Psycho-Pass - Anime General Discussion

[Jerseykid]

Certainly went into watching the first episode with the mindset that they just ripped off that tom cruise movie but they presented it in a different enough interesting enough way.

[Dawnstorm]

Originally Posted by totoum

Stuff like this is why I imagine there's a gap between the way the system was supposed to be used when it was created and the way it's being used now.

They actually already addressed the difference between theory and practice ("forget all you've learned; it's useless out here"; "I wrote a paper"). Knowing Gen, he's not taking sides, here. Instead, it's going to be about trade-offs, and how any system that works always has most people turning a blind eye towards those trade-offs. And our protagonists won't be allowed that comfort.

Also, I expect to see the psycho pass being relevant in other areas, too. Match making, job compatibility, teaching, government grants... The possibilities are endless. The psycho pass is probably not primarily a crime-fighting tool. It's likely much more pervasive.

[-khriz-]

First episode was okay, but the girl is super annoying, I was about to punch my screen every time she said something.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by totoum

That's not what the gun tells you though,it just tells you lethal mode has been activated,the "beyond all hope" part is the enforcer's interpretation.

No, it's more than a mere "interpretation".

The gun specifically says "Target's Threat Judgement has been updated. Enforcement mode is Lethal Eliminator. Aim carefully and eliminate the target."

That's crystal clear, no interpretation necessarily. And it's what the gun itself states. The gun is clearly telling the holder thereof to kill the target. The implicit message is equally clear - There's no point in taking this target in alive.


Then, a couple minutes later, the gun specifically says "Target's Threat Judgment has been updated. Enforcement mode is Non-Lethal Paralyzer. Aim calmly and bring the target under control."

Again, that's crystal clear, no interpretation necessary.


The passage of time between the two threat judgement commands? Less than two minutes, and it obviously brings the initial threat judgment into serious dispute.

Look, for this Psycho-Pass Gun to so quickly go from basically stating "Eliminate this target, as the target is beyond realistic hope of rehabilitation" to stating "Bring the target under control with paralysis, there is hope of rehabilitation" is very, very questionable.

[jeroz]

Originally Posted by Kanon

My understanding was that the gun works this way so that agents don't have to wonder about what to do. The process is simplified to the extreme. If the gun tells you can shoot, you shoot. Akane was reprimanded by the other inspector because she failed to do that and acted on her own judgment instead. Nobody (besides Akane) seems to ask themselves any questions. They just do what the system tells them to do. I doubt anybody would have blamed Kogami for killing that disturbed yet innocent woman.

Kogami did mentioned to Akane that whenever she felt he is out of the line feel free to shoot him, which she did. Also whenever that there's an injury incident to the personal you got to file a report so that your intentions are clear. If that glasses guy stopped one of his subordinates for getting out of the line he would have to file a report as well.

What I am seeing is, the system is there to help the people making decisions, but it's the people who still need to pull the trigger. Any systems can be abused, and it's the human factor that need to be emphasised for it to be under control. From what we'd seen in the first episode, the people got lazy. It's like a medical diagnosis, yes the lab test showed abnormal value but should the doctor just apply "treatment" right away without thinking about other factors surrounding the patient?

[miroku2192]

Originally Posted by jeroz

What I am seeing is, the system is there to help the people making decisions, but it's the people who still need to pull the trigger. Any systems can be abused, and it's the human factor that need to be emphasised for it to be under control. From what we'd seen in the first episode, the people got lazy. It's like a medical diagnosis, yes the lab test showed abnormal value but should the doctor just apply "treatment" right away without thinking about other factors surrounding the patient?

I think a good comparison I personally would make is to reference World War I and trench warfare. The use of Machine Guns completely took away the "emotional" aspect tied to killing a real human being by pressing the trigger on your gun at relatively close ranges. With the Machine Gun, people just held the trigger and sprayed, and enemies went down, it was not as big a blow to the emotional mindset of the person behind the gun.

Similarly, it's easy to say "Well the system told me she's out of control and is no longer needed in this world. It wasn't my call, I am just a "soldier"/officer carrying out duties. I merely pressed the trigger, what came out of it, was the system's decision. Whether that be paralysis or death, that is not up to me"

And obviously the newly graduated cadet will try to bring in that innocence/naivety to these other characters by telling them that we can't separate personal emotion from these actions of ours, human lives are too important/heavy to just give to a system to decide.

[MartianMage]

Watched the first episode. No complaints for me but I wouldn't say I was wow'd but hey this is the first episode right?

As for the argument regarding the gun... I'll go with the gun being designed simply to assist the shooter to decide. I dunno about you guys I mean sure we know Gen is the writer for this series and thus it will prolly be dark but please let's not assume that it's stupid for the sake of being dark.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by jeroz

Kogami did mentioned to Akane that whenever she felt he is out of the line feel free to shoot him, which she did.

I wouldn't take what Kogami said as the official procedure though. He's a hound, and it's not like they care about proper procedure or anything like that.

In any case, I did get the impression that Akane was reprimanded for what she did.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by MartianMage

Watched the first episode. No complaints for me but I wouldn't say I was wow'd but hey this is the first episode right?

As for the argument regarding the gun... I'll go with the gun being designed simply to assist the shooter to decide.

Then why is the gun giving clear-cut commands? The gun isn't saying "Use lethal force if necessary" where the "if necessary" part leaves some wiggle room for the shooter to practice some discretion.

No, the gun is saying "Aim carefully and eliminate the target". Any way you slice it, that's a command.

This anime actually reminds me a bit of the old Robocop movies, and how Robocop is given Prime Directives that he is expected to follow, period.

I dunno about you guys I mean sure we know Gen is the writer for this series and thus it will prolly be dark but please let's not assume that it's stupid for the sake of being dark.

I don't think that anybody is assuming that, and I know that I'm not. But some of the arguments I've read over the past page or two simply doesn't jive with how this Psycho-Pass gun is functioning.

Maybe the guns are giving commands for a reason. Maybe one of the critiques being made by this show is that cops are too often expected to do things by the book and not make reasonable exceptions.

Just because the system is crazy doesn't mean that the narrative itself is stupid.

[MartianMage]

And what's to say that these "commands" aren't just recommendations? If they don't want human interference then they could have just added an autoshoot function on the gun. The gun obviously can determine where it's being pointed at.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by MartianMage

And what's to say that these "commands" aren't just recommendations?

They're clearly worded as commands. If they're just recommendations, then why word them as commands? Especially for something like law enforcement, where the last thing you want is officer confusion over whether something is a command or a recommendation.

If they don't want human interference then they could have just added an autoshoot function on the gun.

Because most of the people using these guns are considered criminal threats themselves, so if you had autoshoot on every time one of these guns was accidentally pointed at another member of the team you'd have one law enforcement officer autoshooting another.

And before you or anybody else raises the "Why not just use robots, then?" argument, there's actually some things that humans are just flatout better at than AIs (consider video games, where top human competition is almost always harder than AIs). Yes, this is clearly in the future, but maybe AI hasn't advanced as far in this world as it has in, say, Star Trek: The Next Generation.

[Kazu-kun]

^ It's explained in this episode the drones can't enter certain areas of the city (for some political reason, IIRC), so that would explain why they use humans.

[TooPurePureBoy]

First episode was pretty awesome I thought.

[MartianMage]

Can simply be poor wording on their part. It's only the first episode and people are already talking like they know the system. What I'm simply getting at here is that we don't even know how the system works or it's accuracy so why are we even assuming that the system is just stupidly bad? You might be right, I might be right but right now when there aren't much info available I'd rather choose the side that makes sense, you catch me?

As for the autoshoot. Ok I will concede that.

And no I'm not going to bring up robots it's already explained in this episode why they couldn't use robots.

[orpheus2]

Watched the first episode. It is quite good. For fans of Ghost in the Shell, this a good substitute for now.

The good thing is that the characters acknowledged that the system is flawed. I really wonder how did this system come to pass.

[Marcus H.]

Originally Posted by dshtyk on MyAnimeList

Weekly Playboy News released an interview with director Motohiro Katsuyuki and writer Urobuchi Gen about new anime Psycho-Pass. Monohiro said he didn't allow the production staff to use the word "moe" in the discussion meeting. "This anime goes against the current trend of anime industry. So it'll either be a complete failure or a great success." Urobuchi said Motohiro protects him from noitamina producer's demands to add appealing elements for female audience.

Urobuchi said this anime has cruel scenes both physically and mentally. Motohiro joked that he wanted kids audience to have a trauma for life by watching this anime.

Source: Shu Play News

What the fuck is this bullshit?

[NoemiChan]

Originally Posted by Marcus H.

What the fuck is this bullshit?

A confession from a Moe Hater?

[miroku2192]

Originally Posted by Marcus H.

What the fuck is this bullshit?

Seeing as how Hidashi no Gen (? - Barefoot Gen) traumatized a whole or a few generations of Japanese kids (who were forced to watch it as second graders or somewhere around there), I'm not surprised he joked about that.

Really kind of messed up though, not sure if I want to get into this anime then if it's so dark >.>, I kind of want a happy anime to cheer me up. Though, if executed well, this anime could leave a strong impression/good message. So I hope it's going for a good message over going for shock value.

p.s. - Damn your marcus, i had almost forgot about how funny that episode was until I saw your avatar again. That scene made me laugh so hard.

[Marcus H.]

Well, it's not really empty hate (i.e. "moe rocks" etc.), but saying that "I'm killing moe with this anime series" is more like grandstanding at the level of The Yamakan. I'm never impressed by people who say things like this to make their product sell, and I'm more inclined to wishing that he fails so bad. Learn to be subtle; telling a person that you would do x might give the inverse effect (see Rinne no Lagrange and tourism).

@miroku2192:

[LightningZERO]

I like this type of show a lot. A messed up world. A messed up system and messed up characters. I can't wait to see more of it.

On my list now