It’s taken a while, but Akane finally steps up to take her place as PSYCHO-PASS’ lead character.
What They Say
After the incident with Rikako Ouryou, the MWPSB is now aware of Makishima’s existence, and they try to dig up more evidence on him. Meanwhile, Kogami takes Akane to see a professor who used to give lectures to the MWPSB investigators.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
While this week’s PSYCHO-PASS is much less exciting than last week’s, the show is still running strong. There’s some calm before the storm that will be the two-parter that ends the first season, but there’s still a great deal of interesting character development that’s taking place.
The episode begins with Ginoza apologizing to his former partner, Kogami, for taking him off the case. He realizes he was wrong, and that this super-criminal Makishima really does exist. The rest of the unit investigates the identity of the man who claimed to be a teacher at the academy, but the trail ends cold after leading to an old retiree. The only leads they have are a brief audio file of Makishima and Oryo talking, and the blurry photo that Sasayama was able to take.
Our mysterious huntsman is also developed, and we find out that he is Chairman Senguji, the head of a major construction firm, and current resident of the uncanny valley. To reclaim his lost youth, he’s dedicated himself to cybernetics, which gives him an unblinking stare and a rictus grin. In a public interview, he speaks of cyborgs in a tone that’s hopeful and somewhat simplistic for a post-Ghost in the Shell series. Behind closed doors with Makishima, however, he seems much more like a vampire, preying on the youth of his victims. He’s even made Oryo’s bones into a pipe to smoke from. Makishima directs Senguji to target Kogami, and he seems more than happy to cooperate.
Meanwhile, Kogami decides to take Akane to Professor Saiga, a former clinical psychologist and criminal profiler. Akane’s interest in profiling has increased since seeing Kogami use his skills so effectively, so Kogami has Saiga set up a lesson for Akane. After absorbing the lesson, Kogami tells Akane that the knowledge she’s now picked up is somewhat forbidden, as it’s been known to cloud people’s PSYCHO-PASSes. When Ginoza finds out, he screams at Kogami and refers to Akane as a child who can’t take care of herself.
And Akane gets pissed. It’s quite something to see. She stands up for herself and demands respect. Ginoza storms out of the room, and Akane is about to file an official complaint until Masaoka is able to talk her out of it. Masaoka gives Akane some background info on Ginoza: Ginoza’s father, much like Kogami, was another inspector whose criminal coefficient went into the danger zone. It’s for this reason he’s so sensitive and protective of Akane’s mental health. With this knowledge, Akane decides not to file an official complaint. Just as well, because it looks like things with Senguji are about to get messy.
In Summary
Akane has always been the weakest link in the series. There was a feeling that she was such a blank slate to aid the scriptwriters with storytelling, by giving them a character who knew as little as the audience to dump exposition on. But here, Akane finally takes hold of her career and tells of Ginoza in an utterly satisfying scene. Even before that, though, we see her taking a real risk in learning how to investigate by learning from Professor Saiga. She hasn’t been a particularly insightful inspector, but we know now that was never her job. Her job was to stay clean. She finds herself drawn to investigating now, and that makes her character much more interesting to follow now. Let’s just hope it doesn’t lead her over a cliff next week.
Grade: A
Streamed By: Funimation
Review Equipment:
Sony VAIO 17″ HD screen