Psycho-Pass Review

     O-M-G, how can I describe this anime?? It was brilliant, amazing, awesome, and extremely disturbing! Psycho Pass takes place in a utopia or dystopia depending on your point of view. In an effort to create a Japan without crime, the Sybil system was implemented. The system scans people and can determine their aptitude for certain careers. It also determines their mental and emotional stability levels. This as described as your “hue” or “color”. From this information, Sybil computes your crime coefficient. If this number is high, you will be imprisoned for “rehabilitation”. If it’s outrageously high, you will be terminated. If you are borderline, your “pass is cloudy” and you need rehab. 

     Here we meet Shin'ya Kougami and Tomomi Masaoka. These men were police officers before the Sybil system. Due to the stress of their jobs and all the carnage they’ve witnessed, their crime coefficients became too high for rehab. So they were locked away. However, those who have aptitude for law enforcement are allowed to work as investigators. They must do so under supervision though.

     Well it turns out that there are psycho’s in the world, who aren’t bothered at all by violence, stress, etc. No matter what heinous things they do or see, their crime coefficient remains low.  Shougo Makishima is one of these people and he hates the Sybil system. He thinks everyone should do as they please, even if it involves taking other’s lives. Apparently he’s not alone, because soon he gathers others to help him overthrow the Sybil system. How? By exposing how flawed the system is. After all, it lets a maniac like him go free right? Also, it seems a lot of people have blind faith in the Sybil system. Without resisting, they just accept it when Sybil says they are only suited for manual labor, or that they are too crazy to walk the streets freely. This kind of thing is the beginning of the end of humanity as far as Makishima is concerned and he’s not about to take it lying down.

At this point, the violence becomes really graphic. What’s that you say? It’s animated though?? I know!! That’s just how well done it was! Now I love action...car chases, shoot-outs, explosions, brawls – all of it. However, the violence in this anime was disturbing at times. There were a few instances where I literally had to put my hands over my eyes!  I remember one scene that I found particularly extreme – the image stayed in my mind weeks after I’d watched that particular episode. And of course they had to flashback to it later..........ugh.

I must say that this anime gave me a lot to think about. Nobody wants to be a crime victim, but would we go so far as to let some unknown machine determine the course of all of our entire lives? Would we really cease thinking for ourselves and hand everything over? We are so dependent on computerized gadgets today that I really wonder if we aren't heading in this direction.

As Psycho Pass nears its end, we learn what Sybil really is and all I can say is wow. It was not what I expected at all. I think even Makishima wasn’t prepared for what he learned about the Sybil system.

Bottomline? I loved this anime. It is firmly in my top 10 list (no, I don’t have a top 10 list. There’s no way I could confine my favorites to only 10 silly - for more on that click here). I highly suggest you check it out if you like action, intrigue, and/or thought provoking subjects. On a scale of 1 through 10, 10 being the best - I gave it a 9.