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「聖者の晩餐」 (Seija no Bansan)
“The Saint’s Supper”
I’m not sure anyone’s Psycho-Pass hue could stay clear after this episode. Halfway through its run, this series delivers one of its most suspense filled and tense episodes yet – and if that wasn’t enough, the developments which unfolded and the questions that were raised made it one of the most emotionally powerful episodes of the season as well.
The times may be different and the technology and society nearly unrecognizable, but some things never change. Since the beginning of this series, we’ve seen various characters struggle with and chafe at the limitations imposed by the Sibyl system on their lives. It didn’t matter what their social standing was – latent criminals, who have obvious reasons to be discontent, share the same sentiment as people who are the cream of the crop, who seemingly have everything made. In one way or another, they are all searching for what it means to be alive. Whether it’s a rookie detective or an aspiring artist, a rich construction tycoon or a criminal mastermind, each and every one of these personalities shares this elusive goal, made all the harder because of Sibyl’s pervasive reach.
Judging by his social standing, Senguuji is someone who doesn’t appear to have any discontent with his life (or the one Sibyl has given him), and thus has no need to search for what it means for him to be alive. After all, he himself willingly paid for nearly his entire body to become cybernetic, and he has prepared rebuttals for anyone questioning his decision to become a cyborg.
Many people have probably suspected that Makishima would turn out to be the character whose psychological makeup would be perfect for exposing the failings of Sibyl, and this episode essentially confirmed their suspicions. It is reasonable to assume that Sibyl’s inability to “accurately” calculate Makishima’s Crime Coefficient is where his notion of a person’s value originated. After his “criminal” intent failed to set off any alarms, he likely began questioning the Sibyl system itself. In fact, according to Tsunemori’s Dominator, it appeared as if the closer Makishima came to slitting Yuki’s throat, the lower his Crime Coefficient became. Like many smart viewers, he realized that Sibyl doesn’t take will into account at all, since his own criminal intentions did not set off any warning flags. Conversely, people like Masaoka and Kougami were tagged as latent criminals, despite not displaying any will towards committing criminal acts.
It was only a matter of time before Urobuchi Gen’s cruel and sadistic imagination would have our innocent main character undergo the trademark suffering that the screenwriter is known for putting his characters through. There is probably going to be a fair number of people who are angry at her or consider her stupid for not hitting Makishima, but there are several possible reasons that might explain her inability to do so. First of all, she’s likely in a lot of shock from many sources at once. Not only is one of her closest friends being held hostage, her Dominator flat out refuses to fire. On top of that, she has to grapple with the possibility that the Sibyl system she has come to rely on, the basis for all her police work, can no longer be trusted. Also, it appeared that Tsunemori really did intend to shoot Makishima, but since it’s doubtful she’s ever had any training with a gunpowder-based weapon (Masaoka mentioned how rare their usage is), the considerable recoil caught her off guard, causing her to miss.
- Kougami didn’t know that he was being hunted by a cyborg, so he probably thought when Senguuji’s left arm was blown to bits, he would be too caught up in all the pain to immediately whip around and return fire. Also, slowing down the scene shows that Kougami’s hit was not a direct one, as some of the shot hit the concrete wall next to him – probably saving his life.
- Makishima’s machinations seem like they are so ingrained into his personality that he always tries to manipulate others in order to judge their bared souls, usually by cornering them into a situation where they are either forced to kill or faced with imminent death. While it is possible that the entire time his final target was Tsunemori, too many dominoes would have had to fall in line in order for him to setup the fateful face-off with her. It’s far more likely that he took Yuki hostage as a precautionary bargaining chip in case he found himself running into the police. When the situation presented itself, he used Yuki to force Tsunemori into using Senguuji’s hunting rifle. After all, Makishima knows that the police, as one of the methods where Sibyl most visibly exerts its influence, has grown too reliant on it. They turn to the system for everything: definitions of justice, of good, and of evil, and most disturbingly, they shift the responsibility and burden of killing another person onto a computer system. For all intents and purposes, the police of PSYCHO-PASS can be considered only slightly above mindless killing machines.
The halfway point of a show may not necessarily be a critical juncture, but it can be a reliable marker to judge what the show has accomplished to this point and the direction it intends to take the story. By all measures, PSYCHO-PASS has laid a strong foundation for an entertaining, smart, and compelling second half. The fascinating dystopian society has been well detailed, most of the main characters have been fleshed out, and now the main antagonist’s true intentions have been fully revealed. Makishima is the clear antagonist and his inability to be judged by Sibyl makes for an intriguing challenge for Tsunemori, Kougami and their fellow Inspectors and Enforcers to overcome. As we await the latter half of the series, the main question becomes whether the Sibyl system changes in order for the police to stop Makishima, or if the police themselves change.
- Sorry for the delayed post, I had holidays, families, festivities and what not. Hope that all of you are having wonderful holidays with your loved ones too!
- PSYCHO-PASS will not be airing for the next two weeks. It will return the first full week in January.
- Full-length images: 01, 03, 06, 10, 14, 23, 33.
Nooo! Yuki doesn’t deserve to die like that 🙁
makishima why you killed the fan service…i dont event…
Damn it! Why do they always take the hot ones!
Moral of the story: Try not to get overly attached to Gen’s characters.
I thought Yuki was going to make it until Makishima took her with him.
Makushima should have taken some pointers from our hero Kirito-kun in the correct handling of a knife.
It’s ok, we still have the glasses girl!
Nice going, you just set off her death flag.
Wouldn’t this be a valid point to not use the Sibyl system? I mean, assuming their world isn’t perfect, there’s going to be some that slip through the cracks…if everything’s controlled through an “all seeing” system, then these people would be dangerous. Perhaps Tsunemori is like Makishima? Just a thought.
Ya, but in any society, a ‘couple’ of errors is not just cause to revamp an entire system
I’ll bring a basketball analogy…when shaquille o’neal was at his prime, nobody could stop him with the current NBA rules. Different NBA coaches took advantage of the current rules to help deter him because he was an “error”. They even changed the rules due to contain (debatable) him. Sure, not enough to revamp, but sure as hell to take a look at the system and adjust, or make a anti-makishima system lol.
I guess how big the error is and how related the error is to the original purpose of a system. In this case, it’s demonstrated vividly that Sibyl fails to deliver what it is supposed to do. However, people are still the opposing force to a change and of a change this big.
This is where it gets interesting to see how the story progresses — will we see an abolition, ways that the character (Kougami, Masaoda and Akane?) can get past and perfect, or every character simply crumbles due to a faulty system?
I think the current version of Sibyl is incomplete, that’s all. Science always presupposes that any theory that stop bearing fruit is retested and modified or replaced. Unfortunately, in Sibyl society, everyone grew complacent and it’d be interesting to see if they ever snap out of it to the extent that they realize things need to change.
They just need an ever more technologically oriented society which could take factors like will into account and judge psychopaths like Makishima (poor Yuki!!!) taking their intentions and desires into account and not just scanning their aura 🙂
Rather, the creators of the system designed Sibyl, knowingly or otherwise, to become a system that can no longer be “altered”. Sibyl has become what the people regard as “the perfect judge of right and wrong”. No decision made by it is “wrong”, and as long as you follow the instructions it gives, you’ll never need to make a decision out of your own will.
So if Sibyl doesn’t decide that it is a flawed system, does anyone in that society have any authority to say otherwise? Does one question god if his decisions are right or wrong, or tell god that he is not complete? Their society has progressed to such a state of “serenity” because of the Sibyl system, so a minority choosing to question its design would be akin to treason. Not to mention that the crime co-efficient of a person doubting the system would likely shoot up, and make him or her a potential latent criminal. Those smart enough to recognize the flaws in the system would also probably be smart enough not to let themselves be troubled by the issues and cause more problems.
But do you really want to live under a “complete” Sibyl system?
Why not? It would require us to ponder what the definition of “complete” encompasses though, but I would say that a complete system would create an environment perfect for man to exist in. It would likely take the “serenity” effect and lack of environmental stress into account and provide solutions to the resulting drop in lifespans. It would truly be an utopian society achieved.
Well you could be right in that if people like Makishima didn’t exist (for the convenience of the plot), the system would work just fine and is a damn quantum leap over the shit we have right now. Maybe its a grand conspiracy by the anime creators to preserve the status quo by pointing out what is unlikely to happen outside of anime 🙂
Urobuchi Gen must have something against busty women- Mami (Madoka); Female assassin (Fate/Zero); Yuki (Psycho/Pass)
Add to that list Cal from ‘Phantom; Requiem for the Phantom’
He was actually pretty nice to Cal. The only end where she had it bad was Ein’s end. And she didn’t even have a brutal death.
And don’t forget You from Saya no Uta.
Don’t remind me of You. Seriously, that was a thousand times worse than Mami, at least she went quickly.
In the event it gets an anime adaptation, would u watch it?
No way on earth is ‘Saya no Uta’ ever getting an anime. Seriously sick!
Truly, Urobuchi is an evil man.
If he wasn’t evil, we wouldn’t have known him and loved him for his works until now, would we? I’m quite surprised when I read Fate/zero.. Well, I quite expected it when I saw the author – having played Saya no Uta – but never quite expected the extent to which he was going to take “twisted”. This much is rather tame for Urobuchi in terms of the blood and guts, but the revelations is on a different magnitude.
For the episode, I kinda expected Makishima to be unreadable by the Sybil system, but for him to go lower and lower the closer he comes to kill Yuki was quite unexpected. Seems like the system reads your hue based on changes in your body’s chemistry which is in turn based on your own perception of morality. Feeling bad about doing something evil (even unconsciously) makes your hue cloudy, whereas if you think that it’s a good thing even though it is what society perceives as evil would not affect you. Guess conscience plays a major part in the story..
Well, Akane better learn from this. We’ll see her develop in the next few episodes. Will she turn into an Enforcer or will she retain her crime coefficient?
Great review as always. Didn’t know that Psycho-Pass won’t be airing for two weeks…thanks for the heads-up…gonna wait patiently then.
As for Akane, I do think that she’s unwilling to shoot using the gun-powdered weapon. Her refusal to drop the Dominator — so that she could hold the gun with both hands — caused her making those half-hearted and random shots. Yes, she was in shock, but her overly reliance on Sibyl was a cause of her friend’s life — there is no doubt about that whether or not she is on par as an opponent to Makishima. Yes, I was mad at her actions in this episode (and in the first one when she shot Kougami), but it will be interesting to see how her character changes and the story progresses in the second cour.
As Urobuchi Gen is famous for killing off characters, I hope that both Kougami and Masaoka — my favourite characters — will survive at the end.
Kogami might survive since he’s the main character, but I doubt Masaoka will survive. He’s too cool.
If/when Masoaka gets killed I will cry.
If he dies, I bet it’s because of Akane 🙁
Makishima just became one of my favorite anime villains of all time.
Slightly overpowered, but he makes for a wickedly likeable anti-villain.
Coincidentally, I’m re-watching the old series “Monster”
I can draw some character similarities between these series. Naturally, Makishima is Johan as they are both pure psychopaths and excepted by society. Other character equivalents:
– Tsunemori as Anna/Nina
– Kogami as Dr. Tenma
– Ginoza as Inspector Lunge
– Yuki as Nina’s parents
In my opinion, Monster is the best manga I ever read.
Wow, and I thought I was the only one who thought this was very similar to Monster.
Makishima is very much like Johann, a psychopath that more or less keeps his hands clean and lets other psychopath do the dirty work for him, and like Johann, he is too unpredictable for even the Sybil System to make an accurate assessment of his mental state.
Keeps his hands clean? It doesn’t seem like he feels that way. He enjoys watching individuals bare their souls, so to him, the work would have been beautiful, rather than dirty. The deeds of murder were merely means to an end.
I also don’t think that it was Sibyl’s inability to accurately read Makishima’s crime co-efficient, but something to do with Makishima himself. I might discuss that in some comments further down.
(I need to watch/read Monster again. Can’t remember half of the stuff that happened.)
Psycho-Pass shares a lot of similarities with Monster. Hell, the ending even alludes to it: the end theme title is “Namae no nai kaibutsu” (The nameless monster), which is the name of a fictional book referenced in Monster, and the full lyrics of the song also allude to Monster to a certain degree.
Akane was doomed to fail Makishima’s test from the start. Makishima was forcing Akane to throw away her belief on the system, i.e. one that determined she was suitable for the job as an inspector. No matter how smart you are, it is no easy job to let go what you have held on to for your whole life. Stepping into Akane’s shoes, dropping the Dominator was an impossible task.
On a side note, my dad and I had a discussion on how the outcome would be different if Masaoka, or Kougami, or even Ginoza were put into this situation (assume that Makishima was holding hostage of someone dear to them respectively, not specifically Yuki). With no doubt, both Masaoka and Kougami would shoot the rifle right then and there. But what about Ginoza? We have seen how strictly (sometimes blindly) Ginoza follows the Sybil system. Maybe Ginoza would even refuse to pick up the rifle at all. Of course, this is just some food for thought; Makishima would never test these people in the same ways (kind of defeats the purpose).
Anyhow, I think the most important development next episode would be whether Akane’s mind will become cloudy or not. So many times have Akane’s mind been complimented on but it would be quite interesting if she goes crazy!
Excellent post that does justice to an episode that once again mind fucks you. She didn’t deserve to be done in. I’ve already had that sinking feeling when Makishima dragged her away (;_;). A minute of silence for Yuki.
Back to the show, its shocking to see that the show somewhat highlights to us on our over reliance on technology. I’d say that I’m guilty of it as well. True since we’re SO used to bask in technology, we tend to take it that what ever it does or says as the gospel truth. From Makishima’s exposition and Sybil’s analysis of his CC, Tsunemori’s definately shattered (note: shattered. Not broken. Not shocked.), almost to the point of routing I’d say.
Detractors would comment on her folly of abandoning the system just to save Yuki. That may be but frankly speaking, when your faith and belief is deeply entrenched in any given system and stress and shock placed on you, abandoning the system would be the last thing you might want to do. Thus to fault Tsunamori for her folly would be unfair IMO.
I have to admit… The episode utterly left me in despair. ZETSUBOU SHITA!!!! Among the 3 Urobochi works I’ve watch thus far, Madoka Magica felt like a show with a happy ending. I had to douse myself with GuP, Sakurasou and Nise- just to perk myself up. Now I need to get a strong shot of Otome x Amnesia to cheer myself up after reading this blog.
Random thoughts –
Just for the fun of comparison, this scene https://randomc.net/image/Sword%20Art%20Online/Sword%20Art%20Online%20-%2025%20-%20Large%2013.jpg pales in comparison to this https://randomc.net/image/Sword%20Art%20Online/Sword%20Art%20Online%20-%2025%20-%20Large%2013.jpg
I just found the ED’s translation and its quite reveling. Seems to revolve around Tsunmori, Makishima and Kougami. Might post it here for discussion if I got the time
Forgot to add one more thing –
Is Makishima the second coming of the Incubators? Albeit with a different motive from the Incubators in Madoka world line?
Now, it’s time to make the contract.
／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼
No, Incubators are amoral. Makishima is sadistic.
Sadistic? Nah. I don’t think he enjoys killing. He IS immoral by society’s standard though.
I didn’t say he enjoys killing. But he enjoys observing heightened emotion including suffering, b/c it’s outside of what’s permitted by this society.
Also, could also say Kyuubey’s function in MSMM is like Sibyl in Psycho Pass b/c both sacrifice the happiness of individual humans to maintain the equilibrium of the greater collective whole.
He doesn’t derive pleasure from inflicting or witnessing the suffering. What he enjoys is the “baring” of the soul. He’d probably be as intrigued by a man who gets down on his knees to cradle a flower that had just be trampled on.
I’d actually drawn the comparison between Makishima and Kyuubey (and I did, in another comment below), but I can see what you’re getting at.
Hmmm…I don’t think Akane is foolish but only inexperienced. However, her action in this episode tells us that she made the choice of safeguarding her belief in the system over her friend’s life. I am trying to separate this from empathizing the situation — a difficult and horrible one — that she was thrown into.
Was it really that mind-blowing of an episode? It was able to get the gears in my head moving, but it wasn’t overwhelming. I was impressed only by the revelation of Makishima’s motives.
Akane’s relying on authority to guide her, not just technology to make it more efficient to carry out decisions. The more I ponder the scenario, the more worried I get, because it feels like the implications of the scenario are aimed at those who have faiths.
Being Christian, I occasionally wonder what I’d do if someone questioned and challenged my belief in a way that I’d be unable to give a reasonable answer or to overcome. Does it still make sense to blindly believe in something that has already been proven to have some sort of flaw in it, and am I lying to myself if I choose to ignore these flaws? Am I wrong for having my faith, and do I have no other choice but to change my belief in what I had thought was perfect Truth?
I suppose our dear Akane has such similar thoughts floating around in her head, and the death of a friend to add. To be you is suffering, inspector Tsunemori, but you have no one but yourself to blame. Yes, the fault was hers, regardless of the multitude of factors that led up to the outcome. It was unfortunate that she had to be burdened with such circumstances, but she was ultimately given the power to change everything, but she failed. There is no one else to blame.
My Crime Coefficient level went up pretty high after watching this episode. I blame Kyub- I mean, Makishima for that.
Cheers to that. Fortunately such a system is non-existent. If mot, all of us woulb be done in by the Denominators
but it’s true that if that systeme exist my Psycho-pass would rise exponential too .
After watched it I nearly pook creep
Same. I was so torn up by this episode that I felt so empty the rest of the evening after watching it.
Now I don’t even want to imagine any of the main cast’s (inevitable?) deaths.
Yuki got Urobutchered.
Oh well…
Urobutcher strikes again. Poor Yuki.
So Makishima is an “error in the system”, a man whose crime coefficient remains low – even dropping to zero – even as he plans and executes a brutal murder.
Not surprising Akane is completely broken now. She was, in a way, a poster child of the Sybil system – someone gifted who could take up any job, and whose crime coefficient stayed low despite witnessing some quite bad crimes… Might this make her a similar “error in the system”? Who knows, but once the whole system is being brought into question, it is not impossible that there are more people like that out there. And when we are at it, this might mean that many peoples are deemed latent criminals despite not having slightest intent of commiting crimes.
What is most disturbing, is that Makishima, the cold blooded murderer that he is, is the sole remaining proponent of the free will in the world, being effectively more human than inspectors hunting him – being reduced to mere gears in the Sybil system.
The confrontation with Makashima was great. Very tense especially with Makishima spouting philosophy and somehow staying out of SIBYL’s radar. Unfortunately all the shock of Yuki’s death is lost because I saw it coming a mile away. Its still a very good scene, but I’m afraid that anyone familiar with Gen’s work isn’t going to be very surprised.
I think the most important factor this show needs now is to know what is SYBIL’s criteria for judging. Makishima somehow can bypass it (he also implies that Akane is the same) and yet Senguuiji was a high coefficient but can make public appearances and interviews. There are clearly cracks within the system, but to understand them we also need to understand the system itself.
That scene…it was… :O
But seriously, what surprised me the most was the serene feeling the scene had.
When Makishima’s Crime Coefficient hit 0 it really felt like there wasn’t anything wrong at all, even though you could see he held Yuki with a knife at her throat.
Poor Yuki, I knew from the beginning she wouldn’t survive (I call it Gen-Sense). But Akane’s career hasn’t been rainbow and sunshine, huh? Great first day (XD) and now this.
I like this guy, he is a nice fucking guy.
Moe.
As i said in the First Episode. The Police is just “Mindless” Puppets of this AI. And someone can easy Manipulate this AI in his Favor…
they should build in a Manual Override, if the System fails or cant connect to System. But they reliable to much on this AI. Thats this Flaw. Human “brains” are not needed, Own judgment is even not Allowed
in almost every Si-Fi, where AI’s have Critical Functions (Spaceship AI, Appleseed Ai and so on), there is a “Human” Override Function. Why not here? Well, i understand that this is important for the “Red Line”, to Show is the “Importance” of own “Judgments”. There is always a “dark” and “Light” Side
In an unbiased system that can judge right from wrong, why should there be a need for any human intervention? If anything, having such an option would defeat the meaning of having such a system in place, because it means that man does not trust fully trust the judgement of the system. In such a scenario, who decides who is right or wrong again? And if such judgement can be passed by men, what need is there for the Sibyl system? And would not the use of both the system and judgement by man in tandem be deemed as hypocrisy and subjective by nature?
Which is why I don’t think the option for humans using the Sibyl system to have access to an override function would work. If that doesn’t convince you, consider this: What if Kougami picks up a dominator, uses the override function to allow him to use the eliminator mode on the dominator and fires at every one in the department?
It’s not an AI. It’s simply a device that measures someones mental state. And as to why there is no manual overide? The answer is obvious in Makishima’s spiel. By allowing the Sibyl system to make the choice between killing someone or simply stunning them it removes the personal responsibility from the user of the gun. They can think ‘the system made the choice’, not ‘I just killed someone’. That is why using an old fashioned shotgun (apart from the fact that an untrained user was probably more likely to hit the hostage) was such a chalange.
Yeah, i understand. But if you “shoot” someone to Protect others. Are you feel guilty? Of course, But your Mind is at ease with the knowing that you save Life if you dont shoot (Policemen Today). If you shoot someone to get his “Money” or other selfish reasons, then your on the Dark Side, and you will not have any doubts..
That Human, we are a bunch of Dark and Light Side Users. We must keep the balance on the Light Side, to life with each other. If it fall to the Dark Side, then there is mistrust, Envy and Killing
Ok, i end it here 🙂
Just a piece of my Mind, what i thinking of “mindless” Gun Users
Btw, hoe will now the be “police officer” with Spine to change the System? or will the Higher Ups, keep it under “Control”? (It never happened!, the questionable Police-officer heaved an accident and died.)I think this series will use this Path…
In a way, they are mindless because they rely completely on the system to make the judgment call, kinda like the way old executioner axes use to say “Cast in the name of God, Ye not guilty.” But I doubt Akane would have shot him even if the Dominator had turned into Lethal Eliminator mode.
I doubt Akane had any intention to shoot in the first place. She had spotted Makishima while he was still unaware of her presence, and yet she didn’t even bother to check his crime co-efficient before stopping him. Logically speaking, the procedure would have gone something like this:
– Spot suspect
– Check crime co-efficient using dominator
– Follow instructions from Sibyl, which would either be to stand down, shoot to immobilize latent criminal or shoot to kill latent criminal
Sure, she’s inexperienced, but something tells me that she was also a little too confident of herself and her “pure intentions”. She seems to think that she has the power to save the lives of everyone, even those who have been labeled as criminals. Above all, she’s sorrily naive, and it didn’t take much to confuse and maim her ability to make proper judgement.
I believe Yuki is the first character death in the series which I’m really mourning, as unlike other victims (and villainess in Rikako’s case), she was introduced very early on, and nothing like a good fanservice to get the (male) audience to have a better impression of her.
Urobuchi would probably be making this explanation as we speak: “Hey, I only gave her a slit throat, you should be glad I threw in some fanservice before I did her in. Besides she didn’t get blown into bits by the Dominator or dismembered like Rikako’s victims. So I don’t know what you guys are complaining about.” >.>
There may be a possibility that Akane’s superiors in the Security Bureau would attempt to cover up the existence of the anomaly known as Makishima. For if the public even finds out that the Sybil System is flawed, it will undermine the public’s faith in the entire Psycho-Pass system altogether, much like the PreCog system in Minority Report, needs to proof that it is 100% accurate, which has been duly disproven by Makishima.
Destroying the very foundation on which this society has placed its faith upon might just be something Makishima wants to happen.
Actually I half though/feared Akane shoot Yuki instead of Makishima, that would be a twist…
So Gen has been indeed merciful…
*thought
It’s always been hinted and this episode proves it. Makishima’s psycho-pass is always clear which means that Tsunemori is one of those people that the Sibyl system can’t read. The scene when Makishima is gonna slash Tsunemori’s friend was gut wrenching. I felt the same as Tsunemori does, helpless and powerless to do anything to save someone from getting killed.
Ever since Makishima was revealed to be the main villain, I expected him to be radically different from other criminals in some way, and I immediately thought of an abnormally low Psycho-Pass. Guess I was right, and I think I was not the only one.
Making this a trait he had since his birth was a nice touch, though, I didn’t expect it.
Oh, and by the way, I wanted Tsunemori’s friend to be saved so much. Seriously. Albeit I knew this is not that kind of show.
This was an incredibly good episode but the standoff between Makishima and Tsunemori just really twisted up my gut. The way that the tension just kept escalating each time Tsunemori scanned Makishima and his crime coefficient would decrease was so well done. Her despair and confusion at the situation was palpable. Even knowing that things would not turn out well for Yuki, I still found myself gritting my teeth in frustration. It’s funny how an episode that I consider to be really good can leave such a bitter taste in my mouth.
I have to wonder if the situation was completely no-win for Tsunemori though. When Tsunemori fired off the two rounds, I was actually scared and half expected that she ended up killing Yuki with those two shots. I’m no means a gun expert but wasn’t the ammunition used buckshot? There were distinct ripple patterns where Senguuji had shot (and missed) at Kougami to indicate that buckshot was used and not slug type ammo. If that was the case, then not only did Tsunemori have complete inexperience in operating that gun, but it was probably one of the worst type to have in that type of situation. Even under ideal conditions, it would be unlikely that she could hit Makishima without also hitting Yuki.
Of course, this is assuming that Makishima really intended to allow himself to be shot. Something I do not think he would do had he observed Tsunemori properly line up a shot. It seemed to me that no matter what, Yuki was going to die…either by his hand (the indirect result of Tsunemori’s inaction) or by Tsunemori herself via a poorly placed shot.
Regardless, it was a hell of an episode. Before, I merely found this show interesting and was enjoying the ride. Now, I’m totally vested in seeing how Tsunemori comes out of this and to see (hopefully) her and Kougami bond over this traumatic and tragic incident.
For the whole episode, I’ve been waiting for someone in the main cast to die a horrible death (my main bet was Masaoka), so when Yuki died, I felt a bit of relief, since we didn’t really have enough time to grow attached to her. Which, of course, doesn’t mean that her death didn’t have any meaning.
my favourite show of the season ! and one morecharacter ascends to the pantheon of best villains of all time can’t believe something like sword art online is more popular than this and jojo’s anime
So Makishima is just naturally hue-free? That’s very Dorian Gray of him. I had hoped he had some way of compartmentalizing or some insanely disciplined criminal mind, but nope, just born that way. So he didn’t choose to have free will either, he was just lucky.
That makes in interesting that Makishima didn’t expect to confront Akane when he took Yuki. Akane acted out of protocol and pursued him alone to save her friend, maybe you’d expect that from a latent criminal but not from a protocol-oriented cop. To say she has no will is wrong, she just isn’t used to making the moral judgments that would be required to do her job if not for Sibyl. Good job Akane. If Akane gets some free will of her own through this whole crappy experience she will completely own Shougo b/c she will have earned it the hard way.
Also, testing her on firing an antique shotgun was unfair. I figured she’d miss and hit Yuki and we’d have a whole new level of trauma. Maybe Akane got off easy by shooting and missing everything.
I was really expecting that Akane would end up accidentally killing Yuki herself.
First I figured it would be with the dominator. Maybe Yuki’s coefficient went up through contamination like in that early episode and Akane shoots thinking she’s locked on Makishima.
Then I figured Makishima would pull a human shield if Akane actually used the shotgun.
Having Makishima kill her directly does put more of a focus on him as the bad guy though.
Yeah, this is the first person we’ve seen Makishima kill, so it’s not like he’s just keeping his hands clean as an accessory to the crime only.
Just curious, the police in the Psycho-Pass world never collect finger prints or debris found in a crime scene — reliance on Sibyl or technology is total and absolute…
Ahhh I’m a little sad. Yuki became one of my favorite hostages.
of course a major cliffhanger is delayed by due weeks, i hate you new year.
by two*
I feel like something died inside of me.
Sybila’s flaw is not to “just” let some people slip through it Pshyco-Pass check, it letting the worst criminals, those without a guilty conscience, like Makishima here, trough.
Makishima simply has no concept that what he is doing is “wrong”, in the first place who decides it’s wrong? a true psychopathic, and irony, his psycho-pass is zero…
That’s what I meant when I said earlier on that it wasn’t so much a flaw in Sibyl that prevented it from accurately accessing Makishima’s crime co-efficient, but Makishima who is an anomaly, that created this situation.
Bear with me (and correct me where I’m wrong) as I reason out Makishima’s abnormal ability to evade Sibyl’s judgement:
Show Spoiler ▼
I haven’t said all that I could say, but I honestly forgot what else I had planned to write, and I’m satisfied with this. If you’ve made it this far, I hope you’ve enjoyed reading what I’ve had to say. I have a certain (likely more knowledgeable than I) s2012k1993 and his comment on another blog to thank for some information and inspiration in writing this. (I feel like I’ve written a report.)
“The Finger of God was pointed at him, but no judgement did he befall and no part of him smitten by God’s wrath. Or something like that.” – Myself
This episode can be sumarized in this phrase:
“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy”
There is no possible way that science could make a map of the human soul and predict the behavior of the human beings, we are umpredictible no matter what a person thinks he knows about us, hell, many “humans” see murder as a act of pleasure not a crime. This system is damaged to its very core because it funtions under the asumption that willpower it´s not a factor in our desicions.
Agreed — Sibyl is a faulty system to its very core. It predicts the certain behaviour — meaning the actions are not taken out yet but the person is assumed to be a criminal…no actual proof needed. What if I just watched something very intense — like PP — and my body reacts to it and my crime coefficient goes up?
If in real life our world relies on something like Sibyl a 100 years later, I will be worrying about our great-great-grandchildren…lol.
85 comments. Look at all that discussion on this one episode.
It was an interesting episode, was it not? At the very least, we’d need a place to vent our frustrations over Akane’s inaction.
This anime reminds me of another anime called Monster.
Was I the only one disappointed in this episode?
I ended spoilering most of this because 1) Episode spoilers and 2) length.
Show Spoiler ▼
Why is it that morality anime like this never seem to allow a female character to make ‘ruthless’ decisions (like shooting the hell out of Makishima for daring to harm her friend) unless they are completely missing their marbles? Or maybe I’m not reading the right ones?
Anyway, even if you think this episode is the bee’s knees maybe my crazed rambling will allow you to look at it from a different perspective. (I know I felt a little less mad at Tsunemori after reading these comments…) But then I kind of feel like I might have misunderstood something here?
@Briar, exactly how I felt about the hue-less Makishima thing. Like instead of being a zen-master criminal like a Moriarty he’s just a dude with no hue, and this plot device takes away his responsibility – he is no longer ‘willfully’ criminal. (You put it better.)
Re: Akane, exactly right that in ep 1 “she shows signs of not having 100% faith in the Sybil system.” That reliance on her heart over protocol was what I felt was responsible for her one-man pursuit of Yuki and Shougo in spite of orders. But then she has this moral drama of, ‘what do I do when my dominator won’t work?’ I’d like to think she just was really uncomfortable using a shotgun – every damn character in the series has already commented on how weird and arcane a shotgun is – and less about not wanting to shoot someone that the dominator says isn’t criminal. But they play it out like she’s having a societal crisis. In truth if she’s that rookie, it would be a tough moment regardless – they send cops today to therapy after they kill someone, right? – so testing rookie Akane this way makes Makishima seem even more ‘spoiled’ b/c she’s green and hence an easy mark and an easy way to make his point.
Let’s hope that Akane failed Shougo’s ‘test’ b/c she’s a rookie rather than a female anime character who can’t be both ruthless and stable; and let’s hope she maintains her sanity and doesn’t need to flip out to become an effective criminal killer; AND let’s hope her good heart and traces of intellectual skepticism of Sibyl in favor of the humanity of individuals (such as the woman in ep.1 the dominator told her to shoot) allow her the resolve to save her partner if he’s the one at Makishima’s mercy. Of course, if Kougami has to save/kill Akane b/c she’s flipped out this anime will be too predictable. She’s the one saving/killing Kougami in the OP so there’s hope.
I still loved this ep, I still love Akane *and* Shougo’s characters but I had the same thoughts you did (sorry for the tl;dr-type reply).
Re Shougo Makishima: I’m glad I’m not the only one that feels this way! I wanted a Moriarty and we were stuck with…well…maybe he’ll grow on me with time?
Re Akane Tsunemori: I could understand not being able to handle the shotgun well. That makes sense. It would even make sense if Tsunemori misses, Yuki dies, and as a result Tsunemori has a crisis involved with believing she’s a terrible inspector etc. I realize that part of my upset might come from trying to shove aspects of my personality on to her. I’m a bit more of a mercenary type and I don’t think I’d have much trouble shooting someone (especially to save a friend) in the heat of a moment. I’d probably need therapy and and some hot cocoa afterwards but I think I could do it.
The other part of my upset is the prevalent sexism in most anime. Shows with strong female characters like Koko in Jormungand (another thought provoking show!) are rare.
I’ll hold out for the next episode!
(No, your reply was excellent! The best thing about these shows aren’t so much the shows themselves but the thought and discussion that follows.)
Just my 2 cents here. 🙂
Actually, guys, I think Makishima’s actually a bit more than that, don’t get disappointed too soon.
Seeing as the Sybil System rates the Criminal Coefficient based on bio-readings – probably searching for symptoms like heightened pulse, panic, increased heart rate, perspiration, dilated pupils and whatnot, and completely ignores human will in the process, it just goes to show that Makishima’s body reacts differently to violence than, let’s say an innocent bystander freaking out if caught up in a gruesome act of some sort (we saw Sybil seems to judge them as being criminals).
So this might mean either that, seeing as he strongly believes he’s doing what he ought to, his body agrees with him and does not display any sign of agitation (like Makishima himself states at one point during this ep), or he somehow managed to devoid himself of negative emotions by functioning at a logical level.
He does seem to have a knack for philosophy and logic, so I guess this might also play a part in his crystal-clear hue.
^
There’s no need for believing, because Makishima probably doesn’t experience “right” and “wrong” the way we do, but simply as concepts. Like the legitimate psychopath that he could probably be diagnosed as, Makishima probably doesn’t experience emotions the way a normal person does. There is no guilt after murder, no wavering of the heart during periods of doubt, no empathy or disgust when confronted with scenes of tragedy and unimaginables. And the more he thinks, the less he feels, and the lower his crime co-efficient goes. Or something along those lines.
Plot device? Maybe, but I’d like to say that the ability to suppress emotions is, in my opinion, a little less realistic and quite the cliched plot device itself, not to mention it would imply that he had this whole “game” thing just to satisfy some craving that stemmed from emotions. His intentions are child-like at the moment, but not childish, which it would be if Makishima had this emotion-suppressing ability.
@crimilde, you might be right, but I don’t necessarily believe that Makishima simply evades Sibyl b/c he feels no guilt for his actions, thus no bodily changes. This wouldn’t be a trait unique to Makishima, it’s true of many psycho/sociopaths and would have been observed in practice prior to Makishima and concurrent to him in other individuals in the society; it should have been written into Sibyl’s algorithm.
Makishima says his psycho pass has been pure white since childhood, and I think that’s what Briar and I are responding to; he claims he literally came into the world that way. He makes it sound like this isn’t merely a skill he’s honed by functioning on a logical level. When describing himself to Akane, he doesn’t say that his actions ARE pure, he says that his “vital reactions ‘think’” his actions are pure and good, and there is a distinction there – he sounds amused that even his body can’t distinguish what he knows is morally wrong from what is good. I’m relying on the translation, but Makishima himself really makes it sound like a question of biology versus a question of choice.
I don’t need to know why Makishima is hue-free to enjoy this plot device and I really like him as a character. To me Sibyl is the villain in this story anyway. But I was shocked that his explanation, in the translation at least, was so nature- versus nurture-based, him being the free-will guy and all. It’s easy to make the choices Makishima has made if you’re the only guy in society without a gun pointed to your head. No one else in the story has that freedom from consequence. So his lecturing people on free will seems a little indulgent.
@junglepenguin, I think if one were philosophically at odds with the totalitarian aspects of Sibyl society, they would have good reason to find a way to glitch it to exploit its weaknesses, eg, willfully find a way around the cymatic scan. One way to glitch it would be to train oneself to beat the scan. My impression is that this would be near impossible, but if one could, I don’t think it would be childish but rather an extremely effective form of revolutionary action.
i’m really happy with the way things are progressing in Psycho pass- it is one of the best animes i have ever seen in my life (so far). the way that each episode presents another piece of the puzzle in the overall plot is really clever, even with smaller plots around the main branch such as the first few crime cases. this episode in particular was very well done! it was such a shock to see that makishima could not be touched by the Sybil system, not to mention the cruel way that Yuki had to die. i was literally in shock when the screen went silent as we saw yuki’s blood drip down and akane sitting lethargic on the ground. i really felt intense empathy for the entire situation.
this is why i really love to watch anime such as this- the stories that are depicted in each episode (i’m talking generally about ALL animes as well) are so very compelling, and it is a great way of story telling- western cartoons seem very childish in comparison (in my opinion)
You have another chance to redo story -choice B appear from the Fan’s help
A- do just like in anime
B- I am pissed of ‘Ayane’ , she sucked and need to act this time so i thorw stuoid domitor away i am confidence and take steady aim , I ‘m cool and will help Yukki my best friend!
you clicked Choice B -Akane shot Makishima, he is laughing as the ton of piece through air in slow motion, ayane said to herself thank hater you point the fact out I just have to be cool like “you” ,Shogo smirk, he even has time to remind me…..
The Definition of hostage :
A hostage is a person or entity which is held by one of two belligerent parties to the other or seized as security for the carrying out of an agreement, or as a preventive measure against certain acts of war. However, in contemporary usage, it means someone who is seized by a criminal abductor in order to compel another party such as a relative, employer, law enforcement, or government to act, or refrain from acting, in a particular way, often under threat of serious physical harm to the hostage(s) after expiration of an ultimatum.
And before the bullet hit , he said in monotone voice “ah! i has hostage who can’t even escapce and you has shotgun dubble barrel rifle lololollol I make troll face” and he hides behind Yukki body and use her as human sheild
Yukki is turned into Beehive with tons of bullet hole the imapact break all her internal organ and bone , blood coming out from wounds and her mouth she can’t even speak
Makishima got a litte ‘papercut’ and walk away like a boss Masaoka-san and police arrive and ask e what happen – I killed Yukki with my own hand, I got send to judge and send to execution ground for intentional killing Yukki since there is no proof of Makishima existance and we can’t prove Sybyll bug. Ayane get executed for murdered but Makishima got her out and make her his waifu( joker need Harleyquin ,right?!!) They go on killing people andd with Ayane super intelligent ,he kill everyone in Governement and they torture people to death and both of them live toghether forever after after after—
THE END (GE- Good Ending Thanks for good idea from UroButcher)
her name is Akane lol sorry
Such a heart-wrenching, fascinating episode. I was actually on the proverbial edge of my seat, especially in the last 5 minutes.
Your analysis is phenomenal, and I couldn’t agree with you more, in particular with regards to Tsunemori and Makishima as individuals and their actions herein.
It’s been a bumpy ride, as they say, but I’m absolutely sticking around ’til the finale. This is one grisly, gripping show I am glad exists. Such plentiful food for thought, how I’ve missed that in entertainment.
kimochi warui
Man, this episode had me gripping my chair from start to finish.
And when Makishima’s started to decrease the more intense the situation got, I actually rewinded a bit to make sure I was really seeing it happen.
The Sybil System sure took a beating on this one, but then why wouldn’t it fail? After all, the criminals it has judged all had a flux in their biometrics and neural activity aka excitement / adrenaline surge from their activities, but to Makishima… how can a machine that reads emotions handle someone to whom killing is the same as breathing air or walking?
Must admit, this episode and Makishima’s advantage made me think of that line from Red Dragon, about Hannibal: “We tried sodium amatol (truth serum) on him three years ago to find where he buried a Princeton student; he gave them a recipe for dip”