Psycho-Pass

Episode 1:

A very good first episode. This looks like it could be a great cyberpunk series with some moral complexity. There are just a boat load of issues that could be brought up with this episode.
From using criminals to catch criminals, to a society that monitors the mental state of all of it's people to weed out criminals before they can cause damage. However, the thing that stuck out to me is what happened to the victim in this episode that a rape and torture victim them became the target of potentially lethal action was pretty sickening and a bit hard to watch but in a good way. Law enforcement in this world has been made very simple, too simple, you just do what the gun tells you.

Which does bring up one issue for me. The gun is too slow. If a criminal is armed they would blow you away by the time the gun has authorized action. It's pretty implausible that this thing could be used practically, but I'll suspend my disbelief for the sake of what was an otherwise enjoyable episode. Also, I wasn't disappointed by the effect after lethal mode was authorized on the gun.

I'm looking forward to having this future world expanded on, because it's got a lot of interesting things going on with the technology which seems to have made the world both a safer and more dangerous place as the line between being a victim and a criminal is razor thin here. I liked that she actually tried to talk the victim down rather than going for lethal action as the idea of attacking someone in that state is pretty despicable really, but I guess paralyzing them is then treating them might be the best course of action sometimes. Still I wonder how treatment works in this world, hopefully they don't just throw victims in jail.

I want to see more of the moral implications of this advanced technology and how the society as a whole operates. One this is I would have liked to see more of the actual criminal in this episode. We just see him after he's obviously lost it. Although it seems like the stress of constant monitoring got to him and is part of what drove him over the edge so it might be the society itself that causes some of these problems. Once your rating goes up everyone knows and it cuts you off from the rest of society. Of course this guy just looked like a loon and he was probably just barely suppressing his urges until it all exploded. I'll be interested to see a more in depth case.

Anyway, an enjoyable first episode that was a really harsh introduction to this future. I am really looking forward to more of this.
 
^ Ah, you already said everything...

Only thing I can add that designs remind me of Reborn ... and yeah first episode was really great...
 
Episode 1

I like the OST here. Sure there's some which is the kind of synthy techy stuff one expects in cyberpunk, but also stuff like this. And hey, while this being a notaminA cyberpunk show with guns by Production I.G. was enough to get me to check it out, this episode was definitely good enough for me to stick around.

Itoukaiji01 said:
However, the thing that stuck out to me is what happened to the victim in this episode that a rape and torture victim them became the target of potentially lethal action was pretty sickening and a bit hard to watch but in a good way.
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Totally. It's like the newbie is the only sane person in that situation. She's clearly our viewpoint character in the conventional 'use rookie to explain how system works', but she may also become this show's moral centre.

And of course this is a society where a machine intelligence is basically judge jury and - via the guns - executioner. How reliable that AI is may be a question the show could probe at depth.

Still I wonder how treatment works in this world, hopefully they don't just throw victims in jail.
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Well the enforcers are called 'latent' criminals, which suggests that's a thing. Possibly more than just enforcers, although what other kind of jobs you'd trust to something the System considers a potential powder keg is another question entirely. Menial labour, I'm guessing.

I want to see more of the moral implications of this advanced technology and how the society as a whole operates. One this is I would have liked to see more of the actual criminal in this episode. We just see him after he's obviously lost it.
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I was fine with that honestly.
This is the first episode, it's bogged down a bit explaining how things work. The crazy guy they're hunting down this week doesn't need to be anything more than this crazy guy they're hunting down. From what little I got though there's an inherent desperation for him in the circular logic of the system - he has a criminal rating, therefore he will never be allowed to have a family or a job, and raping that woman was what he percieved as only opportunity for non-virtual sex. I think this society coulld be fucking itself up a bit - classifying someone's tendencies as criminal seems likely to just push them further over the edge. We see a bit of that with the woman also, where being classed as a potential criminal leads to her being classed as a worse potential criminal and it takes treating her like a human being to decrease that rating at all.
 
So, why not use normal guns with a psycho scouter?
0-100 = leave him alone
101-150 = stun him
151+ = kill him
And bringing a rookie in such cases is a no-no.
 
I'm not sure why they use criminals instead of police officers. What is so special about them? And that's some big shortage they have if they place wolves to guard the herd.
 
Ep 1:

Ah... Seems like a typical dystopia story. Well, perhaps it's not going to be so typical, considering Urobuchi is behind the concept. I'm not a fan of the man, but he's good enough that I expect this to be a pretty good anime.

valondar said:
Itoukaiji01 said:
Still I wonder how treatment works in this world, hopefully they don't just throw victims in jail.
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Well the enforcers are called 'latent' criminals, which suggests that's a thing. Possibly more than just enforcers, although what other kind of jobs you'd trust to something the System considers a potential powder keg is another question entirely. Menial labour, I'm guessing.
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Psychological treatment is my guess. Most likely brainwashing, considering the dystopic settings.

Itoukaiji01 said:
Which does bring up one issue for me. The gun is too slow. If a criminal is armed they would blow you away by the time the gun has authorized action. It's pretty implausible that this thing could be used practically, but I'll suspend my disbelief for the sake of what was an otherwise enjoyable episode. Also, I wasn't disappointed by the effect after lethal mode was authorized on the gun.
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The gun bothered me as well, though for a different reason. Was it really necessary to make the lethal mode so messy? You'd think with such advanced technology they could make a weapon that kills without exploding the victim into a bloody pulp. Seems like nothing more than gore for the sake of gore, though I'm hoping there is some kind of an explanation.

You know what I find ironic? The older guy explaining how theory and logic have nothing to do with real police work... while the Psycho-Pass system that they're so reliant on must be pretty heavily based on theory and logic.

Despite a few things that require suspension of disbelief, this seems to be far from the average scifi anime (I generally don't like Japanese scifi). It seems quite promising.
 
Krozam said:
You know what I find ironic? The older guy explaining how theory and logic have nothing to do with real police work... while the Psycho-Pass system that they're so reliant on must be pretty heavily based on theory and logic.
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That's because you indeed don't need them if someone else does it for you.
 
Episode 1
This was an impressive start... just to get this out of the way, I like Akane, in terms of appearance. Must be them eyes, so captivating... I also like her because of what valondar said... never thought of her from that perspective.
she may also become this show's moral centre.
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I like the premise, like Itoukaiji01 said...
This looks like it could be a great cyberpunk series with some moral complexity.
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It's intriguing for someone like me who is new to this sort of setting. Though the thing that makes me a bit hesitant is the psychological moments that will occur in future episodes. It's either I won't understand the situation they'll be put in or I do understand but can't find the words to elaborate. Regardless, I'm going to be using my thinking cap to the fullest when watching this.
What I also like about this episode is how Shinya handled the situation with the victim. Shinya realized that she was mentally scarred, knowing that the police sees her as a criminal, so what does he do? He took a damn paralyzing bullet from a fellow co-worker, displaying that Akane can be trusted and that she wanted reassure her that she is safe and protected. Good moment.
What I don't like about that scene was how that other police guy just went and shoot her down. I mean c'mon, shes the damn victim. She went through 10 levels of hell and you treat her like a criminal. What I also don't understand was why did she suddenly became a criminal. Because the gun said so? That's preposterous. Just because her state of mind had changed, doesn't necessarily mean she's gonna go deranged. *Actually in some cases, it would but in this case, it's unlikely gonna happen. She was willing to cooperate with Akane and the police... Bad moment.
 
All I got to say is that this is a fucked-up and interesting premise that I hope will turn out to be a great mindfuck anime.
 
Episode 1.

Really like the setting so far. Some great shots of the cityscape which definitely emits those cyberpunk vibes.
The premise is also quite intriguing and hopefully will bring plenty of thrills. Those guns were so lovingly framed on multiple occasions, how could one not think that they’re the coolest weapons ever?

Its certainly set up for a larger mystery involving those all knowing all seeing guns and the system they’re a part of. Who controls the guns/system and why? What are the motives behind the people/systems in control?

And as you guys pointed out - there are some juicy moral dilemmas at play here (a system which decides/predicts criminal activity – ‘latent’ criminals?) In the future, Big Brother is a gun. Here’s hoping it’s all explored in an interesting manner.

I’ve never liked the naive rookie type character however. Bringing to the situation their ideals and newbness. But oh well. Seems we’re to learn the painful truths of this future via this protagonist so I’ll just have to bear with that.

I think the last time I saw criminals used to hunt criminals in a cyberpunk setting was Cyber City Oedo which was a fairly entertaining show.
Krozam said:
The gun bothered me as well, though for a different reason. Was it really necessary to make the lethal mode so messy? You'd think with such advanced technology they could make a weapon that kills without exploding the victim into a bloody pulp. Seems like nothing more than gore for the sake of gore, though I'm hoping there is some kind of an explanation.
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It probably was
gore for the sake of gore. Which is perfectly fine by me.

That moment reminded me of Tetsuo's horrid experience at the ending of Akira.

Damias said:
What I don't like about that scene was how that other police guy just went and shoot her down. I mean c'mon, shes the damn victim. She went through 10 levels of hell and you treat her like a criminal. What I also don't understand was why did she suddenly became a criminal. Because the gun said so? That's preposterous. Just because her state of mind had changed, doesn't necessarily mean she's gonna go deranged. *Actually in some cases, it would but in this case, it's unlikely gonna happen. She was willing to cooperate with Akane and the police... Bad moment.
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The gun 'treats' her as the criminal. Therein lies the problem.

As for the other police guys - seems they're your typical jaded and world weary types. They may have had the option to deal with the situation how the newb chick did but didn't because they know its already futile. But we'll see how that pans out.
 
The premise sounds neat on paper but this episode didn't thrill me. It should have been far more interesting. And the characters were... really bad... no showcase of interest at all.
The gun is my biggest issue because it 'scans' for someone's psychological state. I figured this would be neat if people were legitimately evaluated by human means and testing before being deemed beyond rehabilitation and therefore worthy to eradicate. The guns purpose should be to recognise people and bring up their profile from a database. The gun doing all the work is a bit farfetched even for cyberpunk? Oh well. The biggest intrigue is from the hints of a struggling population, whether it be in numbers or incapacity, possibly the psycho-pass system is ending up like genocide with too many people being killed to prevent crime. Makes me wonder if the anime will argue that everyone has the capacity to do evil/criminal acts because the mind will always break under psychological pressure. The appreciation of individualism and free will seems completely abandoned. The gun assumed all cases will end the same - with crime.
 
coffeebreath said:
The guns purpose should be to recognise people and bring up their profile from a database. The gun doing all the work is a bit farfetched even for cyberpunk?
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My understanding was there was basically a judicial AI making snap judgements about these people. It's noe like the gun has an opinion of its own - any one of these guns would tell you the same thing about a given person's psychological state.

So we have basically a really intelligent computer which is given complete control over the judicial prcoess (and iirc, the episode briefly mentions specifically over this town - possibly other towns have their own judicial computers, maybe they're connected in some network, whatever).
 
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I think I got that part. I just thought it was more
the gun 'read' people's state of mind and determined if their psychological state made them incapable of moral rationality? Either way, I just find the idea of a gun 'scanning' for something that is basically intangible really confusing. Which is why I thought it'd be cool if the gun simply read information from a database and made decisions based on that information, as opposed to actually finding out the info for itself. If that makes sense. It's possible I didn't pay complete attention as I had to get the characters up.
 
^ For sure. The original was decent, I did also really like Bloodlust as well, great movie.
coffeebreath said:
I think I got that part. I just thought it was more
the gun 'read' people's state of mind and determined if their psychological state made them incapable of moral rationality? Either way, I just find the idea of a gun 'scanning' for something that is basically intangible really confusing. Which is why I thought it'd be cool if the gun simply read information from a database and made decisions based on that information, as opposed to actually finding out the info for itself. If that makes sense. It's possible I didn't pay complete attention as I had to get the characters up.
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From what I recall it was something along the lines of what valondar said. But I wasn't so sure exactly how it does make these decisions (and the show hasn't elaborated upon it yet anyhow). Is there a sort of sensor in the gun that detects brainwaves or something? Does this information get transmitted to the database from which the AI system relays a decision back to the gun?

Even if/when this is directly addressed, the idea in itself is fairly nonsensical as you kind of alluded to. What the heck is measured to ascertain if you're at risk of committing a crime? How angry you are? And how reliable is this measurement anyway?

But perhaps the situation is a little shifty. Maybe the populace has been convinced that these guns are acceptable and reliable when in fact they are just being used as a means of oppression and control. What's happened to a society that's allowed something like a gun to be the final arbiter on one's criminal intent? And when did intent equal crime?

We'll see what happens. In the meantime, beware the thought police..
 
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