I don’t want him to cross the line from latent criminal to murderer.
This seems a rather innocuous statement. But in the world of Psycho Pass, it’s a revolutionary observation. Being labelled a latent criminal is different from being a murderer. Yet the world of Psycho Pass refuses to differentiate between the two. The system treats latent criminals as criminals, who need to be punished regardless of whether they have yet committed a crime.
The only way Akane comes to realize that this is false is because a contradiction is built into the core of the system. Some latent criminals are used by the system itself, and are in fact indispensable to its continued functionality. Akane works with the enforcers every day, and comes to trust them. What she has been taught regarding latent criminals is overwritten by her personal experience.
The Psycho Pass system actually has things completely backwards: the latent criminal who has not yet committed a crime is slated for execution, while the man who staged riots and killed countless people must be captured alive so that he can become one of society’s rulers.
All of these contradictions are piling up, and Ginoza is descending into thoughts he isn’t supposed to have. Seems a common problem for detectives. The chief goes so far as to call him “useless.” All I can say is, anyone who wouldn’t be affected by what Ginoza is discovered is really and truly broken. Or the Psycho Pass just magically doesn’t work on them.
The Sibyl System is the ideal bureaucratic administration because it is completely fair and not affected by emotion. But I think this is a mistake. There is a time for justice, but also a time for mercy. Judges ought to have leeway depending on subjective, emotional assessments.
Further Thoughts
I can’t believe the entire country eats a single crop. I guess it is like soy where you can make it sort of taste like anything? This is definitely the most horrifyingly dystopian aspect of the entire series.
Oh man so corny.
I can barely hold back my tears here…. Makishima felt alienated???! Who’da thunk it?
So not moe.
I think a significant plot / turning point should have foreshadowing. It should be able make we feel “Aha. So that’s it.” This episode is a failure in that regards.
How would we viewers know, that all of the Japanese eat a single type of food, grown in one huge specific area, making it another perfect crime target in order to ruin the whole Japan’s social order?? Has it been talked about before? It totally comes out of nowhere!
I had a blank look on my face during the presentation.
Personally, I found the hyper oats things to be a bit of lazy story-telling and/or obvious plot manipulation. Why? Because hyper oats were never talked, or mentioned about anywhere in the previous episodes, and Now they just happen to be important? For an important plot point such as this, it should have been talked about or discussed in some fashion, rather than just have come out of nowhere.
Well they did show everybody eating artificial food and Shusei’s cooking as something different. Given US’s use of corn to feed all their animals, and how some food these days artifically reflavored (orange juice) and fortified it’s plausible… barely….
Personally I found the magic memory machine in episode 13 to be more lazy.
I don’t remember this stuff about the food at all… I guess it was just a while ago. The magic memory machine was kind of out of nowhere too, but with the psycho pass system already magically monitoring everyone’s brain somehow I found it a bit easier to accept.
I agree with you both. That really came out of nowhere. It seems like the fact that the entire society lives off of a single crop would have been worth mentioning at some point.
I actually felt sorry for makishima, he must’ve felt so alone
Poor guy. Doesn’t everyone feel alienated to some extent though?
Apparently, the stuff Akane eats in Epiaode 2 is noted here… apparently the food she was eating during breakfast may be HyperOats in which they added a special flavoring (Chinese) in order for them to taste edible.
Wow, you have a good memory. I didn’t recall that at all but now that you mention it it sounds vaguely familiar.
Ah great episode. I was starting to get a little worried. Unfortunately, it really paled in comparison to R;N’s revelation of an episode. Let’s just hope there’s a good reason for that ending. Also this just crossed my mind, but how exactly did Makishima escape from the helicopter crash? Was that ever really explained?
The old lady probably stored a parachute in there?
But yeah, it won’t hurt to such thing / another in a brief scene.
Even several seconds would be sufficient.
Another bad storytelling there.
Still have to watch R;N, I’m looking forward to it a bit more now. I don’t recall them explaining anything about the helicopter crash either. I’m going to assume that after Makishima killed the chief he jumped out the door and used her corpse as a surfboard.
“Judges ought to have leeway depending on subjective, emotional assessments.” Subjective: yes, emotional: no, in my opinion. Naturally, it’s not possible to switch off your emotions but a good judge imo should try to distance himself from his emotions.Listening to his “gut feeling” if he has doubts would be a different thing, though.
“I can’t believe the entire country eats a single crop.” Why not? I’d guess for a long time Japanese people’s diet consisted to a very large degree on rice. Or take Irish people and potatoes in historic times. What I didn’t quite understand, however, was why refugees would try to get into a country w/ a food shortage.
“I can barely hold back my tears here….” Haha, me too! The picture you chose with Makishima looking unhappy is hilarious. But who knows? Perhaps in this society people rely on their PP to define themselves. If your PP isn’t “working” at all, you have no personality.
Perhaps judges should distance themselves from their emotions. What I meant to say is that they should be merciful.
Good point. There it was more a choice of eat potatoes or starve though. In modern times you’d think that if they could genetically engineer this grain, they could grown other crops as well. Why limit yourself to one thing when you could have variety?
Great point. You *are* your psycho pass, I guess. And if that’s true, Makishima is a nobody.