Psycho-Pass S2 – 04
The nudist apocalypse begins.
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Well that sure was a heartwarming episode. One thing Psycho-Pass can surely count on is never being criticized for being too subtle. |
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Yep, here’s one for the whole family to enjoy! It’s amazing how much havoc one old dude can inflict upon a bunch of random people in their underwear. |
lvlln// If we had to answer the question of what is the central theme to Psycho-Pass, surely one of the contenders would be the unintended and undesirable consequences in society of transforming crimes from a contentious thing to be debated and adjudicated on an individual level to an objective thing to be measured and executed on based purely on a central authority. That was certainly explored in the 1st season, notably during the helmet arc which saw regular citizens responding with ambivalence or even amusement at horrific crimes committed by people whose Psycho-Pass level was suppressed by the helmet. We saw almost the exact same phenomenon in this one where one person was able to hold an entire (what I think is a) pharmacy hostage based purely on the fact that he could keep his hue clear while performing terrible acts of violence.
This theme can be powerful when used right, but here we see Psycho-Pass‘s unsubtle beat-you-over-the-head style causing it to falter. It was one thing when bystanders were calmly watching someone getting beaten to death; perhaps extreme, but still reminiscent of behavior we see in today’s society. But it’s another thing when we see an entire crowd of victims being terrorized by one old man without a single person who wasn’t a cop making a meaningful attempt at stopping him. I get that the show is trying to make the point that Sibyl has warped the populace beyond all recognition, but the show simply hasn’t set things up well enough for this. After all, these hostages were scared because they were fearing for their lives. That’s incongruous with their behavior which showed almost no evidence of survival instinct. This includes the episode’s pièce de résistance, the hostage Dominator massacre performed by the police, which saw waves of people running straight to their deaths when they could see that every single person in front was getting shot by the police.
The police behavior wasn’t much better. The police are our frame of reference in Psycho-Pass, making up the vast majority of its protagonists, and for the most part, we’ve seen them behaving like reasonable people. This is partly what makes the regular civilians’ behavior feel so off – yes, we can expect civilians and police to act differently, but they’re still parts of the same society, so they shouldn’t act so different as to seem as if they’re from different universes. And this also makes their behavior in this episode jarring. Again, I get the point the episode was making about the Sibyl system completely removing personal judgment or responsibility in law enforcement, as well as about Mika’s belief in this system leading to this tragedy. But when we see police gunning down clear victims merely because their exposure to terrorism raised their Psycho-Pass to dangerous levels, it raises the question, what’s the point of there being police at all? We’ve seen that law enforcement agents are expected to use their judgment and training in investigating and solving crimes and given enough flexibility to do so effectively. Yet all that seems to go out the window the moment a Hue check becomes involved. If you become too stressed, you’re sentenced to death, with Enforcers and Inspectors carrying out your execution without wasting a single neuron on considering the circumstances surrounding your specific situation. If the human policemen are expected to 100% defer to Sibyl when it becomes time for enforcment, it seems odd to give them any enforcement powers at all, rather than employing automatic drones which seek out and destroy individuals with high Psycho-Pass levels regardless of context.
So we got quite the spectacle of an episode here, but it was a spectacle that felt hollow and manipulative, throwing blood on the screen more for shock and awe than for any deeper meaningful understanding of the setting or story. For shame, because just a few tweaks could have fixed the whole thing. Have multiple hostages attack that terrorist and convincingly be beaten by him and maybe his robot dog, rather than one loner going down without a fight after a single weak-looking karate chop. Have the police actually break down the doors and enter instead of just sitting around, and have that be the cause of the massacre when the terrorist successfully dresses up and positions the hostages to look like perpetrators. Have individual Enforcers suspect that they might be being duped, but have Mika override them and order them to shoot, to show Mika’s fatal trust in the system. This is just one possible scenario that would have accomplished the same things as this episode, bloodshed and all, without resorting to ridiculous actions that beggar belief.
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Overcooled// There’s a lot of interesting commentary this week with regards to how Sibyl controls everyone, and has created a society where crimes are defined solely by numbers spat out of a machine. There is no critical judgement involved here – just a reflex as you squeeze the trigger when the gun tells you to do so. This can lead to some extremely messed up situations, such as the slaughtering of innocent people we see here. By the police, of all people! The terrorist tries to frame his actions as those of a hero using a bunch of bogus theories and mental gymnastics to make everything seem okay. As crazy as they are, it may be a useful exercise to explore where he’s coming from in order to try and understand just what Kamui is thinking. Questioning Hues and the reliability of Sibyl is something Makishima did before, but I feel that Kamui is more in it for the people as opposed to just for the sake of anarchy.
The terrorist – henceforth to be known as Old Guy – decides to take over a pharmacy in order to denounce the Hue-lowering drugs. Believing people should instead work to lower their Hues naturally is one thing, but he goes a step further and argues that we shouldn’t even try to fight against stress. Clearly, Old Guy had some serious issues with his Hue and was heavily medicated. Although this may have made his Hue clear, he probably hated the way he felt on drugs. A common thing to feel – but that doesn’t mean these drugs are bad for everyone. But he’s not exactly a clear-thinking type, so he makes some rather errant conclusions and ends up taking over a pharmacy to show them who’s boss.
Old Guy also claims that everyone has Eustress Deficiency Syndrome: a lack of stress that causes them to be “sick.” This based on the concept of there being a type of positive reaction to stress called eustress. It’s one of those theories you have to take with a grain of salt because there is a good type and level of stress (such as that adrenaline rush before a race or an important game), but you can’t just jump ahead and assume all stress is eustress. For example, say you have an exam. If you have zero stress at all, you would be at such a low level of arousal you wouldn’t study or even care about what you’re writing on the paper. You’d likely get a pretty lousy mark because of this. If you’re really stressed, you’ll also do poorly because you’re so aroused that you won’t be able to remember anything you’ve studied. You have to be at the perfect level of arousal to do your best – and this varies from person to person. So, technically, if you were feeling pretty calm before your exam you might actually do better if you got a little more stressed out. But if you’re already stressed…that extra stress will just trip you up.
It’s all about going back to a healthy baseline. But in everyday life when you’re not worried about performance, it’s generally better to be less stressed. Everyone knows that aside from these kinds of special situations, stress isn’t very good. So it’s not a surprise that Old Guy’s “let’s fire them into the extreme end of the stress spectrum” strategy is a bust. He interpreted the fact that stress can be good sometimes as “stress is good all the time, every time.” It’s a far cry from how most people think in this society. Everyone is freaking out because Akane is dedicated to finding Kamui because they’re worrying about her Hue. Everyone avoids stress so much that maybe there is some truth in needing a little stress to make the good things in life seem better. But geez, I don’t think being locked in a pharmacy with a murderous old guy and his killer robot dog would benefit anyone.
There’s nothing like a fresh shower…
So how does this all link back to Kamui? He is much more level-headed than Old Guy, but he’s still crazy enough to think it’s okay to kill a bunch of civilians in order to test out his Dominator theories. He’s asking each and every person to question their colour…but he also poses the question to Sibyl itself. Is he trying to say that Sibyl itself doesn’t have a clear Hue, and therefore not to trust it? That would be interesting if we didn’t already know Sibyl is just a swimming pool filled with the brains of psychopaths. Yeah, they’re not clear! He’s right! This society is entrusting a subjective human system to make decisions that are claimed to be objective. But you can’t be objective when you’re a human, thinking mind. However, it seems odd that Kamui would go to people who are absolutely 100% insane and then make them clear. In these cases, Sibyl is right. Why wouldn’t he want to make seemingly sane people like Saiga or Ginoza clear since they’re the closest to being midjudged by Sibyl? Kamui’s motives remain unclear, but I feel like he may want to dismantle the Sibyl System so everyone can decide what Hue they are for themselves. Stress is a part of daily life, and he doesn’t want anyone to have to constantly worry about their mental health being monitored by Sibyl. Would that be a step down or a step up? With the way Kamui is going at it, I’d say he’d be completely ruining everything.
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Final Thoughts
4 episodes in, I’m liking that this 2nd season has a clear focus and direction, starting right off with something that connects to the season’s main villain and building up from there. This episode individually was a bit of a misstep, but the way the legend of Kirito Kamui keeps building is fascinating. The more we see of him, the more he looks like a misguided extremist rather than a psychopathing anarchist like Makishima was. Or who knows, maybe he’s not misguided at all, and the cult he seems to be setting up really is the final solution to the dystopian nightmare that is the world of Psycho-Pass? In any case, I’m definitely excited to see where this goes.
Okay, so Psycho-Pass is the polar opposite of subtle. But I kind of like how it has the gall to not just deliver a message, but deliver it with fireworks of blood, guts and killer robot dogs. I’m so used to how this show rolls I didn’t even question the robot dog/oxygen tank/weapon storage device combo. The intensity this show brings every week is unparalleled. It’s amazing how this show has so many visercal and shocking moments, yet never loses sight of the bigger mystery of Kamui that makes it so mentally intriguing. I still can’t figure everything out and I’m dying to find out how this all unfolds. If we get to that and pass through some gore and heavy-handed social commentary along the way, then that’s fine by me.
About Tag Team
We live, laugh, enjoy and strictly believe on "more the merrier". When together, we usually come up with very chatty, conversation-based episodics and interesting posts.
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
This reminds me of a show that basically arrests those that are accused of Pre-Crime in order to stop crime. PsychoPass’ version is: You have been found guilty of PreCrime and must be Terminated!
POWUH: Meta Resident and Metanorn's Hime-chan~ with 1758 comments
Naah. More like ‘You’ve been exposed to something we don’t like, so you’d better die’ 😀
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
All anime otaku arrested in precrime blitz as they are at risk of becoming paedophiles! 😛
POWUH: Meta Resident and Metanorn's Hime-chan~ with 1758 comments
LOOOOOOL
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Enforcement is
Lethal EliminatorNon Lethal Paralyzer.POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I’d prefer being arrested than dying in an Akira-style explosion (if I had to choose, that is…)
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Yeah, suddenly expanding then exploding would be painful like hell.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
I don’t know, the death seems to be more or less instantaneous. I’d rather die that way then live the rest of my life in a gilded cell with medication and therapy forced on me, just because I seem to be more creative or independent than a bunch of psycho brains would like.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
That’s more or less living in an iron-fisted dictatorship.
POWUH: 900-999 with 915 comments
There is one problem with the Sybil System that’s been show ever since the first season. Everybody just loses the capability to think by themselves and whenever someone deviates from the usual, their Psycho-Pass clouds and then BOOM. The scene with the people running desperately just to be shot by who should be protecting them just made this very clear. Akane is probably exceptional because she is able to think by herself without her Psycho-Pass being clouded.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I think this anti-Sibyl argument has been completely overblown by this series. If you put just about anyone in our current world in a situation like that, they’d react about the same way, with significant fear, and unlikely to do anything about it. We just don’t have the cops waiting to pick them off outside (most of the time). This is not a result of Sibyl, this is how humans are. It generally takes more than one time facing something before humans figure out what to do about it.
The main thing that really feels out of place in this series is that Sibyl decrees that people who have been around criminals are likely to BE criminals. To me that feels like the biggest flaw with it, and I wonder why that is the reaction.
POWUH: Meta Resident and Metanorn's Hime-chan~ with 1758 comments
Yeah, Psycho-hazard is a thing in this world, however, the hue doesn’t darken if you just talk to a criminal or stand next to them. It just so happened that every time we saw this theory in action, the victims were all brutally beaten, threatened or whatnot. Which would make it quite logical for their hue to darken.
POWUH: 900-999 with 915 comments
Of course, not everyone would be ready to have an answer, but one would expect the cops to be able to do something and judge a situation by themselves. But here, they are just overrealiant on their dominators and whenever they try to make something without relying on it, they are judged wrong by the system.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Here’s some news that popped up some time ago. Funimation is giving Psycho-Pass 2 and Donten ni Warau the same treatment they did for Space Dandy. Having the series subbed and dubbed while they’re still airing.
So far, these are the English actors who’ll be voicing the characters:
Nobuchika Ginoza: Josh Grelle (Attack on Titan’s Armin Arlert, Hataraku! Maou-sama’s Sadao Maou)
Mika Shimotsuki: Cherami Leigh (Shiki’s Sunako Kirishiki)
Akane Tsunemori: Kate Oxley (Space☆Dandy 2nd Season’s Hiroshi)
Risa Aoyanagi: Colleen Clinkenbeard (Trinity Blood’s Esther Blanchett, FMA: Brotherhood’s Riza Hawkeye, Deadman Wonderland’s Makina, Shiki’s Ritsuko Kunihiro)
Shion Karanomori: Lydia Mackay (Shiki’s Chizuru Kirishiki, Space☆Dandy 2nd Season’s Capybarian, Trinity Blood’s Caterina Sforza)
Yayoi Kunizuka: Lindsay Seidel (Kore wa Zombie Desu ka’s Kyoko)
About as subtle as a sledgehammer to a wall. This was plain intense from start to finish. If any of us were noted with a crime coefficient, it surely would’ve gone up. Hell, most people in the episode including Akane looked as though they were ready to break. A shame Aoyanagi is gone. I was beginning to like her. She was cool and honest about herself.
The true lesson to be learned is how everyone is dangerously dependent on the Sibyl to take action. Mika is a prime example. Instead of trusting her own instincts, she let herself stay on the sidelines. All the people held hostage could’ve been given an alternative if their Psycho-Pass didn’t trigger the command for the Enforcers to kill on sight. Like Makishima said last season, their society is living like idle sheep. As if that handicap wasn’t enough, they’ve gone and created a weapon capable of passing through walls to reach the target. Further tightening the noose on everyone’s necks.
Kamui’s a pretty sick person to cause all this mayhem in order to prove a theory. I guess in his mind, he’s thinking “science requires sacrifice” or some other BS close to that. Whatever his endgame is, his ideals are dangerous. Frightening but astonishing that he’s seen so many times yet the audience has no clue on what he’s trying to accomplish. Anyone else and their plans would’ve been heavily criticized this far in.
That old man was a mystery. Kamui clearing his Psycho-Pass is obvious but it doesn’t explain the abilities he exhibited for someone his age. Stomping on a guy’s head with enough force to crush his skull, grabbing Aoyanagi by her head with one hand, throwing her across the room into a table with ease. Was that mechanical dog beside him feeding some kind of steroid?
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Wow, that’s neat! I think they should do this for more shows since it makes us dirty pirates more likely to actually watch/buy the dubbed version.
I think just about anyone forced into that situation would have their criminal coefficient skyrocket. If only Aoyanagi had stuck around more. I was just starting to like her too!
Mika is learning the hard way that playing by the rules doesn’t always work. I wonder how much she’s going to get blamed for not stepping in sooner. Or how much she’s going to blame herself.
I thought Kamui was a more sympathetic kind of villain, but it turns out he really doesn’t care about killing innocent people. Should have known he wasn’t just okay about killing the police, but normal people as well. He did a good job picking that superpowered old dude though…AS lvlln says, it’s pretty surprising he was able to hold all those people captive without any backup.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
Well, I mentioned I think in the first episode of the first season, that this series pretty much doesn’t know meaning of the word subtle. So, they’re really just being consistent with the first season. 🙂
The Assault Dominator is one sick weapon. It now doesn’t even supply names or faces, it’s wielder doesn’t have to take to make a connection at all. Just see a number and shoot. Sybil is basically taking as much human judgment out of the equation as it can. Yet, for some reason, it still has human officers for all the good it does the victims….
As for Kamui, from what I’ve been hearing around, the sick things he does is only just beginning. I don’t know if he even thinks about the lives of others, other than variables in his experiment, like Makishima, he too lacks empathy with his fellow man for the most part, except when it serves his purpose.
As for the old guy, I’m just going to put it has a hiccup in the writing department. 😛 If they explain later, fine, but that’s what I’m going with for now.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
Just watched the first episode in dubbed form. Not half bad. Mika sounds extra annoying there though. And I have always annoyed at the translators’ desire to directly translate “-san” to “Mr.” or “Ms.” when it just sounds unnatural in English to say it all the time as the Japanese do. You expect detectives, to either address each other by their last names or first if really close. No titles needed. But that’s been a problem I’ve been noticing for dubs for quite awhile and always takes me out of them…
POWUH: iLurker with 1 comments
I truly enjoyed this episode. I hope it will shut up the mouths of Sybil apologists for good.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Odds are there will stubborn ones refusing to acknowledge what’s happened here.
By the way, welcome to Metanorn!
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I would guess I’m a ‘Sibyl Apologist’, but that’s because so many of the things the show purports to attribute to the system just aren’t even shown by the show. “People lose the ability to adjust to situations!” but then it shows people adjusting. “The cops become completely dependent on Sibyl” well, yeah, because the *only weapon* they are given and trained on is completely dependent on it. As we saw in the first series, as soon as they realize this is no longer effective, the cops involved moved on to things that were more effective. “People lose the will to survive” well I sure didn’t see that from the people who were scrambling to escape from the psychotic murderer this episode.
Basically, they’re telling us Sibyl is so horrible, but then they don’t show us actual evidence of that. In fact, they show us the *opposite* but still expect the viewer to believe what they say about it. The worst flaw of Sibyl is the people not questioning it, and that’s the fault of the people, not the system.
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
Heh. It would be amusing and quite informative if people knew who exactly Sibyl are. 😀
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
That would result in a country-wide riot. One worse than what Makishima instigated. It would be all out anarchy.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I still say the series would be cooler and much more interesting to analyze if Sibyl was a computer, like it says it is, rather than Urobuchi’s stupid-as-hell “OMG It’s BRAINZZZZ!” idea.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
Honestly, I could buy a computer more than the human brain thing. I thought it was stupid when they revealed it, and I still think it’s stupid now. I mean, I know that the human brain is basically a super computer all on it’s own. However, it’s still a human brain, it’s shown to still hold it’s own memories and individuality to a degree. Really, all you did was gather a bunch of psychopaths and sociopaths and force them all in the same room to work together to somehow solve the countries problems. And you stripped away the bodies so all the brain has to concentrate on in thought processing.
I’ll say it IS a unique concept. Stupid, but unique.
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 83 comments
If you’re going to follow with this causality, then every evil in the world (AIDS and malaria included) is the fault of men. An entire episode of S1 (Yayoi’s past) was devoted to showing the audience why it’s impossible for citizens to change or oppose the system. The population did not stop the policymakers (or whoever was responsible) at the implementation stage of Sybil and now they are reaping what they sowed and are unable to go against the system by means other than criminal activity.
People fear doubting the system as this may raise their PP. Wasn’t this what happened to Masaoka? He had more and more doubts over the course of his job and he wound up being an enforcer in the end. Are you going to blame the presence of dictatorships on the populace too? Because the masses more often than not refrain from shedding their own blood in the process of overthrowing a dictator.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
No, I can easily blame the people who enacted the system without any check on it. Maybe it’s USA bias, but I find it extremely hard to believe that anywhere (even the Japanese) would put a system like this online without 1) significant real-world testing, 2) significant human oversight, and 3) ability to check and revise the criteria of the system.
This has nothing to do with blaming people for anything else.
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 83 comments
If you are from the States, then I think just three letters are enough: NSA.
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 83 comments
I’m not actually new. Just messed up my log info.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Oh, my bad, then. My thoughts lead to that seeing it was a first comment. 😛
POWUH: Meta Resident and Metanorn's Hime-chan~ with 1758 comments
I liked this episode. Quite a bit. First of all, I’d have to argue with you, lvlln about the police. The fact that the they massacred all these victims is another factor that shows how humans are losing their own sense of judgement, solely depending on Sibyl, believing everything it says and following every order it gives. The second thing that showed it was Mika’s attitude towards everything. She wasn’t motivated to really find out what was happening on her own accord or say something to the other division to stop them from doing what they did. We saw two sides of human nature that got oppressed by Sibyl system, the instinct to survive and personal judgement of the situation.
What I’m personally skeptical about is why Kamui is interested in dominators. I can’t imagine how can that become a tool for him to clear hues or whatnot. If he wanted to kill, there are plenty more ways to do that, so why does he need it? I’m intrigued about it, but unsure at the same time. All in all I like him as a villain so far, though he’s nowhere near the development of Makishima, who, in the first season, talked about complicated social topics, gave solid arguments about his ideology and goals, in a very characteristic way. He was mysterious, but we knew him at the same time. Sure, we’re only 4 episodes in but this season will be short, so I’m a little worried about that.
Also, I’m continuing to hate Mika’s guts. Where does Akane’s patience come from ? 😀 In her place I would have fights with her every other hour, if she talked with me like that. If she was a good detective, who was doing her work well and was at least useful then fine, she would have room to talk. But she doesn’t do anything aside from criticizing everyone.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
She’s had practice. Let’s face it. Mika is exactly now what Ginoza used to be when he was an inspector and Akane had a rough time putting up with him as a greenhorn before he got an attitude adjustment (Too bad that came at the cost of becoming an Enforcer). The difference is this time, Akane is the superior and she’s accustomed to that mentality. That status is why Mika isn’t as completely condescending as Ginoza was towards her.
POWUH: Meta Resident and Metanorn's Hime-chan~ with 1758 comments
She’s much worse than Ginoza was. He was criticizing and stuff but didn’t give off that air of useless, you know.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Mika’s terrible. A terrible, flanderized character and evidence of the drop in quality this show has seen.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
The difference in quality is due to the difference in writing. Gen Urobuchi isn’t the writer for this season like he was for the previous one. Tow Ubukata (Ghost in the Shell: Arise) is leading the script.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Even though it’s not Urobutcher, I still feel that season 2 is on par with season 1. I’m really enjoying it!
…But Mika is still garbage =A=
POWUH: Meta Resident and Metanorn's Hime-chan~ with 1758 comments
It’s not worse, definitely. Though there’s still some difference.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
I’m sorry, but Mika is already way worse than Gino ever was. Gino, I could already see by episode 2 or 3 what made him tick and why he was the way he was. Also, as the show went along you saw him bend and learn and grow as he interacted more with Akane, Kogami, and his dad. Gino wanted to get stuff done, but he would never stop the investigation to talk about petulant issues like when Mika talks down to Akane in the car because of her jealousy, or when he stops Sho from doing what Akane asked him because “this is my investigation”. And even though he was a stickler for the rules, I can’t see even Gino just standing around worrying about being “in trouble”, when one of his comrades is stuck in a hostage situation.
Mika actually doesn’t seem mature enough to be in this line of work (or any adult work environment for that matter). Even greenhorn level Akane was more mature than she is. Mika seems like she should be back in high school with the level of crap she’s putting out.
POWUH: Meta Resident and Metanorn's Hime-chan~ with 1758 comments
You’re absolutely right. She is plainly pathetic. Unable to do anything on her own accord. It just baffled me, how she didn’t try to do anything to get inside that pharmacy. She only called the other inspector, and nothing else. Wasn’t a hostage scenario not obvious enough or what ? UUUU ><" how did she even get permitted to the bureau, I just don't understand 😐
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
Wow…I haven’t seen an episode this disturbing since season one..
Kamui is one sick sociopath (still not as good as Makishima’s psychopath, but he’s getting there ), and unfortunately another inspector has lost her life.
Sybil wants the cover up that there could be such a thing as eustress deficiency. Well, in a world where “stress” has been made into the most taboo word ever. And we get to meet team 3 with the first male inspectors so far, and what do ya know? They’re totally gun happy… 😛
Also, I was tolerating Mika so far, but this episode…this episode, she got on my last nerve! First she’s jealous of Akane, and then starts speaking down at her at every turn, she acts like she has this big chip on her shoulder, and can’t seem to believe what’s RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER FACE!
I mean, come on, how many times do completely unrelated people have to talk about a guy named Kamui before you begin to believe there is such a person?
Also, what kind of sheep are these hostages? He didn’t even have a gun. Why the heck didn’t you all rush him? The guy was an elderly asthmatic for goodness sake! I understand being scared and shocked, but shouldn’t some our your fighting survival instincts have begun to kick in? Even, with all of that fear over your hue being clouded or whatever, all that usually goes out the window when your very life is at stake. The human body has been wired that way since the beginning of time, I just can’t see how 30+ or so years under Sybil is enough to rewrite that, especially since we’ve seen others in this very same society actively fight for their their lives before!
And Kamui has finished his experiment and his question of “what color?” is beginning to take a more serious, and deadly light. He is now beginning to ask Sybil that very question…
I hope Gino can be a little more supportive of Akane now that he’s beginning to believe Kamui is real (about time…). And why is he so worried about her hue? If her hue didn’t get clouded with all the crap in season one, why the heck would it now that she’s more experienced and hardened?
This was a really disturbing episode, and I’m a bit afraid and yet thrilled to see what will be coming next.
Also, don’t the old Dominators tell anyone using them that the person their pointing it at is a Enforcer and/or Inspector? And if an Enforcer is pointing it at an Inspector, the gun locks on them? So, if I was looking at this guy’s clothing who fired the Assault Dominator, he’s not wearing the Inspector jacket, so I’m guessing he was an Enforcer. Aoyanagi was still recognized by Sybil as an Inspector despite her large CC. That was why her Dominator still registered to her and she could still use it. So, why didn’t the new Dominator lock on the Enforcer since he was still pointing at a registered and Sybil-recognized Inspector? Because if the Assault Dominator can’t even do what a regular old Dominator can do, what use is it?
Also, that Assault Dominator, huh? Now you don’t even have to put names or faces to the numbers of the people you shoot. Why don’t they just have police drones again? Because basically that’s what you’re making your officers, Sybil. It’s almost like Sybil wants to find a way of making a perfect by-the-numbers world, while still having humans in it. I wonder how long it will take Sybil to figure out the impossibility of that without having to resort to the solution the evil AIs, like Skynet and Ultron, have decided: you have to get rid of the human variable in order for the equation to work…
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Mika is soooo rude to Akane. She’s not even being mean or condescending to Mika, but Mika just takes it all the wrong way. To make matters worse, she’s so stubborn I doubt she could solve even the simplest of crimes.
I was wondering why all the hostages didn’t just rush him either. The guy even gave a nail gun to a bystander who could have easily just shot him and the dog. Hell, if Aoyanagi hadn’t thrown away the nailgun after shooting the robot dog then she would have been fine. The guy doesn’t even look threatening.
Yeah, the old Dominators usually say if the target is an Enforcer (and I think Inspector too). Maybe it’s because the assault Dominator was looking at several criminal coefficients at once? I know that’s the dumbest reason ever since it should be able to at least flag the important people in a group, but I’m assuming that’s why. The shooter said he just went for the biggest number, so he completely didn’t realize he was shooting an Inspector. Having more range and not being able to see faces just makes this a really, really bad version of the Dominator :/
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
I found that part very odd. What if that was Kirito under a hologram again? He was way too calm compared to the other hostages, especially when he knew he was handed something that could’ve easily dealt with the situation despite Aoyanagi’s demand not to go down that road. Not to mention they never explained how Kirito suddenly got to the scene amidst all the ensuing mayhem.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
Oh, I didn’t even catch when OC said that. But yes, the male “nurse” who was holding the nailgun on Aoyanagi, was definitely Kamui. They are a lot of subtle (and not so subtle clues that you really don’t put all together until the end. First, the nurse actually bears a slight resemblance to Kamui physically. They do you notice that he happens to be the only hostage that got to keep his clothes? There’s a reason for that. He’s the only hostage that’s given a deadly weapon, and after that the Old Guy doesn’t even bother to really look at him again. The nurse is also never fingered by Assault Dominator either and he never tries to run. Also notice that though Sho tries to find him in holo form but can’t? That’s because he’s inside with all the other hostages.
The largest clue and the clincher is this scene where he basically gives himself away near the end, right before he dissolves the holo and appears fully. He shows not a single iota of care about the death and gore in front of him, with puts a large gulf of separation between him and the other hostages.
So yeah, that “bystander” with the nailgun wasn’t going to shoot anything. He was in on it from the beginning.
POWUH: Meta Resident and Metanorn's Hime-chan~ with 1758 comments
That detailing <3 😀
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Ah, I honestly didn’t catch that. But in retrospect it makes sense because I remember he did act a little oddly…staring off into the distance calmly with dead fish eyes. This is why I like blogging shows like this – I get to understand the show even more!
POWUH: Meta Resident and Metanorn's Hime-chan~ with 1758 comments
Wasn’t the new dominator a newly developed device? I’m not sure but I remember them saying something like that. Maybe it wasn’t equipped fully yet. But maybe the crime coefficient has something to do with it. Maybe beyond a certain point dominators don’t differ inspectors from other criminals????
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
I don’t know if this is correct but I think one of the Enforcers said that new Dominator was a prototype and that it was its first use in the field. What a horrible place and time for a testing ground.
POWUH: Meta Resident and Metanorn's Hime-chan~ with 1758 comments
Yup :\
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
At least we can rest easy as we’re not in a Sibyl type society…
yet. Everyone would either become latent criminals or targets for Enforcement like wildfire.POWUH: Meta Resident and Metanorn's Hime-chan~ with 1758 comments
Wow… now that I imagine it, it would’ve been a disaster xDD
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Especially with the way things are these days.