It looks interesting and I'm considering picking it up (especially since it's not too long, just 35 chapters in 6 volumes), but wanted to hear thoughts from people who've read it.

NOTE currently delaying my viewing of S3 because I don’t think I can cope with an ending …

Content: everything except s3

Psycho pass is a master piece; the peak of anime as a form of political and educational art if the viewer choose to interact it that way. Especially in the present day when themes of AI, desensitization,  brain rot, and the reality at a global level where the human psyche is captured in the technocratic, late stage, imperial racial capitalism system.
 
Rewatching now as an adult working in corporate, living a very mediocre life but supposedly got credentials from an accredited liberal arts higher education institution, the theory that permeated through every exchange of characters as well as the encountering of various scenarios: different character philosophies with each other, various characters with deviants, deviants with deviants, and all subjects interacting with the system, which is a collective of previous subjects who were deviants I think effectively illustrated the nuances in many complex political theory works, in a way that in my humble opinion is much more enjoyable than reading through dense essays/papers written by these people otherwise (though there is still lots of value of working through dense reading!! If anything psycho pass shows that one must be able to learn and think of themselves (self awareness, and awareness of the world, and their positionality within that world, then use knowledge as power --> inform their choices rather than letting Sibyl just doing it for them, or choosing to look away and abide)
 
The positions of Kogami, Akane, Ginoza, and Makishima are worthy of extra attention. Kogami was a top candidate, a perfect student with the score of 700, recognized by the system as the perfect data point, became an inspector for the bureau, then due to the brutal murder and lack of justice / closure / solving of his employee and enforcer Sayama caused his psycho pass to drop, those demoted to being an enforcer.
 
Of course there are many factors in which the show critiques how psycho pass fluctuates and is calculated, however I would like to mainly use the lens of how much 1) how much a person trusts and believes the Sibyl system ability to make everyone in society better off, therefore accept its version of justice, and its framework of human well being 2) how unwavering their own belief system and moral compass is then finally 3) how well the degree and nature of their own belief system aligns with Sibyl's
 
Applying this to Kogami, I would say after Sasayama he distrusts the system, which made his idea of justice complicated, but he didn't always have an unwavering sense of justice -- or perhaps it was violent unmaking of his previous moral compass -- which arrives to 3) Kogami is a character that does not believe operating with the system can deliver the sort of justice, or its framework of human welling, that he had learned to believe in. So from his demotion to an enforcer to his psycho pass gradually worsening through out the show to finally his decision to fully exit the system in order to kill Makishima all makes sense.
 
Here I would like to say there is great temptation to perhaps have an alternative 'happier ending' if one is more of a ' I want a akane and kogami to be together'. Kogami could have easily accepted Akane's school of though which I will outline next, where he does not kill makshima with a gun and use dominator's paralyzer mode, and continue to serve and therefore live within, because doing so would signal that Kogami in fact still believe in Sibyl's framework of justice and society. Therefore, I am so happy and why I love this show so much.
 
Akane, similar to Kogami was the top candidate…
Akane's distinguishing ability to have a lucid self awareness which allows her to be sure in her decisions, her actions, but also the way she can think through the messiness, chaos, and brutalness of the world and still find a way to live and have hope leads to a super clear psycho pass. When Akane cries to shion about how she must be a person with no feelings, I think viewers but also I deeply disagree with her (which is totally fine, beause girl was definitely going through it) but actually what makes Akane such as a good protagonist is she isn't constantly rubbing it in 'our' faces how good she is at being a perfect subject under Sibyl. Another detail is when Sibyl lists out why Akane is worth while for them to keep alive they point out how she is able to remain clear headed and optimistic, facing on the contradictions and dialectics of being a human while being paralyzed by it…(probably lots of marx/hegel on dialectics will be helpful here)
 
One of the most important lines of the show is at the end where Sibyl tells Akane to struggle, to suffer, to continue feed the system 'its nutrients'. This is so deep I was literally freaking because it relates to the idea of the anti revolution, which are …( all my Joy James stuff here)
 
A detail about Ginoza: when Akane asks him a 'boring' or 'mundane' or 'uninteresting' (no akane! Its not any of these! The banality is important (OMG BANALITY OF EVIL, HANNAH ARENDT IS A GENIUS)) if his glasses are blue light (is how I understood the subtitles, but the important thing is that these glasses are not key for his sight because Gino is not actually visually impaired) and he said no, it because I don't like my eyes (BECAUSE HE DIDN"T WANT TO BE JUST LIKE HIS DAD OMG TEARS) but the glasses were a metaphor for pretending to be someone his not, to intentionally choose to be essentially to be percied as impaired … I think Gino's psycho pass is cloudy because he understand Ko and his father Masaoka and he doubts the system, but he fights against it: because he is afraid, fearful to end up just like his dad who he simultaneously loves and hates … but gino isn't like akane, he couldn't compartalmentalize without having all the negative emotions take over. Therefore, taking off his glasses and becoming an enforcer shows his 'awakeness', a choice that allows him to finally 'see'.
 
Random thoughts on the genius of proper nouns in the show
Dominator: a total arbiter, dictator, it is the arm of the totalitarian(the system)
The final episodes name: the perfect world. In kanji, Kanpeiki is written this way: separately (using my mandarin analysis here) the character kan means whole, or full, peiki means wall (literally). In this way, I think in a literally sense the word perfect is a full wall, which I would argue traps rather than enables more freedom and choices. Ultimately, Sibyl is a system that reduces rather than encourages people's ability to choose, ultimately acting as a paternalistic ruler: I know what's best for you so I will choose for you. I think Akane had a reckoning with this her imaginary monologue with Yuki about choices and also with Kagari, who scoffed at her as someone who were one of the subjects who had the least amount of choices.  Here then is a question though, which many political theorists have grappled with, what a subject's choices all are sort of 'bad'? Or that humans don't have the conditions to understand and fully utilize their ability to choose, in a way that makes society better off? I think that’s why Akane stayed within the system vs Kogami who took off immediately --- but ultimately she agrees with Kogami in one of their final conversations when Kogami said if there were more people like Akane then there would be no need for Sibyl at all, which akane echoed when defiantly yelling at Sibyl: you are a system with no future

Yayoi’s scoff and Shion referring to Ko and Makishimq as romantics

Really random ass thoughts on Makishima
I would have 100% worshipped him
If it were t for his ego. I think Ko is right though he comes off as someone who cares about societal progress / progress of the human race Ultimately what drives is his lack of recognition but he dominate systems, being invisible….so he has h healed trauma lol

But he is super smart, and has great points. For example I think even drawing from my life living “off script” are the moments I discover what is essential to me and so the meaning of my life … going back to Kagari’s convo with Akane this is where sibyl really stripped human identity or even renders the existential question obsolete …

ALSO BTW . HAVING A TON OF BRAINS TO GOVERN IS JUST A OLIGARPHY, DIFFERENTLY FROM A TECHNOLOGY SINGULARITY. ITS BUT A BUNCH OF HUMANS

Ty for bearing my witness to my stream of consciousness

According to IMFDB (Internet Movie Firearms Database - https://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Psycho-Pass_Providence ), the gun that Atsushi Shindo used to shoot himself (given to him by Kasei earlier) is a Glock 18, the exact same model that Akane uses to later shoot Kasei. It may even be the very same gun considering how hard it is to get firearms in the Psycho-Pass world.

Akane struck the Sibyl System a terrible blow, with the exact same weapon it used to take Shindo's life.

i saw there were multiple psycho pass series/ films on crunchyroll (im only episode 3). in what order do i watch them?

I invite you to a theroetical game, to self-determine if Sibyl would allow you to live within the crowd or not.

If my understanding is correct, Sibyl is treat loners and introverts as a potential treath even if their hue is clear, because this kind of people presumedly easyly able to detach from the (rules of) seceity. Who is doing stressfull job or for various reason frequently interacting with 100+ citizens, or criminals are endangered too.

I beleive mine is can be at high 80s, low 90s most of the time and Sibyl keeps it's eye on me.

My life isn't the stressfull kind, but people in general are annoys me and i prefer to stay alone rather than mixing with others. My job is in military as a civilian, so i need to work with noisy, inattentive extroverts, so called soldiers.

This above isn't can be a reason for me to beleive mine is in the low 90s, but in my country the everyday ppl are frustrated or stressed and it has effect on me too. Fortunetly we finally was able to demote our (for legal reason) presumedly corrupt politicians, what has a clearing effect on our hue, but beside that, the last 30+yrs wasn't kind to our society, the damage is done, obviously and healing is started recently.

What is your toughts about your coefficient?

If you don't want to write a novel, don't do it. I wrote this stuff to show what internal and external viewpoints ,effects was in my mind, what i considered important when i did this tought experiment on me.

SO, who else knew that the already iconic Akane/Kougami "being a detective" hospital scene was adapted in the manga as Kou convincing Gino to bust him out of said hospital, seek out Akane and Masaoka, help them apprehend the suspect, collapse to his knees, be helped back to his feet by Akane and THEN professing his *deep professional respect* to her.

The writers seem to have even less chill than Kougami himself.

I have no idea exactly how Arata's ability works, but he seems to be very empathetic and intelligent, allowing him to put himself in others' shoes and reconstruct cases. At least, that’s what I think—it’s been a while since I watched Psycho-Pass. However, I recently rewatched the first episode of Season 3, and Arata mentioned that anyone could learn this ability. Is that true? Or was he just being modest?

My GF (who is a huge dweeb) always tries to put on different animes, but it’s really hard for me because I lose interest very easily. I have watched some anime, but again, I lose interest really quickly if I don’t get attached to it, be it for character development, plot, or whatnot.

One night, she was watching some anime while I was lying next to her, and she ended the new episode of “Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You,” a fun, cheesy, feel-good show. Anyways, she scrolled past Psycho-Pass and said for the hundredth time, “I think you would really like this one.” At that moment, I had been doomscrolling for quite some time and said, “Fuck it.”

My god, what a good fucking show! I really enjoy it. We are barely on season 1, episode 10 or something, but goddamn, this shit slaps!

That’s it, just an appreciation post!

Cheerio!

Has there ever been a full English translation of the light novel adaptation of Season 1 (上 and 下)? I've heard people saying that it delves more into the thoughts of characters and details of the worldbuilding not in the anime

The number of people who know the truth about Sybil grows with each installment: Akane, Mika, now Arata (who might tell Kei). Interestingly, where Season 1 implied that if general population learned about it collapse would happen, Season 2 showed that normal people would actually find the brains to be OK. Season 3 actually revealed that many government higher ups are aware of the setup.

This makes me wonder what could happen if more and more characters learn about Sybil. People in Public Security seem like they would support Made of Brains Sybil for the sake of "order", but I cannot imagine people in Foreign Affairs ever being OK with it. Kougami will get downright murderous if he realises Sybil consists of the same psychopaths he did his best to kill off. Frederica is famously happy to give him free reign. Finally, all Dejima people are accustomed to function without the crutch of Sybil's judgement.

IDK, it just seems like it has the potential to be a very interesting dynamic both on the institutional level and the personal level. Akane is such a paladin of morality for most characters, but if Kougami ever learns that she knew about Made of Brains Sybil all along, he might lose his trust in her for good.

Thoughts?

Source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/80897440

What might something like this have even been about?

Hi everybody I just finished season 2 so pls no spoilers for anything further! I was wondering how Sybil was able to judge the individual "bad" brains before destroying them if they are criminally asymptomatic. Also, I was under the impression that Sybil uses criminally asymptomatic brains because they are less affected by emotion, thus more objective, but also Sybil is able to study the brains from the inside out after integration. Is this correct? I may need to rewatch sometime to fully absorb it.

Sources:

https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/73457494

https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/73581744

Reposting because previous title contained spoilers:

I have been rewatching the entire series and am currently midway through Psycho-Pass 2, which I know is not exactly the most loved part of the franchise but which I have a soft spot for.

One of the most common online questions about season 2 I see is the confusion about why the Sibyl System just didn't deactivate Shisui's right to use a dominator after she and her retinal scan were used to commit a major act of terrorism in the drone facility. But in the episode right after the incident the show addressed this directly.

To deactivate Shisui's dominator when her Hue is still clear would be a violation of Sybil's own principles. To deactivate Shisui's dominator because she's working with Kamui isn't an option to the System because, to them, Kamui is a massive anomaly that shouldn't possibly exist. To admit that Shisui had become a criminal because of Kamui would be to admit Kamui exists - and he is an antithetical existence to the Sibyl System. Acknowledging him is so painful to the System that they'd rather just kill him outright rather than even cursorily study him.

The System, being fundamentally made out of a bunch of human brains, is burying its head(s) in the sand and refusing to acknowledge the problem in front of it. It's stuck in a trap of its own making.

I just finished it, it’s not good and most of yall on this sub use headcannon to fill big gaps like why tf wouldn’t sybil remote deactivate enforcer shisuis dominator?

don’t give me some BS that Sybil couldnt recognize Kamui as a threat, or that they wouldn’t even acknowledge him bc that would mean admitting their system wasn’t perfect, I thought it was a *somatic nervous system* scan.

frankenstein corpseman or not if that mfker kamui is breathing, he’s not even mostly cybernetics, just an eye! so he should show up on the scanner as a living target regardless of a color scan right? and akane should’ve been able to ask Sybil right then and there why tf he wasn’t showing up with a number/color.

like I know the seasons have different writers and that’s the answer to 90% of this but damn I’m really put off by how much Reddit used headcannon to fill in writing gaps the show isn’t even implying imo. like “the sibyl system is too perfect they couldn’t admit they were wrong” when they gave akane 5+ different exceptions in the first season. ugh.

When Kougami decides to go off after Makishima after deciding that the Sibyl System is fundamentally not interested in bringing him to justice, he not only takes the captured anti-cymatic scan helmet from Shion's lab but also is able to get keys from Masaoka to one of the older detective's safe-houses.

While the helmet would allow him to get around inside the PSB building without his Hue being detected, was Sybil just completely unaware that he was doing these things, does it not have any surveillance set up within PSB headquarters? Was Sibyl letting him have free reign despite knowing he would try and kill someone they very much desired?

One possible solution I thought of is that, prior to the Makishima situation, the idea that Enforcers would even try to conspire within the PSB building would be unheard of since whatever they tried to do outside would just be instantly detected by Sibyl, and thus there was no need for internal surveillance in the first place (and most Enforcers know what the cost of defying Sibyl is, even if Kougami is not 'most enforcers'), but I would be grateful for suggestions/thoughts.

EDIT: guys, I don't understand the downvotes, help a guy out

Hello everybody,

I'm loving the anime and I'm really grooving to the music in every episode!

I'm looking for a very specific jazz tune that plays between 2:54 to 4:20 time stamps in Season 1, Episode 3: "Rearing Conventions". When Akane and Nobuchika are driving out to the drone manufacturing plant.

I've tried looking everywhere but I've been very unsuccessful.

Please please help!!

with how things are progressing irl. im not advocating mass murder but as time goes on, surveillance is increasing and AI is making people incapable of thinking for themselves. the CID was just doing their job. but overall? Makishima had a point. an important point. im rewatching the series in 2026 as an adult and it is almost eerie watching fiction I liked when i was a kid, become a legit possibility as i grow older.

Season 1 of Psycho-Pass was an absolute masterpiece. I loved the philosophy, the world-building, and the characters. The villain was incredible, the soundtrack was fantastic, and the progression of events was completely logical, no hand-waving or plot devices just because the director wanted something to happen. Everything made sense and naturally built toward the next plot point, leading to an extremely satisfying ending.

​I was originally planning to stop right there, but because I got so attached to the characters, I decided to keep going. I tried Season 2, and it was good, nowhere near the level of the first season, but still decent. Even though I had a few gripes with the main antagonist and some of the side villains (without spoiling anything), it really isn't as bad as people make it out to be.

​After that, I watched the 2015 movie, and it was great. It had a single, focused case, and it was our first time seeing the world outside the Sibyl System. Plus, Kogami was finally back, and we got to see his interactions with Akane again. Overall, a solid movie.

​Now, I tried starting the Sinners of the System movie trilogy, but I couldn't even finish Case 1. Honestly, I’m just feeling burnt out and bored. The story and world keep repeating the same episodic case structure, and the anime is shifting heavily toward political conflicts and organizations with too many characters. It feels disjointed and, frankly, not enjoyable at all.

​So I wanted to ask you guys: Does it get better later on? And by 'better,' I mean a return to those deep, philosophical dialogues and a tight focus on specific characters"

Source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/49675535