Psycho-Pass

Psycho-Pass (Japanese: サイコパス, Hepburn: Saiko Pasu) (stylized as PSYCHO-PASS) is a anime television series that was produced by Production I.G, directed by Naoyoshi Shiotani & Katsuyuki Motohiro and written by Gen Urobuchi. The series was aired on Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block between October 2012 and March 2013. The story takes place in an authoritarian future dystopia, where omnipresent public sensors continuously scan the Psycho-Pass of every citizen in range. The sensors measure mental state, personality, and the probability that the citizen will commit crimes, alerting authorities when someone exceeds accepted norms. To enforce order, the officers of the Public Safety Bureau carry hand weapons called Dominators. The story follows Akane Tsunemori, Shinya Kogami, and other members of Unit One of the Public Safety Bureau's Criminal Investigation Division, and the crimes they investigate using Dominators.

Psycho-Pass originated from Production I.G.'s interest in making a successor to Mamoru Oshii's achievements. The series was inspired by several live-action films. Chief director Katsuyuki Motohiro aimed to explore psychological themes in society's youth using dystopian storylines. Several rules were used to focus on making the dystopia that the characters live in.

The series was licensed by Funimation in North America. A second season began airing in October 2014, with an animated film released in January 2015. A manga adaptation has been in serialization in Shueisha's Jump Square magazine and several novels, including an adaptation and prequels to the original story, have been published. An episodic video game adaptation called Chimi Chara Psycho-Pass was developed by Nitroplus Staffers in collaboration with Production I.G. New novels and another manga were serialized in 2014.

Plot

Setting

Psycho-Pass is set in 2113. The Sibyl System (シビュラシステム, Shibyura Shisutemu) is actively measuring the populace's mental states, personalities, and the probability that individuals will commit crimes, using a "cymatic scan" of the brain. The resulting assessment is called a Psycho-Pass (サイコパス, Saikopasu). When the probability of a person engaging in crimes measured by the Crime Coefficient (犯罪係数, Hanzaikeisū) index exceeds a certain level in an individual, he or she is pursued, apprehended, and killed if necessary.

Story

The plot focuses on Akane Tsunemori, a new Inspector of Unit One—a police unit from the Public Safety Bureau's Criminal Investigation Division. Tsunemori hunts criminals alongside a special team of so-called latent criminals called Enforcers. Inspectors and Enforcers use large handguns called "Dominators"—special weapons designed to fire only at those with a higher-than-acceptable Crime Coefficient. Akane is ashamed of shooting the Enforcer Shinya Kogami during her first mission to protect a latent criminal. Kogami thanks her for stopping him from becoming a murderer, which persuades Akane to stay. She is accompanied by veteran Inspector Nobuchika Ginoza, a strict man who looks down on Enforcers, Tomomi Masaoka, a middle-aged man who used to be a detective, Shusei Kagari, a carefree young man who has been a latent criminal ever since he was a child, and Yayoi Kunizuka, a former musician turned into a latent criminal after interacting with a terrorist. During Akane's first investigations, the group learns about the existence of Shogo Makishima, a mastermind who is responsible for multiple crimes. Being Criminally Asymptomatic (免罪体質, Menzai Taishitsu), Makishima's criminal psychology yields a low Crime Coefficient, making him safe from the Sibyl System and the Dominator.

The Enforcers and Inspectors start hunting Makishima, who aims to destroy the society created by the Sibyl System. To do this he causes riots in the city to draw the police away from the Health and Welfare Ministry's Nona Tower facility, where Sibyl is located. Akane and Kogami stop Makishima's forces while Enforcer Shūsei Kagari follows one of Makishima's allies to the tower where Bureau Chief Joshu Kasei kills Makishima's ally and Kagari to keep the true form of Sibyl a secret. Kasei tells Makishima that Sibyl is a hivemind of similarly asymptomatic individuals and wishes him to join the system but Makishima escapes. Realizing the truth behind Makishima's escape, Kogami leaves the group to kill him. Akane is later directly contacted by the Sibyl system, which orders her to capture Makishima alive. She agrees to do this on the condition that they withdraw the execution order for Kogami. Learning that Makishima plans to commit bioterrorism to weaken Japan's economy and bring the system down, the Criminal Investigation Division searches for both Makishima and Kogami. There, Makishima tries killing Ginoza but Masaoka sacrifices his life to save him. Despite Akane's efforts, Kogami kills Makishima and the former's erstwhile comrades never see him again.

In season two, Akane, now the leader of a restored Unit One including rookie inspector Mika Shimotsuki, Ginoza, who is demoted to an enforcer, Yayoi and two new enforcers, Sakuya Togane and Sho Hinakawa, face a new threat in the form of Kirito Kamui, another criminal mastermind who, just like Shogo, intends to bring down the Sybil System by exploiting its flaws instead of just wreaking havoc. Skilled in avoiding all forms of detection and capable of helping his supporters to keep their Crime Coefficients low, only a very few believe that he actually exists, including Akane.

Production

The series was directed by Naoyoshi Shiotani, written by Gen Urobuchi and features character designs by manga artist Akira Amano. It stars Kana Hanazawa as Akane Tsunemori, Tomokazu Seki as Shinya Kogami and Takahiro Sakurai as Shogo Makishima.^[3] Psycho-Pass originated from Production I.G.'s interest in making a successor to Mamoru Oshii's Ghost in the Shell and Patlabor; the company hired Katsuyuki Motohiro—who became the series' chief director—and veteran I.G. animator Naoyoshi Shiotani to supervise direction.^[4]

Motohiro wanted to return to making anime after a long hiatus but he needed a charismatic script writer. Motohiro and his staff were surprised with Gen Urobuchi's contribution to the anime series Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Motohiro was fascinated by Madoka Magica; he read other works from Urobuchi, which persuaded him to talk to Urobuchi. In early 2011, Motohiro proposed to Urobuchi that the pair should work together.^[5] Early in the making of the series, Motohiro told Naoyoshi Shiotani not to make anything that could not be adapted into a live-action film.^[6]

Before work on Psycho-Pass started, Shiotani was busy working on the film Blood-C: The Last Dark. As soon as his work with the film ended, Shiotani focused on the series' quality. After episode 16, which proved to be the most challenging and popular of the series, the team found themselves "out of stamina". The next two episodes were made by an outside team, which is reflected in several problems with the animation.^[6] In response to this, the producer of the episode said that while he expected problems, he worked to make it the best he could. Shiotani also apologized for the episode's quality.^[7] The original team continued working from episode 19 on until the finale; they decided to remake episodes 17 and 18 for their retail release.^[6]

The series was first announced in late March 2012 by Fuji TV at its Noitamina press conference.^[8] In March 2013, Shiotani stated there could be a second season if the show received enough support.^[9] Once development of the second season started, Shiotani said the new episodes are more difficult to make than those in the first season. He said, "it's more about the show's inflexibility" because the staff have to maintain consistency.^[10] For the second season Tow Ubukata replaced Urobuchi as main writer.^[11] Ubukata mentions he was given the idea of expanding the setting in the form of a sequel. As a result of being given the scenario of the TV series and the film, Ubukata had to write the characters' personalities. Although time of the production was short, he had the time to discuss with the first series' staff. Shiotani aided the team for the final episode which Ubukata was satisfied with.^[12]

Design

Sketches of Shinya Kogami by Akira Amano. The staff avoided using colors that would stand out.

When hearing the comments from Atsuko Ishizuka, director of The Pet Girl of Sakurasou, about the way the characters were designed first, Shiotani realized it was the opposite for his team, who had to create the setting first and then the characters because they "are almost being played by the world". As a result, the characters were designed by manga artist Akira Amano to balance them with the dark atmosphere by having them "palatable and very relate-able". The staff avoided using bright colors that would stand out.^[13] Akane Tsunemori was created as the most relatable character, who would question the setting from the audience's point of view and as the heroine who would come between Shinya Kogami and Shogo Makishima. Akane's progression from an innocent newcomer to a mature and haunted person was one of the staff's main objectives.^[6]

Motohiro allowed his team to use very graphic elements, even though they could reduce female viewership. He acknowledges that the series may be too violent for a younger demographic and said that he would not want his son to watch it because of its psychological brutality.^[5] He added that the team did not want to make a violent series but an "artistic series that just happened to have some violence included in it".^[6] About the amount of violence, Shiotani told Urobuchi, "just let us deal with it".^[6] Some of these violent scenes occur off-camera, but whenever a protagonist was involved the moment was developed to be memorable. The team twice had to remake scenes because the television station complained that they went "overboard."^[6]

Motohiro wanted the series to counter concurrent anime trends. The use of moe (slang) was banned at staff meetings because they appreciated dramas like Mobile Suit Gundam and Patlabor that focus on conflicts between male characters. As the series was "anti-moe"; the team decided to avoid having the female lead character Akane remove her clothes and instead had Kogami do it. Nevertheless, the show attracted a female viewership because the conflict between the male characters appeared to attract the shonen ai genre fans.^[13] Although Shiotani also wanted the series to avoid romance between male characters, he believed the fight scenes between male characters unintentionally attracted female fans.^[13] The staff decided to focus on friendships rather than romantic relationships.^[6]

Influences

The series was inspired by several Western films, most notably L.A. Confidential.^[14] Director Naoyoshi Shiotani cited several other influences, including Minority Report, Gattaca, Brazil and Blade Runner; the latter of which he compared very closely to Psycho-Pass.^[13] Before the making of the series, Urobuchi insisted on using a Philip K. Dick-inspired, dystopian narrative.^[4] The psychological themes were based on the time Shiotani watched Lupin III during his childhood because he thought about adding "today's youth trauma" to the series.^[5] The rivalry between the main characters was based on the several dramas the staff liked.^[13] Other voice actors have been credited in the making of the series because of the ways they added traits to the characters.^[5]

Music

The staff had problems composing an opening theme for the series until someone provided some music by Ling Tosite Sigure, who was engaged to compose the opening theme. Egoist, who composed the ending theme, had debuted on Noitamina with Guilty Crown. Shiotani said they asked Egoist to record three versions of the ending theme so they could alternate them to match the episode's ending.^[10] Across the series, time limits resulted in the ending songs being removed or replaced with instrumental versions to avoid cutting scenes from the episode. When there were concerns from the producers of the songs, Tomohiro and Shiotani discussed this with them.^[6]

Two Psycho-Pass CDs were included in the second and fifth Japanese home media release of the series.^[15][16] The Psycho Pass original soundtrack was released by Sony Music Entertainment on May 29, 2013. It features fifty-five tracks composed by Yugo Kanno.^[17] The second original soundtrack was released on March 18, 2015.^[18] A two-volume drama CD called Namae no nai kaibutsu (名前のない怪物, lit. "The Monster with no Name") based on the prequel novel was released between September 25 and November 27, 2013.^[19][20]

Themes

As some critics have noted, Psycho-Pass explores societal and psychological themes, such as the price of living without stress, and without fear of crime. Indeed, the Sibyl System targets individuals who are considering performing actions that might cause stress to others. But this raises the question of whether it is morally and socially acceptable to charge individuals with crimes they have not yet committed. For example, in the first episode, a woman is raped, and the resultant trauma causes her Psycho-Pass to become clouded. According to Sibyl's instructions, the police are therefore prepared to kill her. But Akane steps in, refusing to accept Sibyl's verdict, and manages to bring the woman's Psycho-Pass level back to the acceptable range by speaking gently to her. Consequently, this challenges the notion that the potential to commit a crime necessarily correlates with actually committing the crime. According to Anime News Network, "We are all capable of doing bad things at times—should we be punished because we thought of hurting someone before we act on it? Or because we were victims? It really all comes back to that first episode and Akane's reaction to the victim who presented as a violent criminal".^[21]

Psycho-Pass further suggests that the price of living without stress includes overriding the individual's needs in favor of general social value. It is morally and socially acceptable to kill individuals who may potentially commit crimes, so long as we accept that the harm that a criminal causes to society outweighs the harm we cause to an individual who is falsely charged. In other words, the Sibyl System operates on the principles of opportunity cost and acceptable risk. But relying on the Sibyl System paradoxically creates a society which fears no crime as a whole, but individuals who personally fear the consequences of the Sibyl System's verdicts. As such, Urobuchi himself has said that one of the series' central thematic ideas is "fear" as seen through Shogo Makishima's feeling of being out of place - because the Sibyl System cannot recognize him for what he actually is, he feels displaced and deviant within the structure of society itself.^[22]

Emotional repression is also explored in Psycho-Pass. The identification of latent criminals is partially based around the avoidance of emotions that society judges to be negative, such as sadness or anger. To avoid being identified as a latent criminal, one must not feel these emotions heavily outside, where their Psycho-Pass can be scanned. Kotaku states, "because of these scans, Psycho-Pass shows an interesting future where 'mental beauty' is as sought after as physical beauty. It is also a future where the police's job is little more than to watch the latent criminals they control—because if they did any real detective work, they might start to think like the criminals they are trying to catch and thus become latent criminals themselves."^[2] Many of the main characters feel nostalgia throughout the series. The many references to older literature, philosophy, music and theatre create a "nostalgic world building for a time before psycho-passes".^[21]

Release

The anime series produced by Production I.G. was broadcast in Japan on Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block between October 12, 2012 and March 22, 2013.^[23][24] Toho started releasing the series on DVD and Blu-ray formats on December 21, 2012 and the eighth and final volume was released on July 26, 2013.^[25][26] Funimation has licensed the series in North America and simulcast it on its website, first in Japanese, and later weekly in English. Psycho-Pass was one of three initial shows aired as a Funimation "broadcast dub."^[27] A home media release was planned for March 2014.^[28][29] In the United Kingdom, the series is licensed by Manga Entertainment and in Australia by Madman Entertainment.^[30][31]

On July 6, 2013, Production I.G. president Mitsuhisa Ishikawa said at Anime Expo that production on a second season had begun.^[32] The second season, titled Psycho-Pass 2, began airing in October 2014; the film was released in January 2015. Before the debut broadcast of the second season, the first season—condensed into 11 one-hour episodes— began airing in July 2014.^[33] The fourth episode was cancelled due to similarities with a real life murder.^[34] Director Naoyoshi Shiotani apologized for this in his Twitter account. Nevertheless, Funimation streamed the episode.^[35] A Blu-ray box set was announced with a scheduled release on October 15, 2014. This set contains both the original first season broadcast and the edited one-hour rerun episodes.^[36]

The second series aired on Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block between October 9, 2014 and December 18, 2014.^[37] The series was collected in a total of five DVD and Blu-ray volumes between December 17, 2014 and April 15, 2015.^[38]

A new animated film was announced on September 6, 2013.^[39] It was released in Japanese cinemas on January 9, 2015. Urobuchi and Makoto Fukami are contributing together as the film's writers.^[40]

Related media

Manga

A manga adaptation illustrated by Hikaru Miyoshi, titled Inspector Akane Tsunemori (監視官 常守朱, Kanshikan Tsunemori Akane), began serialization in Shueisha's Jump Square magazine from November 2, 2012.^[41] Its first tankōbon volume was released by Shueisha on February 4, 2013.^[42] In November 2013, it was announced that 380,000 copies of the manga were shipped in Japan with three volumes.^[43]

Another manga titled Psycho-Pass: Inspector Shinya Kogami (監視官 狡噛 慎也, Kanshikan Kōgami Shinya) premiered in the August issue of Mag Garden's Monthly Comic Blade magazine on June 30, 2014. Natsuo Sai is illustrating the series and the story is written by Midori Gotou and Production I.G.^[33]

Novels

A novelization of the series by Makoto Fukami has been published by Mag Garden in two volumes released on February 4 and April 4, 2013.^[44][45] Shiotani said the novels were more violent than the television series.^[13] A prequel titled Namae no Nai Kaibutsu (名前のない怪物, lit. "The Monster with no Name") was written by Aya Takaba, who worked on the television series. Before the novel was released, it was first published on the "Noitamina Novel" page on Noitamina's official website. The novel was released on February 4, 2013.^[46]

A new series of novels focusing on four characters by Ryō Yoshigami began publication in the August issue of Hayakawa Publishing's S-F Magazine on June 25, 2014. After the serialization ends, Hayakawa Bunko JA revised the novels and published them in October 2014. Other stories will focus on Choe Gu-sung, Shusei Kagari, Yayoi Kunizuka and Shion Karanomori.^[33] Hayakawa Bunko JA also published the Psycho Pass Genesis book in December 2014, which revealed the origins of Sybil and Tonomi Masaoka's involvement.^[33]

Video games

Interactive visual novels titled Chimi Chara Psycho-Pass, which feature chibi versions of the series' characters in original stories, were included with Blu-ray Disc volumes of the anime and are playable on any Blu-ray playing device.^[47][48] In May 2014, it was announced by Anime News Network that a video game based on the series is being developed by 5pb. for the Xbox One; with a PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4 port announced in December 2015.^[49] The game features an original story written by Urobuchi, which takes place during the time period of the anime's first six episodes and focuses on a new set of protagonists confronting a new enemy on a remote island.^[50]

Reception

Fuji TV producer Akitoshi Mori said Psycho-Pass was the first work under his control. Early screenings of the series at the Noitamina Shop & Café attracted few viewers, which bothered Mori. However, as the series continued, the quantity of viewers increased. By the final episode, over 1,000 people had queued to watch the finale even though the venue could only accommodate seventy people. This made Mori happy because he realized how many fans were following and supporting the show; he wanted to see a bigger audience at future screenings.^[33] DVDs and Blu-ray discs of the series achieved good sales.^[51][52] In April 2014, the series was nominated for the Seiun Award.^[53] In the Newtype anime awards from 2013, it was voted as fourth best title of the year.^[54] Episode 11 of the series was awarded "Best Episode" in the Noitamina 10th anniversary fan vote. Shinya Kogami, Akane Tsunemori and Shogo Makishima also appeared in such polls as winners of their own categories.^[55] Anime News Network also listed as the fifth most accessible anime series for people who have not watched Japanese animation.^[56]

The series was well received by publications for anime, manga and other media. Rebecca Silverman from Anime News Network praised the show for its "high level of interest" in depicting its dystopian world. However, she said that its violent scenes were so gruesome they might scare viewers.^[21][57] Kotaku's Richard Eisenbeis called it a "compelling cyberpunk mystery", praising the society depicted and the series of murders orchestrated by Shogo Makishima. However, he criticized the use of advanced technology and compared it with other science fiction films despite saying that it handled the themes better whereas Makishima's immunity to it was left unexplained.^[2] DVD Talk gave high praise to Makishima because of his achievements across the story and his personality.^[58] Certain episodes have been referred as "filler" because they are used as a build-up to the climactic ones.^[21][59] Additionally, criticism has been made by Bamboo Dong from ANN in regards to the plot twist regarding the true nature of the Sybil System which she called "one of the stupidest revelations in the history of anime."^[60]

Thomas Zoth from The Fandom Post praised the show's focus on the relationships between the protagonists and the development from these. Akane's growth across the series earned major praise by multiple reviewers.^[61][62] Zoth enjoyed the series' climactic action scenes between Kogami and Makishima, and the scenes portraying the status quo. He said the sixteenth episode is "Urobuchi's masterpiece."^[63][64] Silverman commented on the parallelism between Akane's and Kogami's development, which resulted in an ambiguous ending that should be decided by the viewers.^[57] The supporting cast received similar praise by DVD Talk but the reviewer said some were underwhelming and Shion is the least-explored character.^[65]

During the streaming of the series, Silverman criticized the animation because of the low lighting levels that might make it hard to understand.^[21][57] Hiroko Yamamura from Japanator noted the series' high budget and praised the animation style and the focus on details and technology. She was attracted by its premise and expected the quality to remain consistent across the entire series.^[66] Similarly, Hope Chapman from ANN praised the animation for its high quality.^[4] Episode 18, which is known for its flawed animation, was improved for the home media release of the series.^[60]

References

External links

• Official website (Japanese)
• Psycho-Pass at the Internet Movie Database
• Psycho-Pass (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Psycho-Pass 2 (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia

noitaminA 2005–2009 Honey and Clover Paradise Kiss Ayakashi: Samurai Horror Tales Jyu-Oh-Sei Honey and Clover II Hataraki Man Nodame Cantabile Mononoke Moyasimon: Tales of Agriculture Hakaba Kitarō Toshokan Sensō Antique Bakery Nodame Cantabile: Paris Chapter Genji Monogatari Sennenki Eden of the East Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 Kūchū Buranko 2010–2014 Nodame Cantabile: Finale House of Five Leaves The Tatami Galaxy Moyasimon: Tales of Agriculture (live-action) Shiki Princess Jellyfish Fractale Wandering Son [C] Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day Bunny Drop No. 6 Un-Go Guilty Crown Thermae Romae Black Rock Shooter Kids on the Slope Tsuritama Moyashimon Returns Natsuyuki Rendezvous Psycho-Pass Robotics;Notes Katanagatari Silver Spoon Galilei Donna Samurai Flamenco Silver Spoon 2 Ping Pong Nanana's Buried Treasure Terror in Resonance Psycho-Pass 2 Your Lie in April 2015–present Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend Punch Line Rampo Kitan: Game of Laplace Subete ga F ni Naru Erased Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress Films Eden of The East Compilation: Air Communication (2009) Eden of the East: The King of Eden (2009) Eden of the East: Paradise Lost (2010) Un-Go episode:0 Inga chapter (2011) Toshokan Sensō: Kakumei no Tsubasa (2012) Anohana the Movie: The Flower We Saw That Day (2013) Psycho-Pass: The Movie (2015) Typhoon Noruda (2015) The Anthem of the Heart (2015) The Empire of Corpses (2015) Harmony (2015) Genocidal Organ (TBA) Category