- Thomas Hobbes
The 22th century has come, and with it a new system, a new policy, but overall a new way the sword of the law can pierce the sinner’s heart. Japan has implemented what people call the Sibyl System. In a world in which machines can analyze and quantify each person’s mental state and emotion in order to distinguish between a fair man, anyone with criminal proclivity or an actual outlaw. One’s feelings, ideology, moral sense or convictions does not have a role in the bureaucratic work anymore. The vestige of the old State that protects the common sense, the good nature, and punishes the outrageous, despicable and unjust has been substituted by the mechanical hands that can prosecute a rightful judgment. Even your role in society is decided by the system, based on your mental status, seeking an option that would match with your skills and give you the most chances of finding happiness.
Everything starts when Tsunemori Akane joins the Public Security Department, where she receives her Dominator, a specialized modern gun, capable of connecting to the system and analyzing the Psycho-Pass of the one she’s aiming for. According to the judgment the gun can lock and be unusable, unlock and authorize the user to shot rather a paralyzing energy shoot or an annihilator one depending on the severity of the crimes committed. Thus, interrogations, inquiry, prosecution and judgment are old concepts. There’s no need to fear capital punishment, once there are no humans to corrupt the process, and you cannot hide anything from the Sibyl System.
But nothing is so simple, suddenly a series of strangely eerie murders start to bother the investigators, who question themselves about their duty to follow the State’s orders, and if the peace and prosperity that this arrangement has brought us is worth losing our free will.
Sincerely, philosophical anime don’t call my attention anymore, due to a grotesque history of failures. Although, Psycho-Pass has surprised me, in one side the will of maintaining the law and the order and the belief that the rupture of the State will inevitably lead to the war of everyone against everyone, while on the other hand the artist who does not accept to be a puppet for an invisible gear that steals the breath of life that gave us will and desire.
Unfortunately I cannot give a perfect score, since there’s one major problem that has been bothering me since the first few episodes:
T H E A C T U A L I N V E S T I G A T I O N M A K E S N O S E N S E
That’s right, if you are the one longing for a police themed drama, or maybe a Holmesian mystery, I will let you leave right here. If you were waiting for smart tricks, cleaver insights and brilliant deductions may I give you my condolences, it’s just a waste of time. Everything is solved with the intuition of one single character, in absence of any solid proof. As if he could read the mind of the criminal, in an introspective way, predicting their future behavior out of nothing, as in a magic trick.
As if it were not enough, this only one person can damage the show in way deeper forms. He’s totally one-dimensional, all his quotes looks like catchy phrases, there’s neither intelligence nor art in his actions and overall his style is absolutely generic. Unlike most characters who’s convictions are clear and feelings are relatable, Kougami Shinya is the athletic, handsome, humble, responsible and altruist good man archetype that would do anything in the fight against evil and somehow is always right. The only reason for me to continue watching beside my frustration – as a mystery fan myself – was how well the theme has been explored in such a way I’ve never seen in anime before. Many have tried to explain what a crime is, or why do people commit crimes, but Psycho-Pass did never had this ambition. It’s not an anime about crimes, but about the law.
“The Law does not protect people,
The people protect the law.”
- Tsunemori Akane
