T5W#368-Top 5 Thoughts About Psycho Pass: Providence

In 2012, Production I.G. and writer Gen Urobuchi released a brand new cyberpunk/dystopian Anime that has gone down as a new classic, Psycho Pass.  Set in a future Japan where your behaviorial status could land you in prison or dead, the series followed a team of investigators and hunters tasked with keeping the peace while also finding themselves at odds with the truths about the system they are sworn to protect.  Over the course of ten years there have been three TV seasons plus a few movies and, to celebrate the 10^th Anniversary of the franchise, a new Psycho Pass movie has been announced: Psycho Pass: Providence.  I’ve looked at pretty much everything Psycho Pass related here at the Anime Corner (except for the Sinners of the System Trilogy) and I’ve grown quite fond of it.  So I’m psyched that more is on the way and am itching to share my thoughts on the franchise thus far and what I think might be happening in this new movie.  So settle in for todays Top 5 Wednesday as I look at my Top 5 Thoughts About Psycho Pass: Providence. 

 
#5-10^th Anniversary Promotional Tour

While we only have a single poster to go on for visual clues or story ideas, the announcement of Psycho Pass: Providence is only one of many for the celebration of the franchises 10^th Anniversary.  Plans are in place for a full on promotional tour with exhibits highlighting the best moments from the series so far, as well as a revival of the Psycho Pass Radio Drama of the First Season.  Kogami’s voice actor, Tomokazu Seki, will also be appearing at several of these events as the Ambassador for the whole project.  All of this is planned to go into effect in the coming months and last until well into 2023, presumably around the time Providence might be released (I’m guessing Summer 2023 at the earliest). Plus I can imagine more details about Providence as well as any other potential follow up or spin off projects will be revealed as time goes by.  No matter what, Production I.G. isn’t skimping on showing Psycho Pass some good love for it’s 10^th birthday.  Might be a good time to break out the series again and watch it from the beginning to celebrate as well.
 

#4-The Current Status of Psycho Pass

We last saw the world of Psycho Pass in 2020 with Psycho Pass 3: First Inspector, which acted as a conclusion to the Third Season after Psycho Pass 3 ended on a major cliffhanger.  A lot had changed between Psycho Pass 2 and Psycho Pass 3, including the establishment of a new Public Security Unit One and much of the older cast pushed into supporting roles (the reasons for which were shrouded in mystery, more on that later).  The new cast of Psycho Pass 3 was pretty good, with leads Arata and Kei being more than worthy successors to Kogame and Akane and even the most insufferable character from Psycho Pass 2, Mika Shimotsuki, was salvaged into a strong leader for the team.  All in all, Psycho Pass is in a good place after a nearly disastrous Second Season.  Sadly, though, as I’ll discuss later, I don’t think we’ll be seeing anyone from Psycho Pass 3 in this new film.

 
#3-This is the 6th Psycho Pass Movie

While Providence might be the most recently announced theatrical outing, Psycho Pass has had a surprisingly healthy amount of movies in 10 years.  In addition to the aforementioned First Inspector, there’s also been 2015’s Psycho Pass: The Movie and the theatrical anthology trilogy Psycho Pass: Sinners of the System in 2019.  The former was a direct sequel to Psycho Pass 2 and found Akane reuniting with Kogame in a war torn country under consideration for its own Sybil System.  Sinners of the System told short stories all across the timeline, focusing on different pairs of characters at various points before Psycho Pass 3.  This makes Psycho Pass: Providence the sixth theatrical feature for the franchise.  Here’s hoping it’ll be just as epic and awesome as its predecessors (I assume Sinners of the System is good.  I haven’t seen it yet but if I can soon, maybe I can slot it into 2023 for review).
 

#2-We Might Not See Much of the Psycho Pass 3 Cast in Providence

I had to double check something before writing this one but even with some confirmation, I still think it’s a 50/50 shot that we’ll see the cast of Psycho Pass 3 in the new movie (besides anyone who was already around before the Third Season).  I say 50/50 because Psycho Pass 3: First Inspector ends with Akane getting released from prison and reuniting with Kogame again.  I think I missed the fact that there was a post credits scene where Akane meets with Arata and Kei and agrees to tell them the tale of what happened to her two years ago, before the events of Season Three.  I could see this being a framing device for Providence and maybe we’d cut back to this conversation to hear Arata and Kei’s thoughts and reactions.  But that might be it, otherwise don’t expect the two generations of Unit One personnel to cross paths in a more official capacity.
 

#1-An Untold Chapter

The most we have to go on in terms of what Providence could be about comes down to a single announcement poster.  On it, we see Akane’s team from Psycho Pass 2 and Psycho Pass: The Movie, plus Kogami is present as well.  This leads me to believe Providence will be an interquel set between The Movie and Psycho Pass 3.  It would explain the absence of any characters freshly introduced in Season Three.  This could be the movies greatest asset though potentially being set where it is in the Psycho Pass timeline.  There was a lot of mystery surrounding why Kogame was back in Japan working on a Black ops team with Ginoza and even more about why Akane was being held in prison.  Perhaps Providence could be this unspoken of event that leads to Akanes arrest and dismissal as an Inspector.  Truth too, it’ll also be good to see Akane work with her post Psycho Pass 2 crew on a case together rather than running off on her own like she did in Psycho Pass: The Movie.  Either way, bring on this untold chapter.