Psycho pass is a very popular series across the world. And for good reasons. It has good animation memorable characters and a great story with multiple layers. That is a shame that it's second season became what it shouldn't. Though the first season's value doesn't downgrade because another studio shitted on the anime. Let's start. But before that keep in mind.
- i believe there is no such thing as "Objectively" reviewing or giving an opinion on a show/novel/book/movie/manga/game or whatever. I'm not saying it's about taste. Many may like a show that if they think about it come to the conclusion that the show is shit. I'm talking about the point of view.the way someone looks at a show and thinks about it. So being disagree with me or anyone else isn't wrong. Nor strange. That's all - And second when it comes to music everything that i would say is just taste. I just think about like it or not. The music parts are so casually in my reviews. Because i don't know any particular thing about the music
- also i'm not a native English speaker so if someparts have grammar and spelling problems i just can apologize for that
- Most of my reviews are in an account with the same name as this account in myanimelist and i just copy paste some of them that i think i should here in anilist. So if you like to read more reviews or talk with me feel free to come to my account in myanimelist
Now let's really start
# [Story: 9] "When it comes to the story we should expect it to be fucked up. Why? The writer is just a bit too crazy. Just that"
The stories with the concept of utopian/dystopian societies in the future always were a good place for making great moral mysteries or psychological series etc... Psycho pass's japan that is controlled by an AI named sibyl comes with the contradiction and conflicts between collectivism and individualism as the main theme. Anime doesn't necessarily makes one look absolutely bad and other absolutely good which gives depth to the story. It doesn't force you to take a particular side. It makes a great situation for you the viewer. To decide what you want. Most of the plot twists are great and makes the show's story more compelling and helps the characters to progress. It's atmosphere is great and makes you not just watch the situation. But also feel the situation. Making it feel real. Unfortunately although that the story itself is great i think the world building isn't as great as it could. we know what is happening inside of japan with details but we don't know that much about the outside world. it isn't necessarily a bad thing because even the characters themselves Don't care about it that much but considering there is a few non Japanese characters in a future that we don't necessarily know what is the state of the world not just japan. Can be sometimes a bit confusing or annoying. It's world building isn't bad by any means but i feel it could have had some more layers. I mean we until the later seasons just know what japan looks like not all of the world. It doesn't hurts the story itself and the narrative but could have made the story and narrative more enjoyable and detailed if the world building was a bit better. Exept that there wasn't that much to complain about. The system of controlling the society is detailed and the anime doesn't shames to explore it's flaws and how each individual reacts to such a system and situation.the ending is great too and i doubt someone be unsatisfied with it. In the end i just can say the story is great in many parts with very few flaws that if you just don't pay attention to them they don't hurt your overall experience.
>"One man's utopia is another man's hell"
# [Characters:9] When an story about society is written you expect to see different point of views about the situation. In Psycho pass the main cast have this role. We have a system that kills/imprisones peaple based on numbers(peaple's psycho pass). In such a situation different characters have their own agenda and motivation and also points of views. Makishima .kogami and akane. Are the main characters who decide and act based on the situations that the system is responsible of. The main characters are written pretty good and their motivations and purposes are explored and most of their decisions are understandable for the viewer if not necessarily relatable (in other words even if you are not agree with them or think that they are wrong you can understand why they decided what they did. You can understand where most of the decisions are coming from). The main cast have their own personalities and shown to interact with other characters and talk to them logically like normal humans do. Makishima has pretty much enough screentime with most of his companions that he is talking to them. Not about "yeah yeah buddy who are we gonna kill next?". But about their point of views about the situation and the way they live. Makishima sometimes is happy about talking with some characters because he consideres that talking to them has worth. He sees something in them. But sometimes he is just bored or irritated like he is saying "oh. When is he gonna shut up?" With his body language. From the companions he had i consider all of them but one or two the characters that fulfilled their roles. They aren't as great as the main cast at all and are not intended to have that much depth. Their role is to show you makishima and show what means a society controlled by sibyl. And most of them fullfil their roles in this part. Now we go to the Sibyl's side Although that the main characters in Sibyl's side(like akane. Kogami and ginoza) are so good my problem is with the side characters. Akane is shown to grow up in time and decide what she wanted that she became a police(sorry i can't spell their jop right so i just say police) and kogami is a badass character with likable personality and great development and progress and ginoza has his own character arc. I just couldn't understand the importance of side characters. Exept masaoka that i think did his job i think the others could be much better. My main problem is actually with konizoka and kagari. I say it without spoiling anything. in first season kagari has some scenes and his character seems to be so good if just had more screentime and development could have done much more than he did in first season. My problem isn't just this but that konizoka has almost an entire episode for herself and i just think that episode and the screentime that was given to her was wasted. In my opinion even after that episode she didn't got that much development and 23 minutes were wasted. But if that episode was given to kagari and explored more about him that could have been much better because kagari in the final episodes has a much more important role than konizoka. I mean if they just couldn't include 2 more episode to make the series 24 episodes that's fine but why did they wasted one episode for a character that they didn't even developed that much? And the more irritating part is that konizoka is thrown out of the window in season 2 and has no specific role. I mean i know that the second season was created by another studio and urobucher wasn't important in it's development as he was in the first season but not just her character in the first season wasted an episode. But also had no aftermath or benefit in the second season. There are a few other side characters that i think were not that important but that's fine i think i can ignore them but i can't ignore kagari and konizoka. I think it would have been much better if they gave that episode to kagari instead of konizoka.there are a few minor characters that appear out of nowhere and then vanish like they never existed but that is bearable you can ignore them and just view them as plot tools. Other than some side characters there isn't that much problem with the main cast and there are good side characters too so i think exept konizoka wasting an episode there isn't that much major problem to complain about and you can like most of the characters if you just ignore some flaws.
# [Art:9] When it comes to music and artstyle I don't write that much because i just think i can either say it is good or bad. And explain how much it is good or bad. Many non anime fans always complain about the characters eyes and fanservice that they don't like. Psycho pass's artstyle isn't that much eyecandy but is good and has enough detail and most of all it hasn't big eyes and fanservice and has a more realistic art than many anime. So it is another factor that not just fits with psycho pass's theme but also makes it a great gateway to anime world in my opinion. Artstyle is good. I think there isn't much about to talk about
# [Music:8] The music is pretty good too "and makes the good experience even better" haha.Really! when it comes to music i just have my taste for judging so i think i can't say that much about it. My favourite track was the second ending and others are pretty good too. Om. I think i don't have more to say.
# [Enjoyment:10] At first i was not confident of what score i want to give it in enjoyment part. I was annoyed by some scenes (mainly because akane's pacifism) that made me feel:dude what the fuck why why why why you did that. But when i just thinked about those scenes in the rewatch i thought they were not as bad as i remembered and this anime has much more enjoyable parts than it's annoying parts. And i don't think everyone necessarily are gonna be annoyed by the scenes that i was. The show doesn't shames to explore what problems Sibyl system causes and the characters reactions to society's secrets feels real. Anime references to some real peaple (or quotes them) and sometimes shows the character's preferences by these peaple. Real people. Ideals and point of views are an important part of psycho pass and it gives you the opportunity to see different situations created by the society/system/characters and decide for yourself that what you are agree with and what you are disagree with. There are some side characters exactly for such a purpose. Showing you the different sides of the conflict. Makishima has as many conversations as he needs with different characters to fully express his emotions and ideals About the "unordinary" society and system that he hates. Akane is confronted with the system's real nature maybe closer than any other character and has to choose her path. For ginoza and kogami it contains spoilers so i don't say anything. The main cast's existence has value and is worthy of the screentime they got. And in my opinion is worthy of your time. urobocher did a great jop on psycho pass season 1 and created a great psychological anime that not just wants to show you an unordinary yet understandable and relatable society/system. But also gives you some characters to relate to. To love. And a great Anime is created with the combination of this great story and good character development alongside with a beautiful atmosphere and artstyle. Ohm. and also music and voice acting. I doubt if someone really enjoys this type of anime be unsatisfied by psycho pass's season 1.
Hope you liked this review and i hope this was a helpful review for you.
>Maximum score with my taste: 9.2 Maximum score without my taste: 9 Minimum score: 8.7