PSYCHO PASS’ villain wants people to stop living lives like livestock. This is a good idea: I’ve said the exact same thing in previous posts. What makes him a villain is not his objective, it’s the fact that he uses violence to accomplish it.
Which raises an interesting point: in supporting the PSYCHO PASS system, Akane and friends also rely on violence, willingly and frequently. The punishment for any crime— or for even thinking of any crime in the wrong place— is to get shot with a gun.
The inspectors and enforcers have carried out a campaign of violence and terror for decades. Our villain’s few murders pale in comparison (although this is like comparing Stalin and Hitler). Yet somehow, the viewer sees the police department as the victims of unjust laws, while our villain represents the ultimate evil. The enforcers get a free pass because their actions are shrouded in the mystique and anonymity of the law.
PSYCHO PASS is not Moe
PSYCHO PASS is not moe.
PSYCHO PASS is not moe.
Further Thoughts
With Akane and friends fighting against an attempted revolution, things just got way more interesting.
That murder at the beginning was pretty cool.
I like the visuals for the new OP a lot. The ED’s visuals are kind of dull.
Some of the police work here is really questionable. Do they ever try knocking on the door before they decide to break and enter? Also I’ve seen these cops working out in the gym a lot— you think they’d be trained to take down a single criminal without requiring their gun. But I guess not, that would be too easy.
The police are trained to respond to their era. Since the PP system is ‘flawless’, there is no use for an obsolete weapon over the Dominator.
I am liking the direction this series is taking. Spend half the time describing the world and how it works, then the other half tearing at its foundation. Also find it satisfying to see Makishima able to hold his own, since he probably won’t be at his current position if his physique was not on par with his mind
The PSYCHO PASS isn’t flawless though, and the upper brass knows it. You’d think they’d do some preparations to handle the types of criminals the computer can’t handle to avoid the impending collapse of the system. That’s what I’m confused about.
The cops aren’t even going to be able to touch Makishima at this rate… their dominators won’t work and he will just kick all of their asses at once. Actually he’d probably kick their asses even if the dominators did work.
It was creepy how the bystanders (and the victim herself) were so silent and passive during the second murder. Is crime really such an outlandish thought for them? If the Psycho Pass system were flawless there would be no need for a police department at all. Ok, maybe crime is just so rare that most people came to ignore the threat of it and stopped locking their doors. Still it seems not entirely believable to me that people ignore murders taking place in front of their eyes b/c they can’t imagine committing a crime.
Police at least is not used to seriously fighting criminals. Most criminals could easily run away during the 30 seconds the inspector waits for his dominator to unlock every time he wants to shoot.
Re your thoughts about who is victim and who is villain: I’m sympathizing with Akane b/c she’s cute. But also, I admit, I think the Psycho Pass system, if enacted democratically, is a harsh but not entirely illegitimate means of crime prevention. Being able to trust everyone and not being afraid of crime is worth a lot. If people don’t like it any more they should of course be able to vote to abolish it. I can’t recall that dominators ever killed someone who wasn’t about to commit a crime (or had already done so). That’s different from violence and terror imo.
Even if crime is rare, it’s pretty hard to believe they’d just stand there snapping pictures with their cell phone as someone gets repeatedly beaten in the face. But then again, things like that actually seem to happen from time to time, so…
I sympathize with Akane because she’s cute too. 🙂 But when I think about it rationally she’s less innocent than some of the criminals (ie that girl in the first episode who was raped, she was certainly not about to commit a crime). Just because a majority supports something doesn’t make it morally acceptable (i.e., slavery).
Admittedly I’m not entirely sure about my position myself. But even today we lock up (or at least: keep away from society) psychopathic murderers even after they served their sentence in order to protect society. PSYCHO PASS in theory is just the same w/o having to wait for the psychopath to commit a crime.
The rape victim case of course cannot be justified even more so as her score went back to normal shortly afterwards, as I recall.
In theory it’s the same, but in practice it doesn’t seem like the system is all that accurate. That woman had a high hue, the enforcers have had high hues for years (and it doesn’t seem like most of them have ever committed any crime) and now all these people started rioting who didn’t have any hues at all.
Also at least in the US we don’t lock up people after they serve their sentence… admittedly sociopathic murderers will get quite long sentences though.