Those who have been waiting for the “Urobutcher” to make his move will be pleased. Almost nobody else will be.
What They Say
Methuselah’s Game – Akane gets an email from her friend Yuki. She says she wants to talk to Akane about an MWPSB case in person and specifies a time and a place to meet. Unable to contact Yuki after that, Akane enlists Kogami’s help in investigating what happened to Yuki.
Saint’s Supper – While Senguji continues on with his hunting game, Kogami and Yuki try to stay alive. Meanwhile, not knowing what exactly is going on, Ginoza and the others respond to Kogami’s request for reinforcements, trying to stop the jamming and finding Kogami.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
It’s the end of the first season for a show that’s written by Gen Urobuchi, and everyone knows that means that someone’s gonna die. We just don’t know who, and how. In a way, it’s a routine pair of episodes we’ve seen before. But it’s still quite cruel and unpleasant.
Episode 10 is all set-up. One of Akane’s friends, Yuki, gives Akane a call and tells her to meet somewhere suspicious. It seems like a set up, so Kogami goes with her. The location appears to be an old subway station, but it leads into a huge underground labyrinth. When Kogami goes in to investigate, he goes “off the grid”. When Ginoza finds out, he’s furious and blames Akane, thinking that Kogami has misled her to escape. Whether he really thinks he’s tried to escape, or whether he’s just voicing what he believes his superiors or society will say is hard to tell. Masaoka is displeased with the way he treats, Akane, however, making you wonder if Masaoka isn’t Ginoza’s father himself.
Kogami hasn’t run away, of course. He’s much too perfect a character to do that. He quickly finds Yuki, and discovers they’ve been set up in a game Makishima has set up for Senguji to go hunting. Kogami and Yuki avoid Senguji’s hunting dogs, and human sized traps, and are eventually able to piece together a communicator Makishima has left for them. Kogami’s able to call in backup, but unfortunately they don’t arrive until Senguji is dispatched and Kogami is wounded. Makishima makes off with Yuki himself, and Akane decides to pursue.
It’s a standard confrontation: The virtuous cop faces off against the “prince of crime” who has his theories about why he’s so much more moral than the society he belongs to. We’re not really that attached to Yuki, either, as before episode 10, she didn’t even have a name.
But episode 11 ends on a horribly cruel note that’s hard to rate. It’s effective, and powerful, but it’s terribly demoralizing. Akane started off the season as a not very interesting character, all droopy eyes, no personality, and terrible haircut. But she’s grown on me, in a somewhat ironically “moe” way, as she’s grown as a character. Seeing the cruelty Makishima inflicts on her, making her loathe her own helplessness, is horrible. There’s no thrill to be had here, even vicariously. It just makes you feel empty inside.
I expected that perhaps Kogami would die, and leave Akane has his heir, but that was not the case. For the second season, we’re left with a permanently damaged Akane. Whether her Psycho-pass is damaged is hard to tell at this point. But I can’t help but think Urobuchi got the reaction he wanted, and from that viewpoint, this episode set was a success.
In Summary
PSYCHO-PASS is a solid show, but I’m not always sure if it’s good for the reasons it wants to be. Here, however, there’s really no dispute over its intentions. All of the pulpy exploitation thrills melt away in the face of real despair, and it’s harrowing.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Funimation
Review Equipment:
Sony VAIO 17″ HD screen
