Psycho Pass 3 Part 3 Episodes 5-6

A suicide bombing disrupts the opening ceremiones for the Mitake Special Religious Zone.  Unit 01, present during the attack, takes lead on the case which finds three suspects, each the head of a separate religious group opposed to the Special Zone’s existence.  Could three people of pure peace who can uncloud the harshest of hues truly be responsible for this act of violence?  The investigation sends Kei and Mao undercover in one of Tokyo’s largest religious sanctuaty’s, Heaven’s Leap.  But there’s danger lurking there as well as on the outside as the master manipulators of Bifrost enact their most dangerous gamble yet, one that could mean the end of several members of Unit 01.

While not as strong as last weeks pair of back to back awesome episodes, this weeks continuation of Psycho Pass 3 remains pretty good.  The continuous world building and exploration of social aspects of the Sybil controlled Japan continue to be fascinating and watching things get dire and dire for the cast keeps things on the edge of your seat.

Those wondering if Sybil truly views itself as “God” will probably need to erase that from thought considering it is allowing three separate religious orders to exist in Tokyo, probably many more too.  What’s interesting about their existence is that they are seen as an alternative to being place in an institution if a Psycho Pass gets too out of control.  It means theyre committed to the cause forever but at least theres a sense of freedom that comes with it…at least theyre not totally locked up.  And, yet again, we’re also seeing an alternative route for slipping past Sybil’s Psycho Pass scans by potentially having the higher ups of these Religious Groups dupe others into doing their dirty work for them, even without their knowledge…or maybe with their knowledge and theyre so committed and at peace with that, their Psycho Pass’s would register as hostile.  These work arounds are kind of brilliant.  Its nice to see these as evolutions of what Makashima was instituting back in Season One, ways to circumvent the system. 

The investigation into the bombing was a lot slower and I feel that’s mostly because the three suspects weren’t as unique compared to a Pro Wrestler and an Ex Idol running for Governor.  All three Religious Leaders seemed about the same personality wise and that made them kind of boring.  Honestly though, the biggest fault lies in Torri Aschenbeck.  I mean how could he not have raised any red flags immediately?  To quote Scott Lang aka Ant Man, “He just looks like a bad guy.”  Doesn’t help that his design is reminiscent of one of the main villains from Psycho Pass: The Movie, who in turn looked like a villain from Final Fantasy XIII.  Sometimes obvious is just that.  Still, the whole affair did give us instances to see Bifrost and their “Inspectors” at work.  These are nasty people and seeing the state that Kei and Mao are in at the moment, I think it’s officially time to worry Unit 01 is in deep trouble.

While the pacing of both episodes is much slower than last week, the tension of the case keeps ratcheting up.  Kei and Mao going undercover in Heaven’s Leap was a nice little way to change things up.  You don’t really see this kind of police work in Psycho Pass, especially this Mission Impossible style approach.  It made the investigation a little more fun that way.  I also like how this tactic and Arata’s insistence that he get his own hands dirty in combat show that he and Kei are more the proper fusion of Inspector and Enforcer that’s the old school mentality missing from a Sybil embraced society.  Mika even notes how Arata’s attitude and commitment reminds her of Akane.  It is so strange hearing her speak this way about Akane really.  Mika was such a pain in the ass in Season Two.  Granted it’s been three years between The Movie and this Third Season.  How much changed between them in that interlude?  With two episodes left and an Inspector and an Enforcer in danger, Im beginning to doubt we’ll get the full backstory about Akane’s removal from post and the current fates of her allies, even with 45min episodes.  But man…is it possible to like Mika Shimotsuki now?  Life is funny sometimes.

Honestly, you couldntve asked for a better cliffhanger than Heaven’s Leap taking Kei’s wife following her successful eye surgery.  Is tragedy on the way for Arata’s best friend?  And what about Mao?  Could she possibly be a mole in the MWFPSB?  Frankly, they’ve done so little with her this season im about to say “why not”.  But they did good character work with Temma and Irie in the same episode last week so anything is possible.  And what about that Donny Darko spirit Arata’s seeing in his Mental Trace?   Damn, so many questions and only two more episodes to wrap everything up.  But hey, at least I’m ready to see how this ends in a very positive light compared to the horrible end of Psycho Pass 2…there’s still time for a trip up but I’ll place my bets that next weeks finale will be good.  Psycho Pass 3 concludes next week right here at the Gundam Anime Corner, see ya then everyone.