Psycho-Pass. This anime. It is by-and-far the best anime of 2013. It's an amazing anime with great visuals, a unique story, brilliant characters and hands-down one of the best anime in the mystery genre out there. It is, a masterpiece... Almost.
Story:- 10/10
(a)Premise: The story of Psycho-Pass takes place in a futuristic world where everything is controlled by a system called the "Sybil" system. All humans now depend on this system, to make any of their "life" decisions. This, in turn, affects the crime system of the world. Now people are judged to be a criminal by their mental state. If a person's mental state crosses a specific limit, they are considered to be parallel.
(b)Originality: The story of Psycho-Pass is one of the most original stories ever presented in any anime. The story masterfully confronts problems with human nature. It also highlights the problems of humans depending on technology too much.
(c)Pacing:The story does take some time to get moving, but if the watcher has some patience, then the story in perfectly paced.
It has a minimal amount of time skips and completely explains everything to the user, without making the user feeling spoon-fed, or bored.
(d)Ending: The ending is the only part of Psycho-Pass' story which I find "average". The ending is definitely unsatisfactory. But seeing as there is a new season coming in the October of 2014, it probably won't stay that way for long.
Art and Animation:- 9/10
(a)Art: Production I.G. was the animation studio for Psycho-Pass. This studio was responsible for the animation of Shingeki no Kyojin, Prince of Tennis, Kuroko's Basket, Guilty Crown. So one can clearly tell that the art will be amazing. But in the case of Psycho-Pass, the art isn't good, it's brilliant. The art in Psycho-Pass is extremely realistic. The world is designed as a dark place, coated with a beautiful exterior.
(b)Animation: There isn't too much "stand-out" animation in Psycho-Pass. The animation isn't bad per-say, but it it's merely average. Aside from the many action scenes scattered throughout the series.
(c)Character Design: The characters of Psycho-Pass are all very well-designed and are very realistic. Aside from the female lead, Akane Tsunemori. As you'll hear from most of the people who have seen this show, she looks like she's permanently "stoned". The rest of the characters are all very well designed, and although all of them look normal, they still look unique in there own right.
Sound:- 7/10
(a)Soundtrack: The sound director of Psycho-Pass is Yugo Kanno, who's a newcomer to the world of anime soundtracks. And this is definitely not going to be his best work. The soundtrack does definitely compliment the setting of the show, which is "Sci-Fi". It also uses many famous symphonies from Ludwig van Beethoven and Achille-Claude Debussy. But the soundtrack itself isn't very good. Aside from a few tracks the entire OST is nothing special.
(b)Openings and Endings: The second opening of the show is the better one of the two. The endings are not too good.
(c)Sub and Dub: Between the subbed version and the dubbed version, the subbed is definitely more recommended. While most of the voices in the dubbed version are good, the voice of the main antagonist(Makashima) and the main female lead(Akane) are unbearably cliche in the dubbed version. Plus, Makashima's voice in the subbed version is amazing.
Characters:-10/10
(a)Main Characters: The main characters are the best part of Psycho-Pass. There are 3 main characters.
Shinya Kougami: He's the main "protagonist" of the series. He's a detective, and a damn good one at that. His character could've been a little better developed, but honestly, he didn't need much more development.
Makashima Shougo: He's the main antagonist of the entire series. He is the best of any character in the series. He's a smart bastard with a sadistic sense of "humor". He's introduced towards the beginning of the series, and is perfectly developed throughout the show. His character is one who can easily control his mental state easily, and his ideals are one's some people can agree with. He easily manipulates multiple people and considers Kougami his rival. Every second he's on screen is a moment of pure elegance.
Akane Tsunemori: Akane his the most controversial character of the series, specifically because she looks like she's permanently high. The story is seen through mainly her eyes. She acts as a sort-of P.O.V. camera for the series. She is also developed very well throughout the show.
(b)Side Characters: There is a gigantic list of side characters in Psycho-Pass. And every character is amazing. Every last one of the characters is treated with proper respect by the show. Each one gets a decent amount of screentime and are developed very well.
Enjoyment:-9/10
The show keeps the viewer on the edge of their seat throughout the entire show. There are a multiple number of plot-twists in the show as well as great action scenes.
Overall the story has great pacing, characters and art. The only place for improvement is in the sound. The setting is brilliant and unique beyond belief and the dub is better than average.
Overall: 9.0/10.0
