At long last, PSYCHO-PASS gets to the point, with a twist that changes all that’s come before it.
What They Say
The CID’s hunt for Kimihiko Hayama’s killer leads them to another murder with the same modus operandi. Now it’s up to the CID to figure out how to track down the killer’s real identity and get justice for the victims.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
For almost the entire run time of this week’s episode, I was afraid I would have to turn in yet another review identical to the previous four: “Great ideas, cool visuals, but I just don’t get the execution.” Then, at the very end this week we’re given a twist that can serve as a foothold or vantage point from which to understand the world of PSYCHO-PASS. It’s not the most original or shocking twist to come about in anime, but it is a game-changer, and allows us to re-examine everything that’s come before in a new light.
This week, we’re dealing with episode 2 of the plot of the avatar killer. Last time the CID found that a man had been murdered, and yet his very profitable avatar continued to not only exist online, but to grow in popularity. The episode ended with a bungled club raid and the death of the owner of avatar Spooky Boogie. We open on Akane apologizing to who she thinks is Spooky Boogie, but Boogie is mad, and decides to cut off all ties with Akane.
I was hoping Akane would have noticed something amiss, but she still seems a little too naive for the job of a cop. However, Shinya notices a change in Spooky Boogie’s vocabulary, which leads them on the trail of the avatar’s owner. They investigate her apartment and find the same signs of murder. Akane is wracked with guilt that she may have been responsible for Spooky Boogie’s death, a sign that her biggest draw to the CID may be her mental heath rather than her detective skills. Shinya seems to be the undisputed expert in this department.
They try and track the killer down, first using a direct approach that ends up with some CID members walking in on a booby trapped apartment. Then Shinya suggests a more roundabout approach: The killer, he believes, must be a fan of all three avatars in order to be able to impersonate them better than their actual owners did. By tracking down visitor statistics, they’re able so find a specific person who stopped coming to visit each avatar just at the same time they’d been replaced. And that person is our creepy killer, Masatake Mido. All that’s left is to chase him down and execute him.
As per usual, there are some great ideas and concepts that I feel will probably never be touched on again: The idea of fan work being purer than the original, the way Mido is able to hack holograms in order to escape detection, and all of the nifty robots the CID has on hand to do forensic investigation. I’m less thrilled about the conspiracy that seems to be in play that worked to enable Mido, as that seems a typical anime staple. I’ve wanted some kind of connection between all of the CID’s episodic cases, but a conspiracy of mystery bishounen isn’t exactly what I had in mind.
Still, in the end, there’s no denying the effectiveness of the final revelation. Ginoza turns over a personnel file on his former partner, Shinya. The reason he seems to be the unit’s best detective is that he used to be a CID inspector. As is usual for police dramas, he gets too involved in a particular case, and in the world of PSYCHO-PASS, this leads him into dangerous psychological territory. I’d always wondered where the Enforcers came from, and why they were supposed to be so good at tracking down criminals. The answer is simple: They’re simply the Inspectors who got too good. My hunch that pure Akane was just there to keep an eye on the pros may have been correct.
In Summary
The episode’s final revelation about Shinya is the first firm foothold this show has given me as a viewer. It’s well past time, but I feel a bit silly that I didn’t figure it out beforehand. It’s a solid point of reference that can be used to start figuring out all of the other fragmented ideas and clues that have been thrown out with wild abandon. Now I’m interested in finding out where we go next, and what this might mean for the other Enforcers, including Masaoka and Kunizuka.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Funimation
Review Equipment:
Sony VAIO 17″ HD screen
