Psycho-Pass is proving to be something unexpectedly enjoyable, until they literally dropped the plot twist right in my face halfway through

December 2, 2013 by Hyunnie 2 Comments

Alright, I’ve been eyeing this series ever since it finished broadcasting back in March this year, but due to uni, work and life in general, I never had the chance to seclude myself from society and actually start to watch it. Now that I have, I can finally give a nice chat about what I’ve thought about it from my initial impressions, what I come to conclude after reaching the halfway point, and what I hope to see in the future with the remaining half to go.

And hopefully, it is to recover from the unsatisfying plot twist that was just thrown in my face about 10 minutes ago.

…Let’s start, shall we?

By the way, it may contain some slight spoilers; just a heads up eh?

My Initial Impressions/Expectations:

Looking around for new animes to watch, I wanted to immerse myself in a world that seemed familiar yet different from my own. Psycho-Pass seemed to fit the bill; a cyberpunk, dystopian crime thriller set in a futuristic Japan which tries to explore the connections between the mind and the actions criminals take. This futuristic society has been transformed into a world where human emotions and values aren’t taken into consideration; it is measured through a “flawless” (and I put that in quotations for a reason you’ll understand later) system run by machinery that measures your ‘psycho-pass’ and alerts authorities if becomes highly unstable.

The technology used in it makes you wish you had it for yourself too

And with what I’m introduced to, it definitely demonstrates that just within the first episode. All genre elements are clear, and it is exactly as it has been briefly described among numerous blog sites that I’ve seen. What really got me interested was definitely the whole idea that your mental state could be measured instantly with a device, and deemed either mentally unstable, or just fine. With that whole concept under your belt, the series continuously challenges your values as a person not only in the eye of the authority, but also through the eyes of the criminal, and that’s what makes this series more unique than it initially seems.

Poor lady…at least she got out okay

And that ending song? Wow. Honestly, it’s been a while since I’ve listened to a large amount of Jpop in the last year or so (I’m blaming uni and lack of anime for that cough cough), but that song alone has convinced me to realise “Hyunnie, I knew you were an idiot to ignore Jpop for so long”. Now, this song called 名前のない怪物 or “The Monster With No Name” by Egoist is simply amazeballs; seriously you’ve got to check it out, regardless of whether or not you’re deciding to watch the anime.

As many reviews online may say about this series (which I’ve tried and attempted to ignore with great mental power), Psycho-Pass makes links with its unofficial predecessor Ghost in the Shell (GITS), another cyberpunk anime series which covers the themes relating to the nature of the human soul when met with a world surrounded by cybernetics (a great and iconic series which you should go ahead and watch by the way if you haven’t done so already ;D) Honestly, you should view this series by itself as another anime, rather than compare it side-by-side with GITS; I feel as if it’s wrong to nit-pick at this anime just because it doesn’t seem to be living up to the cyberpunk genre GITS initially created within that world…just my own opinion, but you can say differently otherwise.

What I think after reaching halfway:

I literally just watched episode 1-11 in one sitting, apart from going to refill my cup with tea twice and running off to the bathroom once (hehe, too much information?). I think that information in itself says it all; it was good, much better than expected. It is addictive, and quite compelling to watch. Seeing the crimes unfolding one by one, and realising that all of them have one connection in common is fascinating to discovery and follow. Sure you aren’t left in a state of suspense after the end of every episode (that’s probably because I had already downloaded all the episodes lol) but you can’t help but just sit there and continue onwards with the ride. This is due to the fact that you are always left thinking, “What will happen to him/her next?”, which means that your brain actually gets to do something for a change.

Until I sadly reached episode 11, which I had totally expected to be no different from the previous episodes.

Boy, was I wrong.

And in a bad way.

I won’t go ahead and say exactly what it was that I discovered but let’s just say, I questioned for a second whether or not I wanted to go ahead and finish the series.

That may seem extreme, but that was just how bad that twist left me, and I hate feeling this way. I’ll probably talk about it once I finish the series, alright?

Once again, just a heads up, ‘kay?

What to look for in the future:

I will still continue watching this series regardless; I’m already halfway, why not finish this right? Hopefully, this plot twist won’t damage me enough to ruin my experience at what seemed to be a really good anime to begin with. The setting seems great, the characters are fantastically developed and the plot is pretty solid soooo what else should/could I ask for? *Cough* Less annoying main girls maybe *cough* Nah, Akane is alright; she’s better than most emotionally damaged protagonists I see these days (hint hint The Heirs)

Akane’s cool, though she doesn’t top off as great as the other characters

I’ll finish this off, and I’ll probably be back tomorrow or the next day with the remains of this review! Thanks for reading guys!

❤ Yami Hyunnie ^^~

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