FIF#109-Psycho Pass 3

When a brand new model transport drone crashes into Tokyo Harbor, most authorities rule the incident as an accident.  However, a missing passenger attracts the attention of Public Safety Bureau agents Arata Shindo and Kei Mikhail Ignatov.  Put in charge of a newly built Unit 01, Arata and Mikhail begin using their unique skill sets to uncover something far deeper than a simple accidental death.  A secret cabal within Tokyo is playing with the countrys future and their endgame could upset the natural order the Sybil System has worked hard to keep in place.  With many eyes watching them, Arata and Kei move out to investigate, regardless to the cost of their careers or their own Psycho Passes.

Jeez this one took forever.  It’s not like there haven’t been Psycho Pass projects since the abysmal second season.  There was, of course, The Movie, and the mini follow up anothology trilogy: Sinners of the System.  But now, about five years later, we’ve finally gotten a proper third season of the Psycho Pass TV Series.  Could Psycho Pass 3 redeem the franchise’s lowest points?  From the first episode alone…there’s potential even if some problems from the past still persist in the form of one person in particular.

A (mostly) whole new crew, a new case that might be the biggest yet…and now Shimotsuki has been promoted to Chief…not gonna lie, the scene where she tells our new protagonists, Arata and Kei, that she isn’t a hologram, I wanted to punch her.  But I’m not here to just completely rag on Psycho Pass’ infuriating punching bag…not yet.  While we do get glimpses of familiar returning faces (and plenty of questions about why they are where they are) most of the premieres focus is on Arata and Kei and it’s clear that Psycho Pass 3 is going for more of a buddy cop feel compared to the first couple of seasons.  Arata is arguably the most happy go lucky character in Psycho Pass to date…which raises a crap ton of red flags right there.  But his Mentalist abilities that make him able to virtually look into the history of just about anyone is an interesting addition to the crime solving skills of this universe.  It doesn’t mean he immediately solves crimes, there are limits, which his good.  I’m just waiting for the shoe to drop on what the heck Arata’s real deal is and why he’s seeing the Devil’s Hell Hound trying to catch him.  As for Kei…besides the fact that he’s a foreign detective (Immigration matters are going to play a heavy role in this season), there’s not much too him yet besides his being Arata’s caretaker and isn’t prone to taking crap from his Enforcers. 

One major note about this new season is that it looks like its taking a new approach to episode structure.  Psycho Pass 3 clocks in at 8 episodes but each one is about 45mins long.  Fans might recall there was a Directors Cut edition of the first season that was done in this same manner, basically taking two episodes and fusing them into one.  It’ll make Psycho Pass 3 feel more like a US Procedural drama like NCIS or Criminal Minds (the latter ive compared this franchise too on several occasions.  I don’t know if this could backfire or not.  But if im honest, I missed the morally out of control world of Psycho Pass.  So at least for the first episode, I enjoyed watching the new cast work and the seeds of the new mystery begin to take root.  Who knows, maybe if this hour long format works, future TV Seasons of Psycho Pass could be done in this same manner.

Despite the quirkiness of Arata and the fact that everyones least favorite character in the franchise is now in charge (while Akane is locked up WTF?), Psycho Pass 3’s premiere episode feels like a solid return to form.  Much like the start of Season Two, things start off far different from where we left them and the groundwork has been laid for a very different kind of murder mystery (one that hopefully doesn’t involve this secret cabal trying to find out what the hell Sybil actually is).  Well, you’ll have to wait a little while but I’ll announce here and now: I will be covering Psycho Pass 3 this year on the Gundam Anime Corner (current target date is September 2020).  Whether this becomes as good as Season One or falls even flatter than Season Two…we’ll find out how things go together later this year.  Til then, welcome back Psycho Pass.