(Blanket warning for minor spoilers.)
What a shame - that's really all I can say at this point.
The second installment of Psycho-Pass - the riveting 2012 series which had all the makings of an intelligent psychological thriller - is terrible. There's no two ways about that. Considering that Urobuchi is merely supervising the sequel and not writing it, like he did for the original, the cracks show.
Being a sequel, Psycho-Pass 2 is susceptible to being compared to the original for obvious reasons and as such, it fails to deliver.
- SOUND (9/10): I enjoyed the OST used for the series and both the OP and
...
ED are pretty fantastic. The OST in particular is excellent, especially with the orchestral pieces used to enhance dramatic tension. It was fantastic in the first season and this has been carried over to the second, which works for me.
- ART (8/10): Akira Amano's character design definitely has a couple of flaws - anybody who's read Katekyo Hitman Reborn can confer the same face thing, but it's a stylistic issue and a personal gripe for the most part. What I liked here is the minor design changes to reflect the passing of time. Shame that only Gino and Akane received these and not the rest of the cast. I liked the backdrops too and it's fairly the same as to what I'd come to expect from from the first season, including the gory shots of blood and guts.
The problem for me was perhaps the usage of CGI and how it momentarily distracted me, but it was otherwise pretty good.
- STORY (4/10): And here's where Psycho-Pass 2 begins falling apart.
The first season ends with the Sibyl System still in place and the initial problem still present. The second season deals with exactly the same problem as the first, but with about 200% less charisma and grace. Kamui's motives and his method of getting things done make absolutely no sense, Tougane starts off with obvious parallels to Kougami but falls flat at the end, and the less that is said about Mika's bumbling, the better.
Probably the second biggest oversight - after the cast of characters - is how often the previously established rules of the Psycho-Pass world are ignored and dismissed and, worse, how incompetent the MWBPS appear to be this time around. Sure, it's explained away as the collective Sibyl System's problematic judgement, but so is everything else. Psycho-Pass 2 is successful in establishing the fact that the Sibyl System is not perfect, but that in itself doesn't make it interesting or compelling.
Another problem is the frequent use of gore. Too many people blown to bits this time around, to the point that it feels like it's being used as a shock factor. Psycho-Pass doesn't shy away from difficult to watch scenes - let's consider the first episode of the first season, for one - but there's no purpose to them here. Virtually half of the secondary cast is killed off messily and there's no real emotional impact to their deaths, neither on the other characters, nor on the audience.
And, finally, probably something less people comment on but - fanservice. Male-centric fanservice to be specific, with Shion, Kunizuka and the 2nd Division's Aoyanagi being stripped down to their underwear. I have no problem with it since it's not very distracting, but I wish that they'd levelled the playing field with some female-centric ones. I mean, we got shirtless Kougami in the first season; I could've done with more of that. :P
- CHARACTERS (3/10): The meat of any good psychological thriller is it's story, brought to life with compelling and well-developed characters. What a shame that we get neither the story nor the characters.
Akane is perhaps the most interesting out of all of the rest of the cast, which is not saying much. Her growth and position as a respected Inspector is a good watch, a far cry from who she was at the beginning of the first series. I liked the little detail with the cigarettes, a good way to exhibit her attachment to Kougami.
The problem is that while Akane is a good character, the entire weight of the story is placed on her and the poor girl can't deliver while being exactly as pacifistic as she was the first time around. Akane needs a foil and for that we get three - Mika, Tougane and Kamui reprising the roles of Ginoza, Kougami and Makishima from the first season, and all of them fail at them utterly.
Kamui and Tougane's motives are lacklustre and they are explained via info dumps - something that automatically lessens their impact. Their development is non-existent and the chemistry between Tougane and Akane had potential, but it failed to deliver as such. Kamui's motives and actions have such laughable contradictions, and that's made even more annoying with Kamui being capable of doing nearly everything. Both Tougane and Kamui's methods of affecting a person's Psycho-Pass are explained, sure, but it's a hard swallow.
Let's not forget the side cast, which is mostly pushed aside. Shion and Kunizuka serve their minor roles to capacity, but the disappointment is the newer Enforcers, none of whom are given any room to grow. Explaining this away as the limitations of a shorter season is really no excuse - the show shouldn't introduce so many characters if it's not prepared to treat them right. Perhaps the biggest disappointment is Ginoza's treatment - he'd played an important secondary role in the first season, but he might as well not exist in the second. He's not used as well here and even though he gets his moments to shine, it's nowhere near enough development.
And, of course, the biggest beef I have with Psycho-Pass 2 - Shimotsuki Mika.
It's never explicitly stated at any point, but Mika played a role in the first season. She's nowhere near the same character though, and watching her bumble through the entire case is an exercise in frustration.
For the record - I didn't like Akane initially. She's easily one of my top three characters in the Psycho-Pass 'verse now, given how we've watched her grow as a person. I was expecting the same from Mika but, sadly, that does not happen.
The problems with Mika are numerous, but the one most obvious is her tendency to be snotty and high-handed, without actually having the talent to back it up. She talks back to her superior officer, undermines her decisions despite them showing results, ignores her Enforcer's advice and she can't handle situations effectively when actually placed at the helm (episode 4. Just... episode 4). All of this would be understandable if she were a fresh recruit but, nope, she's been working under Akane for a year and a half.
Mika is more concerned with her Psycho-Pass than she is about doing anything useful. Her only shining moment comes when she cracks the Tougane secret, but even that proves to be a bust. She becomes an accomplice, indirectly causes the death of a citizen, but she chooses to never take any responsibility. She serves herself for the most part and isn't developed at all - no talk about her past, her family, her circumstances. I couldn't empathize with her, because Mika blindly accepts everything about the Sibyl System, despite how fucked up it all is. Her conflict is non-existent and it only serves to prove that she's downright useless and incapable of utilizing her own agency.
Yes, her story-line is basically how an average Sibyl-System-grown citizen would handle being in the same situation as Akane. However, that alone doesn't make it interesting and/or exciting to watch. Mika is frustrating from the start to the end and one can't even ignore her, because she's a part of the main cast.
At least Makishima isn't completely ignored and is mentioned multiple times. The Kougami cameo was a nice touch, but I particularly enjoyed Akane-Jouji interactions and, well, Jouji in general. Perhaps one of the better things about Psycho-Pass 2 is that we get to watch Jouji work his magic.
OVERALL (4/10): Where the first season starts off slow then picks up momentum and ends on a high, the second does the same... except it all crashes and burns around the finale. Again, Kamui and Tougane were not compelling enough antagonists, the plot has holes, the characters are not developed well enough and then there's Mika. I imagine that the staff's intention was to make us feel sorry for her, but I couldn't do that with how much she frustrated me with her actions. I honestly wish there was a better character arc for her; it would've certainly elevated my enjoyment of the series a lot more.
Such a shame, because I really did want to like the second season. :(
To any enthusiasts of the original - just pretend that Season 1 is all that exists. The second certainly doesn't do well to live up to the first's legacy.
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Mar 18, 2017
Psycho-Pass 2
(Anime)
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(Blanket warning for minor spoilers.)
What a shame - that's really all I can say at this point. The second installment of Psycho-Pass - the riveting 2012 series which had all the makings of an intelligent psychological thriller - is terrible. There's no two ways about that. Considering that Urobuchi is merely supervising the sequel and not writing it, like he did for the original, the cracks show. Being a sequel, Psycho-Pass 2 is susceptible to being compared to the original for obvious reasons and as such, it fails to deliver. - SOUND (9/10): I enjoyed the OST used for the series and both the OP and ... 
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Dengeki Daisy
(Manga)
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If there were one shoujo manga I could have everyone read, regardless of gender or personal preference, it'd be this one.
I first heard of it when it began being scanlated (is that a word??) and the summary made me scoff. "I will always protect you.."? What kind of crap is that? Sometime in early 2010, I went by the Dengeki Daisy page on mangaupdates.com and looking at the ratings, I was shocked. An average of 9.1/10? It is a standard unheard of in shoujo manga. The shoujo genre is always one riddled with criticism due to its reliance on cliches and stock characters, however, this ... |
