#0 - The premise of being a show about prosecution and an active criminal case.
This is the most outer layer of the show and what the synopsis more heavily hint at, but true to other similar shows like Psycho-pass, this is just but the vehicle to carry the ideas and the plot and is not one that is heavily adhered to. For instance, if you are thinking of applying "Knox rules" of mystery or anything like this to explain in a natural and human way what causes the events to unfold, please give up. This show have no qualms in resorting to the unnatural to boost the antagonist side, or rather, advantage, over the protagonist.

Therefore, although it is thrilling and very interesting to see the investigation of the cases moving forwards, after some point it will be made clear to the viewer (repeatedly in case one does not get it the first time) that the other side plays a rather unfair game of having supernatural powers, almost to an esper-level degree. If one was playing RPG it would be as if the villain has a hacked dice that always rolls 20 on a certain roll, and this roll is only for one specific but game-breaking action: "Persuasion".

This must be what bring many to hate the series or make bad of its ending, and I totally understand it as it was a little bit of a letdown for me as well, I usually prefer to have both sides on equal power of footing, and this was simply not the case. It would be as if we have Danganronpa except that the villain is the only person alive with "Ultimate" powers.... well, you would guess how well that would go for the protagonists.

And very similar in nature to this concept, those powers are never properly explained or given hints as how those came to be, as they are deemed as something "natural" from this specific entity that moves the plot forwards against the protagonist, just to make a point. It is not all-powerful, it does have limitations, but it seems to be rather impossible to counter.... sort of. Given that the entire series spans for some months in "real time", it would be wise or expected to have humanity to recognize such evil opponent and derive ways to counter it, and if the setting had any intentions of being a little bit more realistic, this would more likely be the outcome. But again, this is quite likely not the intention of the anime, it is more of a "let us have this discussion for the sake of it, for the sake of a better understanding between both sides", and is expressed as such quite early on.

So, do not hold too tightly to the expectations that you may have for knowing everything and solving every mystery, because the answer is... kinda simple. She just have the power that the series said that she has, period.

#1 - Political Scandals
Now... writing this amidst 2020, for sure many things that I would normally think otherwise, surprisingly hits close to home... One would think that politicians would be at least a little more efficient on doing something, or even at overreacting, but I think this was rather well played by the anime. It was very interesting to see the more classical portrayal of many people being in the loop on the back of the scene, and having the protagonist softly break as he realized that everything he initially did was because his so called first perceived "enemy" was also having problems with some actions taken by the "true villain". Classic backstabbing for this type of theme but with an unusual twist, here they agree to disagree and despite having kinda backstabbed each other, they decide to cooperate for the greater good. And rather quickly too (which I was pleased, normally this would take several episodes if it was other anime).

The whole affair seemed professional, and I liked how the things were handled on this aspect on a surface level. The environment and professional pressure due to the failures and lack of new information, as well as having some very big-shots being rather unproductive or using their strong opinions to fail to see the whole picture... was something very akin to what we are seeing on 2020 and to me, a very "light and simplified" version of politics and corporative structure, which was quite pleasant. Sounded even as some sort of parody of how politicians are deeply incompetent, and... one may agree with that view.

The bad: simple arguments, simple mindset. When the subject that is coming on the next layer was brought up, a committee of opposing leaders were assembled and all of them gave the basic reasons as to why oppose the villain's proposed movement. However, all of those were very simple arguments and bounded to fail from the get-go. So, again, the game was very rigged towards the villains to have an easy win. Perhaps due to the somewhat short run of the show. I would like for it to have lasted longer and go more in-depth regarding the complications and diplomacy constrains that each politician and even nation had, but... oh well... no time for that I suppose.

#2 - Legalization of assisted suicide (the big one)
Not even going to warm this one up. This is a big topic and perhaps the first true core of this anime. It was a "simple" matter of the legality and consequences of allowing individuals to choose to commit suicide painlessly and assisted by the government. Now, one may not know but it is true what was said in the anime that some countries already permit varied forms of this procedure. From the back of my mind I do remember this being allowed in Switzerland (correct me if I am wrong), but of course there are several procedures and one may be put on observance for a long time before the act as to guarantee this was not done on a whim, emotional stress or under pressure or direct (illegal) influence of others.

Some countries allow for such assisted suicides in case of terminal diseases or real heavy and problematic conditions. Usually what is wondered regarding such decisions are factors that involve:

The mental health of the individual;
The impact that it may cause on the surrounding people that are directly connected to the individual (in terms of mental health and wealth);
The societal impact due to losing this life;
The moral precedence of killing someone with a moral code based on the principle of self/life-preservation.

Those points are superficially touched upon in the anime, during an debate between the political party against it and this one big-shot young politician that is the scapegoat of the villain to enact this law. Now, not that this act or law is bad per se, I refer to the entity as a villain because this is the way the show presents itself, and the way the character presents herself. But I will touch on this aspect later.

I do think that death as a "taboo" is a very complicated thing to manage. Any topic that is made taboo becomes that much more difficult to bring awareness to and seriously discuss it. So the idea of making it legal as to be able to more properly manage it, is something that I do support. As touched upon by the anime, making suicide legal is not really simply allowing it, as most countries cannot really refrain one individual from doing it in the first place.

But rather, having such a system in place would facilitate to gather individuals that are considering it to have meetings with counselors that may end up dissuading the individuals to perform it in the first place and, thus, reducing the total number of suicides. This was not touched in depth, but I do think it was defended as such by the villains and, in my humble opinion, it looks right and I have the total respect for bringing this up. This idea could potentially lead into actually saving way more lives than the contrary! And it is made parallel to issues such as the legalization of Marijuana, which... does seem to have a similar effect on the countries that enacted it.

But the whole issue, quite rightfully, is shifted to a rather more direct moral problem. As the laws are based on the idea of morality and upstanding the rights of the society and its individuals, the right... to live... how one would consider just, consider "right" to commit suicide? Which is mainly deemed as a bad thing by the most popular religions and societies out there?

So, the show goes one layer deeper.

#3 - The meaning of justice

The show, without much explanation and on the drop of a hat (although, again, I do agree with the overall idea and message) breaks law and morality from an unchanging or universal status. It links justice to something that is ever changing and should be always analyzed in face of what one have at hands. This goes against many philosophies and ways of thinking as some derive morality as something "divine" or "immortal" to the tests of time.

This thought is constantly bashed by the Protagonist, but it is more properly (but again, not in depth) broken at the end of the anime where they give some simple (but not really wrong) answers which hints at how morality is ever changing. What I do not like about it, is that again, the reasoning is rather weak in examples and substance. Although I do agree with the results...

To put it simply, they agree that what is deemed precisely as moral has been changing, and that such a system was a creation by the humanity or the society as a whole, to function better. This based on some pillars one being natural instinct which leads into the final "official" layer.

So, to the protagonist justice has no inherent definition. It is rather a pursuit of what is "good"... So we head into our last problematic debate.

#4 - Good x Evil

Oh, the classic problem, what is good, what is evil. Why villains are the villains, why the loser is always the bad one, and why """justice""" always prevails. Well, simply but, because we define good as the one that continues. And the show gives us this hell of a long ride only to present this point, but on a rather different way than normally presented.

You may hear that whoever side wins a war, will define its actions as just and good, and the opposing side as vile, bad and evil. And one might find truth to that. The problem is that due that as we derive very specific rules to govern society based on this system, some level of hypocrisy will always take place. As to say, we always do the "unjust (in some degree)" to "punish" or "correct" those that were unjust... An oxymoron.

This anime takes a little bit of a different route, and a far more interesting one, trying to generalize good and evil back to its roots. And tying what is deemed as good as the "self-preservation" of life, but not quite. But rather the possibility to only "continue". Which is, may I say, quite correct.

Except... there is a little bit of a physical problem with that, which I will raise on the next point and that was left out of the anime, but not entirely. In the end the anime makes this very clear that to continue (one's life) is usually what is deemed as good. To be able to go against it, to actively interrupt the acting of living to be what is bad.

And that despite of fully knowing this as a "fact", people are easily coerced into wanting to be evil...

And, to have a clearer understanding and to have this debate with the protagonist, and to show him that being evil is necessary to being good, the whole plot of the anime was made. And the true villain of the series made what she made, just to break this one prosecutor's life and moral code. Or rather, force him to acknowledge that he must act in an evil way to achieve a greater good.

I enjoyed the ride quite a lot, and enjoyed even more that in the end.... "evil has prevailed". Which, I present why is relevant on the next point.

#5 - Meaning of life.

The show then presents, via the so claimed president of the United States, "The Thinker" which, thinks really hardly about the whole moral issue... a conclusion: being good is the meaning of life, and the meaning of life is to "continue".

Hmmmmmmmm I would give that probably a 8/10 in terms of the complete answer, because you know.... There is just a little bit of a problem with this answer and you see... is that, by answering that life is "good", and that "continuing" is also good, one creates a little bit of a contradiction, as, you see... in the end of the day and on the large scale of things... The only thing I can define as of meaning of life is to accelerate its own demise.

So, maybe you want more information on that? It may be boring but I go on further detail below:

Life, as I understand it and seems to be the logical continuation of the anime train of thought (not really hinted at though), is but one of the mechanisms of the universe that accelerate its equilibrium (of energy).

In other words, if you have an ice cube on a ambient temperature table, the ice will melt without any external help, and there is no remaking this little pound of water into an ice cube again... unless you use energy from elsewhere to do so.
So is the way of the universe. Life, helps to make processes similar to this one to take place more frequently and faster.

And, by that I mean, to more rapidly increase the entropy of the universe. As one may quickly understand as life seems to do very stupid and logical damaging things to its environment and even to itself. I mean, why would nature invent something that basically ruins planets and consume resources for sheer entertainment and procreation? Well, simply put, to move energy from point A to point B in larger amounts and faster than it would move if there was no life in the first place.

This may sounds rather boring, so let me give you the final spice. When there is no energy to be moved anymore, life is impossible. Which is to say, that we reached the so called "death of the universe". So, if life does quite a lot only to accelerate this process one could easily argue that the purpose of life is to end the universe (as fast as possible). And thus, to end itself.

Hmmmmm? But then.... if "evil" is "to end"....? Would that not make the act of living... evil? Even more so, the act of protecting life itself and allowing it to "infect" land, sea, air, entire astral bodies and who knows how much more in the future... even more "evil"?!

I see most brushing or shrugging this one off as "so what? we kill everyone?" or "the universe has time, who knows we discover a way to revert entropy by then...?" Well, enticing ideas, no doubt, but... it does not seem to be headed this way. The system does seem to be rigged as to not allow one to ever break the fundamental thermodynamic laws. Yes, laws.

And before the smartest (but not really) tool in the shed points out to seemingly law-breaking experiments, articles or headlines. One needs to learn and read the fine-print. It is, indeed, possible to decrease entropy locally. The same way that it is possible to make a room cooler with the use of an A/C. There is a catch though, there is always a catch, and it is that by decreasing the entropy in one place you are increasing it in the same proportion (or rather even more) on another place.

A/Cs heat up the air outside of your room and at the same time consume electrical energy that is coming from somewhere. Even if the source is "renewable" energy, and it is based of the Sun, be aware that the Sun is slowly dying and will run out of fuel eventually. And instead of letting this energy slowly dissipates through the universe, we are harnessing it do to all sorts of useful and useless things. And usually doing in such a complex way that makes this energy to be even more scattered than it would be if we were not here using it.

This is simply put called the "inefficiency" or our systems, actions and gadgets. And this inefficiency is what helps the universe to die a little earlier, just by living, and even more so by using such gadgets.

Under this sense, yes, it is "bad" to "continue". And one could say that villains are, in the end of the day, the actual heroes that needs to convince everyone else (to die). Now isn't this quite ironic?

#6 - Personal takeaways

Please do consider that this is all hypothetical. And a very deep discussion of the matters of life and death, good and evil, moral and immoral.
I am prone to believe that our moral code should be defined not as what is grounded as "evil" and "good" but rather, at what is beneficial to the society as a whole. And it seems that we drift it this sense, more or less.

Morality and laws many times have changed over to adapt to the culture of each civilization to protect what this civilization thought to be important, thought that it would help the society as a whole. Be it cannibalism (to give its warriors strength) or war (to expand its nation and beliefs). Even if such rules were remodeled as bad later.

Lucky for us, most countries are past the "dark ages" of morality, and have a better understanding on how to promote progress and how to promote the overall well-being of the system and its parts (individuals). Is it perfect? No. Does it needs tweaks? Yes, always.

As put by the anime, this is an ever changing system that will always pave ways to modify it and provide better conditions to the living organists of this society to promote their reason d'être, which is, in the end of the day, a very evil thing to do. But an evil thing that we are all committed to do it together, and, because we are on the winning side... we brand it as good. Even if (not) knowing of how hypocrite that may be.

So what about the villain?!!??!

Oh, almost forgot about that. If you really missed all of the text and debate above, if that is just not your "cup of tea" and you were too blinded by the mystery and investigations. The true villain is a representation of the whore of Babylon, and well, basically is a woman that can adopt many faces and appearances. And that, more impressive than all, can persuade anyone to commit suicide by whispering one or two phrases on their years.

Supposedly she has some sort of wild game-breaking, "godly" pheromones or something similar to that. It is so intense that she as a teenager could already render adults helpless, feeling that they were raped by them, and raped by the lust of wanting to do anything she asks them to. So, she kinda learns how to control this power of hers to make her slaves do whatever. But she seems more interested in having they kill themselves.

She is limited to her human body... so she cannot teleport or anything like that. But her persuasion powers, somehow, works even via wi-fi or via the landline. Do not ask me why, but apparently only hearing to her voice, even if she is in a different country and doing it via a phone call, may trigger a reaction.

Now, the show seems to hint that she uses different tricks on different people. So she may have some extraordinary intuition as to know what to tell to each person to make them want to kill themselves. So... well, and then you ask me why I called her some sort of Danganronpa character? Or Esper? Well, that is the reason why.

No true explanations of how this works, or how this came to be. She is there only to make a point, and to move the plot. So, to me, she is (like others like her) not a character, but rather, an entity. Like Joker, or other similar to that. They are "inevitable", and their weaknesses and flaws are usually not all that relevant to the vast majority of the plot. Usually the "good" side wins by exploiting the flaws, but this anime decided to not do it or even really try it. Which is fresh for me, and I appreciate it, I only found somewhat lacking to not even... try... to exploit it properly. If it was me everyone on the white house would learn sign language or something, and ban the entry of females on all premises... Which would raise interesting moral debates on its own, like female prejudice, or how to trust female partners. But then, what can you do? It is an "unnatural being" we are dealing with.

It seems she is only using somewhat high-end disguises (as her breast size is usually more or less consistent). Eye color change and hairstyle could be colored lenses and wigs... So I guess? But I would not put plastic surgery past her, even though her "actual face" appears from time to time, after the disguises, so unless she actually has shape-shifting or perception altering abilities (that alters even what cameras capture) I would think those were all very clever disguises.