I won't lie when I say Psycho-Pass was a series that restored my faith in anime. 2012 was a rather lackluster year for great anime. However, there was one series that caught my attention in the fall season and that was this series. It's the latest installment in Gen Urobuchi's fantastic stretch of great anime scripts and composition. Considering his prior works include Fate/Zero, Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica, and Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom, Psycho-Pass certainly did not disappoint.
The plot and story of Psycho-Pass is quite similar to that of the works of Phillip K. Dick, probably most comparable to Minority Report. The plot takes place in Japan in the far future. Japan has become a dystopian society that is regulated by automated enforcement, notably known as the Sibyl System. This system uses a scoring and color coding system of measuring a person's psyche and calculates their probability of committing a crime. This score is known as a Psycho-Pass and the higher ones Psycho-Pass score becomes, the darker their hue becomes, the more severe the system punishes them. It's a system based more on crime prevention than enforcement. Despite humanity being judged by the Sibyl System, it still requires a police force to regulate the system and carry out its justice. That is the Public Safety Bureau's Criminal Investigation Division. The story follows a young woman named Akane Tsunemori who is assigned as an inspector to Division 1. Her inexperience and naivety hampers the team at first, but she quickly learns the intricacies of working in such a difficult environment. However, as this series progresses even that meets its limits when Division 1 encounters its biggest threat to the Sibyl System and society as a whole.
There are many positive things I can say about this series. The story was extremely strong. Gen Urobuchi really outdid himself in creating such an interesting plot with a wonderful cast of characters and topped it off with downright brilliant scriptwriting. You could see where Urobuchi really got his motivations and inspirations for creating such a story, referencing the works of the aforementioned Dick as well as George Orwell and many other sci-fi writers and philosophers.
The characters were another great strength to this series. While Akane did seem like a naive weak lead at first, it was fun watching her character grow as the series progressed. You could sense that while she was naive and overly timid at times, you could sense that she was a brilliant character, she just needed the chance to shine. The other lead of note is an Enforcer in Division 1 known as Shinya Kougami. He's what I'd consider a "bad ass" lead character with not only how physically gifted he is, but how observant and thorough he is when investigating. He's got a quiet personality and is a bit of a lone wolf, but he starts to work better with the team when Akane joins Division 1 and it gets him to open up a bit. It even causes him to get a better understanding of his own self and his own personal self-motivations. The rest of Division 1 makes for a rather interesting team, led by Inspector Nobuchika Ginoza. Ginoza is a somewhat young inspector in his own right, but his own ego and detail for following the Sibyl System makes him a difficult person to work with for Akane and the Enforcers alike. The Enforcers are made of Shuusei Kagari, a young Enforcer with a playful, easygoing personality, Tomomi Masaoka, an older Enforcer that serves as a source of wisdom for the team, and Yayoi Kunizuka, a quiet, stern Enforcer that shows little interest in her own colleagues besides Shion Karanomori, the team's technical specialist and hacker. While Division 1 was an interesting team to watch, what made this series go was its brilliant antagonist. This series makes it inherently clear from the first few minutes that it's main antagonist is clever young man known as Shougo Makishima. He is a criminal mastermind that uses his own brilliance and manipulation to pull off crimes of extreme nature in this future society. Division 1 becomes the focal point as the team in charge of bringing a stop to Makishima reign of terror. I'll be honest, Makishima is one of my favorite villains from any series I've ever watched. He's extremely cunning and uses a rather strange string of logic to justify his own actions. The crimes he commits and the criminals he manipulate are so sick, so disturbing that it made for an enjoyable watch to see how Division 1 would bring down this sick, twisted criminal.
The overall production of this series was fantastic. It had absolutely breathtaking animation and brilliant musical production. This was a pretty strong series from the direction of Naoyoshi Shiotani, which is surprising since he doesn't have much animation directing experience. However, he's been in the industry a long time and has worked as an animator for Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Blood-C, Sengoku Basara, and xxxHolic to name a few. Kyoji Asano's animation direction was top notch and great to see in action. In regards to the music, it was downright great, especially when it came to the series OPs and EDs. I would argue that Psycho-Pass had two of the best OPs and EDs I have ever seen to an anime. Of course, it seems like good things happen when Ryo and the Supercell team get involved. EGOIST, the performer of both EDs is one of my personal favorite up-and-coming artists and her songs Namae no nai Kaibutsu (Monster With No Name) and All Alone With You were two wonderful ending songs, even contrasting in styles. The series OPs were downright great from a visual standpoint and OP 2's Out of Control by Nothing's Carved In Stone was a wonderful OP song for the 2nd half of the series.
While Psycho-Pass was a great anime, it wasn't without its faults...albeit they are quite minuscule. I found the conclusion to the series to be a rather weak one, especially considering the climax was so epic. I can tell that without a doubt that Urobuchi wants to continue this series at a later time. Overall, I just didn't find the conclusion to be overly satisfying, especially considering where the events leading into the final episode were going. Another area where I found the series to be lacking is there really isn't a whole lot of character development and interaction between the Division 1 team. There is very little back story amongst the Division 1 team and it made it a little difficult to become invested in their cause. It's a shame too, because there is a character death that occurs later in the series that I felt should've had a bigger impact...but didn't due to a lack of development with that character. The strange thing about it is one character that does get some back story and development comes completely out of left field and is one of the less likable characters within the team. Overall, I feel this series might have benefited from being a 24 episode series instead of a 22 because I did feel two additional episodes of character development and back story would've helped me as a viewer become more invested in the characters.
On the whole, Psycho-Pass is one of the best futuristic sci-fi animes you could watch, especially if you do like the detective genre. I found it to be intellectually satisfying with some excellent characters (Makishima himself makes it worth it), an intriguing plot, and a production value that is downright excellent. While it didn't have the strongest of finales, it was still a good finish to a great series and for those who are fans, it does enough to set up a sequel, whether that sequel comes in the form of a 2nd season or a movie is still for debate. If you're a fan of a series like GITS:SAC, Psycho-Pass is a must watch. At this point, I would call Psycho-Pass one of the best animes of 2012-2013 thus far.
