Monday, December 31, 2018

Psycho Pass 2 Part 3 Episodes 9-11


Akane Tsunemori has faced the darkness before and always kept a clear hue.  However, the closure of the Kirito Kamui case might finally push her into an abyss she cant return from.  Baited by Kamui himself and unknowingly stalked by her own subordinate, Togane, Akane will have to rely on her own will and beliefs to see this case through and see justice done the right way.  Many questions remain: will Sybil play along with Akane’s ultimate decision for Kamui?  And what roles will the demented Togane and the tormented Shimotsuki play before the curtain closes on this horrific ordeal?  The answers to these questions and more will pave the way for the future of society as it begins to change once again.

This couldntve been more the opposite of last time.  If you may recall, when I reviewed Season One, I said it was damn near perfect.  Few Anime can have the kind of build up that is given such epic and great payoff as Psycho Pass.  Psycho Pass 2…feels like it got lost in a crazy idea and is doing its best to forget it ever happened, even before its over and done with.  Shoddy writing, weak characters, Sybil acting unlike Sybil and an ending that tries to emulate its predecessor and doesn’t even come close.  Part of this fail could be aimed at the head writer of the season, which is kind of a shame in my head.  Tow Ubukata, the head writer of this season, also wrote Ghost in the Shell: Arise, which I really liked.  However, the hard scifi turn into Frankenstien feels more like a Ghost in the Shell move.  I wonder if original series writer, Gen Urobuchi, could have saved this whole seasons premise.  But we’ll never know.

Akane, Akane, Akane.  She’s grown quite a bit on me since her first appearance on the show.  She’s gone from innovative rookie to battle hardened inspector over the course of two seasons.  But this finale proves that, against all odds, she truly is incorruptible.  No matter how bad her life gets or how much hell she sees: people being burned alive, the loss of a family member, even dealing with the darkest soul she’s ever encountered…her Psycho Pass still stays low and cool.  Truth be told, im not sure if I wanted to see more of a rageful reaction when she found out her Grandmother had been abducted, and later killed.  As it stand though, what was done with it was fine and one of the few notable positive scenes in the dismal latter half of this season.  Plus it got us another visit from Mental Kogame, God I would’ve loved to have seen Real Kogame show up and kick Togane’s ass.

Besides Akane and a few scant moments of awesomeness from the bulk of Division One, including the return of Soga and his make up with Gino over a past incident, the rest of this finale was a mess.  Sybil somehow let one of its brains run the show when it should have realized Toganes mom was so far off the deep end that she’d kill their investment in Akane just to settle an old score and protect the Togane Empire she left behind.  Kirito Kamui failed to be anything close to a memorable villain, or memorable beyond his bizzare origin story.  Even Togane wasn’t given the best send off possible, and I think he had the biggest potential of all the new characters introduced.  His calm and professional demeanor hiding a sadist who loved nothing more than to discretley cloud the hue of others would have made him a good candidate for a season long villain.  However, he ended up devolving into an emotional baby with long standing mommy issues, which was no less highlighted when he ran away crying cause he couldn’t corrupt Akane like he did so many others in the end.  Sybil purging Momma Togane and a few select others to better perfect itself could be a whole other discussion that could make my head spin.  Let’s just say I still and never will believe in the system…but it was better portrayed in Season One…just like everything else this season.

And what of this seasons major point of anguish: Mika Shimotsuki?  Well she’s shown the Sybil systems true identity and claps and cheers cause she’s freaking out and still such a tool.  She keeps trying to tell herself she’s blameless despite her inadvertedly lending a hand in the death of Akane’s grandmother.  And she still believes she can be in charge one day and just let everything that happen slide as if it was just a really bad dream.  I swear, if I didn’t need the brains cells to try and make sense of this overall arc as a whole, then everytime Shimotsuki appeared on screen, I’d start slamming my head into a desk.  You know how she could have been saved?  If they had committed to making her Togane’s disciple of sorts due to her clear disgust and jealousy with Akane, she could have at least had a more focused role, and would’ve given support to her and Togane being the Anti Akane and Kogame team up.  However, that will likely never happen, even if a possible third season picks up where Season Two and The Movie leave off.  It has been a very long time since any Anime character has gotten me this riled up.  I could even quote Supernatural: The Abridged Anime, “It’s amazing ive hated you completely since weve met and you’re STILL losing points.”

I can see now why everyone was saying that you didn’t have to watch Psycho Pass 2 before seeing Psycho Pass: The Movie.  The only reason you might need to check it out briefly is to know why Shimotsuki, Hinakawa and Soga are on Akane’s team at the beginning of the flick.  This season ends up being such a huge trainwreck it nearly sullies the name Psycho Pass in the process.  The mystery devolves into bad scifi from a totally different show.  The messages and themes from the first season are jettisoned for something a lot less profound, almost like they just started to throw darts at a board and see what would stick.  As bad as all of that was, Mika Shimotsuki’s continued presence almost atom bombed the whole thing…cause she’s just…ugh, the worst.  There were bits of saving grace here and there, mostly in the first half with the start of the Kamui Case and the introduction of the new players.  Akane had a really good team that went mostly underutilized cause Shimotsuki didn’t want anyone getting more attention than her.  Hinakawa’s shyness and potential made him a surprise good fit for the unit and he played well with Yayoi and Kiranamori.  Soga could have had some really good moments considering his history with Gino but he was taken out for most of the season. Ginoza continued to grow but we rarely ever saw that happen on screen, hell I wanted more time with him and Akane considering all they’ve been through (why wasn’t he consoling her after she found out about her Grandmother?).  It’s true that Psycho Pass 2 had some big shoes to fill but it tried to outgrow them quickly to make its own mark on the world…and boy did it, just not the kind of mark people are going to look back on with fondness. 

If we were going by Sibyl rules on this one, Season One should be preserved for the Think Tank.  Season Two…target for lethal elimination.  Final Score for Psycho Pass 2 is a 4.5/10.  And that, ladies and gents, closes out 2018.  Expect a new “Welcome to the Gundam Anime Corner” feature tomorrow and get come back next week as we kick of 2019 with Slayers Next…yeah next years gonna be “The Year of The Slayers”, stay tuned for more.  See ya in 2019 everyone.

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