Psycho-Pass

[Talon87]

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. When this probability, measured by the Crime Coefficient index, is too high in some individuals, those individuals are pursued and apprehended—with lethal force, if necessary. This task is performed by a special team of latent criminals called Enforcers, who are supervised by police officers known as Inspectors; the Inspectors ensure that Enforcers perform their duties within the constraints of the law. Enforcers and Inspectors employ special weapons called Dominators which are designed to fire only on those with a higher than normal Crime Coefficient. (Source: Wikipedia)

From Production I.G., the studio which brought you Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, and acclaimed writer Urobuchi Gen, primary author of the Fate/Zero novels and primary script writer for the visual novel Saya no Uta, comes this year's best science-fiction anime!

[Talon87]

Characters:

Tsunemori Akane (CV: Kanazawa Hana): a rookie Inspector assigned to the Criminal Investigation Division. At the top of her class, she could have gotten a job anywhere in the world; indeed, she qualified for a position at more than nine different government offices and corporations. But she chose to pursue a career with the CID because she noticed that no one else in her class qualified for a position there except her. Feeling the tug of the strings of Fate, Akane turned down the other job offers and went to work for the CID. Akane's face may look a bit morose or gloomy with her pale white skin and drooping eyelids, but she is in fact quite cheerful and pure-hearted by nature, and she enthusiastically gives it her all for each and every case. She comes to greatly respect and admire Kougami Shinya. Frustrated by her own inadequacies as a rookie law enforcement officer, she seeks to better herself and often accompanies Kougami into the thick of things, much to the worry of her senior officer, Ginoza.

Kougami Shinya (CV: Seki Tomokazu): one of the four Enforcers in Unit One of the Criminal Investigation Division. Kougami is the alpha dog of the pack: young, strong, clever, and ruthless, Kougami is an exemplary Enforcer who manages to solve many mysteries and apprehend (or eliminate) many criminals with his Dominator. Akane greatly admires his sleuthing prowess and finds herself wanting to be able to perform as well at the job as he does. This earns her many tongue-lashings from Gino -- and occasionally from Kougami himself.

(safe to click once you've seen through Episode 08)

Spoiler: show

Kougami has unfinished business from several years ago with the mysterious Makishima Shougo. Kougami, formerly one of the CID's top Inspectors, was investigating a series of murders when his partner, one of the department's best Enforcers, was abducted, brutally murdered, and put on public display. Kougami lost it and his Psycho-Pass clouded so badly that the Sybil System judged him to be a latent criminal. He was stripped of his rights as an ordinary citizen and demoted from Inspector to Enforcer. With nothing left to lose but his life, Kougami has spent the past few years researching the serial killings, trying to find his partner's killer and bring him to justice.

Kougami worries that if Akane becomes too good at her job, her Psycho-Pass will become cloudy and she will be turned into an Enforcer, just like what happened to him. Thus, Kougami is often cross with Akane when she expresses an earnest desire to match Kougami and join him in his crime-solving adventures.

Ginoza Nobuchika (CV: Nojima Kenji): a veteran Inspector, Ginoza (or simply Gino for short) is Akane's senpai who offers her guidance as she becomes accustomed to the job of an Inspector. He worries that Kougami is a bad influence on her yet continues to have Akane partner up with him and Masaoka while Gino teams up with Kagari and Kunizuka instead.

(safe to click once you've seen through Episode 09)

Spoiler: show

Ginoza may be avoiding teaming up with Kougami because of his resentment towards what Kougami allowed to happen to himself. Ginoza was Kougami's partner and fellow Inspector, much like how now Akane is Ginoza's fellow Inspector, and he considered Kougami to be a dear friend. However, he feels betrayed by Kougami because what Kougami experienced (being demoted from Inspector to Enforcer) ... is exactly what happened to Ginoza's father many years ago. Ginoza's family was prejudiced against and forced to live in shame as their neighbors and peers judged them poorly for Ginoza's father's outcome. This led Ginoza to greatly resent latent criminals, and to in particular have a sore spot about Inspectors who become latent criminals.

This is why Ginoza is so cross with Akane whenever she shows enthusiasm for their work and an earnest desire to get as good at solving mysteries and apprehending criminals as Kougami: because he worries that Akane will be the third in a line of people in his life who have wound up going from being Inspectors to being Enforcers, and he doesn't want to allow that to happen to anyone else ever again. This is also why he is especially testy with Kougami these days: because he feels that Kougami is being irresponsible with regards to Akane and is not doing an adequate job of drawing the line and telling her to let him do his job and all she need do is back him up as necessary.

Masaoka Tomomi (CV: Arimoto Kinryuu): one of the four Enforcers in Unit One of the Criminal Investigation Division. Masaoka is the old man of the group: literally the oldest of the six members in Unit 01, Masaoka is the source of much wisdom and sage advice for Akane, both regarding their work and life in general. He often teams up with Akane and Kougami. His backstory remains unclear.

Kagari Shuusei (CV: Ishida Akira): one of the four Enforcers in Unit One of the Criminal Investigation Division. Kagari has been a prisoner of the Sybil System since he was only 5 years old. As such, he doesn't know or care too much about the outside world. However, his skills as an Enforcer are top-notch. The clown of the group, Kagari teasingly flirts with Akane yet finds himself able to spend precious little time with her, dragged off by Gino to team up with him and Kunizuka for most cases. May have a low alcohol tolerance.

Kunizuka Yayoi (CV: Itou Shizuku): one of the four Enforcers in Unit One of the Criminal Investigation Division. Not much is known about the silent Kunizuka. She is noted by her peers for her ability to remain calm even when confronted with the most brutal of crimes. She typically teams up with Ginoza and Kagari so her interactions with Akane are fairly limited.

Karanomori Shion (CV: Sawashiro Miyuki): an analyst in the Public Safety Bureau's General Analysis Division, Shion is another latent criminal employed by the government. She assists the members of CID Unit 01 in their investigations by analyzing the evidence they send to her.

Makishima Shougo (CV: Sakurai Takahiro): the archvillain of the series, he is behind many of the crimes investigated by Unit 01 of the Criminal Investigation Division.

(safe to click once you've seen through Episode 08)

Spoiler: show

Makishima is something of a "philantrhopist," in the loosest sense of the term. He is fascinated by humanity and seeks to understand human nature by witnessing from a front row seat the cruelty, savagery, or wickedness of Man. To this end, he sponsors, arranges for, or assists criminals in carrying out their various criminal acts. He has had a connection with every single criminal the CID has investigated since Episode 03. Akane and the others first set foot on his trail during their investigation of the murders carried out by Ouryou Rikako (Episodes 06-08). Kougami notices some similarities between the murders Rikako is carrying out and the same murders several years back which cost his old Enforcer partner his life. He suspects, correctly, that while the killer may be different, there is someone assisting the new killer and that they are the same person who either carried out or helped in carrying out the serial murders from before.

(safe to click once you've seen through Episode 11)

Spoiler: show

For reasons that Makishima himself professes not to understand, the Sybil System always reads a clean Psycho-Pass score for him. Even when he is in the middle of killing somebody, his score can read as low as 0.0. Because of this, the Inspectors and Enforcers cannot use Dominators to defeat him.

Just as Makishima's actions several years ago proved to be the cause of Kougami's becoming a latent criminal, so too do Makishima's current actions seem to jeopardize Akane's mental state and career.

[Talon87]

Past Posts about Psycho-Pass:

To be updated momentarily. I got excited about posting the thread and kind of jumped the gun after spell-checking the two previous posts. Whoops. ^^;

=Episode 01 & Before=
lilbluecorsola - hearsay about the series
kaisap112 - Episode 01 brief thoughts
Talon87 - speculation before seeing the series
lilbluecorsola - reply to Talon87
kaisap112 - reply to Talon87
Talon87 - Episode 01 thoughts
Morgoth - reply to Talon87
Talon87 - reply to kaisap112, Episode 01 additional thoughts
kaisap112 - reply to Talon87
lilbluecorsola - Episode 01 thoughts

=Episode 02=
lilbluecorsola
kaisap112
Talon87

=Episode 03=
Talon87
lilbluecorsola

=Episode 04=
Talon87
Doppleganger (not particular to Episode 04)
lilbluecorsola

=Episode 05=
lilbluecorsola
Talon87
Midgeorge

=Episode 06=
Talon87
lilbluecorsola (reply to Talon87, no Ep06 comments)
Talon87 (reply to lilbluecorsola, no Ep06 comments)
lilbluecorsola (unlabeled; I think it's for Ep06?)
Doppleganger (not particular to Episode 06)

=Episode 07=
Talon87 (also re-avows promise to make thread ^^; ... and again! )

=Episode 08=
???

=Episode 09=
Talon87 (also Episode 10)

=Episode 10=
Talon87 (also Episode 09)

=Episode 11=
Talon87

Coulda sworn people talked about Episode 08 (including myself!) and also Episodes 09 and 10 while I sat them out ... but when I searched the forum for posts containing the word Psycho-Pass, the above hits were all I got. If I'm missing a post of yours in which you discuss the episode, let me know and I'll edit it in here. Otherwise ... let's start using this thread to discuss one of the best shows of the Fall 2012 season!

[Doppleganger]

Gonna pull out the marathon stick later tonight for this. Here's lookin' at you all from the other side!

[The Morg]

Thought I might marathon this myself... just finished episode 1; let's see how far I can get!

In-progress thoughts! I shall keep them brief!

Right of the bat I was reminded of lilblue's comment that it reminded her of Cowboy Bebop. There was this fight scene on top of a building and one of the guys actually kind of looked like Spike.



The beginning doesn't remind me of Minority Report so much as it does Demolition Man: it portrays an almost-laughable future in which the commoners are given a sugar-coated version of everything much like what we give small children today... from the happy-friendly police barricades to the characters' shock at seeing real weapons or acts of violence in any form.

"With technology making our thoughts transparent, why would anyone still try to deceive or hurt others?" If this technology existed in the real world, would it stop these forms of evil? I like to think the answer is no, as evidenced by the entire history of humans who have believed in God, karma, or Santa Claus: even though we know our lives are being judged as good or evil, we still harbor evil from time to time.

[Doppleganger]

Episode I

This episode was full of silly. Mostly for Psycho-Pass girl since I don't know her name yet. She sucks as a cop. She fit every stereotype of a fish out of water, and her inability to control herself put her in the situation where she shot that one guy. Had she maintained a cool head, that would have been a pretty sweet, spur-of-the-moment decision.

Wasn't impressed with the raped girl becoming a latent criminal. Wasn't impressed at the flawed crime coefficient system. Not sure why this system is in place yet, I hope it gets elaborated on like in Minority Report (where crimes were so numerous, you had to nip them in the bud).

[The Morg]

Episode 2!

People have the technology to change clothes instantly! I want to be able to change that fast :< And then somehow she goes to see the enviably well-endowed therapist who is manually pulling on tights.

Jobs are determined by aptitude tests. Would be cool to have if the tests were 100% accurate... unlike the ``career path'' tests they give high school students today, which somehow pigeonhole you into something like "Lab assistant - Pharmaceuticals" and "Chef - Pastry" after the most random questions ever.

Latent criminals are identified early in life and forced to either live in isolation or join the Enforcers. Starting to remind me more of Babylon 5, in which latent telepaths are identified early in life and forced to either live in isolation or join the Psi Corps.

[Doppleganger]

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

I thought Episode 2 was a lot better than the first, except the ending where Kogami pretty much spoiled the answers to the test for Akane. His pithy speech felt far too...constructed, philosophical, I guess? I understood his survivalist mentality. I didn't understand why he'd be so quick to say "you're a boss I could like" because she shot him. A bit strange.

[The Morg]

Episode 3!

Workers are stressed because they can't access the Net! Some things never change, I guess. =3=

Woa, the miserable workers keep their morale up by banding together to pick on one person? Some things REALLY never change!

What can I compare the series to this time? Maybe Equilibrium, because everyone is living a bland, logical life dictated by the machine and the people who beat the system are those who act on their emotions and gut feelings.

[Doppleganger]

The fat office supervisor guy pissed me off. He felt like the reincarnation of Andou. His "not impressed" corpulent expression really begged for me to smash his mouth in.

Akane's not really endearing herself to me aside from her looks...I can tell why the guy from Persona 4 got disillusioned real fast, too. She's too fudging naiive, so much so it pisses me off. Almost screams hipster in how she's addicted to technology. Gaaaah!

[The Morg]

Episode 4!

People still look down on the self-employed as "unemployed"! Also, screenshots!

TALKING DIME

Spoiler: show

REARNAKED TAPOUT

Spoiler: show

GEORGE ORWELL

Spoiler: show

The murder sounds like a scene from Dexter: the killer covered the room in plastic sheets, then chopped up the body!

[Doppleganger]

Spoiler: show

That was disgusting, but for some reason I'd already suspected the toilet once the guy said he was "chopped up into bits."

This episode's villains really annoyed me, delusional internet kids who are also killers. They're not doing anything particularly impressive to evade the law, but they're owning the supposed elite police force.

Some Minority Report this is.

[01:50] DarkChromDra: Isn't it kind of weird
[01:50] DarkChromDra: That in the future, they have technology that allows them to READ MINDS
[01:50] DarkChromDra: But the criminal investigation division is frustrated by rotating IP and proxy servers?
[01:50] CEOMorgoth: haha
[01:50] CEOMorgoth: just goes to show
[01:51] CEOMorgoth: the government will never be able to stop internet anarchists =3=

[Talon87]

Episodes 1-5 < Episodes 6-8 < Episodes 9-11. And I'll take that one step further and say:

Episode 11 general spoiler

Spoiler: show

Episode 11 may be many things, including inevitably predictable according to Doppel, but hot damn if it was not intense. IN-FUCKING-TENSE! So yeah: I didn't think the show was more than a 7/10 by where you are, and I even was unsure myself about such a score when I finished the lame Spooky Boogie arc that you've just finished or are finishing. Trust me: the best is yet to come.

[Doppleganger]

Yeah, I ain't clickin' that anytime soon.

Spoiler: show

All I'll say is it's pretty obvious Kogami is a former Inspector who went too far, and from his interaction with Winfred it seems like they were originally partners. Maybe the old guy fits that schema too.

EDIT: Welp, I hadn't finished Episode 5 before writing the above and below, and lookie lookie.

I was disappointed in Episode 5...on the one hand, I hated the priest nerd guy. He got what was coming to him for that stupid brutality of his. But he was voiced by one of my favourite CVs, and his actions are kind of similar to my own (copying people). So, it felt kind of personal that the show would portray such a person as a psychopath...

oh...psychopath, Psycho Pass. Coincidence? I think so!

[Talon87]

... I cannot believe I did not pick up on that pun sooner. That has got to be deliberate. Look up "psychopath" and whaddyou get? サイコパス saikopasu. Good God, Talon. Slow on that uptake!

You guys might want to show the same consideration to others that we have shown to you. "Not clicking that any time soon," you say, and yet it's completely all right for you to blab about theories and thoughts informed by evidence not seen in the first two episodes. ^^;

[The Morg]

Discussion we had during episode 4:

Spoiler: show

(08:17:59) DarkChromDra: Isn't it also weird
(08:18:09) DarkChromDra: That Kogami is acting like a detective
(08:18:16) DarkChromDra: Whereas Gino, his superior, is taking orders
(08:18:20) DarkChromDra: Suspicious
(08:18:44) ceomorgoth: they mentioned something about how he looked into the abyss for too long
(08:18:57) DarkChromDra: That's one of my favourite quotes.
(08:19:01) ceomorgoth: I wonder if maybe he was once a detective who took his job too seriously
(08:19:15) ceomorgoth: and thus increased his rating to the point where he had to become the "dog"
(08:19:25) DarkChromDra: It's how Baldur's Gate began, with Nietzsche

I was only half joking... funny how close it was to the real story that would be revealed in the very next episode!

Anyways, on to episode 5!

The old guy doesn't keep up with consumer technology, but uses his brain! Kind of like today where more people are depending on their gadgets to think for them, thereby becoming crippled when they can't have their precious Internet. And as if on cue, the guy asks about some philosopher, and the hipster girl whips out her device to look it up. :V

I like the use of alcohol for fire breath! Very impressive trick!

This is the second criminal that wasn't affected by the guns because he was on drugs! Looks like "the guns not working" is going to be the go-to plot device?

ANDROID PHONE

Spoiler: show

[Talon87]

I would say you nailed it, Morg, but for the fact that ...

Kougami stuff (Episode 03 or 05 spoiler)

Spoiler: show

Isn't it revealed at the end of Episode 03 that Kougami was a former Inspector, not 05? My screencap for that scene (when Akane finds out) is from the end of Episode 03, I thought. So, color me impressed if you pulled off the ridiculously improbable and called this by the end of Episode 02, but color me unimpressed if you called this after they themselves unveiled it. ^^;;

Will double-check tomorrow.

[The Morg]

Originally Posted by Talon87

You guys might want to show the same consideration to others that we have shown to you. "Not clicking that any time soon," you say, and yet it's completely all right for you to blab about theories and thoughts informed by evidence not seen in the first two episodes. ^^;

Just saw this. Not sure what you mean, but I could put all of my posts so far in spoilers if you think that would be appropriate.

[Talon87]

Originally Posted by dosuser

Just saw this. Not sure what you mean, but I could put all of my posts so far in spoilers if you think that would be appropriate.

Example:

Spoiler: show

Originally Posted by Doppleganger

I was disappointed in Episode 5...on the one hand, I hated the priest nerd guy. He got what was coming to him

Renders the climax of Episodes 04 and 05 completely anti-climactic.

[The Morg]

So which one? I think it should be all or nothing!

Episode 6!

People use therapeutic or virtual tripping to avoid becoming addicted to drugs or alcohol! But virtual or no, wouldn't that still incur an addiction of some sort?

The year is 2112! It was probably explicitly stated earlier on, but I just now noticed! But why are there still iPads?

Lots more lesbian innuendo in this episode! Meanwhile the men are confined to sex with holograms, or else they are rapists. You know what this means? In the future, women are all lesbians!

Unemployment has gone away and the System dictates what your life will be. Then how did this one guy rack up so much debt?

Seems like there is a criminal mastermind who is connected to the previous story arcs! If he's able to influence others to commit crimes on his behalf, but would never commit those same crimes himself, his score will stay innocently low while still getting his plans carried out. And if score is the ONLY means by which arrests are made, he could go uncaught forever. =3=

About the episode 3 vs 5 thing: it probably was explained in episode 3 and I wasn't paying close enough attention to realize it... which would explain why it was in my subconscious during episode 4.

[Doppleganger]

Gen's pulling all the stops with the guro in this anime. It's mad, but it's right up there with Chaos;Head in terms of repulsiveness. There's so many sick people wandering about it's ridiculous.

[The Morg]

Episode 7!

Seems Kogami is still a perfectly capable detective, maybe even one of the best! However, thanks to the System, people in his role are regarded as "brutes", raging berserkers who act on uncontrollable violent impulses and have no capability of intelligence or reasoning. "They aren't humans like us," say the Inspectors.

Another criminal is a rapist! I wonder if maybe the machine overlords have outlawed male-female intercourse, which explains why so many criminals are driven to rape, and also all the homosexual innuendo.

Holographic clothing isn't just limited to clothing... they can change their appearance, voice, and gender too! If that's the case, any of the main cast could have been someone hiding behind a hologram all along. =3=

The criminal mastermind's motives are revealed! He too opposes the flawed Psycho-Pass system, as well as how the machine-like regulation of people's lives has removed all stumuli and emotion. I'm starting to think he might not be totally evil, aside from the fact that his only way to oppose the system is to exploit its flaws. He also says of the schoolgirl-turned-killer: "I hope she finds some meaning beyond revenge." This shows he isn't merely bent on mindless killing.

SHIRTS OPTIONAL

Spoiler: show

ANTERCTIC DOROPS

Spoiler: show

[Doppleganger]

I didn't get the impression bad guy-kun's motive was revealed, necessarily - he expressed a view that might not necessarily be his own. Gen's never had a villain who was philosophical like that before, at least from all the stuff I've read of his.

I didn't like this episode, and I have a bad feeling this trend will continue.

Spoiler: show

I wasn't impressed with the female she-devil who seduced her classmates then murdered them. Elaborating on her motives really diminished the horror toward her character, and the same goes for the Mishikima guy, although as noted above we technically don't know anything about him.

I don't like how "un-methodological" this show is, at least related to inductive reasoning. Kogami makes wild, almost conspiracy theory-esque conclusions based on small or not evidence. Akane is completely useless and a stereotype to boot. I don't find any of these characters interesting or the plot particularly motivating...what I want to see is the stupidly violent villains getting blown up.

[Talon87]

Originally Posted by Doppleganger

I didn't get the impression bad guy-kun's motive was revealed, necessarily - he expressed a view that might not necessarily be his own. Gen's never had a villain who was philosophical like that before, at least from all the stuff I've read of his.

I didn't like this episode, and I have a bad feeling this trend will continue.

Spoiler: show

I wasn't impressed with the female she-devil who seduced her classmates then murdered them. Elaborating on her motives really diminished the horror toward her character, and the same goes for the Mishikima guy, although as noted above we technically don't know anything about him.

I don't like how "un-methodological" this show is, at least related to inductive reasoning. Kogami makes wild, almost conspiracy theory-esque conclusions based on small or not evidence. Akane is completely useless and a stereotype to boot. I don't find any of these characters interesting or the plot particularly motivating...what I want to see is the stupidly violent villains getting blown up.

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.

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.

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 ... "

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.

What about the agency as a whole? Do they catch their man with too little information? Do they connect the dots between A and B unrealistically easily? I don't think they do. But I'm going to wrap this post up here for now because I don't feel like debating more right now. Would rather go look at the episodes to prove my point with citable evidence but too unmotivated to do so right now. Would also prefer to give you an opportunity to reply first.

[The Morg]

Episode 8!

Once again sexual frustration or repression is addressed when analysing a criminal. Seems to be a rampant problem in this machine-like society.

Kogami saves the day (almost) with his puro detective work, once again showing his criminal rating to be largely meaningless.

The mastermind (Makishima? Maxima?) takes an interest in Kogami. It seems significant that he has never seen Kogami before this, which means that despite his supposed connection to the events three years prior, the two have never interacted.