Psycho-Pass SS: Case. 2 - First Guardian

This movie is definitely a major improvement over case 1, not least because it focuses on Tomomi who was one of the more interesting characters in the original series, instead of Mika who still annoys me every time she opens her mouth. The story was surprisingly solid with quite a few neat little twists, despite it being only a 60 minute film. It felt rushed at times but given the length, that's to be expected. Here's hoping the next film and series maintains the same quality.
 
Justice is done!

A decent mystery to solve with this one.

Though, I was expecting inspector lady to die (for Akane to take her place).
3.5/5 (good)
 
Group watched this with NuclearPasta for Anime Bingo Challenge: Winter 2020!

I ended up liking this movie better than the first mainly because it focused on the cast of the original season instead of season 2. I felt the story flowed better and that the bad guy and motivations fit in the narrative easier than the first film. In Case #1, they didn't expound on why chemical waste was being used and once they revealed their plan with it, they were quickly defeated. In this film they do something similar by using chemical warfare but they already succeeded. The movie just let us know the depravity that had occurred to spur the heroes to fight/win.
There was also a much needed backstory for two of its enforcers that we didn't have from the shows themselves. Masaoka was absolutely incredible in this film. He had his touching moments but he also had his scary ones. I think Nuclear could hear me cheer as Masaoka threatened the military personnel. He deserved that moment to show he was a great character but also someone who didn't have his morality to hold him back if needed. And Sugo was just heavily overlooked in season 2, to the point I couldn't remember his name as I watched. Thankfully, this case did him well and he is a great Enforcer imo. It kind of sucks that so many people are clouded through such simple means. I get that he was killing people while in the military but the government was the one giving them these missions and so they are the ones ultimately responsible for their mental states. But Psycho Pass isn't a stranger to showing that generals don't give a crap and will try to avoid getting scanned themselves to hide their depravity.
Also, this show brought back grumpy Ginoza which is something I have to smile at. He can be a massive jerk but after all the moments he had in the series you can see a lot of it is just a front to protect him emotionally. But that is my bias talking because he is my favorite character in the anime. Both movies have given him some spotlight so I like them both a lot for that.
 
Always end up doing this late, yikes
Also here for the Bingo Challenge

I'm a fan of all things Psycho-Pass in general, but I was kind of disappointed with this movie. Not because of the characters, the characters are great. Masaoka was always my favourite enforcer and to get to see him again was very welcoming. I like that we got to find out Sugo, who up till this point had hardly any character at all, let alone screentime. Even the villains were pretty decent. One dimentional, but they're obviously there just for you to hate, and they do that well.

Instead my main problem with First Guardian is the timeline. I really feel this should have been set at least before Kogami became an Enforcer, if not even further back. The film is supposed to take place only a year before Akane Tsunemori joins the Public Safety Bureau. During the events of the film several places have large scale terrorist attacks, including the Ministry of Welfare itself. It's not that this isn't mentioned in Psycho-Pass 1 that bothers me, it's that this event would demand an increase in the security forces throughout Tokyo. A highly publicized bombing of a government building is going to cause crime coefficients to go through the roof. Yet only a year later the PSB and other police forces lack enough personnel to handle riots. There's a severe disconnect in what a terrorist attack of this scale would do to a city and what we see in Psycho-Pass 1.

I think the film was overall good, and again, I enjoyed the characters. I do think it needed to be set 5, or even 10 years in the past though.
 
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