cast, which is mostly pushed aside. Shion and Kunizuka serve their minor roles to capacity, but the disappointment is the newer Enforcers, none of whom are given any room to grow. Explaining this away as the limitations of a shorter season is really no excuse - the show shouldn't introduce so many characters if it's not prepared to treat them right. Perhaps the biggest disappointment is Ginoza's treatment - he'd played an important secondary role in the first season, but he might as well not exist in the second. He's not used as well here and even though he gets his moments to shine, it's nowhere near enough development.

And, of course, the biggest beef I have with Psycho-Pass 2 - Shimotsuki Mika.

It's never explicitly stated at any point, but Mika played a role in the first season. She's nowhere near the same character though, and watching her bumble through the entire case is an exercise in frustration.

For the record - I didn't like Akane initially. She's easily one of my top three characters in the Psycho-Pass 'verse now, given how we've watched her grow as a person. I was expecting the same from Mika but, sadly, that does not happen.

The problems with Mika are numerous, but the one most obvious is her tendency to be snotty and high-handed, without actually having the talent to back it up. She talks back to her superior officer, undermines her decisions despite them showing results, ignores her Enforcer's advice and she can't handle situations effectively when actually placed at the helm (episode 4. Just... episode 4). All of this would be understandable if she were a fresh recruit but, nope, she's been working under Akane for a year and a half.

Mika is more concerned with her Psycho-Pass than she is about doing anything useful. Her only shining moment comes when she cracks the Tougane secret, but even that proves to be a bust. She becomes an accomplice, indirectly causes the death of a citizen, but she chooses to never take any responsibility. She serves herself for the most part and isn't developed at all - no talk about her past, her family, her circumstances. I couldn't empathize with her, because Mika blindly accepts everything about the Sibyl System, despite how fucked up it all is. Her conflict is non-existent and it only serves to prove that she's downright useless and incapable of utilizing her own agency.

Yes, her story-line is basically how an average Sibyl-System-grown citizen would handle being in the same situation as Akane. However, that alone doesn't make it interesting and/or exciting to watch. Mika is frustrating from the start to the end and one can't even ignore her, because she's a part of the main cast.

At least Makishima isn't completely ignored and is mentioned multiple times. The Kougami cameo was a nice touch, but I particularly enjoyed Akane-Jouji interactions and, well, Jouji in general. Perhaps one of the better things about Psycho-Pass 2 is that we get to watch Jouji work his magic.

OVERALL (4/10): Where the first season starts off slow then picks up momentum and ends on a high, the second does the same... except it all crashes and burns around the finale. Again, Kamui and Tougane were not compelling enough antagonists, the plot has holes, the characters are not developed well enough and then there's Mika. I imagine that the staff's intention was to make us feel sorry for her, but I couldn't do that with how much she frustrated me with her actions. I honestly wish there was a better character arc for her; it would've certainly elevated my enjoyment of the series a lot more.

Such a shame, because I really did want to like the second season. :(

To any enthusiasts of the original - just pretend that Season 1 is all that exists. The second certainly doesn't do well to live up to the first's legacy.

I heard the tales. While I was watching the original Psycho-pass, I looked into its second season to see what the general opinion was of it, and I heard... opinions. But I wanted to see how it was for myself, so after finishing season 1, I moved with trepidation over to season 2.

I'll get this out there, this season isn't terrible. It's more or less awful for how it is structured and what it represents. This season is more or less season 1 except cut down to a much shorter length. The characters mirror characters from the last season and generally fill their roles not ... as well. The largest issue with a shortened season is the fact that there is less time for everything to develop, so it just feels rushed and uninteresting.

The characters are boring and I don't like them. especially the villain and the character who takes up the position Akane had in the previous season. Sibyl is constantly stupid in this season and nothing of value is gained from watching this. This season also feels like it's spilling a bit too much unnecessary blood. In season 1, everyone who is shown dying feels realistic and necessary. In this season, it feels like people are dying simply for the shock factor, and not for the purpose of the story at large.

From what I've heard about the movie, it largely ignores season 2, so there is likely no reason you'd have to watch this show. Stick with the first season, and don't waste your time on this repetitive goo.

The second season of Psycho Pass is downright awful. End of story.
I'd upload a decent analytical review, explaining why it is so horrible, but neither do I have the time, nor do I feel like putting in more effort than the actual writers did.
Awful recycled, messy, if not plainly nonsensical plot with some of the greatest asspulls since Mirai Nikki plus pointless lines of dialogues and characters whose creation ended with their design.

We're talking about writers here that literally tried to give a definitive answer to the omnipotence paradox. And in one or two sentences at that.
Just stay away if you want to keep the ... overall positive experience of season one because pretty much everything that made it good left the building for this season.

After watching 4 episode I could not resist myself to write. I have seen whole lot of anime with so awesome story and all I dd is rate them 9 or 10. This is how I am but this series has something which made a person like me come out and write his review.

I have just restarted my modem to write this review. This series is written by some wanna be writer who has solid background support in anime industry. The writer is living a dream of being a writer, you know seating in coffee shop, smoking bunch of cigarettes, wearing that long coat, ... putting hand over their head like some famous author.

Just thinking about the writer real characteristics make my heart in pain.

After watching only 4 episode my brain want to puke and I have uncomfortable feeling between my left brain and right brain. Which technically after realizing it can not puke it tries to go for suicide.

There is feeling over all over the skin as someone just throws a shit on you and it all stick to your skin. You do not know cry or get angry. Yes this is the feeling this shit garbage piss of shit gave me.

The reason is this author is! the author has some serious political agenda which he/she take it by seating on our faces.