Psycho-Pass

Plot synopsis:
=== Setting ===
Psycho-Pass is set in a futuristic era in Japan where the Sibyl System (シビュラシステム, Shibyura Shisutemu), a powerful network of psychometric scanners, actively measures the minds and mentalities of civilised populations using a "cymatic scan" of the brain. The resulting assessment is called a Psycho-Pass (サイコパス, Saikopasu). When the calculated likelihood of an individual committing a crime, measured by the Crime Coefficient (犯罪係数, Hanzaikeisū) index, exceeds an accepted threshold, he or she is pursued, apprehended, and killed if necessary by police forces. Elite officers labelled "Enforcers" are equipped with large handguns called "Dominators"—special weapons that only activate when aimed at suspects with higher-than-acceptable Crime Coefficients. Enforcers are themselves selected for innately high Crime Coefficients, marking them as "latent criminals"; they are overseen by police Inspectors, who have the jurisdiction to shoot them with their Dominators should they pose a danger to the public.
=== Story ===
The series starts with Shinya Kogami, an Enforcer under Akane's watch during her first mission. Akane Tsunemori is a new police Inspector at Unit One of the Public Safety Bureau's Criminal Investigation Division. Akane is ashamed of shooting Kogami under her watch during her first mission when she judges him a threat to an apprehended criminal's life. Kogami thanks her for intervening in what could've been a murder, which influences Akane to stay. She is accompanied by veteran Inspector Nobuchika Ginoza, a strict man who looks down on Enforcers; Tomomi Masaoka, a middle-aged Enforcer who used to be a detective; Shusei Kagari, a carefree young man who was marked as a latent criminal in childhood; and Yayoi Kunizuka, a former musician turned into a latent criminal stemming from a relationship with a terrorist. Over the course of Akane's early investigations, the group uncovers the works of Shogo Makishima, a prolific criminal mastermind. Makishima is a Criminally Asymptomatic (免罪体質, Menzai Taishitsu) - he is persistently assessed as having a low crime coefficient by the Sybil System in spite of his actions and plans, thus protecting him from Dominator shots.
The Enforcers and Inspectors start hunting Makishima, who aims to destroy the society created by the Sibyl System. To do this he causes riots in the city to draw the police away from the Health and Welfare Ministry's Nona Tower facility, where Sibyl is located. Akane and Kogami stop Makishima's forces while Enforcer Shūsei Kagari follows one of Makishima's allies to the tower where Bureau Chief Joshu Kasei kills Makishima's ally and Kagari to keep the true form of Sibyl a secret. Kasei tells Makishima that Sibyl is a hivemind of similarly asymptomatic individuals and wishes him to join the system but Makishima escapes. Realizing the truth behind Makishima's escape, Kogami leaves the group to kill him. Akane is later directly contacted by the Sibyl system, which orders her to capture Makishima alive. She agrees to do this on the condition that they withdraw the execution order for Kogami. Learning that Makishima plans to commit bioterrorism to weaken Japan's economy and bring the system down, the Criminal Investigation Division searches for both Makishima and Kogami. There, Makishima tries killing Ginoza but Masaoka sacrifices his life to save him. Despite Akane's efforts, Kogami kills Makishima and the former's erstwhile comrades never see him again.
In season two, Akane, now leader of a restored Unit One including rookie inspector Mika Shimotsuki, Ginoza, who is demoted to an enforcer, Yayoi and two new enforcers, Sakuya Togane and Sho Hinakawa, face a new threat in the form of Kirito Kamui, another criminal mastermind who, just like Shogo, intends to bring down the Sybil System by exploiting its flaws instead of just wreaking havoc. Skilled in avoiding all forms of detection and capable of helping his supporters to keep their Crime Coefficients low, only a very few believe that he actually exists, including Akane.

Tags: psychological, neo noir, murder, violence, plot twist, insanity, philosophical, revenge, sci-fi

Review:
Psycho-Pass is a very smart series that deeply analizes freewill and whether or not a person's "hue", when cloudy, can determine if they will become a threat to society.
In many ways I would say this series is already comparable to a series like "Cowboy Bebop".In short, Psycho-Pass is a juicy sophisticated anime that will appeal to many mystery/sci-fi fans.
This is an anime that will undoubtedly be among the best of the best in the near future with its excellent plot, character development and intelligence.
Set against this background, a crime unit investigates into a series of murders that set the stage for what I find to be one the most compelling and complex Anime series in recent years.What begins as a well-executed alteration of Orwell and Dick, soon turns out to touch so many additional topics that I was actually surprised and happy to see that the shear audacity to put all this into one show did neither ruin the flow nor the arc of suspense.
All this is combined with contemporary phenomena such as the loss of privacy, alienation in urban areas, and the boundlessness of human beings that are overwhelmed by an overly complex reality.The show is action-packed and VERY graphic, has brilliant character development and is emotionally very demanding to say the least.Watch it and be blown away!.
Well little to say here except that this series is by far the best of 2012(anime).The plot is: In the near future, it is possible to instantaneously measure a person's mental state, personality, and the probability that a person will commit crimes with a device installed on each citizen's body called the Psycho-Pass.
There is violence and gore in many scenes, think a slightly more twisted and gruesome death note.The plot and art is top notch, beautiful and scary all at the same time.This anime will make you think and question our society and could mess with your mind.This anime is highly recommended!
It's rare I love something so much I have to write a review about it, but that's just how I feel about Psycho-PassI'm still relatively new to the anime world, and I finished this series quite a while ago, but it is absolutely amazing.the storyline is intelligent, creative, and is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat.
the ending is so beautifully well done and wraps up the story perfectly.I will admit I found it hard to watch the second season (I have yet to get very far in it) but the first is and probably always will be one of my favorite shows..
Imagine a world where we are watched and accept the judgment of a system that has been developed to dictate your life, your job and if it is determined that you might commit a crime based on your state of mind even be prosecuted for a possible future crime.
"Ghost In The Shell," "Innocence," or "Blade Runner" fans, those who seek thought-provoking realities into a story, or people who like watching stories that make you think about technology and humanity.
Then, you may also like to watch "Psycho-Pass."Technological advancement and lack of humanity is an open question all- time throughout the history.
We may not even have questions about morality.In the story, a person's mental state is simultaneously measured, and the value is determined whether the person is potentially a criminal and is killed depending on the state level.
Akane Tsunemori is a novice officer who is in charge of solving crimes with other members.One of the things that astonishes me is the dialogues where characters talk, referring to quotes from famous authors such as Philip K.
The lines that characters speak casts philosophical questions as to what is justice and what is an ideal society.I really like the story in which it depicts a different aspect of the technological world from Ghost In the Shell or Blade Runner, yet somehow it reminds me of those epic anime and films..
I was extremely pleased to learn the series had continued, I felt the first Psycho Pass was a surprising hit, which attempted to add to the GITS, Deus Ex or cyberpunk societal dystopia type anime, which is among the most interesting style of anime entertainment, IMO.
I don't think anything plot or characterisation wise was better done here, and of course, Psycho Pass 1 was great, because it was better than many other things, not because it was actually an amazingly cerebral work of art, to the standards of GITS.
Production IG, the animation studio that made this, is at the top of their game, and I knew them from watching Ghost in the Shell: Stand alone complex (I highly recommend as well).
Although the main theme have been done to death (future worlds where AI's run things and judge us, and so on) the show definitely made it feel fresh and had me diving in episode after episode.
The mind game between the police and criminals along with the justice theme reminds me of Death Note, just instead of magic we have technology this time around.
The series is based on a future where technology has progressed so much that by a Psycho scan the state of mind of an individual can be predicted and action can be taken to prevent them from becoming criminals.
The series start slow, building up pace gradually as it moves forward and by the end we are entertained with an excellent plot, realistic characters and gruesome scenes..
Extremely well-thought out ideas abound about the future of the web, everyday hologram use, future criminal behavior, intelligent weapons and the ultimate uses of wearable tech are both ever-present and scattered everywhere in this series like easter eggs, and if you are interested in the direction our interactions with politics, technology, surveillance and the internet are going, this is required viewing.The characters do stick, by and large, to traditional Japanese animation conventions, but I found that in this particular series they were more in line with Western expectations for a crime drama and were fascinating and believable once you adjust to the usual subtitle issues.
Throw in the serious questions this series poses about human behavior, the government's place in shaping it and government oversight, and it's a tough brew to process all at once.Much of what this series has to say are things we really need to be thinking about right now: The effect of violence on both victims and the police who choose to protect them, the undue focus and prejudice of the police, press and society on minorities and the poor, and the ability of corporations and the wealthy to ignore or shield themselves from the law and the massive injustices that this ultimately causes are all issues touched on by this VERY adult series.As far as anime goes, this is a 10.
In a society where anyone capable of committing a crime is thrown in jail before they can commit it, a string of mysterious murders leads a rough-but-brilliant detective down a path of discovery and destruction.This is one of the best anime I've ever seen.
The main character makes use of brilliant observations and deductions to try to take down a criminal mastermind, all set in a future where criminals are arrested before they commit crimes.If you are a fan of sci-fi thrillers, this anime is an absolute must-watch..
There 2 season, each one deal with a different anti protagonist and each one ask the character and the audience a good question about what is right and wrong in our beliefs but in my opinion season 1 is superior because the main villain Shougo Makishima honestly is the best anime villain I've seen in a long time while Kirito Kamui of season 2 is just okay.
I also don't flat out hate the main character Akane despite her self-righteous personality got herself and the team into big trouble because after all she is the one us audience supposed to be related the most but to see her make the same mistakes over and over kind of annoying not gonna lie.
Psycho Pass 2 is way better then season 1 as the first series was a bit if a shonen show overall (all the manga are published in Comic Garden or Jump SQ and a chibi version also exists) that looked and sounded like it was seinen but retarded detectives, a nonsensical and inconsistent world, complete sh*tshows like the high school killing arc, Saturday morning cartoon villainy (MGS Rising robot dog represent), an inconsistent amounts of mostly off-screen violence and bland action men (or men with vaginas) characters made me drop it after 16 episodes.
Worst of all i got to read for a year straight how "cerebral" and intelligent it was while actual sci-fi seinen fare as GitS: Sleepless Eye never crossed the border.No more sitting between the chairs this time though as the new team decided to turn Psycho Pass it into a 90s OVA!
The music is ace too (what an ending!) and right out of Deus Ex. Best of all there is no rape appreciation like 90s OVA'S used to have and the female characters get to be as capable (or hilariously not) as anyone and why does everyone on cyberspace hate Freckles-chan?
The people of this universe were pitched the idea untested I would presume unknowing of all the flaws and how the system actually works and they just said, "ok." It's a fun concept and the conflict of the show is based around the police trying to fix these awful problems and I guess they are essentially trying to fight the government but it also doesn't seem like they mind how bad it is.
In this discovery a couple question are answered but many more rise such as how it all came to pass.The creator of this show had a fun idea but no clue on how to answer the "how" portion of all of it and just decided to say, "The system is corrupt and that is how and why." This concept is just like the Purge, fun but unexplained and extremely unbelievable even for an anime.
The story this anime takes on is a very common one, future utopian or dystopian society, morally ambiguous cops.
All in all, Psycho-Pass is a good show, it has enjoyable characters, and an engaging story up until the end, which was a real shame cause I did really enjoy watching it..
The anime criticizes and shows off how a security system who also takes the most difficult decisions for people can be detrimental for several reasons, from it's judgment to being very comforting.If you like things that make you think about how a society works and behave in a group, watch it !!.
Persons whose potential for crime exceeds regulation values ("latent criminals") are taken in preventive isolation from society, where they can get treatment or be executed if their "Crime Coefficient", in short psycho-pass, oversteps a threshold.
The series follows the Public Safety Bureau that is in charge of carrying out Sybil's order and taking care of rogue latent criminals, making this a sci-fi, noiresque detective story.
The whole idea of dividing society according to mental health is like a dark twist on "the value of inner beauty": here characters compliment each other on the "beautiful hue" of their psycho-pass.
The story never indulges in manicheanism, thanks to a charismatic and highly intelligent antagonist, and also thanks to the varied moralities of the main cast that are all equally justified.I love this series because of its very consistent and clever world-building, never deviating too far from our world but rather increasing worrying tendencies that already exists.
Still, people are people, and "Psycho-Pass" manages to convey a very humane story in a setting that many would consider sterile, and show off many facets of that entrancing world.I also love the underlying grim and sad tone of this anime; there's a sense of tragedy to see the characters struggle to find sense and dignity in a very cold and impersonal system, and it is rendered beautifully.
Also, the connection between cops and criminals way of thinking is explored, which I found very interesting.My main reservations concerning this anime is that I didn't really empathize with the characters, at least not in the first half of the series.
Also, the story-line of the first episodes isn't particularly compelling; I went on watching because I saw the potential in it, and wasn't disappointed since it really takes flight and soars high in the second half of the series.
The animation is ambitious, with gorgeous scenery and lightning, although the characters feel a bit stiff at time and some of the faces lack diversity (I'm especially thinking of the episode at an all-girl boarding school).
The concept and plot is what i loved the most, the anime surely is thought provoking with villains who would kill someone without second thought.the battle between protagonists (there are two main characters, maybe) and villain is like a game of chess, one move after other with lives at stake , very exciting, intense and thrilling.
The story runs smoothly with Each episode which will surely keep you hooked.if you are a fan of murder, mystery, thriller watch it, and modern day technology which is perfectly blended it it will surely surprise you..
Great anime with colorful characters and story.
She walks a fine line between trust in the system and necessity of changes, between own belief and fulfilling official dutiesGreat anime with colorful characters and story.
The Utopian futuristic backdrop of the anime to begin with itself is intriguing , but the characters and the interest they generate is phenomenal , it's an emotional and moral roller coaster , where you question everything about true perfection , society's true nature and crime .
Intelligent writing, terrific character development, a plot line that leaves you the viewer to work out what's happening, just the right amount of suspense and excellent graphics.
Psycho-Pass is set in the near future, in which the ability to detect the "state" people's mental through simple detectors it has effectively eliminated the crime.Any thought "turbid" is detected by the so-called "sibyl-system" which in theory is then able to detect in advance any criminal action, and to put an early correctionThe "arm" of the system is the body of "public security" of which we follow the events.
However one of the strengths of the series is to not demonize this "idyllic society" is not without its flaws but it is not the worst possible.Of each of the changes bring you an "sibyl" fact They are finally well weighed the pros and cons, perhaps leaving the viewer to judge which I assure you is not unanimous.As in other works of this kind "science fiction" provides the ideal base for philosophical speculations and psychological.
Psycho-Pass proves a number far from trivial, as you may It may think its plot, a really good job 8/10.
The Sibyl system - an artificial intelligence network - is a supposedly impartial law enforcing "entity" that is able to discern the mental state of a human, enabling it to judge the criminal activity of their mind.
This anime has great pacing and does not peak early like for example Death Note which suffered from a premature peak after a certain character died.
this anime was amazing, first the setting.(also i am an avid anime viewer so i have watched enough to judge this) Setting and Story -the cyber punk world of Psycho-Pass is extraordinary the 'Sibyl System' has great philosophy and poses really good questions about society, law judgment and order etc.
The Sibyl System is actively measuring the people's mental states, personalities, that will commit crimes, using a "cymatic scan" of the brain.
and then there is are male lead Shinya Kogami a sort of rebel cop who really has strong views to society and his dialog is amazing, he also is a person of great value to the series but he stays for season 1 though, he is another well rounded character and this stays consistent through the series, on a side note the characterization of sibyl system a collective entity is a very nice step forward than your average hive mind villain or terminator sky-net.Animation and Sound- Should i say more Porduction IG has out did them selves when it comes to the animation and the choice of soundtrack they went for is a different approach but it was good none the less, and yeah that is much i can say about it.
He believes, rightly or wrongly, that a perfect judge should be able to evaluate itself, as well as others.and this is just brilliant concept that should be explored further.(note Kamui is the main villain for season 2)this anime has a very good English dub that is enjoyable and the sub is also very good i like them both but i just love the concept for the series as a whole.
The viewer is introduced to a world, where every person is scanned for their Psycho-Pass, a 'hue' that reflects their current affinity towards crimes.
The 'police' consists of investigators (detectives) and enforcers (former detectives whose hues have permanently clouded or potentially criminal individuals with useful abilities) and they incapacitate (for mandatory rehabilitation) or eliminate the criminals according to their Psycho-Pass, which can be scanned by aiming a specialized weapon at the target.
The investigators and enforcers each must synch with their weapon beforehand and the target can only be shot when their crime coefficient reaches a critical value, which means that investigators or enforcers cannot act without the permission of the Sybil system.At first glance it seems a little outlandish and the concept of such a Psycho-Pass is debatable.
I therefore recommend it to anyone who's an attentive watcher, has a passion for thrillers and likes to think about deeper questions regarding human nature and the ideal society.