Released By: Manga Entertainment
Rating: 15
Running Time: 250 Mins
Audio: English DD 5.1 & Japanese: DD 2.0
Release Date: 1/9/2014
Reviewed By: Sandra Scholes
If you could know what kind of mental state people were in, wouldn't it be great to apprehend them if they were considered to be a threat to society? In the future you can.
In Psycho-Pass, think about committing a crime, or having violent thoughts can get you brought in for a full psyche evaluation and possible treatment in an isolated facility where you can do what you want without offending anyone, this includes drinking and drugs. The police authorities are under the control of the Sibyl system that decides everyone's eventual fate if their Psycho-Pass ever gets cloudy. Police disguised as cute toy robots go around the city doing routine scans of the public to find out who could be dangerous to themselves or society. If they refuse to be scanned, it is obvious the are hiding something, so they get brought in anyway.
In the first episode rookie, Akane gets assigned to a case due to a lack of police manpower one night. The perp they are tracking refused to get psychiatric treatment and fled the scene, so her and two enforcers have to find him and bring him in, or kill him. The enforcers are former perps who are on probation and work for the police to track down those like them as it is more effective for the police to use a perp to track one. These enforcers can, with their Inspector's permission use guns called Dominators, but only when they know that the target needs to be taken down. The problem becomes obvious when people who are believed to be a danger to society due to their scan actually turn into the criminals they are thought to be. Is this a floor of the Sibyl system, or is there something else underlying?
Ginoza is the Inspector who is in charge of the enforcers; Kogami, Masaoka and Kagari. He comes across as harsh, spiteful and no one likes to deal with him when he's in a mood. Akane thinks there is something between Ginoza and Kogami, but you get to find out bits of information about everyone a bit at a time in-between the separate story arcs. Enforcer Kagami is the main focus of this series while the episodes concentrate on many happenings in various places; a factory worker whose Psycho-Pass got cloudy, an on-line chat room and female persona called Spooky Boogie that goes bad and a girl who creates artworks of a very different kind.
Some episodes are two-parters or when the story has moved on to another, there are characters from a previous story four episodes back that is mentioned, so it's a good idea to remember names while watching or you will miss out. Psycho-Pas is thoroughly enjoyable anime that keeps you hooked from the first episode with its gripping story, catchy musical scores and fully fleshed out characters - and an enemy you wouldn't want to cross.
Bonus Material: Episode 5 with Commentary, Text less Opening Song: "abnormalize," Text less Closing Song: "Kanae No Nai Kaibotsu," Play Episode 11 with Commentary, Psycho-Pass at Sakura Con Part 1, US Trailer.
Verdict: Dark, doomy, instantly gripping - This could well be the best anime of the year!
No comments:
Post a Comment