Psycho Pass is an anime that was first released in 2012. Set in futuristic Japan,the story follows Junior Inspector Akane Tsunemori. Season 1 follows her first huge case with the public safety bureau. Psycho Pass has a smaller cast but they are a powerful group of people. Although it is very much like the movie “Minority Report.” It takes a huge turn by building a system that controls every aspect of society. Psycho Pass takes place in Tokyo in 2112. Which is allowing technological advancements to be available to the characters. An impressive thing about Psycho Pass is that certain aspects of the show is starting to become real. This is most seen in the end with the helmet riots near the end of season 1.
World Setting
In 2112, Japan has a technological entity known as the sibyl system. Sibyl decides everything. For example job aptitude, mental health, and a person Crime Coefficient. All those ideas are quantified into a person’s psycho pass. Society is monitored by the Ministry of welfares public safety bureau. Psycho pass follows division one that consists of two inspectors and 4 enforcers. Enforcers are latent criminals with a good aptitude for detective work. So they’re let into society to help the inspectors take down other latent criminals like them.
The sibyl system is in charge of all choices of a person’s life. Their jobs aptitudes, their mental health, and the chances they are to commit a crime.
The sibyl system is totalitarian and to have AI control a whole entire country is a very crazy idea to think about. There is a scene where a young woman is beat by a man in the street and nobody around does anything except for record her. The only thing to show up is a police drone telling her that her psycho pass is high and she should seek help. This shows that the Sibyl system does not care for what has happened to a person at all. It cares about keeping social order and a person with a high crime coefficient disrupts that.
Characters
Psycho Pass has a great cast of well built characters. Division 1 has Inspectors Nobuchika Ginoza, and Akane Tsunemori. The enforcers are Tomomi Masaoka, Yayoi Kunizuka, Shinya Kogami, and Shusei Kagari. Shion Karanamori serves as their analyst. The main villain of the show is a criminally asymptomatic man named Shogo Makishima. All the characters are well written. While some are more important than others, they all have depth and things to learn about them.
A smaller cast of 8 important characters that are all wrapped into the story of season 1. While half of them leave. We get new characters in season 2 that are less well written but are still able to be likable or hated. Depending on their role.
The season 1 cast was very diverse in their mindsets which made them easy to have opinions about. The dynamic between them is a very deep connection although it doesn’t always seem that way. The b plot of the season is the father and son relationship between Masaoka (father) and Ginoza (son). Although it doesn’t seem like it would be too important. It gives a good basis on Ginozas character arc and how he reacts to events around him. As well as why he is so angry throughout season 1 until it blows up in his face.
In Episode 4 Akane asked Ginoza if something had happened between him and Masaoka. Ginoza gives her no response except for a very angry stare. Akane leave and asks the other enforcers the same question. Kagari laughs hard about it and Kunizuka says “We don’t talk about that, ever.” Implying that something had happened between the two.
Themes
One of the biggest themes of Psycho pass is the idea of Free will vs. Absolute comfort. The majority of the population in this show do not ever try to think for themselves. Their own opinion is set by sibyl as it is like the thought police.
The sibyl system is how Japan became so peaceful. One way it does that is by systematically removing people the system deems to be a threat. Anyone with a psycho pass over 100 is deemed likely to commit a crime. They are placed into mental hospitals for the rest of their lives. Unless they become enforcers with the mwpsb. Sibyl takes these people away so the rest of society are still okay to be around so public order is still around.
A huge example of how rough sibyl is with taking people away is Shusei Kagari. He was flagged in a psycho pass test when he was five years old deemed to be beyond repair. He was taken away from his family and put in a mental hospital until he was old enough to become an enforcer.
Timeliness
Season 1 released in 2012 with sequel seasons and movies coming out. The most recent release was Psycho Pass: Providence in 2023. After 14 years of having the series around, It seemed to keep up very well with what is going on in reality. A lot of the themes of justice and totalitarian government are showing up in our own government.
Near the finale of season 1, Akane says “The law doesn’t protect people, people protect the law.” We can see this in the United States a lot recently. All these riots and protests we have seen over the years show that as a people we are starting to disregard laws. It has always been that the only reason the law works, is because we as a society want to follow the law for social order. That is almost exactly like how the quotes explain society and law.
This is one of the biggest reasons I love this show. Although this was made in 2012, it has so many themes that show up in reality not only in 2012, but right now. Even more than before. It is a wonderful written show and has been able to keep up with society in almost 15 years. Some of the themes are more clear at one point of time than before. That is what makes the show amazing.
How high is your Psycho Pass?
