First Impressions / PSYCHO-PASS

「Teumessian Sacrifices」

While the doubt still lingers on how well Psycho Pass’ latest season will play out, I must admit I’m liking what I see so far. We may be lacking a definitive villain at this stage or even an understanding of just what is at stake, but between the subtle foreshadowing, new themes at play, and the return of everyone’s favourites, things are certainly looking up. I’ll be damned if this show wasn’t intended for hour long episodes.

After all the effort and spilled ink Psycho Pass has spent on the psychological Big Brother angle of its universe, it’s quite surprising this season actually looks to be breaking with that by going full economics. Subprime lending; real estate speculation; housing market bubbles; I fully wager no one expected the 2008 financial crisis to come up in a fictional story, but an anime to boot. It certainly is an interesting path to take though because while Psycho Pass hues and controlling them are Psycho Pass’ bread and butter, the series has never really explored the concept in terms of white-collar crime. As Sasagawa wasted little time in elucidating, embezzling money through glorified accounting shenanigans is not the same as outright murder. Besides the lack of direct action—i.e. sticking pointy end in fleshy target—it’s incredibly easy to rationalize such financial trickery as little more than a game. The victims at the end of those spreadsheets and real time models are never seen or heard from, so why bother thinking on them in the first place? As the medium is entirely mathematics, if you can avoid seeing the people you’ll never mentally scar like a murderer—something Sasagawa’s lesser half shows best by breaking only after his risk of arrest increases. Babylon is not the only show this season with some tricks up its sleeve.

The real fun however is in where this economic crime is heading, and there’s two major angles at play. The first is obviously Foreign Affairs Bureau, where surprise surprise, Ginoza and Shinya are present as Special Investigators under a brand-new lead. The goal of this group is anyone’s best guess right now (although the Sinners of the System movies will give some hints), but you can bet the setup is intricately linked with why Akane is incarcerated, Mika was promoted, and every interaction between the first two seasons cast felt like a curious mix of guilt, acceptance, and determination. The second concerns Round Robin and Bifrost, with the talk of lost Inspector pieces—i.e. Mika—and the poker-like betting of tangible “chips”—i.e. trading company failure—indicates a greater game afoot, one likely outside Sibyl’s current level of control. Not hard thinking both drone and politicians are linked with our shadow council for example, especially when phrases like Eugenics Party are nonchalantly dropped and certain backstories knowingly lacking some key information. Where these disparate pieces lead I honestly don’t know, but I imagine it won’t be long before the details start leaking out.

After all, considering how our two new Inspectors play the game it won’t take them too much effort to sift through the woodwork.

13 Comments

  6. Have to wonder about the origins of this cop combi.

    Mao was acting all mysterious on the namecard.
    Is she a double agent for the “Fox”?

    Oh, all the antagonist are in the opening.
    The man-wolf, an avatar of his father?
    Fighting yourself?

    Shimotsuki is like a pushover.

    Ok the criminal combi wasn’t so buddy.
    Wonder will the planmaker go in to break the detective combi.

    I don’t remember the blond lady.
    Another section head?
    Hanashiro Fredirika.
    Its like people can eavesdrop on your office and send video calls at the right time.

    Shinya and Ginoza!
    Ok, Foreign Affairs.
    Miss Hanashiro is the head I suppose.

    Hmm, so the Fox is somewhat an organization?
    And Planmaker Koichi is using them in his plans.
    For fun? Motive?

    Or is Fox = Hyper Transport?
    That large flying drone does feature in the OP.
    The same namecard.
    Is the Shizuka guy in Bifrost a fox too?
    He was pretty sure to short-sell Hyper Transport.

    Inspector?
    So the Bifrost is like a reverse ‘police’ to the Siberyl System?
    Fox = Bifrost?
    Roundrobin their boss?

    So the detective combi have a past with Bifrost?
    Victims of the foxes’ past schemes?
    Oh, father was a fox too…
    Scapegoat, sacrifice?
    The other guy is his brother.

    So its Hinakawa who fed info to Tsunemori.

    Feels like the Bifrost is wide reaching just like the Siberyl System.

    He did watch the news…
    Case 2 look interesting too.

    Eager to know the truth and the big picture of season 3.

    iron2000
    Reply

  8. Biggest question is, where’s Yayoi?
    I mean, even Sugo is here.

    Also this episode also answered why Sho is the only one still in the “active” group.
    He’s obviously a mole. If not also for Foreign Affairs to know about everything going in Criminal Affairs, then only for Akane herself to kept in the loop.

    My guess is, seeing as the Sibyl System already considered her a direct threat, Akane did something to cover for the holes in the Sibyl System (probs directly leading to what is now Foreign Affairs) and the Sibyl System took action to make sure she’s not in a position to undermine them (from their position’s viewpoint) more.

    Seph
    Reply

  9. I am intrigued with this week’s episode. An improvement over the first episode and I appreciate that Mika is turning a new leaf as compared to her character in S2. I recommend watching Sinner of Systems, especially case 2 and 3. Awesome pacing and backstory development.

    fishell
    Reply

  10. This is a good show and all, but i just hate how they relegated the main cast from the previous series to basically cameos so far. That’s Kogami Shinya for crying out loud. I was dumbfounded how he just appeared all a sudden.

    sealouse
    Reply

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