
a review by CrystavEXP

a review by CrystavEXP
PSYCHO-PASS was one of the first animes I've seen and due to its topic, characters and execution (also emotional attachment) It has become my second favorite anime and my third favorite animanga.
In general terms, PSYCHO-PASS tries to dive on society and its issues from 3 different points of views; Akane's, Kogami's and Makishima's. It is a dialogue-based show with some action scenes and a very strong philosophical side that, again, explores society, justice, and how should society evolve.
This review is most likely going to be a total mess because of how unconnected are some of my thoughts and the strong philosophical component on the series. Nevertheless I'll try to make a decent review, as always, spitting my thoughts.
I DON'T KNOW PHILOSPHY AND I'LL PROBABLY SAY BULLSHIT. BE AWARE
Sorry about my English, and let's start talking about PSYCHO-PASS.
The main element on PSYCHO-PASS has to be the plot. It is based in a futuristic cyberpunk dystopia where people can be "judged" with nothing else than a gun. It decides if you can contribute enough to society or, instead, if you can't, die.
With this premise we meet our 3 most important characters: Kogami, Akane and Makishima (in no particular order). At first, we get introduced to the First Division and see some criminal cases to, a few episodes later, find out that Makishima is the master-mind behind them.
We can often see philosophical discussions with a lot of references to classic books and authors (mainly by Makishima and his mates) discussing human nature and society's purpose. It could seem like they're pretentiously talking with no more purpose but, instead, that's the main theme (I'm considering it the plot) of the whole PSYCHO-PASS S1.
To explore that (I said this like 3 times LOL) they use the 3 main protagonists of the anime to show their (pretty different) points of view and how they collide with each other. I'm gonna briefly comment all of them:
I have mixed feelings with her view; while I'd like the world to be like that (changeable without disrupting the system) I think it's practically impossible to achieve it that way. She represents (as I said) the idealistic thinking. She's also pretty smart and quite naive (specially at the beginning of the series) and seems to be fairly compassionate and insightful. Her view is linked enough (and similar) with Kogami's one and that's why I believe they make a very good tandem. In the other hand she's the total opposite of Makishima since he's utterly wanting to destroy the system, even though the two of them want to make society better (in their own standards).

He's the "dark light" because of the similarities with Akane's thinking but with a harsher way of dealing with justice. I'm not gonna comment much more on it because of the similarities with Akane that makes it clear. He's a pretty interesting main character and one of my favorites, PSYCHO-PASS gains a lot with his presence, his tandem with Akane and his confrontation with Makishima.

His anarchist side is clearly shown in all of his quotes and acts (such as the riots plan and posterior "Sibyl-takedown" plans) and clearly collide with Akane's and Kogami's thinking. Even though he's a criminal he has a pretty interesting view of the world and "good intentions", a deep philosophical rooting and enough charisma to manipulate whoever he needs to achieve its goals.
Makishima portrays the eagerness of freedom, at any cost, but also a stray sheep thirsty of blood. To me he's an outstanding villain (personally it's my favorite, even though I wouldn't declare him as the best villain because there are some other very good ones like Johan, Meruem or Askeladd) that gives an interesting and more crude point of view to the series.

To me, PSYCHO-PASS shines due to the way they portray that collide of points of view. I really can't explain why it makes me feel that way, but only with the symbolism, references and internal debate in the series makes me think that it deserves my praise.
I'm not a musician or anything close to it. But with all the rewatches and having seen this video (in Spanish, if you understand it) I think its OST is simply amazing.
In short, the OST reflects perfectly the plot, with robotic/artificial sounds portraying Sibyl System (asphyxiating and imposing order) and harmonic/organic sounds (like flutes and wind instruments) portraying Kogami and (mostly) Akane trying to change the system. There are also pieces of classical music representing Makishima, they sound fucking crude in the situations they are played, but also giving the scene the "sophisticated" tone of the philosophical topics they're probably having.
I think that the OST in PSYCHO-PASS fits really well the plot, but also sounds pretty good. Also note the voice acting work made by the seiyuus, pretty good in my opinion.
About the visuals I only have to said that the art style is pretty unique and well-done, the animation is quite good and it has good animations for "exploding people" and stuff.
My personal enjoyment is a nearly perfect score for PSYCHO-PASS: a lot of interesting (imo) dialogues about the philosophical main theme, some impressing action scenes, some emotional moments
and, in summary, a very well executed Sci-Fi/Philosophy anime. I would recommend it if you are aware of the nature of this anime, with its dialogues and philosophical side. I'm, not saying "it's only for smart people" or something like that. It is, as always, matter of tastes, nothing more, nothing less.
Those are my thoughts on PSYCHO-PASS, one of my favorite works of all time. I hope you liked them, and I hope you like PSYCHO-PASS as much as I do!

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