Story- 3
It's really sad to have one of my favorite anime of all time (psycho pass season 1) end up like this. The first few episodes set up some interesting things but the series quickly goes to shit. Season 3 is convoluted and messy because it spreads itself out much too thin by constantly introducing new characters that have flimsy connections to the main story. It doesn't present the interesting themes that made the original so good nor does it bring any new themes to the table, except for touching on the treatment of immigrants and even that's weakly developed. The story is also very frustrating to watch at times because a system whose supposed goal is absolute utilitarianism is awfully bogged down in bureaucracy. In the first season, what's perceived as initial bureaucracy turns out to be just the Sibyl system protecting itself and trying to perfectly manipulate all the other characters, but in season 3, its just a plot device to hamper the main characters. Also crime coefficient at this point doesn't even need to exist because nothing in the story builds off that plot device. So other than some returning characters and existing in the same universe, it basically shares nothing with previous entries. And that's fine except its bad as a standalone piece as well.
Characters: 4
The two main characters are likable and have a mysterious backstory but the rest of characters are really quite boring. All the enforcers this time around have no standout or interesting personalities or backstories. The villains are comically bad and constantly say things that scream , "I'm evil" with no subtlety. It's just really lazy and a shortcut to making actually interesting and realistic antagonists.
Art/ Sound: 7 / 4
The Animation is not consistent but not bad either, the sound track is pretty meh and the background art is just the same as all the other psycho passes.
Enjoyment: 5
I think there's value in making spin off stories that don't add anything thematically or story wise, because its good fun for fans of the series (Sinners of the System movies), but when you're not building off of pieces that have been proven to work to appeal to fans, shouldn't you at least bring some new themes and ideas to the table? At least the movies showed what the world outside of Japan was like and that kept it interesting to some degree. But Season 3? It's just a poorly done detective story that happens to take place in the same universe as previous seasons. The story is more confusing than interesting and the characters are boring and unoriginal. It's less entertaining than the Sinners of the System movies so if you just wanna watch more psycho pass stuff just go watch that. Season 3 sorely disappointed me and if you're a fan of psycho pass it'll disappoint you too.
