Psycho-Pass 2

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

Psycho pass 2 receives a lot of negative reviews and though some may be too critical, they are based in truth. Like the first season, it follows akane and her duties as inspector of squad 1. The problems i find that arise within the second season are uninteresting characters, an unlikely plot and what feels like to me, as a rather stalled continuation of this beloved series of mine.

Firstly, Kogami is NOT in this season and though extremely disappointing to me and many others, makes sense, especially when you consider the plot of the show is not destroying the sibyl system(which would make ... sense for kogami to be there). Though we miss kogami, the show's problems have nothing to do with his absense, we just think it does cause we love him so much. The plot itself involves a new threat, in the guise of a mysterious man named Kamui, who poses similar threats of undermining the sibyl system much like Shogo makishima did.

However, psycho pass 2 relies heavily on this type of character. Kamui(in a unique way) is like Shogi(in the sense the sibyl system does not read him) and though the two do not share any of the same philosophy, they are the same antagonist, the only difference was that Shogo was well rounded and understandable and well liked where as Kamui, like many of the new characters, are not very well rounded and do not have the same sort of "pizzaz" as the characters from season 1. Other characters are added, such as Mika, a new inspector who poses an interesting personality conflict with Akane yet comes off as rather pretentious and annoying and by the 4th or 5th episode you wish she would just shut the fuck up instead of constantly posing as a hindrance to akane. Also, two enforcers are added, Sho, a introverted enforcer, who though is likable and clearly a good person, is not well rounded and has almost no back story(spare a rather forced set of dialogue by a character that has nothing to do with him) The other is a rather generic and unique Kogami(in the sense he is a badass detective like kogami but unique that he shares almost no characters traits with kogami) Unlike Kogami as well, who developed over the series, Sakuya does not develop at all. Chalk it up to 11 episodes or bad writing but that's the case. Akane herself seems rather boring and dull at times but for the most part, is the same person from season 1( so either you liked her or you didn't) Gino is still around but the interesting character from season 1 has almost no purpose as an enforcer other than to just be around and i think that we miss his importance from season 1. We are again introduced to Joji, who i feel becomes much more important and a rather important character though at the same time, the plot does not call for him at all & was probably only added for the element of having a new character(or one that can be further explored, which he is).

The plot, like the characters, suffers. In 11 episodes it serves to do little to deviate itself from the main plot of the first season, which was to bring the sibyl system down. However, unlike the first season, it starts off rather complicated and all over the place but does a good job of tying everything together, though it could have done a much better starting off. It also misses that cast of antagonists who added drama and tension to the show as well as progressed the plot. Instead, the other antagonist(and there is arguably only 1 more) is hardly an antagonist while the others are flat characters with no likability at all.

However, all that being said, if you liked the first season, you will like this one. It still has a rather interesting plot, at least one interesting enough that it's hard to predict what will happen and who will do what. The sound and art is just as good as the first one and do not let Kogami's absence throw you off too much because the second season in now way ends the possibilities of the show, and along with the movie soon to come, i predict another season or two, a season with Kogami.

With a dystopian setting comes a down-with-the-system plot. This is true for a lot of cases. It is not that it is the end-all and be-all of all dystopian fiction. It is that if you want to move forward and present things in an uber-philosophical manner, this is the way to go. Psycho-Pass is no exception. And it incorporates this not once but twice (and with the possibility of a third time.)

Let’s cut to the chase. Psycho-Pass 2 is not as spectacular as it aspired to be although it tries (desperately). I can’t say I was disappointed either as I didn’t have high expectations for ... it. I was definitely brought in by the hype but the first season reminded me of how any follow-up can fall short (especially when the first season fell short itself).

A lot of viewers say that the second season is a carbon copy of the first. Not all of that is true. Like I said, dystopian settings don’t have much to go around with. When it wants to have a brooding and thoughtful tone (everything Psycho-Pass aims to be), the choices are limited. I can forgive the second season for having the same themes as the first simply because of Kamui.

Kamui may seem unoriginal at first. He and Makishima have the same goals about society. However, Kamui sets off having more drive and resolve to bring down Sibyl (or at least change it or know about its nature) although it kind of flipped over towards the end. Although not as charismatic as Makishima, he presents legit questions regarding the system. Somehow, I find him more likable than Makishima who only flaunted his educated humanist ass to put off other characters (and viewers). But both are unique in their own way and there is no reason to compare them.

Akane in this season is not as challenged as she was in the previous. If I were to say something nice about her, it would be that her development was decent enough, giving her more self-understanding and the ability to think outside the box. But that’s just it. So much potential is wasted for our beloved protagonist.

The same is true for the rest of the characters. In the end, they were nothing more than mere accessories the whole series can do without. They provided enough amusement the series can do well without. For instance, Ginoza, who received the full brunt of character development in the first season, was put in the backseat and casually thrown out the window. The characters relationships were not outlined and explored to their full extent as much as they tried to bring them out and the story never did anything to address this lack of trajectory.

Despite all its faults, the story provides enough twists to keep me watching when, to be honest, it was 80% all talk. It didn’t need all the blood and gun service and car chases to mask the lack of action. This leads me to conclude that the animation never did anything to make things better. I guess it can’t be helped.

I hoped that it would be smarter than the first season as I hoped that the first season would be smart. It aspired, tried, but never did it transcend itself. I sit here, pondering over the many things that could have made the whole series better. Psycho-Pass 2 gave only so much that in return I can give it a “good enough”.

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

This was most certainly a difficult and frustrating season to get through, with many disappointments not by the story, but by your own standards of what you expect and want to happen. It never fully answers your questions, and all in all I believe this season didn't quite live up to its predecessor. It answered only enough to keep you interested, but still left you frustrated with a feeling of confusion and emptiness, much unlike the first season, which, although it left questions unanswered, gave a sort of satisfaction that this one did not provide. Character-wise, I'd say it was sub-par at best. Unlike the ... first season, which provided adequate development of every one of its characters, this season really only focused on a select few while the rest had to watch from the sidelines. Even the characters it did develop were not done very well. Akane Tsunemori and Kirito Kamui were the only two that really developed at all. The other two (Tougane and Shimotsuki) were really only sloppily thrown together last second. Now obviously this is not the kind of show that was meant to leave you happy and smiling, but overall I feel the story is what really pulled it together. It really kept you guessing as to what would happen next, and never giving you the satisfaction of being correct. The only thing that dragged it down is the ending, which left you feeling unresolved with no way to fix it. All in all I'd say this was a good show that did very well considering its episode count was half that of the first season, but it didn't quite make it to the same level.

The world of psycho pass is a cyber-punk dystopian future police society which is based on a mass surveillance ‘big brother’ like Sibyl system with its ruthless crime and mind control system. Since this spoiler free review has been written with the assumption that the reader is familiar with the world of Psycho-Pass, it will not delve too deeply on the background or the world.

Psycho-Pass 2 picks up 1.5 years after the events of the first season. Akane Tsunemori, the protagonist who (much like the director of the show) was an unimpressive rookie in the first season is no longer the same scared greenhorn, but ... has become a polished and talented inspector exuberating the kind of self-confidence and poise that only comes with experience and knowledge.

Apart from the main character, only a few characters return from the first season, such as Ginoza (the former inspector who became an enforcer in the first season after a spike in his psycho-pass level), Shion Karanomori (the analyst) and jouji Saiga. Unfortunately, not much depth or thought seems to have been put into the characters. Even the returning characters disappoint, as in the case of Ginoza whose character was very well developed in the first season, but is just a bland and sometimes annoying distraction in the second season. This is just one reason why P-P 2 falls short of its predecessor, which had a far more compelling character development and exposition, especially in the form of Shougo Makishima and Shinya Kougami.

Like the first season, P-P 2 relies a lot on keeping the audience glued through shock-factor and mystery, egging the viewers by keeping them in the dark until the end. But unlike the first season which also focused on character development, the rivalry of the Makishima and Kougami (which many have compared with that of L and Kira, Tenma and Johan etc), and psuedo-intellectual/philosophical themes, the second season has little else to offer. Just like Makishima in the first season, Kamui (the ‘antagonist’ or rather ‘anti-hero’) of the second season questions and challenges the very foundation of the sibyl system and the societal order. And like the first season, the second one promotes the Hegelian dialectics and progress through synthesis of opposing ideas/forces.

Of course the thematic nuances differ a bit; the ‘Sibyl System’, which at one point is compared to the Benthamite panopticon penitentiary (a system where one watchman can observe and control all inmates through a central tower), judges and passes orders for putting down or executing people simply based on their ‘psycho-pass’ levels (which is a combination of emotional/mental state, personality and the probability of exhibiting criminal/delinquent behaviour). Such omnipotent and omnipresent yet flawed construct with a God-complex raises some difficult questions, such as who will judge the God? Is Sibyl really that perfect that it cannot be judged on the same grounds that it judges individuals?

Psycho-pass was a show heavily influenced by works preceding it, particularly the dystopian science fiction works of Oshii Mamorou. The ideas explored by it were by no means unique or original; similar themes have already been explored before in numerous Books, TV shows, movies and anime. Psycho-Pass 2 does not break free of the influences or the limitations set by the first series. In fact, one of the downsides of the second season is that at times it seems to be following the footsteps of its predecessor too faithfully in some respects, while overlooking some of the winning traits of the original. At times it turns into a pale copy of the original.

Art and Music are more of the same. Action sequences, however, have suffered a great dip in quality.

Overall, Psycho-Pass 2 is fairly entertaining. Not great. Not bad. But something in the middle.

I have to admit, I went into this with not the best expectations, iv heard that it does not live up to the first Psycho-Pass and the story was worse in comparison. However, I came out of watching this series with a substantial amount of enjoyment. I can understand why people think this series is in-superior to its predecessor, there are some questions that it kind of forgets to answer, ones that were left at the end of the first Psycho-Pass. Also the ending is (I thought) a little rushed, I would have liked to seen maybe one more episode to draw it out. This ... series kind of takes a different turn than what I expected going in.

HOWEVER, the story it went down was very intriguing to say the least. The whole time it kept me guessing until the end, their were many cliffhangers throughout and I liked most of the new characters and how they justified a lot of the characters intentions. You could believe and understand their motives.

I would say when watching this keep an open mind try not to compare the two series to much, although (understandable) their will be times where you have to. I would recommend this, especially to people who like investigations

Sequels can be a tricky business, especially when the original series has such a huge following and is so distinctive in style and theme. There are many different reasons for sequels existing, ranging from additional stories that demand being told to easy fan base cash-ins, and the execution of these sequels also has just as many outcomes. One of the classic examples of what makes a bad sequel is creating one without the writing of the original creator, an occurrence with a notable example being Dragon Ball GT. So, how did the latest sequel lacking ... its original creator's image fare as its own product?

Before getting into my problems with the series, I do want to say that in terms of being a thrilling and compelling detective series, Psycho-Pass 2 definitely delivers, with a huge cloud of mystery and complex clues to be deciphered. This was also aided by the fact that the returning characters from last season are just as solid as they were before, with Akane coming back even better than before and undergoing a huge amount of development in this portion of the series.

With that said, this series falls immensely short of its predecessor, with dozens of cop-outs and plot holes that made this a rather frustrating experience. One of the biggest problems with the series is the writing. Regardless of your personal opinions on Urobuchi's more disturbing and unsettling style of writing, the man definitely knows how to craft an incredible story. However, when someone else attempts to copy his style of writing, they tend to forget that and focus more on the disturbing portion of it. This led to an absolutely horrendous moment in episode 4 where, without spoiling anything, the MWPSB does something so outlandish and out of character that it might as well have been replaced with a neon sign reading "insert 'Urobutcher'-style shocking moment here." There is an incredible depth and complexity to the way Urobuchi crafts his darker style of writing, and to try and copy that in gore alone shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the original story.

Another, let obvious point where the second season falters is its level of intelligence and sophistication. While I did note in my review of the first season that the quoting of famous philosophers was just barely bordering on being pretentious, I certainly didn't want them to take this aspect away from the series entirely, but that's pretty much exactly what happened. Instead, the dabbling into the elements of the human soul has been replaced by conspiracy theory pseudo-intellect that grew more pretentious and annoying by the minute. While they do introduce one new philosophical concept towards the end that was rather interesting, it's effectively drowned out by the huge cluster of random conspiracy jargon being thrown out all over the place.

The new characters are also one of the bigger weak points of this new season. Starting first with our new antagonist, Kamui, it becomes apparent very quickly that he is infinitely less complex and interesting than Makishima was last season, and his motivations for wanting to bring down Sibyl are not nearly as noble, though some of his more minor traits still end up being somewhat interesting. Another poorly executed character was Shimotsuki, who I can only describe in terms that would not comply with the Terms and Conditions of this website. She constantly questions Akane's method of doing things even though Akan's methods always end up producing better results. We've already set up the idea that Akane knows much more about the Sibyl System than everyone else, and yet the story constantly focuses on characters who don't know this about her, and it makes trying to sympathize with them incredibly difficult, especially with Shimotsuki, whose arrogance is only proceeded by her inability to get the job done. As for other new characters, there is one in particular, whom I can't name due to spoilers, which started off promising but ended up being rather pathetic by the end.

The animation was produced as a joint project between Production I.G. and Tatsunoko Production, and this is one of the few areas that's actually improved since the first season. The cityscape is incredibly well-crafted, the CG blends nicely with the traditional 2D animation, and the character designs, Akane's specifically, are much more refined and appealing. I will say that there was a significantly higher amount of gore in this season though, but this is more due to the nature of the mediocre writing than anything else.

The dub is actually a rather unique case, as this, along with Laughing under the Clouds, are the flagship titles for FUNimation's new Broadcast Dub system, where episodes are dubbed a few weeks after they come out, cutting the time gap between initial air date and dub release by a gigantic margin and taking a huge step forward in an industry where dubs are starting to lose their relevance. While I wasn't able to watch the dub completely before writing this review, I was able to see seven of the eleven episodes with the broadcast dub, and I'm happy to say that's it's just as good as the dub for season one. Kate Oxley and Josh Grelle return as Akane and Ginoza, while Cherami Leigh and Clifford Chapin bring strong new voices to Shimotsuki and Kamui.

Yugo Kanno also returns for the soundtrack composition and brings us one of the best soundtracks from this season. Rather than stick to one general style, he brings whatever accompaniment is necessary to fit the scene, from quick-paced electronic tunes to bombastic operatic orchestrations, though I will say the latter bordered on being pretentiously ironic at certain points. As for opening and ending themes, we are met with even more familiar faces. "Enigmatic Feeling" by Ling Tosite Sigure plays us in with a fast-paced rock/electronic track, while "Fallen" by EGOIST covers the outro with another heavy electronic track laced with hard rock. Additionally, "Fallen" is currently available for purchase on iTunes, and I highly recommend checking it out.

Overall, while Psycho-Pass 2 isn't necessarily bad, it falls incredibly short of its previous iteration. However, I do still believe it is necessary to watch this series, especially with the upcoming Psycho-Pass movie on the horizon for next year, written by Urobuchi this time.

psycho-pass2
the second season is,,,not bad
but the first was better

some bad things on this season

1-where is kougami,, him and makishima was the best thing on the anime
"makishima is dead" and what about kougami
why we didn't saw him ???
and what happen to him after the time skip "year and half"
... before i watch first episode of s2 i was waiting to see kougami
and what happen to him but i didn't ...!

2- the end of s2 precisely what akane was doing i don't like it

3-shimotsuki mika new character , i don't like her
and she is something is not important she is kind of like ginoza in first season
but she didn't do any thing important on this season


the good things

1- the season 2 show us more about kasei
we now know about her past and who is she now
and we know more about the system

2- tougane sakuya new character, how he was born and his real job
and kasei is his mother ! , all of this makes the season 2 better

3- kamui kirito new character he is the new main criminal
sibyl system didn't detect him ! , after we know how is that
it is something new for the anime

4-hinakawa shou new character he is something that
season1 missed it we didn't find characters who can work whit computers

The first season of Psycho-Pass, hands down, is my favourite anime of all time. The plot was magnificent, the characters where unique and managed to be likeable in their own unique ways. So of course, when I heard there would be a second season, I was excited. I was all aboard the Psycho Pass 2 hype train. I drew a ton of art, I listened to the leaked opening on repeat, I even cut class to watch the first episode because I was that excited. So how did it fare compared to the first season?

The second season of Psycho-Pass had a great start. Episode 1 ... was exciting, action packed, and left me excited for what the second season would deliver. Would I see Kougami again? How would the first season be referenced? Will we get more exploration for characters like Ginoza, Kunizuka, Shimotsuki, or Karanamori? What about the new characters, like Shisui, Togane, Hinakawa, and of course Kamui Kirito?

To say the least, I was disappointed. While it was nice to see Shion and Yayoi's relationship carried from the first season, I was really disappointed there wasn't really much exploration of their characters. Same with Ginoza! I mean, it's not as bad for him, we did get a few scenes that showed how much he'd changed from his season one self, but it was pretty underwhelming for an anime that had initially reeled me in with it's character development. As for the new characters, Hinakawa is about as fleshed out as Karanamori or Kunizuka, which is a shame because he had the potential to become a really neat character. I can't say that Shisui didn't get a lot of screen time, but I really don't like the path the writers went with her. It didn't make sense how easily she fell for Kirito. It was nice to see a female character kick ass and get in on the action, but in the end she was just a pawn for Kirito. Which transitions nicely into how Kirito's character is played out.

Kirito is... interesting, to say the least. The idea of someone who couldn't be read by Sibyl seems to me like a carbon copy of Season 1's Makishima. I feel like the writers didn't really know if they wanted him to be a hero or a villain. I mean, in the end, we see the good motives he had but, do you really expect me to forget the part where he shot up a whole building with his men?

Togane seemed to be a villain from the start. They tried to make him seem as suspicious as possible. But to counter that, they also made him similar to Kougami. In the end though, he was pretty much the perfect villain, with his high crime coefficient, and his killing of Akane's grandmother for... no... real... reason. That's another problem with Psycho-Pass 2. It's all over the place.

I really was curious to see how they'd handle cramming a season of an anime like Psycho-Pass into 11 episodes. Props for the writers for making things seem ABSOLUTELY FUCKING ALL OVER THE PLACE! Really, what even was up with the story arcs? I mean.. there was the "shooting naked people" arc, the "subway raid" arc, and who could forget the "Evil Flappy Bird" arc!

Overall, when Psycho-Pass 2 tried to be like the first season, that was when it was best. I really think it would be better with Urobuchi taking the front wheel.

Here's to seeing what the movie has in store!

I'm probably going to receive a lot of hate and criticism for this, but please spare the hate until AFTER you've read this review. Also, please forgive my bad grammar during this review as English is not my first language even though I speak it so well. I aim to do a simple review with a little complex vocabulary so it remains easy to read and understand by everyone.(contains spoilers, so be wary of reading before finishing it.)

Psycho-pass 2, is the sequel to the first season of Psycho-pass 1 which is set in an advanced, systematic future where humans have things called crime coefficients and ... A mental I.D. called a Psycho-Pass. I won't delve much deeper into it so I'll assume everyone has seen the first season.

Now the main point and the audience'ss failure to enjoy this season was the lack of Kogami. Kogami Shinya, who was the main character of Psycho-pass 1 had been expected to return after the end of season 1 where he *SPOILER*killed Makshima Shogo, myself included. This built up high expectations of this season which, unfortunately, didn't happen. That caused the rating of the show to overall decrease by fans and even dropping the series. Regardless of this, Psycho-pass 2 is VERY MUCH INDEED a well done sequel.

ART [9/10]

Let's talk about the art and animation. Since this was more of a revenue sequel rather than a immediate sequel, the studio that originally worked on Psycho-pass, production I.G., has given the main production to Tatsunoko Production which obviously means we're going to have a lesser animation art style from the greatness of season 1's. Thank goodness it didn't turn out that way much. The art style remained the same, the animation felt like it had some forced scenes at certain times and wasn't as good the first few episodes, but eventually that problem was fixed and it was almost like watching the first one.

Sound [9/10]

Not Much to say about the sound, since they reused the OST and added some tracks I think? The opening song sounded fantastic and felt a little like the first opening of the first season. The ending was amazing, as expected of EGOIST.

Story [9/10]

Now, while it wasn't as amazing as the first, here's the story part of Psycho-pass 2, the one urobutcher didn't write but someone else did. You've got the PSBC Investigation division with a few new members and even a new unknow villian, sounds like it's going to turn out just like the first season right? No. The whole way this season is done goes against the values and ideals of the first season, with the preventing of crimes from going unpunished,to the killing of people to maintain justice. While in this season, the main theme is asking us "What color?" as in what psycho-pass reading do you have? or what is the color of your soul? It leaves it to the viewer to come up with his/her own view of what the theme means. In all honesty that was really well done and a brilliant idea, many others could agree on. The only real issue with the story is that it didn't have as much to it as the first psycho-pass because it was purely character development that helped this time around.

Character [10/10]

Now here is where the REAL goodness comes from that surpasses psycho-pass 1's quality. All the way from the physical and mental states of characters, their origins, and even their ideals are what really surprised me this time around in psycho-pass 2.
THE PSBCDF
First of all, Akane Tsunemori. Akane is the head inspector of division 1 of the PSBCDF where she formerly was a subordinate of Ginoza, who is now an enforcer. She has taken on the role of Kogami and has made reckless decisions, excellent deductions, as well as perfectly tracking down and understanding the state not only her enemy is in, but also her colleagues. She has developed very well in this season other than in the end where she (SPOILER) decided to trust in Sibyl's actions and to arrest Kamui Kirito, whom we'll talk about in a bit. Togane Sakuya and Mika Shimotsuki, two rookies who joined the PSBCDF and are under direct supervision of akane, have their own side story in which Mika has discovered that togane Sakuya is in fact, the son of togane misako, who is a member of sibyl and the PSBCDF chief(one of them at least). Mika is probably the most hated character in Psycho-pass, being spectacle and overall a bitch towards akane and most of everyone in the PSBC, save Yayoi. We soon later find out that she actually has insecurities about her psycho-pass becoming worse and she forces herself to work with sibyl just to maintain clear. and sakuya togane, as people would say, has a mother complex and his job is to make people's minds pitch black. There isn't much else to talk about other than the inspector who was made "clear" by kamui, and Saiga Jouji who makes people's hues worse just from talking to him which is neato.
The Kamui Faction and SIBYL
Kirito kamui, an antagonist to the sibyl system, who has the minds of a 100+ people put into him which prevents him from being judged by the sibyl system is most possibly the best type of antagonist that came into psycho-pass since makshima shogo. While he is the antagonist, he plays a role that makes him look like the good guy and the PSBCDF the bad guys, meaning that he has a whole faction to help him achieve his objectives and judge sibyl. He never intended to escape unharmed or alive after he proved that sibyl was able to be judged, he just wanted a system that was truly capable of judging correctly which meant judging itself rather than just judging others. So he forcibly caused it to develop and have the ability to judge groups as one coefficient. That in perspective was a big improvement to an antagonist compared to makshima shougo, who just aimed to mess around and know the truth. The dialogue seemed more what actual inspectors would say and it felt more natural so it felt easier to understand and see what they were trying to do this time around.

Enjoyment [10/10]

Psycho-Pass 2 did have it's issues and little problems there and here, but it wasn't enough to break my high enjoyment of it, especially during the gory/psychological scenes during it.

Overall [9/10]

All-in-All Psycho Pass 2 wasn't the greatest of sequels out there, but it isn't as bad as one would think considering the main character isn't the same badass we all know and love, and that you should watch this with the expectations of how sibyl and akane will turn out rather than how kogami would show up. Is this worth watching before the movie? hell yes, this season is mostly a set-up for the movie so for sure it is what you should watch before the movie. Thank you for reading my review and I hope you might have changed your mind and thought a little better about Psycho-pass 2, if you haven't, please comment on my profile what you thought was bad about this season and I'll be willing to discuss it with anyone :).

Oh My Oh my after what went down this season I wouldn't be surprised if my psycho pass went out of control You see psycho pass is my favorite show of all time so to see it being treated like this is just disappointing to say the least.

Story :5 Well after the amazing first season you could imagine how hyped I was for this but all that hype soon turned to dust as I heard that Gen Urobuchi wouldn't be working on the script for season 2 and the result of that is painfully obvious a real clusterfuck We see Akane a lot more matured ... from season 1 as she works to stop the new villan Kamui and let me put it to you like this he is by no means a Makishima Shougo sure he's a good villan but not that good he's trying to set the world straight because well we all know how fucked up and useless sybil is and while this is going down many shocking secrets are revealed but no spoilers just know that they fucked the story up.

Art:9 This was the only improvement from season 1 the Art looks a lot better and the character designs are awesome.

Sound:8 Well the music is by no means comparable to the first seasons but it still shines in it's own way with a new op that is not half bad and a ED that is great.

Characters:4 This has got to be the biggest disappointment from this season besides Akane being a badass now The rest of the characters were treated like garbage we see a new character named Tougane who at first seems really interesting but in the end is wasted and treated like trash lets just say he becomes a momma's boy and we also see the new villan Kamui he is alright his goals are pretty much to destroy sybil and change the world because sybil is retarded and he himself carries a lot of secrets mindblowing ones that will make you go WTF and also My man Ginoza was hardly in this season like really fucking stupid and when he did appear he just didn't seem near as interesting at the first season where he actually mattered to the story this season he was basically a waste the rest of the characters are just shit I'm looking at you Mika.

Enjoyment:7 while this season was a huge letdown compared to season 1 I still somewhat enjoyed it because I adore psycho pass so much I just overlooked the huge ass flaws and just sat back and went with the flow.

Overall:6 Well we all want wishes to come true and I made a wish that this season would be just as good if not better without Gen but My wish was never heard.

When it's all said and done this season was just one huge let down an abomination to the psycho pass series at the end of the day just pretend like this season doesn't exist to save yourself some pain.

Every once in a while i don´t get disappointed with some series that I expected to be bad .. Psycho-Pass 2 is one of them. After seeing many many people saying that compared with the first season, Psycho-Pass 2 sucked .. well i disagree.

Unlike the first season, this one acquires a much faster pace without losing much of it. While in the first season we have some episodes that just are totally useless, the second season goes straight to the point and ends it quickly so it doesn´t get boring like the first season.

Even though i have to admit, it was a litle ... bit worst. The fantastic world that Psycho-Pass managed to create isn´t so well explored as it is in the first season.
The rest is pretty much the same.

Story: 6/10. Well .. it is the same thing. It's like if i was going to create, let's say a second season of Death Note where the same things happens but with "different" characters.

The setup is exactly the same thing as it was in the first season. Literally it looks like a copy, and i just hate it. I wanted something new.. but that doesn´t happen.

Even tough we have tiny twists that made me surprised and at least that was nice.. but it needed to be something different.

Art: 8/10. Same thing. Nothing changed. The scenary still looks good for the most part, the characters are still well drawn and the movement still fair.

Sound: 8/10. Well .. the track used are exactly the same, which is nice. For who watched the first season will want to keep the enviroment that the first season had, so they did well keeping all of them.

What really surprised were both the opening and the ending. The clip for opening looks deficient, it is the best word to describe it, but the song is just fucking amazing. I loved it. The ending .. also great. They both portray the feeling that Psycho-Pass gives to you so they are perfect to start/finish every single episode.


Character: 6/10. Meh. New characters were introduced. The thing is .. they suck.

The guy that works with Akane sucks compared to her old partner (Kougami)... the villian of this show is way worst that the first one (Makishima) and the rest of the cast just remains the same with the exception of another new character that no one cares about because he simply has 0 ZERO 0 ZERO 0 ZERO development. Why he even exist? I don´t know ...

About the main Villian .. i missed the other one so much :/ I think they tried to make another character like Makishima but it just didn´t worked out. He even has the same motivations but and let's say the same way of thinking but ... he sucks. He is boring, not interesting and his design is not even nice.

One thing that I have to tell you is that Akane got so much better with this second season. I loved how with one of the new characters, Shimotsuki, they managed to magnify Akane.

She is no longer that younger detective that nothing knows about the world .. with the "THING" that happens in the first season (who saw knows what i'm talking about) she looks much more mature and professional. She is now the boss of the first squad and that is just awesome. See her on the comand bring us the memories that we had of her in the first season and it really feels good seeing her evolution.

Enjoyment: 8/10. Even though the show is kinda crappy at all points, the acelerated pace is one of the things that they made right. It's much more easier to see and enjoy than it is with the first season. However, the ending .. for the second time, it's not an ending. I mean it is a ending but a weak ending.

Did you ever watched CSI ? Or something close to it? Criminal minds, NCIS, whatever any kind of police series .. This season looks like a big episode of one of those series. It looks like they could keep releasing seasons of Psycho-Pass because the only that they made with this season was adding a new villian and let the detectives solve the case. The secondary plot that is going on with the main plot, let's call it the Togane's arc is the only thing "new". The only thing that the first season didn´t had. But it's not a great thing. I mean the build up around it is crappy and the story isn´t appealing enough to make me care.


Overall: 6/10. With all of those mistakes, I can´t give a higher rate. But in one hand the anime is fun to watch and for me that is paramount.

If you watched Psycho-Pass first seaon and you liked it, thrn i recommend this anime .. if you haven´t, well check my Psycho-Pass first season review and see if it makes you watch or not.

If you didn´t liked Psycho-Pass first season, then skip this one. Nothing changed, so if you didn´t liked the first season i'm not seeing you liking this one..

TLDR: Still good, but missing some elements from PP1

Should you watch this if you've watched the first one? It may not be necessary, but I feel like the hole for wanting more that I had in my heart has been filled.

The art and sound were very consistent with the first season. The animation quality is superb; the character's design is beautiful and the scenery (and imagery) presented is nice to look at. 9/10 for art. The OP and ED are some of the best for fall 2014. I listened to both for each episode and greatly enjoyed it. All the other music fits nice ... with what is being illustrated. 9/10 for sound.

The characters continuing from last season held up, but were dragged back by the less engaging Togane and Mika. Kirito was a great villain (not as fun to watch as Makeshima), and made up for that a bit, but the new characters weren't up to par with the Ginoza and Kogami sidestories from the first season. 6/10

The story wasn't too riveting and felt off, somehow. It was ok overall, but what was missing was the sidelined characters in place of an uninteresting Mika + Togane route. It felt like it didn't lead to anything and didn't surpass my expectations. 5/10

I still greatly enjoyed this, my second favorite show for thursday's in fall 2014 (Shigatsu 2 stronk). Every episode was consistent from the start. Where other series' may start worse and snowball into something fantastic, PP2 starts at about 75% intensity and stays there; this, of course, means that it doesn't pick up hard near the end. 7/10

Overall, I'd give it an 72/100, or 7/10. Not great, still good, but missing those key characters from PP1. If you've watched the first season, this is a must watch.

As a pretty big fan of the original Psycho-Pass, I came into Psycho-Pass 2 wondering how they would continue the story since the former ended so well. After watching the finale, I couldn't help but be a bit disappointed in the overall dip in quality, but Psycho-Pass 2 was none the less a welcome, albeit somewhat unnecessary, edition to the franchise.

The story resumes a bit after the end of the first season, but now Akane has matured and gained a greater understanding of how things work, in particular the Sibyl system. We're also introduced to a new colorful assortment of characters, most notably the shady ... yet noir-cool Sakuya Tougane, the essentially copy and paste of Makishima villain Kirito Kamui, and the ever-so-hated and quite irritating junior inspector Mika Shimotsuki.

If there's one thing that bugged me more than everything else, it would be just how similar this season was to the first. You might think that's a good thing, but when you have essentially the same villain with similar goals and methods, similar plot, and a similar ending, you'd feel a bit cheesed as well. Not that this was anime breaking or anything, but this coupled with a few other flaws that I"ll explain later make at least nothing it useful.

Art wise, Psycho-Pass 2 remains one of the best out there. A lot of people noticed some style changes from the first season that seem to work against this new season. This is mostly having to do with worse camera angels, less of a focus on detail, and a lighter color template. But honestly, these things will only bug you if you're the most nit picky of person. This season still has far better art and animation than most other animes out there.

As for sound, there is nothing really spectacular here, but there also wasn't much in the 1st season as well. The best tracks play in the most intense moments of the anime, but otherwise Psycho-Pass 2 is usually pretty quiet. What Psycho-Pass 2 does do incredible, along with the 1st season, is their sound effects. Whether that be the blasts from the Dominators or the cries of the judged, there is no dip in quality whatsoever in this aspect.

Characters. Oh boy. Another problem I had with the season. As I said earlier, we're introduced to a myriad of new characters, but this came at the cost of essentially ignoring the original characters for the entirety of this season --- Besides Akane of course. The biggest, and probably biggest problem most had with the show, was the complete and utter absence of Kogami. Though this wasn't a HUGE problem with me, as there were at least some dream cameos of him throughout, it's understandable why he wouldn't be in this season; What with how the 1st season ended and all. We're also getting a movie later on which will have Kogami back where he belongs.

As much as the new cast of characters seemed interesting (enough), I also would have liked some further development for the original characters like Yayoi and Ginoza. I barely understand why Ginoza was even considered a Main this season since he barely got any lines. The development and backstory we got for some of the new characters like Sakuya and Mika, however, was pretty impressive for just 11 episodes. Akane remained largely the same from start to finish, but she had already matured greatly from the first season anyway.

Delving a bit more into the story, there's just no way this season can compare to the first. Makishima was a great villain, and this new Kirito kid felt like a bad copy and paste of him. Makishima had a set goal, while at the end of Psycho-Pass 2, I'm not even sure what Kirito wanted exactly, besides questioning everyone "What Color?". The first season I found myself questioning many of my morals, and this season just left me wondering what goals a lot of the characters had. So although the story and presentation and Psycho-Pass 2 is a far cry from the first, Psycho-Pass 2 still manages to hold a more meaningful and captivating story than a lot of other top-name animes out there. It's by no means bad, but there is definitely a drop in quality.

Overall, Psycho-Pass 2 can't hold a candle to the first season, but it definitely holds a bright and powerful lantern to most other animes in the same genre. Ultimately, this felt like a filler arc for whatever else is to come in the Psycho-Pass series, but one of the best pseudo-filler arcs you'll ever see. If you're a Psycho-Pass fan, you have no good reason to not watch this. Will you be disappointed by it? Slightly, at least, but as long as you don't come in expecting a masterpiece above the first season, this should satisfy any and all Psycho-Pass fans.

Psycho-Pass 2 is really good. I found it more enjoyable than season 1 because the first half of season 1 was more of an introduction. The second half turned into the chase and the actual plot. What I loved about the second season is that it is far more darker that the first. There is far more death, blood, and so forth which made it extremely enjoyable. The plot itself was really good, but I feel that something that was lacking in season 2 was the characters. I absolutely despised certain characters. I actually wished death upon them. Either way, season 2 is really enjoyable ... because of the amount of mystery in it. It made its cliff hangers really well, always having you want to come back. Overall, season 2 did a great job.

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.

Psycho-Pass 2 has an ability to keep you wanting to watch the next episode. While I often see a lot of complaints about the story, I honestly didn't have an issue with it until the very end. Yeah, it mimics a lot of the same things from the first season so it might come out as stale, like the main villain having a psycho-pass that can't be read, but his true motives and the like remain hidden and there are more moving parts within these 11 episodes.


The pacing is wonderful right until the last episode when things go a little out of whack. Each plot ... twist and reveal is done at the perfect time. You just think you know whats going to happen next when they toss you a complete curveball, and not one from left field, but one that you kind of see in your peripheral but brush aside until it's right in front of you.

The characters though, are not very compelling. Akane, while as a character is awesome, is not challenged at all this season like she was in the first one and therefore nothing really happens to her. If anything she's a major hand in bringing the conclusion. Kamui has an interesting plan but he himself is somewhat boring. Don't get me wrong, he has a lot of backstory, but he takes a step back to his plan. Mika (the recruit from the end of S1) was a chance to do something with a blank slate, but instead they just use her as an annoyance. Oh, and Tougane, they telegraph hes bad news from the start, but when they reveal why and his "ability" it seems like a bad plot device.

The animation and action are very good. Maybe the animation is not as good as the first season, but as a visual show it's very pleasing to watch. Even the combat sequences are well thought out. It also has a noticeably fitting soundtrack.

Psycho-Pass S2 is a well crafted ride with bland characters. Not even overall bad characters, just ones that are not fleshed out or dont get treatment. They don't even serve a purpose to give another character development, because of a widespread mindset of refusal to change, ironically, it's the Sybil system itself that changes the most in the show, and the change is somewhat underwhelming to what could have happened.

PP2 has a lot of missed opportunities, but it does a lot in the 11 episodes it has to work with. 7/10

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).