*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.
