Psycho-Pass

[Doppleganger]

Originally Posted by Talon87

In response to your Episode 07 sentiments about Ouryou Rikako:

Spoiler: show

But that's just it: she's not meant to be a supremely compelling, fearsome, "grand" villain. The idea is that she isn't original, neither in her approach of how to kill people (which she clearly borrowed from the person responsible for killing Kougami's partner several years ago) nor in her style (which she clearly lifted straight out of her father's paintings). She is the painter who can paint a pretty good replica of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa but who a) can't paint a painting of substance of her own creation and b) even when she copies da Vinci's Mona Lisa fails, on closer inspection by expert art connoisseurs, to capture the same emotion and purpose behind each brush stroke that da Vinci put into his painting. You'll see more of this in Episode 08, but the reason we've got villains like Ouryou Rikako is because they're meant to accentuate the difference between her and a) the "true artist" Makishima searches for or b) Makishima himself. Whether you're satisfied with Rikako's role in the story or not is a different matter, but I'm just saying that Rikako's not being a very frightening or impressive villain is, in a sense, kind of the point with her.

I finished Episode 8, and I don't see this yet, as it applies only to three of the past criminals. The culprit in the drone facility wasn't special in any way so there's no reason for Maki-kun to be interested in him. For now, I have absolutely no basis for what Maki-kun is interested in, even with a complete picture that's not involved around Kogami. It's ironic because Kogami's insinuations aren't supported by what I've seen of Maki-kun which he isn't privy to.

Originally Posted by Talon87

Spoiler: show

That stated, I think you're absolutely off your rocker if you don't think it's frightening how little disregard this girl has for human life or how she desecrates people's corpses like this in the name of her art. Perhaps you respond to a different set of horror stimuli than most people. Or perhaps I respond to a different set of horror stimuli than most people. Regardless, I think Rikako is amply frightening. And her Psycho-Pass score will reflect that.

Maki-kun also called the girl a beast, and that's pretty much what I thought of her. Animals tear apart other animals for food without reflection on the greater moral implication of it. That's not really terrifying in so much as a beast has the tools to kill.

I was much more horrified at the previous villain, and a big part was when he killed what's her face, her tongue was hanging out loosely, and he was going to mince her body with those surgical tools. That, I felt, was grotesque - it reminded me of a video I saw from Sweden several years ago (eventually removed from YouTube) involving what looked like a grinding gear in a ditch, where animal bodies were dumped in and ground into a slush. It was repulsive because the horse that dumped in had its tongue hanging out, so the graphic detail in the previous episode really harkened back to that.

Originally Posted by Talon87

In response to your criticism about the show's "un-methodology," as you put it:

Psycho-Pass fares much, much better in regards to your criticism about the detectives figuring out very much with very little than other criminal dramas, particularly American investigative dramas. CSI, NCIS, Criminal Minds, Without a Trace, Cold Case, these are all shows which are much more deserving of your scorn than is Psycho-Pass. Now, does this mean that I'm asking you to let Gen off the hook? That you shouldn't be allowed to criticize this series? No, of course not. So let's talk Psycho-Pass. But I just wanted to bring this up first before we went any further. "If you think Psycho-Pass is bad with this, you must not watch any of CBS's criminal dramas ... "

When I was in Mock Trial, our attorney coaches told we participants to never watch crime drama. So I never did!

Originally Posted by Talon87

Okay, yeah, Kougami is able to deduce much with very little. This is a fact. If that upsets you, it must upset you only because you feel he deduces too much from too little. Because for every man there is some line in the sand drawn between "I am willing to believe in that portrayal of deductive reasoning" territory versus "I am not willing to believe in that portrayal of deductive reasoning" territory. And for you, apparently, Psycho-Pass crosses that line. Let's discuss why, because for me, it does not. I don't think Kougami is less believable than Sherlock Holmes (Doyle) or Hercule Poirot (Christie): I think he is more believable. He errs more than they do. He requires more information than they do before he can clinch the correct answer. He realizes things too late which, in hindsight to him personally, were so obvious. (See Episode 10. Two counts of this.) While I do sometimes have a suspension of disbelief problem with Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes, I haven't had as much of a problem with Kougami thus far.

I'm not as familiar with those detective stories as I should, but I've read most of Detective Conan and Death Note and both set the standard for me as far as mysteries go.

Conan had a definite formula - all the culprits were involved in a closed-room case. Open door situations where there's a third party behind the scenes were always ruled out because of the speculation they invite. Conan always look at evidence and if he formed an idea, he'd look in a place where he could find more evidence...there was rarely a case of using evidence to fit a narrative, as I get with Kogami.

I find no reason to believe Kogami's speculations except that it's obvious the author is speaking through him, granting legitimacy that's not particular to the character. We know he's legitimate because the anime is simultaneously confirming Kogami's speculations by showing Makishima's activities! This is poor writing. Gen can go forward and make Kogami infallible and it won't mean a darn thing for the plot because he's already jumped the Grand Canyon of logic discontinuity and established that Maki-kun exists and connected. His character might respond to a miscue or mistake, but it isn't worth the plot trade-off, especially when Kogami is, relatively speaking, critically under-developed.

[Talon87]

Kougami. ^^; The name is Kougami. Or Kōgami, take your pick.

And if you're going to argue "beast, ergo not frightening," we're at a discussion impasse. Not only can beasts be frightening, but beasts in men's clothing are the most frightening of all beasts. They may not be as frightening to you as a rational human being, but "bestial humans" are still plenty frightful.

[lilboocorsola]

Originally Posted by Doppleganger

Yeah, uh, about the holographic clothes. Is everyone walking around naked, then?

That's what I thought.

Originally Posted by Talon87

Psycho-Pass fares much, much better in regards to your criticism about the detectives figuring out very much with very little than other criminal dramas, particularly American investigative dramas. CSI, NCIS, Criminal Minds, Without a Trace, Cold Case, these are all shows which are much more deserving of your scorn than is Psycho-Pass. Now, does this mean that I'm asking you to let Gen off the hook? That you shouldn't be allowed to criticize this series? No, of course not. So let's talk Psycho-Pass. But I just wanted to bring this up first before we went any further. "If you think Psycho-Pass is bad with this, you must not watch any of CBS's criminal dramas ... "

What's funny is my mother got mad at me yesterday for watching something so dark and violent while we were at the library. Tried to explain it was like American criminal dramas, but didn't really work. So I only saw the first few minutes of 11. Sorry.

[Doppleganger]

Originally Posted by Talon87

And if you're going to argue "beast, ergo not frightening," we're at a discussion impasse. Not only can beasts be frightening, but beasts in men's clothing are the most frightening of all beasts. They may not be as frightening to you as a rational human being, but "bestial humans" are still plenty frightful.

I actually had something to say about that.

Recall my D&D alignment - Lawful Evil. I very strongly believe in the rule of law, or more generally, people following the rules. Animals aren't really that scary to me for such a reason, they follow more or less defined rules and predictable behaviour, within certain degrees of certainty. I'm least fearful of someone who doesn't manipulate their own rules, and follows them predictably.

I'm more afraid of something I don't understand, i.e. I don't know the rules they're following, so their behaviour is less predictable. And I'm most afraid of someone or something that I know follows rules, but then breaks them. If one doesn't know something, one exercises a certain degree of caution. However, one is most vulnerable believing they know something, but that faith is misplaced.

This is why I value loyalty and find crimes like murdering one's parents or adultery notably distasteful...I'm fearful of betrayal in general.

In that respect, I was intimidated by the Talisman killer, at least at first, because I didn't understand what was motivating him. It came across as much more horrific than it actually was.

Granted, this new guy is pretty disgusting himself. He might be PP's Washizu Iwao. We'll have to see.

[The Morg]

Episode 9!

I'm a bit surprised to hear this is slated for 22 episodes! It really feels like a 13 episode show. In fact it feels a bit "condensed", in that we could have spent more time fleshing things out but are instead rushing through the plot. I'm starting to understand those comments about GITS fans' complaints about this show.

Home automation systems have a "speculation circuit" whose apparent purpose is to tease you about your love life! There's a blockbuster product for sure. :V

Everyone drinks Anterctic Dorops! \o/

People with higher ratings might be allowed to rejoin society someday when the social system is "more developed". With comments like that, it's obvious that people already believe the Psycho-Pass system is flawed from the start!

More social commentary on how people are using their portable devices as replacements for their brains. Why think when your smartphone lets you look things up on a need-to-know basis?

This professor is a wannabe Sherlock Holmes. I get that he's smart, but I never could believe these scenes where someone can tell your life story from "little observations".

[Doppleganger]

I liked Episode 10, all things considered, although it didn't really have much that I was looking for in character development. I liked the fanservice too for some odd reason. D:

Originally Posted by dosuser

This professor is a wannabe Sherlock Holmes. I get that he's smart, but I never could believe these scenes where someone can tell your life story from "little observations".

Akagi was pretty good at that, but Akagi had a lot more evidence to work with, and his conclusions weren't on the level of discerning one's living family from nothing. That professor dude didn't even give his justification for those conclusions...he just said "experience".

[Talon87]

Originally Posted by dosuser

This professor is a wannabe Sherlock Holmes. I get that he's smart, but I never could believe these scenes where someone can tell your life story from "little observations".

I think you've fallen for the ruse. It's not that profilers can tell everything about a person just by looking at them: it's that they can make educated guesses about very specific things about you. If Akane were to have asked Kougami's friend how old her sister is, he might have been able to call her bluff and say "You don't have one. " But not because he knew by looking at her body that she is an only child, no: instead because he could tell from how her pupils dilated or constricted and how her chest cavity moved or went motionless (i.e. breathed rapidly or held her breath) that she was lying. And even then it's an educated guess. But like, say now Akane asked him, "What was the name of my professor of microbiology? What is my favorite book?" (Not genre. Specific book title.) "What transformative event happened to me at age 6?" (She fell off her bike, broke her leg, and spent several weeks in the hospital -- where she met the man she accredits with putting her on the path towards becoming an Inspector.) Those kinds of questions, he'd totally fail.

So like, I don't see why you have a problem with profilers. A, they're real. And B, Psycho-Pass depicted him pretty much just like the ones in real life. They can figure out random-ass shit based on knowledge of population statistics and what physical attributes, from hair style and fashion to mouth shape and a wedding ring's presence or absence, tend to correlate with particular trends. The fact that he left Akane with the impression that he was an über-Holmes was pretty much him doing his job exactly right. Whether subconsciously or consciously, he operated on her the same exact way he'd have operated on an actual criminal. Why tell the criminal you're not a god if they believe you to be one? "Ray, if someone asks you if you're a god, you say -- YES! " lol

Originally Posted by Doppleganger

Akagi was pretty good at that, but Akagi had a lot more evidence to work with, and his conclusions weren't on the level of discerning one's living family from nothing. That professor dude didn't even give his justification for those conclusions...he just said "experience".

Ah, Doppel! D: You too? Both of you, fallen for the very ruse the Professor wanted Akane to fall for.

[Doppleganger]

I saw Episode 11.

Spoiler: show

I think I'll drop this anime...it's interesting enough to marathon, but it's clear I'm not the intended audience of this, because whatever thrills it's trying to elicit are clearly not working. I don't know what Talon was expecting out of this episode, but it seemed obvious to me Yuki dying was an outcome as soon as Makishima abducted her, since Urobuchi did something similar in one of his earlier works.

The only question was if Gen was committed to making Akane a terribly flat, programmed character. He left promise in the first episode, with her shooting Kogami. Akane's ability to keep her Psycho Pass under control also felt the same. But this episode felt like a step back, as it revealed her to be an utter slave to the Sibyl System without proper foreshadowing, and like Mikashima...I found that disappointing!

It's hard for me to see him as a villain, just like it's hard to see Kogami as the hero. I like none of the characters, I find all of them thin and the action/suspense just isn't doing it for me. The only stuff I've enjoyed so far is the nasties getting blown up, and the reasonably high production values.

In this respect, I'd say this is the most unique Urobuchi work I've seen thus far, although it has a comparison. Take the following works:

Fate/Zero
Madoka Magica
Saya no Uta

F/Z was character driven, Madoka was plot driven, and Saya was thematic. Gen showed in all three his ability to focus on different aspects of a story, although F/Z is probably his most complete work as he was able to balance characters with plot, whereas Madoka was relatively empty with characters and Saya had bare bones plot/character development.

Psycho-Pass by comparison resembles Kikokugai: The Cyber Slayer, which has many conceptual overlaps with Psycho Pass. It's futuristic, and is fundamentally a story about revenge, is notably violent/brutal but is otherwise flat in everything but action. There's also a twist in Kikokugai comparable to Yuki dying, which is what tipped me off to expect it in this episode.

But...Kikokugai was Gen's first work, or at least the first work where he had free reign of his material. It was really rough and overall not that great.

What I'm seeing in Psycho Pass is the equivalent of animating Kinoko Nasu's Angel Notes, without any editing or updating. That's disappointing.

I finally get the "GITS-SAC guys don't like Psycho Pass" attitude. It's the complete antithesis of GITS-SAC - PP advises one to turn one's brain off, for one's own safety. With GITS-SAC, you might try, but then someone points out you have a cyber brain so it doesn't work.

Oh well. Sakurasou next!

Originally Posted by Talon87

Ah, Doppel! D: You too? Both of you, fallen for the very ruse the Professor wanted Akane to fall for.

The first thing I considered was that he was just saying stuff, then gauging Akane's attitude and then adapting his responses based on her reaction. I've done that myself, afterall. But his insight was far too specific...

-Are you from the Chiba Prefecture? (Yes) = I figured there might be an accent linked to this, but also considered if there is one, normal Japanese wouldn't be able to discern it either.
-You were loved as a child (Yes) = easy to guess from someone who acts so shy yet polite, more often than not this will be true.
-Your parents are still alive, as is your grandmother, but your grandfather isn't (Yes) = WTF, there's no way he could figure that out without Kogami tipping him off, or Akane saying something. Even if there's statistics, there's no way the statistics would conclusively point toward grandmothers treating their grand-kids (if they even see them!) in any notable way. This was the profile I found completely out of line.

[Talon87]

You've mistaken the bottle of Evian water in a trash can in Yellowstone National Park for Old Faithful. You're either not getting the show (likely) or just trying to tear this show apart (not ruling this out). Will write more later, but ...

Spoiler: show

Episode 11 is not about Yuki's death being surprising or not. It's secondarily about the plot twist with Makishima's Psycho-Pass, and is primarily about Makishima giving Akane the not-so-gentle "push" that will see Akane confront the very same fate as Kougami. Either outcome -- she turns out like him or she doesn't -- will be fascinating to see unfold, as will it be exciting week after week as we bite our nails wondering if she will fall as we've predicted she would since Episode 01.

[Doppleganger]

It's pretty clear to me nothing's going to happen to Akane, she's being propped up as this show's saintly ideal. Her turning into a Kougami would be un-justified given what's been established in her character beforehand. Even with what happened in Episode 11, her actions were not character contradictory, just not in agreement with what the audience had been shown prior. That would be a legitimate change in personality for her.

She doesn't have the guts to be a cop, she's basically this show's idol. Granted, we've never heard what colour her Psycho Pass is, whereas we did hear from Mika-kun, so maybe she was darker and not like him at all.

Something I also discussed with Morg...

Spoiler: show

[23:03] DarkChromDra: I beat old man-kun is Gino's dad
[23:03] DarkChromDra: *bet
[23:03] DarkChromDra: Want to make that wager?
[23:03] CEOMorgoth: hmm
[23:03] CEOMorgoth: it could be possible!
[23:03] CEOMorgoth: he did change his identity after all!
[23:03] DarkChromDra: I'll offer up a talking dime.
[23:04] CEOMorgoth: wager it against talon because he'll be floored if you call a major plot twist before it happens
[23:04] DarkChromDra: I did that once before and he wasn't impressed. Neither was LBC.
[23:04] DarkChromDra: When I called the culprit in Another correctly.
[23:04] CEOMorgoth: I feel it's plausible enough that I wouldn't bet againsrt it =3=

Justification...a lot of speculative observation. But I ain't the police detective!

[Talon87]

Um, that "plot twist" was so obvious we called it without even posting about it. ^^; You would get no brownie points whatsoever for that one. I also think it would be pretty dumb. My preferred theory regarding Masaoka is:

Spoiler: show

He worked with Ginoza's father in one capacity or another. Perhaps they were both Inspectors together. Perhaps Ginoza's father was an Inspector and Masaoka was already an Enforcer. Whatever their relationship, and however we might explain why Masaoka is still around yet Gino's dad is M.I.A., I would prefer this over "lol Masaoka Tomomi is actually Ginoza Tomomi, a.k.a. Gino's dad." Not only is it too easy, it's too juvenile. It's the sort of theory I feel 5th graders come up with on the playground. "I bet Yoda is Luke's grandfather!" "I bet Han Solo and Luke are both descendants of Exar Kun!" "Oh yeah? Well I bet Gino's dad is Masaoka!" It just feels like that to me. Well, less obvious than those two examples (since those examples aren't "obvious" at all! ) but just as 5th grade playground-ey. ^^;

However, I would happily take you up on your bet about Akane. Namely because I think you're once again off your rocker and this is easy money. So you will get the kudos and 5 Hyoudou-dollars (or whatever they were called ) if you're right, and I will get the kudos and 5 Hyoudou-dollars if I am right. Deal?

[The Morg]

Finished episodes 10 and 11.

Lots of action, danger, even a bloody gunfight set to classical music. The villain is revealed to be more... villainous.

I too was disappointed with Akane during the final scene. The only way to make this acceptable is to decide that Akane is not a "heroine". She's an observer, like Watson. She will never be the one who fights in the action scenes. She will never have major decisions, take big risks, or make important sacrifices. It will always be Kogami. Akane's role is to be dumb and make the other characters explain everything to her (and therefore to us, the viewers).

I'm not sure I'm going to drop the show here, but I would have preferred it to be 13 episodes with the rate things are going. I'd like to see this story arc wrapped up soon rather than dragged out for 10 more episodes. Plus, I feel the "message" behind this story has been delivered well enough and it doesn't need to be beaten around any more.

Edit after seeing your post just before mine: I was assuming the "old man" was Maki-kun, not Masaoka.

[Talon87]

I think you and Doppel negatively reinforced each other on a lot of points, including a lot of your theories. For example, you both seem to have this bizarro interpretation that Akane is strictly an observer character and not in fact the main character (to the exclusion of Kougami) or one of the two main characters (to the inclusion of him). No one else I've talked to shares this opinion of yours. Clearly one of the two of you hatched it, mentioned it on AIM, and reinforced the idea in the other's mind.

There are so many beautiful questions that, in your haste to finish the series and write up the next disparaging remark, neither of you have even raised. Questions like:

• Why was Akane the sole candidate eligible for a job with the Criminal Investigation Division?
• Why does a society which is already as Big Brother as theirs afford their citizens choice in where they wind up? Is "choice" an illusion? (Think back to the profiler! If you can read people based on A, B, C, D, E, F, and G, then if you presented them with nine options you knew they'd reject over a tenth option you absolutely wanted them to pick ...)
• Actually, I think one of you somewhat hit on this one, but ... why can Makishima use his real name so freely? (E.g. he didn't hide it from Ouryou Rikako and was delighted to find that the CID had a file for it.) We already know (Episode 11 spoiler)
  
  Spoiler: show

  that Dominators won't work on him because of his Psycho-Pass, but a Psycho-Pass
  is not everything there is with the biometric implants or wristwatches these people have on them; and even if Makishima has none of those things on his person, one would think that a legal name (used as a preferred alias, no less), a voice sample, and a mugshot would be more than enough to bag this guy. Why doesn't he use a fake skin? Why not modulate his voice? (Perhaps he does. But ask yourself why he might not have to.)
• Why can't / aren't Psycho-Pass scores checked remotely via wireless? The guy in Episode 01 was only noticed during a scan at work, and Rikako's score wasn't known until a Dominator was aimed at her. You would think this futuristic society would have the Psycho-Pass data passed along to a central data processing bank continuously. Given that it is not, is there a reason it is not? Is it a fear of interception? A fear of hacking scores?
• Are Psycho-Passes more than simple biometric analyses of people's minds? That is to say, can altering a score (somehow) on the "Pass" affect somebody's brain?

I mean, ... it's clear you guys aren't filled with wonder and curiosity for this series 'cause there's so many questions you could be asking if you were hungry for it but instead you're only dissecting a) what is spoonfed to you or b) what you were expecting but are dissatisfied you didn't get. C'mon, guys! If this were GitS:SAC, I swear, you'd be asking a hell of a lot more questions right now than simply "Is the Major a lesbian? " and "Does Batou like the Major?"

[kaisap112]

Originally Posted by Doppleganger

Granted, we've never heard what colour her Psycho Pass is, whereas we did hear from Mika-kun, so maybe she was darker and not like him at all.

Didn't the mascot-character in episode 2 say Akane's Psycho Pass was a very healthy "powder blue"?

[The Morg]

Originally Posted by Talon87

in your haste to finish the series and write up the next disparaging remark

For me, it was more like haste to write down my surface thoughts so I could go back to watch the next episode. I hope you didn't see them all as disparaging, since they weren't meant to be. It is true that they aren't very deep, though.

[Midgeorge]

Oh I haven't written about episode 11 yet

Spoiler: show

Loved it. A lot. I really wasn't expecting Yuki to actually be killed. I felt that it was smart how the show tricks you into thinking that that one enforcer would come along and prevent Makishima from killing Yuki, as we saw him running to Akane to help. BUT NO. She died. My exact trail of thought:

'And this is when the enforcer comes and saves the day...
Come on, I know its gonna happen...
Aaaaaand th- OH FUCK!'

I kinda understand why Makishima's Psycho-Pass is blue. As he says, he doesn't feel that his crimes are wrong, so he doesn't feel guilt or worry. He feels that he is contributing to society, which the Dominator doesn't pick up on. The Dominator measures criminal intent, and since Makishima doesn't think of himself as a criminal, he passes. To answer Talon about why Makishima doesn't do anything to conceal his identity, its because if he did then he would be performing actions of a criminal, and his Psycho-Pass would become cloudy. We saw that he worked in the school, and walks around the city freely, because if he didn't live an ordinary life he would be seen as 'Different' by the Psycho-Pass, and again, it would become cloudy.

I think... :')

I love his character though. Along with tempest, this is probably one of the best shows this year.

[Doppleganger]

Originally Posted by Talon87

I think you and Doppel negatively reinforced each other on a lot of points, including a lot of your theories. For example, you both seem to have this bizarro interpretation that Akane is strictly an observer character and not in fact the main character (to the exclusion of Kougami) or one of the two main characters (to the inclusion of him). No one else I've talked to shares this opinion of yours. Clearly one of the two of you hatched it, mentioned it on AIM, and reinforced the idea in the other's mind.

We've only posted the juicy chats. Most of the back-and-forth were along the lines of, "'hey did you check out Episode XX?' 'No, I was lazy!'" and so on.

Originally Posted by Talon87

I mean, ... it's clear you guys aren't filled with wonder and curiosity for this series 'cause there's so many questions you could be asking if you were hungry for it but instead you're only dissecting a) what is spoonfed to you or b) what you were expecting but are dissatisfied you didn't get. C'mon, guys! If this were GitS:SAC, I swear, you'd be asking a hell of a lot more questions right now than simply "Is the Major a lesbian? " and "Does Batou like the Major?"

There isn't any room for speculation, that's the problem.

There's zero elaboration on all of the stuff your brought up. We can wonder but it's complete, utter guesswork at this point. If those questions are ever answered, they're going to be dumped through Kougami or someone else before we have a chance to piece things together.

GITS was quite a different experience, with gradual clues dropped each episode to the main plot as an aside from the episode plot, which gave insight into the world. GITS is more similar to UN-GO than Psycho-Pass in this respect.

[Talon87]

I originally held off writing this post, my in-depth thoughts on Episode 11, because I had hoped that Yuki would be able to check this episode out before I said anything which might've swayed her opinion. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to beat Morg and Doppel to the punch and their posts pretty much forced my hand. I hadn't wanted to even give her an inkling that this episode was flipping amazing, because that in and of itself might've boosted her expectations inappropriately high, as we know is so common for any of us, and then she might not have enjoyed the episode appropriately. But Doppel's and Morg's heckles and booings have pretty much put out that fire. Now, if anything, I find myself on cleanup duty, having to defend why this episode was a major turning point for the series, why it excited me so (and should excite you too!), and why it was the season's highest point in combining animation, music, voice acting, and plot to produce that which we call "art." Callous though this may sound, I don't really care at this point whether Yuki loves the episode or not -- in fact, I pretty much expect that she won't, my own expectations dashed by Morg's and Doppel's reactions. All I selfishly care about at this point is that I was able to enjoy this myself, unharmed by the spoilers of others, completely unaware that what I was about to witness was to be one of the most impactful scenes of 2012. I feel bad for those of you who won't be able to experience this scene as I did, and below I will explain why you should have had you gone into it spoiler-free.

Spoiler: show

The first half of the episode was by no means bad -- it was pretty standard Psycho-Pass fare, "7/10 - Good" material. But I'm going to skip right over it because anyone who's watched Episode 11 knows that that was only the final spoonful of the appetizer, and that the second half of Episode 11 was our first succulent bite of the main course that this series promises to be.

Where do I even begin? I guess, for my own sake as well as yours, I'll color code and organize this post by major talking points.

The plot twist with Makishima's Psycho-Pass:

This was a solid, solid development for our series' archvillain. Critics may attack the plot twist for being predictable, but this is not the right time and place to attack a plot development for being unable to catch certain anal retentive members of its audience off guard. To understand why this is the case, we have to go on a brief tangent into literary theory and discuss who the target of plot twists is. Usually, there are two targets: 1) the reader/viewer and 2) the character(s) in-universe. You can still have a plot twist without #2, but it's no longer what we'd term a "plot twist" if you don't have #1, the audience, in mind when you pen it. Many people become so accustomed to equating "good plot twist" with "plot twist which manages to surprise me" that when a plot twist does come along and it fails to surprise them, they automatically write it off as subpar. But this is wrong! This is very, very wrong. For you see, the plot twist has two targets -- audience and in-universe characters -- and if it fails to surprise the audience but manages to greatly surprise the in-universe characters, it can still work. The author can still justify it. How? By making up to the audience for lack of surprise factor with presence of suitability factor. How suitable is the plot twist in the minds of the audience? That becomes the renewed focus of the author's. If he can pen a plot twist which combines great surprise for the character in-universe with great suitability for the reader/viewer in the real world, then he might succeed. And that's exactly what Gen did here.

The plot twist with Makishima's Psycho-Pass -- that it misrepresents him as a healthy member of society despite the terrible thoughts and actions he engages in -- is one which I am sure many people would say they called early on in the series. However, I don't think they called it necessarily for the archvillain himself. I think most people who predicted that we would see somebody who subverts the Sybil system also predicted that it would be a run-of-the-mill villain of the week/month. In part, we might note, because of how obvious a plot twist some might say this was. "You have a world where everyone puts stock in the electronic reports of a system. So what if the system were to get it wrong?" That question is one Gen pretty much threw in our lap in Episode frickin' 01. Ever since the first episode of the show, we've been meeting characters who fit this challenging question. Episode 01 dealt with the idea of the self-fulfilling prophecy, exploring how people's Psycho-Passes might become criminally cloudy just by sheer virtue of them being led to believe by others that they're fucked. Episode 03 dealt with electrical interference which prevented Sybil from being able to connect with a criminal employee's biometer. Episodes 06 thru 11 dealt with members of the aristocracy who, through one means or another, managed to avoid detection through their station in life. (Or at least one can only assume.) And now Episode 11 presents us with a character who does submit himself to cymatic scans ... but they turn up crystal clear for him, even when he's in the middle of killing someone. So yes, in this sense, the plot twist with Makishima is one which people might've called since the very beginning.

However, that doesn't make it any less appealing to us in the audience. And why's that? Because it's the most fitting plot twist for our archvillain to have. It's the plot twist which most directly challenges the heroes' system. (All of the other villains, once they fell under a Dominator's scan, produced criminal scores. Only Makishima has not.) It's the plot twist which most throws our protagonist's world into disarray. (Her ability to trust in the Sybil system has been completely shattered by this experience. At least the other criminals were using technology or their station in life to avoid the law! But here we have a murderer who can walk right into a police station and not get arrested!) It's just an all-around good, fitting plot twist.

And it may not surprise us at home, but it knocks the socks off of Tsunemori Akane. Nothing she has encountered up 'til now -- not in her studies, not in her fieldwork, not in her private life, nothing -- has prepared her for this. It was the shock of a lifetime, coupled with (as we'll get to in a second) the traumatizing death of her grade school friend. Akane is surprised for us, and we can appreciate the fittingness of the plot twist all the more as a result.

Yuki's death:

First, let's get the surprise factor out of the way. Doppel says that he called this the moment Makishima dragged Yuki away. Midgeorge says that he did not, that he believed the CID would show up in the nick of time to scare Makishima away and rescue a shaken Yuki and Akane. What about me? I'm with Midgeorge on this one. Sorry, Doppel, but I think you got lucky in calling this one as early as you claim to have. Maybe once the conversation between Akane and Makishima had been going on for 3-4 minutes, sure, but not the second Yuki was dragged off. I was sitting on the edge of my seat the entire time wondering what the outcome would be. Had you paused it at any moment pre-death and asked me to place a cash bet, I would not have wagered more than a dollar.

But second, let's forget about the surprise factor here. For once again, I think you're missing the point and the power of this scene if you think it was all about the audience in our world (you) and not the audience in their world (Akane). This scene wasn't about surprising you (though if you were surprised, as we were, it was wonderful icing on the cake!). This scene was about the mindfuckery, the sheer damage done to Akane. This scene was the plot impetus we've been waiting for since Episode 01. So to cast it aside now for being insufficiently surprising is very foolish. Whether it surprised you or not isn't the point. We've all been calling that Akane would be imperiled much as Kougami was since Episode frickin' 01, back before we even knew Kougami had been imperiled in this manner. Go back to our Episode 01 posts and just look. Talon: "Sounds like Minority Report. MC is going to become labeled a criminal by the system, just you wait." Kaisap: similar. Yuki: similar but unsure b/c Morg's friend swayed her the other way at first. So we all anticipated that the day would come. That something would happen to Akane that would jeopardize her, that might push her off the edge. This scene was it.

But what makes the scene so interesting at this point -- what makes it 10x richer appearing in Episode 11 than if it had appeared, say, in Episodes 02 or 03 -- is that the show has already begin to flesh out a number of other Inspectors-turned-Enforcers' backstories. Kougami. Ginoza's father. Some might complain, "Why do we need to see Akane go rogue at this point? We already have Kougami for that." Wellllllllllllll, this is why it's interesting. Because Gen has obfuscated which fate now awaits Akane. The series premise, the OP credits, and this scene in Episode 11 all point to Akane's Psycho-Pass clouding up and her going down the slippery slope towards becoming a latent criminal. But the guts of Episodes 01 thru 10 have pointed to Akane serving as Kougami's foil. She's a girl, he's a guy. She's inexperienced, he's experienced. She's naive, he's cynically wizened. She tries to pacify situations via diplomacy, he tries to solve problems by exterminating problem individuals. And of course his Psycho-Pass clouded up, whereas hers has been reported to have always been a soft blue for as long as she can remember. This is what we would call deliberately balancing the available evidence, and Gen's done it admirably well. Either side has evidence to back up their claim -- "Akane will fall!" "Akane won't fall!" -- and it's anyone's guess, right up until the final stretch, whether Gen will have her be judged by Sybil to have become a latent criminal or not. But this scene with Yuki's death marks the tipping point.

Finally, I'm equally interested in either outcome for Akane:

　　Should she fall, it's pretty much the series I signed up for, so I don't understand why other people are bitching and nagging that that would be boring given Kougami and Ginoza's dad. So? You've also bitched that Gen hasn't given many details in this series yet. This may be his chance to do so. Kougami's and Ginoza's dad's falls from grace may have gotten the lite treatment precisely because Akane's is going to get the in-depth treatment.

　　Should she not fall, I'll be very interested to see how and why. I'll also be very interested to see what Kougami and Makishima make of this. Will it infuriate Makishima? Will it intrigue him? Will he continue to try and corrupt her? What about Kougami? Will he be jealous of Akane? Will he admire her? Will her outcome give him hope that he might be deemed rehabilitatable by society? This is an interesting story to tell too, and while not the one I signed up for, I'd certainly stay and watch.

The scene as a work of art:

This is what I really wanted to talk about.

This scene was wonderful. The music, the animation, the voice actors' performances, the script, and just in general how it advanced the plot, this was prime stuff. I don't normally get artsy-fartsy with things -- in fact, I hate it when shows try too hard to be artistic, making it feel very forced and artificial instead (see: Mawaru Penguindrum) -- but let me put on my beret and pretend to be an art student for a day here so I can school y'all on why this scene fucking rocked.

Setting: Akane confronts Makishima (or is it Makishima confronting Akane?) in the depths of the sewers, the bowels of a city, the truly darkest and dirtiest of places there can be. It is amidst this filth that Makishima is radiant (face, tone of voice, eloquence) and that Akane is least stable. Makishima drags Akane's soul through the mud in a literal place of filth.

Music: Good lord did the background music do this scene wonders! I have rewatched this scene at least three or four times but with the video minimized, just so I could relisten to the song used here! The bass violin and cello are just incredible here, their rich, dark tone perfectly suitable to this villain. The composition is so fitting for one who is as philosophical as Makishima, and well suits his longest, most entrancing speech yet. The high pitch of the violins then kicks in after Akane fires, Yuki bursting into tears, begging for her life. Those violin strings are like her own vocal chords, their high-pitched notes her cries for help.

Voice Acting: along with the music, this was one of the other things which really fucking knocked this scene out of the ballpark. Sakurai Takahiro delivers the performance of a lifetime, invoking the warm, kind voice of his Polar Bear from Polar Bear Cafe but inflecting juuuuuust enough Professor Moriarty in there to lend it its perfect sinister, evil tone. Sakurai has done an incredible job with this character, and his performance in this scene deserves praise. Veteran voice actress Hidaka Noriko (Ranma ½'s Tendou Akane, Touch's Asakura Minami, Tonari no Totoro's Kusakabe Satsuki) here lends her voice to the Dominator, the very voice of the Sibyl system we have come to be familiar with over these past three months. It is this robotic voice of the Dominator which so perfectly complements Sakurai's Makishima throughout this scene, his warm invective punctuated by Akane's desperate repeat attempts to fire on him, the Dominator's voice then reporting back robotically, "Crime coefficient is __. Not a target for reinforcement. The trigger will be locked." The writer(s) and the director knew perfectly how to make use of this line, using it exactly the right number of times, each time decrementing the score to further baffle, horrify, and excite us. Hanazawa Kana does a magnificent job here as Akane. Not once do I feel that I am listening to an actress voice a character. Instead, I feel like I am witnessing the authentic meltdown of a young woman named Tsunemori Akane. Her voice perfectly, realistically morphs from faux assertive and in command to truly meek, scared, and desperate. Finally, we have Koiwai Kotori voicing Funahara Yuki. Not bad, but not much to say here. She does a good job everywhere, I think, except for the part when Makishima slices her back, where she suddenly sounds like a 35-year old. Which is quite bizarre considering she's younger than any of us here from the look of her picture. But yeah, the bits where she pleads "Akane ..." to Akane are just ... HRNNNGH.

Dialogue: It's so good I have to copy it here for us to reference in the future as we try to figure out Makishima Shougo. Or so I wanted to say, but it got waaaaaaaaaay longer than I anticipated it would, and I'm not sure how best to format it. For now, at the very least, I'll paste this excerpt:

I think the only time people really have value is when they act according to their own will. So I've asked many people about their true, repressed desires and observed their actions all this time.

Akane: Don't get so full of yourself! You're just a criminal!

And how do you define crime to start with? With that gun in your hand? Does the Sibyl System that governs that Dominator decide it?

(Akane tries to scan him again.)

By analyzing a bio-organism's force field read by a cymatic scan, they figure out how a person's mind works. Science finally discovered the secret behind the human soul, and this society changed drastically as a result. However, people's wills are not part of that assessment. I wonder just what sort of criteria you use to divide people into good or evil.

Akane: What on earth are you ...

I want to bear witness to the splendor of man's soul. I want to find out once and for all whether it is truly something worth admiring. However, when humans base their lives around Sybil's Oracle, without ever considering what they really want, do they really hold any value?

Reading the text-only version, it's so clear to me how much all the chess pieces in this scene complemented each other. The dialogue is so much weaker without its voice acting, music, and animation -- but so too would they have been weaker were it not for this dialogue. It's only when taken all together that the scene shines as brilliantly as it does.

Character Development and/or Plot Advancement: As I stated earlier in my initial Episode 11 post, the two biggest things to come out of this were:

1. Akane's corruption / being pushed over the edge by Makishima. Firing a gun with the intent to kill, intending to kill a man the Sybil system says is clean, and watching helplessly as her best friend is murdered right before her very eyes, the murderer fucking with her mind by implying that this outcome is all Akane's fault .... So it begins!
2. Makishima's Psycho-Pass score being so clean, the system either unable to properly read him or else deliberately giving him a free pass.

Both are, from a narrative point of view, interesting. But both delivered together on the same platter, in the very same scene, are, from an artistic point of view, incredible. The darkest soul with the purest white of Psycho-Passes. The heart and mind of the purest soul being blackened by such horrors as she has never known before. Akane trying to do the right thing (save Yuki) by doing a bad thing (acting upon killing intent). Makishima trying to do the wrong thing (corrupt Akane) by doing a good thing (throwing her the gun, giving her an opportunity to shoot him). The plot or character aspect to these developments alone is interesting, but when you consider the artistry of this juxtaposition of mirror opposites, it becomes even more interesting.

Animation: Doh! In my eagerness to submit the post, I forgot to discuss this in greater detail! Maybe some other time.

This post has become so long that I can probably count on one hand the number of human souls who will ever read it all. Perhaps not even anyone besides myself. But for those who are sincerely interested in hearing why I thought the episode rocked, there you have it. If you grow bored or overwhelmed by the earlier bits, I would encourage you to skip ahead to the blue subheading and to read from there.

[Doppleganger]

Originally Posted by Talon87

Sorry, Doppel, but I think you got lucky in calling this one as early as you claim to have.

It wasn't luck.

I already pointed out that Psycho-Pass is very similar to Gen's first work Kikokugai, and there was a similar twist. It was also foreshadowed early in the episode by Kougami when describing Yuki's importance.

Spoiler: show

The only caveat was I thought Makishima would manipulate Akane into killing Yuki, rather than him killing her himself. It didn't seem right that he would dirty his hands like that, just as it didn't feel right that Akane would have a meltdown.

Originally Posted by Talon87

Spoiler: show

But second, let's forget about the surprise factor here. For once again, I think you're missing the point and the power of this scene if you think it was all about the audience in our world (you) and not the audience in their world (Akane). This scene wasn't about surprising you (though if you were surprised, as we were, it was wonderful icing on the cake!). This scene was about the mindfuckery, the sheer damage done to Akane. This scene was the plot impetus we've been waiting for since Episode 01. So to cast it aside now for being insufficiently surprising is very foolish. Whether it surprised you or not isn't the point. We've all been calling that Akane would be imperiled much as Kougami was since Episode frickin' 01, back before we even knew Kougami had been imperiled in this manner. Go back to our Episode 01 posts and just look. Talon: "Sounds like Minority Report. MC is going to become labeled a criminal by the system, just you wait." Kaisap: similar. Yuki: similar but unsure b/c Morg's friend swayed her the other way at first. So we all anticipated that the day would come. That something would happen to Akane that would jeopardize her, that might push her off the edge. This scene was it.

Spoiler: show

See, I feel like the only person here who didn't jump into Psycho-Pass with preconceived notions. I know about the similarity to Minority Report, but I don't remember anything else from MR except that it involved psychics, and the main cause was out of control crime.

So, I wasn't anticipating Akane would "fall" like everyone else seemed to. I actually believed that she was a cop and received cop training and so wouldn't act so much like a fish out of water, and get mentally mauled like that.

Now, I know from MLA that even if one goes through a lot of training, PTSD can still happen. What happened to Akane wasn't random violence...she was unable to synthesize her training and respond appropriately to a problem, and that lead to her friend's death. She only has herself to blame! There was no way I could feel sympathy, or tension or whatever when the main character is as painfully incompetent, or stupid as Akane was. I completely missed all this music/direction ambiance because Urobuchi inadvertently created such a detestable lead character. What's worse, I can't sympathize with her at all. Her self-imposed helplessness/hopelessness was far too overpowering.

[Talon87]

Episode 12 was pretty good. A much-needed backstory episode for Kunizuka Yayoi. I kind of question why it was the season opener, but it worked alright in a few different ways.

Spoiler: show

The episode heavily implied that Yayoi's Psycho-Pass clouded as a result of homosexual yearning for another woman. This strikes me as pretty dumb for a science fiction story penned in the 2010s. Psycho-Pass is supposed to take place in a futuristic version of our world; and in our world, already homosexuals are being treated equally with heterosexuals in many ways. They don't have to fear for their lives anymore if they "come out." They don't have to worry about losing their jobs over it. They won't be driven out of town by an angry mob. These were all legitimate fears back in the 1950s, but today they're a thing of the past. So it seems very backwards for a society even more advanced than ours to arbitrarily outlaw homosexuality. You might as well legalize slavery while you're at it.

I also have a hard time buying why she'd forfeit a shot at a normal life for a life as an Enforcer. The traitorous romance subplot wasn't enough to sell it, and neither was Kougami's fear tactics schpiel about a risk of being executed. Why would they even have the rehabilitation system if they were just going to kill you anyway? And surely Yayoi could have known that she was in a much better mental state than most of the others in the institution. TBH, this opens up a can of worms for Kougami's backstory now too. 'Cause he became an Enforcer, I thought, because he had no other choice: it was either that or rot in jail. So how come he had no chance for rehabilitation but she did? And how come she didn't take it? Gen tried to offer answers this episode but they just weren't satisfactory.

Aside from those complaints, it was an enjoyable episode. Interesting to see how ruthless Kougami was even back then. Interesting to meet Sasayama, his old Enforcer partner. Interesting to know that Kunizuka's only been with the team for three years. Just a good wealth of character info on her and on others.

Guess we'll see next week whether we bounce back to the aftermath of Episode 11 just yet or not.

[kaisap112]

Originally Posted by Talon87

Spoiler: show

The episode heavily implied that Yayoi's Psycho-Pass clouded as a result of homosexual yearning for another woman.

Did we interpret this differently?

Spoiler: show

I thought the whole point was that Yayoi was a musician - and I believe it was even mentioned in the dialog that getting too deep into one's art can cloud the Psycho-Pass, hence the requirement for one's music to be approved by Sybil. To me, Yayoi's relationship with Rita seemed more like a friendship than romantic interest.

There's also the part about Rita doing actual criminal activity as opposed to just making music. If Rita was deemed unqualified to make music by Sybil, did Sybil also predict this criminal turn? Is creativity connected to criminal tendencies? Yayoi's band made Sybil-approved music and (at least Rita) claimed it had no meaning or point - we'd probably say it had no "soul". But Yayoi wasn't deemed dangerous while Sybil-approved, she was thrown to rehab when she started hanging around with Rita and having the passion to play together with her. Is this also against Sybil's policies?

We've seen before how people are dying of not having a meaning to their lives, stuck in bed with apparently no emotion, feeling or motivation for anything. Is Sybil's ideal person without personal desire, just going about their days like a robot?

I might be overthinking it and the writer has no idea what he's trying to convey, but this is what I figured.

[lilboocorsola]

Coming out of hiding to make a couple comments after having seen 11.

Originally Posted by Doppleganger

Something I also discussed with Morg...

[23:04] CEOMorgoth: wager it against talon because he'll be floored if you call a major plot twist before it happens
[23:04] DarkChromDra: I did that once before and he wasn't impressed. Neither was LBC.
[23:04] DarkChromDra: When I called the culprit in Another correctly.

I was impressed by that. Did I never mention it? My apologies.

And speaking of Another...

FUCK THAT FINAL SCENE. I swear, I simply saw plastic umbrellas being sold at the school store today and almost freaked out from the memory of the stairwell. -.- Elevator crashes? A-okay. Exploding from the inside-out? Sure, gimmee more gore. At least that's also a quick death. Any of those I can handle. But this? GDI GEN WHY YOU GOTTA GIVE ME NIGHTMARES.

Spoiler: show

The girl's name didn't help. Thanks for the words "Yuki's death" in bright yellow followed by a screencap of her baring her neck for slaughter. >.>;

Something so small, yet it gets me every time... Gah.

Anyway, agreeing with Dopple and Morg that...

Spoiler: show

Akane's actions were pretty ridiculous. If she had been able to shoot him with the Dominator, wouldn't he have asploded anyway? What the hell, she'd rather see human guts flying everywhere than make a couple clean holes in a person's body? >_> There's shell-shocked and then there's just... Stupid.

The continuous crime coefficient readings got annoying and unbelievable too. Falling all the way to zero? Seriously? =/ That just takes the cake. Wouldn't the target have to be dead in that case? I'm more inclined to think the machine was malfunctioning then. It just seemed too convenient.

The hunter falling for Kogami's trap was also dumb. Honestly, if he's that experienced with combat (heck, he made a whole speech about how he got attacked by guerillas once, he should've smelled something fishy about such an obvious lure right away). Him hesitating over his surprise at seeing the girl instead was almost as silly as Akane's reaction too, besides I've seen it before in a manga (where it was only one of several factors in an intricate plan that led to the gunman's downfall).

I did kinda like Yuki's carefree response afterward. And she claims Akane was always the calm one... Damnit, why didn't she stick around? I would've liked to see such a sexy lady become a latent criminal and join the teaml. She's certainly more attractive than Akane anyway, both in looks and personality.

Sorry to sound harsh so I'll stop there, but the whole episode leaves me sour for several (mostly unrelated) reasons. Just feeling sick/fed up and personally betrayed trolled beyond belief right now. Dunno if I'll drop the series, but right now I definitely need a deep breather... Don't want to deal with any more shit that makes me suffer needlessly more than I can enjoy...

*crawls back in bed and cries under the covers*

[Talon87]

Episode 14 was very good, maybe even great. However, there's just one problem: Psycho-Pass may be becoming more predictable than I would've liked! ^^; A lot of stuff was revealed or hinted at in this episode that people have already called, and that makes me all manner of sad since I genuinely have enjoyed this series, Fate/Zero, and Puella Magi Madoka Magica -- my three outings with Urobuchi Gen -- and I'd have liked it if Gen could've proven himself more able to surprise us. Maybe we're just getting too old for this job. Maybe we're too experienced to be surprised by anime. More after the break.

Spoiler: show

Masaoka Tomomi. Surpriiiiiise! :
So, ages ago, we already called the "lol what if Masaoka is actually Ginoza's dad" plot twist. Then Morg started watching the show and was all "lol I bet I'll blow Talon's mind with this prediction" and reinvented the wheel. And then clarified that he hadn't actually reinvented the wheel since he hadn't been talking about Masaoka. My bad. Well, I bet now he's wishing he'd reinvented the wheel: 'cause sure enough, we called the silliest of predictable plot twists. Masaoka Tomomi ... is Ginoza Nobuchika's father. So either a) Masaoka legally changed his name to protect his son (doubtful) or b) Ginoza legally changed his name (perhaps adopting his mother's name) to protect himself (more likely). But yeah. This is just so lol "Plot Twists 101" of Gen to have done. ^^; I mean, the moment it became clear that Ginoza might've been pairing Kougami off with Akane because he didn't want to work with him himself, we all asked ourselves, "So does he have a particular reason for never teaming up with Masaoka as well?" Well, yup, he sure does!

Akane: Latent Criminal #1? :
So, Yuki put this theory forward ages ago that Akane was actually a criminal already. And I rebuffed it because a) I felt like she was just being a downer and trying to drag Akane and Psycho-Pass down =\ and b) I was pretty confident in my own expectation that the story would show us Akane's fall, and you can't really show us someone's fall if they've already fallen. But then this week's episode airs and we learn that Makishima Shougo is not the first person to have his special gift. That it's actually a documented phenomenon called being "criminally asymptomatic," and that it affects roughly 1 in 1 to 2 million people. (In a nation even the size of modern Japan, that's a good 100 or so people!) And then someone makes a comment on Commie's weblog and just blows my mind :

5 bucks says akane is “criminally asymptomatic”

I hadn't in a million years considered that Akane could be cut from the same cloth as Makishima (though being the white knight to his black). When I saw the epic Episode 11 before Christmas, I was of the mindset that Makishima Shougo had a one-of-a-kind quirk about him. Now, having finished Episode 13, not only does the episode confirm that the man who murdered Kougami's partner was Shougo's accomplice and also had this special power, not only does someone on Commie's blog speculate that Akane may be the third such criminally asymptomatic person in our story and cracks Gen's tale wide open, but Episode 13 itself hints at it pretty strongly (why didn't I see this myself!? >.< ) in shoving Akane's resilient Psycho-Pass and Crime Coefficient in our faces front and center all episode long. "Holy shit! She just relived her friend's murder and yet her Psycho-Pass is clear! And her Crime Coefficient is 60 and dropping fast!" Yeah. Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. Looks like Yuki may have been on the right track after all. Akane could very possibly be a latent criminal herself and we just don't know it yet because she, like Shougo, has a Psycho-Pass that never clouds. I am now somewhat worried that we have never met her family. ^^;;;;; In before Gen reveals "Supwise, Talon ;3" and makes Akane this year's unforgettable yandere.

*Akane with butcher knife in doorway to Kougami's room*
Akane: Hello, Kougami-kun. :3
Kougami: A-Akane!? o_o;
Akane: U fu fu. :3 I've loved you for so long. You're the reason I chose to become an Investigator.
Kougami: M-me? o_o;
*Akane enters room slowly*
Akane: Yes, Kougami-kun. :3 I used to watch you from a distance while you would solve cases. Sometimes I even prepared some cases of my own for you to solve. You were so sexy when you would solve a case.
*Kougami realizes he can't move; did Akane drug him!?*
Akane: But why don't you see me as a woman, Kougami-kun? Why won't you treat me like an adult?

Oh man. >_< Please don't do it, Gen. Please don't do it!

Gen:
Yuki:

Okay, I guess that's it. ^^; But it felt like "a lot of stuff" whilst watching. Anyway, I thought it was exciting, I liked that it advanced the main plot, and I liked that it developed some of the characters some more. But its several plot twists were predicted by the viewers and at least one of them is pretty Writing 101 predictable and kinda silly. Given all that happened this week, the best shot all episode in my opinion is the one I went with for this post's title picture above.

[Midgeorge]

Episode 15 (I think)

Spoiler: show

Good episode. Seems like there's going to be a big development soon with all the killings and crazy stuff going down. Was particularly impressed with the scene where the guy with the helmet kills the girl with a hammer. The lack of music, the camera angles, everything was done to make it seem more fucked up.

And also, not only is Makishima criminally asymptomatic, but also he can fight like a pro. Makishima is definitely one of the best antagonists of this year, I would say.

[Talon87]

The first half of the episode left me feeling pretty mixed feelings.

Spoiler: show

On the one hand, I think it's interesting that Makishima is trying to foment revolution. On the other hand, I don't care for gratuitous violence or gore, so both the scissors-to-the-throat scene and the bludgeoning+raping scene were big turn offs. The latter especially bugged me, and threatened to force me to admit that Yuki may be somewhat correct when she says "Psycho-Pass is silly ", because I felt, and I still feel, that it is so stupid to suggest that the robots only picked up on the stress levels of the woman being raped and not on the criminal thinking of the men who were enjoying video taping what pretty much amounted to snuff pornography. Like, seriously. If your society can pick up a guy feeling stressed out at work (Ep01) but it can't pick up someone who is relishing in filming snuff porn, you're doing something very wrong with your whole "Criminal Coefficient" scanning.

The second half of the episode redeemed the episode for me overall.

Spoiler: show

Most of our main characters had at least some lines and screen time, and I enjoyed each of their various little interchanges with their fellow characters. Makishima reading this novel, あらかじめ裏切られた革命 (trans. "The Revolution That Was Betrayed Before It Even Began"), was a nice little touch that made me actually pause my episode just to go and look this book up. (From what I was able to discern, it sounds like a non-fiction book that has something to do with the Soviet Union and/or Chechnya.) I liked how Makishima had already made dozens of these helmets. I liked how he was one step ahead of the petty thugs he employed and saw them as completely dispensable. (Reminded me a little of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight's Joker.) I liked the chase scene, even though it was obvious how it was going to end. Overall, I enjoyed the second half more than the first half.

I wouldn't say I enjoyed this week's episode as much as I did last week's. I probably enjoyed it roughly as much as I enjoyed Episode 13 two weeks ago. I think 13 was the overall "better / more satisfying" episode for me overall, but I know I was pretty disappointed that it showed up right then when I was so hungry for the continuation of what had happened in Episode 12. In any event, this week's episode was not a misstep for the series but neither was it one of the series' best.