Psycho-Pass – 20
Cause I feeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeel
 |
No, they weren’t joking, the final arc is about oats. Makishima skips through a field and smiles to himself like a little girl who just found out she got a pony for Christmas. He’s always been a smiley guy, but this week it seems like he can’t wipe that grin off his face. Meanwhile, Akane suffers horribly. Well, at least someone is happy. |
For the most part, episode 20 really just repeats all the questions Psycho-Pass has asked us up until now – except this time we get actual answers to those questions. Akane is finally able to give some sort of answer to whether Sibyl is right and what sorts of choices humans should make for themselves. It really just shows, once again, that Akane has come a long way. Firstly, she carries the episode wonderfully even without Kougami. Secondly, she stays strong even after witnessing such a huge secret. After being shown what Sibyl really is, she re-experiences some conversations in the past that made her question her ideals. Before she wasn’t able to give a proper answer, but now she has a much more solid grasp of what it is she wants from society. The conversations range from a rather short yet heated discussion with Kagari to her life-changing encounter with Makishima.
The big message here seems to be that making your own decisions and sometimes being wrong is better than letting an external source decide everything for you. Sure, the non-Sibyl way isn’t perfect, but it builds character. We should be allowed to try, struggle, make mistakes and learn from them. That allows you to judge your own worth…and not the kind of “judge” that uses numbers either. With Sibyl, people become complacent and don’t stop to think about their potential since even that is tagged and given a number right from the start. Akane understands the importance of making decisions herself – be it choosing a job or judging a criminal. How is a group of criminal brains better suited to lay out your life for you than your own self? As much as I can acknowledge the benefits of Sibyl, I can’t say I’d ever want to live under it.
After feeling despair when in the face of big choices (such as her job and whether or not to shoot Makishima), Akane seems to welcome the idea of taking responsibility for her choices a lot more. Her suicide threat to Sibyl if they didn’t let Kougami live was a very impressive move. It has some of the same reckless undertones as something Kougami would do, but it was logical enough to work. The Dominator is constantly reading her Hue and criminal coefficient, so the Sibyl System would know in an instant if she was lying. She wasn’t. Her determination to save Kougami and carry the burden of Sibyl’s true identity is amazing. If half the ladies in anime could be this confident and proactive, I’d be overjoyed.
Just look at her. Even after coming face to face with a grotesque, piss-coloured soup of brains and computers she goes right to a crime scene and shoves her fingers into a corpse’s throat. She just keeps going! She’s not only keeping her Hue in check, but she’s doing all the right things as a detective to save her partner and protect the country. We’ve slowly seen Akane become more and more like Kougami in terms of her deduction skills. Ginoza even does a double take when he listens to Akane spout theories about him, almost mistaking her for Kougami himself. When all this ends, Akane might end up taking Ginoza’s position. What will happen to the borderline Enforcer Ginoza? I really don’t know, but things are not looking good for him since he’s fragile, an average-at-best detective, and a poor choice of a pawn for Sibyl.
Akane Tsunemori: gun whisperer
Now that everyone knows the final stage, all that’s left is to watch all the dominoes falls in the next 2 episodes. I find it a bit sketchy that Makishima would know exactly how to re-arrange the genetic code of these crop-protecting virsuses to make them target the oats instead of various pests. He may have dug around for info, but wouldn’t this be an extremely time-consuming process – especially in an older facility with machines more similar to what we have currently in 2013? Maybe Makishima reads Biology and Genetics textbooks in his spare time aside from philosophy. Anyways, since Kougami is hot on his tail and the police will be there within the day, I wonder what this showdown will offer that their first one did not. How could Kougami confronting Makishima with Akane coming in a bit later be any different from the confrontation at Nona tower?
I’m a bit worried how the ending will pan out given that capturing Makishima isn’t really all that exciting anymore. I don’t care about whether or not he’s stopped because he’s a small fry next to the Sibyl System. That’s the REAL issue that should be resolved. I hope that they make quick work of Makishima and end on a more broad note that addresses Sibyl. Just a few more episodes until the showdown…How do you think things will go down?
Bonus Moe Contest:Show ▼
About Overcooled
A neuroscience graduate, black belt, and all-around nerd. You'll either find me in my lab or curled up in my rilakkuma kigurumi watching anime.
POWUH: Meta Team and Ringleader Extraordinaire~ with 6433 comments
You’ve taken the words from my mouth. I was so proud of Akane this episode! Really, from a blubbering newbie to the force, she has really grown under the tutelage of Kougami. And it’s not all his teaching, she has actually made up her own mind and decision rather than just accepting whatever’s thrown at her.
For the ending part, I’m sure Kougami would do anything to end Makishima’s life but let’s see how Akane persuades him but what concerns me more is to see how the whole Sybil system scenario concludes. Will humans in this world keep on living under the Sybil system when it’s clearly flawed? Sure, it takes care of the 80% problems but what about the 20%? Just like you said, what about learning from your experiences rather than worrying about hues and behaving according to what’s defined for them.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I think Kougami would probably gladly give his life to kill Makishima, both before and after he knows about the Sibyl system. Akane is the one who wants Kougami alive.
As for the ‘clear’ flaws of Sibyl, I’m still not sure. What percentages would be acceptable? I don’t think your 80/20 split is anywhere near close. I’d say it’s more like 98 / 2. Is Sibyl more flawed than the system we have now? Is it irredeemably flawed? While the idea that criminals, non-conformists, and those who are far outside of the system actually run the system is initially unintuitive, it’s at least a defensible system, and would allow for much greater flexibility than a system of those who would reflexively follow the rules.
Perhaps the greatest trouble with Sibyl is the idea that your hue is something to be constantly monitored. When you measure a thing and incentivize it, you will get more of that thing. We don’t really know how many people are actually that obsessed with their psycho-pass or hue. We’ve heard of some people who overdo it. We’ve heard everyone mention it once or twice. But what if it’s really treated the same way that most people think of their food preferences, or their exercise activity? I.e., not something that people constantly obsess over, just another factor in decisions.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
80/20 sounds about right to me since I’d consider 98 to be near-perfect living conditions. It’s hard to put an exact number on it though since we only see bits and pieces of things. The police force are a very special group of people compared to regular civilians.
Yeah, the hue monitoring is what bugs me the most personally. :/ I think it would be a bit worse than people who count calories and such because the consequences are immediate. As soon as you enter a cautionary zone, you get flagged and may even have to go to therapy. If you dive into the red zone, that could be it for your career. If you eat an entire cake each day for every meal, you probably won’t have that heart attack until later on. Not everyone is totally obsessed over it, but I imagine it being a rather stressful addition to someone’s everyday life in general.
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 131 comments
Gahhh. Let me just say that I’m so proud of having rooted for Akane from the beginning – her character development restores my faith in feminine awesomeness (at least in anime/manga) every week. I mean, every time I think that an episode is THE Akane episode, a new one just pops out of the blue. But no – I think, with the build-up to the climax firmly rooted now, that THIS is without a doubt THE Akane episode. Firstly, the comparison between the naive!Akane convos versus the hardass!Akane convos was beautifully done. It really just outlines how much she’s grown since starting at MWSPB. Urobutcher, for all his sadism with his characters, has his female protagonists written rather well.
Secondly, the way she threatened the Sibyl System was something I had to watch over and over again. No words can express how impressed I am by that scene. Akane’s certainly not just there to look moe. She’s a woman with a mission. And HanaKana used her not-so-often-heard not-so-softspoken voice. (The one I basically heard her use for Binbougami ga!’s Ichiko.) That just added epicness to the already heartpounding scene.
Thirdly, the scene with the, well, crime scene. We’ve often complained that Kougami sometimes seems to have magic deduction powers from the way his deductions are presented. The writers showed no such sloppiness with Akane’s first legit detective scene. They panned the camera to the various visual clues that let her figure out what Kougami was up to. That is a testament to how much care they give into her characterization. They showed that her intellect and growing detective skills aren’t just an informed ability.
If Urobutcher doesn’t kill her off/make her part of the Sibyl brainsoupAkane will do well as an Inspector, with or without Kougami. For now, her growth is in juxtaposition against Kougami’s prowess, but if givenenough lifespantime, she’ll be awesome in her own right.POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I feel the same. I’ve been praising her a lot recently, and I just can’t stop! It’s rare that you can point at a female anime character and say they’re a good role model, but I think Akane could fill that role. Her development over the series has been wonderful.
Now she can hold her own as a detective without Kou! …Which is probably bad news for Kou. I wouldn’t be surprised if he dies and Akane takes over now. Anyways, I was impressed by her first deduction scene too. It wasn’t too hand-wavy at all because she took her time and explained her line of thinking before coming to a conclusion.
POWUH: 500-599 with 519 comments
Akane, you are awesome girl. I was cheering her on so much in this episode. She took on everything like a trooper and I loved it when she threatened Sybil to try to kill her for not obeying.
I seriously really want to know how this all is going to go down. Although, with Akane’s gun being magically Sybil connected, could sybil just override the gun and turn it to stunner and bypass Makishima’s psycho pass that protects him? It would knock him out if Akane does get there in time…
I do think she has a plan of some kind though that doesn’t involve handing Makishima over to Sybil since she said she wanted him to be judged fairly and all but I have no idea what it could be.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
She also wanted all the brains in Sibyl to be judged as well, not by themselves. I thought was a nice concept of justice. I pretty much agree with her that the idea that they’ve paid retribution for their crimes by becoming something that they themselves would describe as “being godlike” is rather non-sequiterish.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I have no clue how much control Sybil has over the gun from long range since it’s only shifted to alternate modes when the Chief has been there to physically touch it. If they’re smart, they’ll do that to help her catch Makishima :/
Usually “fair judgement” but these sorts of justice characters doesn’t involve death, but paying for their crimes by going to jail or doing something to help society. That is, not being a godly system and running wild. I’m glad Akane doesn’t believe that bull about these criminals paying for their crimes by becoming the heart of the city.
POWUH: 900-999 with 915 comments
How Akane could change so much in a short period *-* She is so awesome. And here I was thinking that she would be another clueless MC with Clannad-like big eyes. It’s a shame that her reaction before the true face of Sibyl was so predictable…
It’s funny because after watching this episode, I had a conversation with my geography teacher about totally automated agriculture and there is two things that now I see that Psycho-Pass fails.
One thing is, totally automated agricultural activity is just not possible because to do it, machines would have to have the ability to think. There would be needed someone to at least maintain the machines on the works.
The second point is that if at some point, totally automated agriculture was possible, then urban economic ativities would, as well. Thus, there would be too many robots doing the work that once were of the humans and we wouldn’t have anything to work with, the society would change drastically, either because of the misery brought by the lack of job or because of the change on how people live, that is, they wouldn’t be living to work anymore.
When you analise it sci-fi have a lot of fails…
But it’s still enjoyable, I can’t stop watching it *-*
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Moe was a forbidden word for planning Psycho-Pass, so all they were left with was “badass.”
Fully-automated agriculture is dumb, and the show knows it. It’s dumb because Makishima just waltzes in and hi-jacks everything -_- That’s enough of a reason already, and then of course you have all the reasons you listed. Mechanics, security guards, and people to check that things are in order are needed. Machines are trustworthy, but they don’t run forever without breaking or getting damaged.
I vaguely recall an episode of Ki no Tabi being about a town where robots did all the jobs and the villagers were deathly bored because they had nothing to do. They just lay around all day.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
I’ll have to make a note to myself saying that if an idea or plan is suggested in anime, no matter how ridiculous or farfetched it may seem, there’s a chance it will be put into play. I didn’t think Makishima would actually go for the Hyper Oats plan to destroy Sibyl. Another thing, a moe smile on a psychopath is apparently very creepy.
Akane has developed dramatically since her days as a rookie on the job. Kougami has rubbed off on her though that fact is worth half of credit since she’s an intelligent girl. Her prowess defies that moe face of hers. She handled the crime scene with such authority it only made sense Ginoza saw a similarity of Kougami in her.
So Akane now knows about the Sibyl System and she making as much use of it as they on her. I applaud her for having the nerve to blackmail them by exploiting the position they, themselves, put her in to save Kougami. The expression on her face when she made the threat… wow. Their low blow was exploiting her ideals for peace and security which pissed me off.
Though if she does persuade Kougami (which I doubt because killing Makishima has become his reason for living) and catch Makishima, I doubt the Sibyl System will keep its word. It’s corrupt and the regulators are always the violators of their own rules. The bad news in this is that it confirms that Kagari is dead and that is a tragedy. Damn you, Urobuchi, you heartless sadist. Show some mercy sometimes, will you?
I honestly have no idea how this is going to end and I’m not feeling a predictable finale. It’s better if we just go with the flow and see where things will land.
PS: 3000 comments in the bag, master. I’m glad I was able to mark it on your post.
POWUH: 900-999 with 915 comments
Damn, I barely reached 100 comments and there are guys who have 3000.
Damn, that last hope about Kagari don’t exist anymore. I was still expecting him to appear again, since Sibyl used paralyze mode on him… But, yeah. He’s probably dead, already. R.I.P.
And I agree with you. Moe smile on such a psychopath is very, very creepy.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
@BB: Hyper Oats is still a ridiculous plan…but it’s happening! We’ve just gotta deal with it. It could be cool, maybe?
It really takes guts to threaten an all-knowing panel of brains. I was impressed too, because she didn’t falter for even a moment. She’s sly when she needs to be! I fear that Sybil may be more sly though. I can’t see them keeping their word either…
Congrats, precious servant of mine! The fact that it’s on my post too makes me happy =w=
@Igor: Hahaha, don’t worry, these guys have either been at it for a long time or just extremely dedicated~ :3c I used to lurk instead of comment before I joined as a writer so you’re technically doing better than I was when I was in your position.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
In a way, it’s ridiculous but it’s an effective strategy for a silent kill. The intended target wouldn’t realize the problem until it’s too late.
The Sibyl System is the remnants of a bunch of muderous psychopaths so it’s a bad idea to take their word at face value.
Happy to be of service! I just hope Gecko isn’t reading this (I still remember that valentine shipping) or I’ll die of embarassment.
Hahaha, I might fit both those bills. I started commenting here when you were still Fresh Meat. At first, I wasn’t near this talkative but that changed when Skylion and Highway came along. Not to mention the recent posts that have been flooding in made quite a contribution and it hasn’t been long, I still remember some things. 6 days from now would have made 3 months since I hit 2000.
POWUH: 500-599 with 543 comments
Haha, I just saw this…I’m laughing now…
Don’t worry, that shipping was just a joke. XD
Good job on hitting 3000, though.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Thanks, it wasn’t easy getting this far. I never even thought I’d get this far the first time commenting. Being top commenter was surprising enough but more than 3000 comments, wow.
POWUH: 500-599 with 543 comments
The hyper oats are still a goofy plan to me. But oh well, it’s happening.
Akane has done so well, she’s quite easily in my favorite character list. Her response to Sibyl and getting a deal out of them was really something I hadn’t expected, but it made me proud to see that we’ve gotten an amazing lady in anime. I mean, there’s no way I could have dug into a guy’s throat for something. And as it was her first real deduction, it was nice to see that she took her time thinking it out for everyone. And when she needed to, she took the plunge.
I’m a little worried about what will happen next, but, we’ll see. (who dies next. :/)
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Akane is the best female role model for sure. I’m fine with blood and touching dead bodies, but I don’t know if I would have figured out to even look there myself…
Reaching the final stretch so someone’s gonna die soon. Probably more than one person too…
POWUH: Meta Resident and Werewolf Chaser with 1270 comments
Dat creepy ass smile is creepy.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Agreed! High five! 🙂
POWUH: Meta Resident and Werewolf Chaser with 1270 comments
*Hi5 backs*
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Maybe, but I’d still tap that.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Would you still say that if he had that razor in hand?
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
I don’t know, maybe it’s his charisma or his love of literary works, but I like Makishima and find myself often agreeing with him. Sure he’s a cold blooded killer, but he brings up some good points. I too prefer actual books to e-books and I think maybe he’s on to something with these oats. I never agreed with an isolationist stance, not in the US’ case and not in Japan’s. I had no idea that they were completely cut off from other countries…again. I’ve always been an advocate of communication and sharing among people worldwide. To cut yourself off from the world around you seems like a giant disservice to the nation and the people.
Anyway, I just hope they just kill Makishima. He’s too cool to become a brain in a jar. And it’s time Sybil was taken down too. I was pretty proud of Akane this episode too. Let’s hope she can find a way to get rid of the system somehow. Sure it’s a drastic thing, but you need to take the first large step.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
We told you you’d end up liking him. 😉