[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Mighty_frog

Good points. I'd probably be more bothered by this if the Dominator wasnt such a darn cool weapon

The grotesque way that the Dominator handles it's business may have been done deliberately as a deterrent. Something along the lines of "hey, keep your shit in check or else next time it'll be you getting mopped up off the floor". The psychological trauma of seeing someone get blown to bits may not be a problem since mental care medicine is so prevalent in their society. Maybe its called the Dominator for a reason, not just because thats a badass name for a gun lol.

That's probably the best rationale that can be offered for the Dominator, yeah. It still represents something of a trade-off, as it's one of the few parts of this futuristic world that seems downright retrograde, as in "That's uncivilized".

But if we presume that crime once grew wildly out of control, and the Sibyl System (with all its trappings, such as the Dominator) was a response to that, then the Dominator makes perfect sense.

Originally Posted by Endscape

I agree about her grievance against the school being too conventional. *Snip for Space*

Yeah, I think you nailed it completely. There certainly wasn't much nuance in her viewpoints, and it does have that certain idealism-driven simplicity to it that we tend to associate with teenagers, yeah.

Originally Posted by Gohan78

This episode was good but there were certain inconsistencies that didn't sit well with me.

1. The existence of a prison for high-PP criminals doesn't make sense in this setting. If these people are judged irredeemable by Sibyl, they should be executed (enforcers are an exception because they are still useful to the society).

That's an interesting point, and I definitely see where you're coming from. But here's a thought - Maybe they want to keep some high-PP criminals alive for scientific study. If nothing else, psychologists who lean towards scientific research and study might want to keep some alive to see if a means can be found for rehabilitating even these high-PP criminals.

The whole place made me think of a very clean, very high-tech Arkham Asylum (in fact, this is what Arkham Asylum should look like).

Not to mention that Rikako easily managed to escape the police blockade.

I think it's pretty clear that this was more Makishima's doing than Rikako's.

4. For the first time we saw Makishima outright killing one of his subordinates because she disappointed him. I hoped he wouldn't fall into such a cartoony villain role. He could have let the police slaughter Rikako instead of helping her escape, only to kill her later. And the Titus Andronicus quotes went on for too long.

Makishima may have certain goals and ideals more practical than The Joker's, but the man has a similar fondness for poetic killings. The way he had Rikako killed is definitely something that The Joker would have found highly humorous and fitting.

In and of itself, I certainly don't think this lessens Makishima as an antagonist, any more than it does The Joker himself.

Also, I'd honestly find it a bit boring if the way every criminal goes down is through a Dominator shot. Changing it up a bit from time-to-time makes for good variety, imo.