Psycho-Pass Volume 1 [Anime review]

I saw a brief trailer for this anime not too long ago, and knew right away that I'd enjoy watching it. So I prowled Amazon like a big cat, waiting for a deal, and one day I caught it at over 50% off for both volumes 1 and 2. They were mine! 

Akane Tsunemori, our main character.

This is a beautifully animated, science fiction tour de force. Ok, that's enough of that... no more cheesy lines like you would read in the Times reviews.

4.5 out of 5 stars

This series is good. Is it perfect? No... it's just really really close.

Psycho-Pass is set in the year 2113, in what I assume is Tokyo, Japan. I'll be honest, we're never really given the exact location, at least not in the first volume.

The Dominator -  variable output hand gun.

In the future humans are kept safe and secure under the Sibyl System (シビュラシステム). This system monitors people's Psycho-Pass, an amalgam of their personality, mental-state, and probability that they will commit a crime (crime coefficient). All this is done through external monitors that use cymatic scans of the brain. Cymatics have to do with visible sound vibration... so I'm not entirely on board with this tech. Now perhaps the author wanted to use Modal Analysis... I don't know.   

Something for the ladies.

All this really sets up is a pretty totalitarian system of justice.

As an aside, I've encounted the word Sibyl a lot recently. In various media. I know its just the phenomena where you becomes aware of a word or number, but still... it has been odd. It all started when I watched Simoun.

Nightmare fuel. Seriously, these things creep me out.

The story begins when Akane Tsunemori joins the PSBCID, or the Public Safety Bureau's Criminal Investigation Division. The Sibyl System assigned her to this work thanks to her outstanding scores. She is one of two main investigators who work along side Enforcers. Enforcers are Latent Criminals tasked to serve the police, in fact many are ex-investigators. Their job is to seek out and apprehend criminals and latent criminals. A person is labeled a latent-criminal when their psycho-pass exceeds a certain threshold. They are apprehended before they can commit a crime, and taken into rehabilitation. 

An example of a Psycho-Pass. This is from Vol.2...

Immediately, I mean out the gates in the very first episode, you are exposed to some serious problems with Sibyl. A woman is abducted and sexually threatened by a hard-core criminal. The problem lies in the fact that the stressful situation she is in is escalating her psycho-pass, making it 'cloudy.' She is turning into a latent criminal because of the violence being done to her person. Traumatic experiences can corrupt a persons psycho-pass.

If you are watching and not feeling uncomfortable at this very idea, you are not paying enough attention.

This is a strong science fiction series. You can feel the influences of other strong science fiction films and stories. There are shades of Minority Report, a touch of Blade Runner, a little Brazil, a dash of Seven, and a smorgasbord of others.

Another bonus. The music is done by EGOIST, the same group that did the excellent music from Guilty Crown. I love their work. By far some of the best music for anime I've ever heard. Maybe not as good as the music from Macross Plus (to this day I absolutely love the Macross Anthem, and that's not even talking about the songs of Sharon Apple) but it is equal to the various works by Two Mix or the vocal talents of Megumi Hayashibara. I'm quite a fan of anime music, and EGOIST is certainly quite a talent.

I'm already watching the second volume (so that review will be up soon), and I've heard that a second season is begin worked on and will be televised in Japan this October, and a feature length movie is coming in Q! of 2015. Good times, good times.

Artwork of a Demented Mind.