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View Poll Results: Psycho-Pass - Episode 22 [END] Rating
Perfect 10 29 26.36%
9 out of 10 : Excellent 31 28.18%
8 out of 10 : Very Good 24 21.82%
7 out of 10 : Good 12 10.91%
6 out of 10 : Average 7 6.36%
5 out of 10 : Below Average 3 2.73%
4 out of 10 : Poor 2 1.82%
3 out of 10 : Bad 1 0.91%
2 out of 10 : Very Bad 0 0%
1 out of 10 : Painful 1 0.91%
Voters: 110. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 2013-03-24, 11:24   Link #201
Anh_Minh
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I might. At the end of my life when my body's becoming worthless anyway.
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Old 2013-03-24, 14:11   Link #202
cyth
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Triple_R View Post
You don't have an "evolutionary dynamic" away from a dictatorship.
First, let me quote Makishima: "It's not as controlling as the society George Orwell depicted, and it's not as wild as Gibson depicted." This indicates people have enough wiggle room that the situation isn't completely hopeless, and it's also the reason why Akane didn't just outright give up. Second, Sibyl wants to better its understanding of human dynamics. Its motivation is for people to eventually accept its ugly form. This means all that Sibyl really wants is for people to love it for all that it is. This opens up further possibilities to its opponents, such as bringing Sibyl into a state in which it can be reasoned with. Akane demonstrated she is capable of doing that. Then there's also the conversation between Kasei and Saiga. I doubt the creators included that shot at the very end without expecting us to make new assumptions.

Quote:
You either remove them from power, or you don't.
Last I checked, you can't straight up do that with regular politicians either, at least not in the middle of their term. Have you ever heard of sewing dissent among the ruling clan? This is what practitioners of direct democracy are effectively doing in the real world. Except in this case we have a highly intelligent organism that won't fall on cheap tricks or appeal to emotion. Yet it can still be reasoned with, to an extent.

You're forgetting another thing you said earlier about unfairness in Sibyl's career assignment. Let me quote you:
Quote:
Perhaps this "unfairness" was something that only occurred to them once they saw the impact it could have on things like future job prospects and the like.
This is another vector of attack that can be used to change the system from within it. Growing political pressure. If you can reason with Sibyl that a revolution is inevitable, you can force its hand to change policy before bloodshed occurs. What Akane does really well is relate to people on a level Sibyl cannot. Yes, she'll essentially be prolonging Sibyl's stay in power, but at the same time keeping people's growing desire for change from blowing overboard.

I understand you'll stick to your dictatorship argument, but please understand there's enough evidence that lets some of us believe Sibyl can be reasoned with and changed from within.

Quote:
No they didn't. They took down those criminals to protect themselves.
Of course, their survival was their top priority, but do you honestly think there was no other motivator for them to fight? People knew instinctively that they shouldn't just hide or run as far away from the riots as possible, their way of life was under threat. If helmet guys overtook the city, Sibyl had no countermeasures in place. People informed each other that the drones are useless and that the Bureau was ineffective. This is why they made weapons and attacked the helmet guys in groups. It's that realization that Sibyl, which represents their way of life, was under threat.

Quote:
Good luck doing that while Sybil is calling the shots. As for experts in hiding, they'll go right back into hiding when a couple of them get labeled as latent criminals and sent to white padded cells.
This was an argument made assuming your revolution succeeds and the society finds itself in shortage of human resources.

Quote:
This is a problem even if Sybil stays in control. If Makshima had just two other men backing him up in attacking the Hyper-Oats factory, that's likely enough to bring the whole thing crashing down.
So you do see the need for human resources! Good, I think we're getting somewhere!

Quote:
You act like Sybil themselves are the teachers, the engineers, the building constructors, and the factory workers of Sibyl Japan. No, they're not. Sibyl just screens them and has Japan in its totalitarian grip.
Okay, fair point. My initial argument was against thinking we can just leave it up to complete automatization without ever needing to worry about it breaking down. If there are people capable of maintaining that infrastructure, then all is well.

Quote:
And if Sybil says "No"? Then what?
Another misunderstanding. This was my proposition for the revolutionary's agenda.
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Old 2013-03-24, 17:51   Link #203
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The first half of the episode was great. The three-way action between Makishima, Kougami, and Makishima was engrossing with much thanks to the piano playing in the background. The conclusion the entire chase with Kougami shooting Makishima was just as wonderful. The sight of them running across the fields really gave the sense of how utterly lonely both of them were. I would even hard a guess and say that Makishima was truly happy as he drew his last breath.

Now, as for the ending, I don't think it could have ended in other way while retaining its credibility as a social commentary. It might have been awkwardly handled, but it had the right pieces. In the same way that the frog at the bottom of the well was happy, I don't think the general populace was all too discontent with how Sybil did its job, minus a few outliers. As sad as it is to admit, the society is nearly completely dependent on Sybil to function in its current state. Akane understood that, and I'd appraise her highly for it. I admit that the impression that nearly nothing changed struck me as a bit off, but in the first place, Akane never struck me as a catalyst for drastic social change. If anything, she's more of an individual that works within the system to do as much as she can to help the people within her reach. Never mind that the law is flawed or that her superiors are corrupt. The best she can do is to do her job well, and hope that something changes because of it. In terms of D&D alignments, she's more of a Neutral Good to me than a Lawful Good.

On the whole, I'd agree with KiraraKim's assessment that the ending ends up feeling wishy-washy with what its trying to say. On one hand, you have Akane boldly proclaiming Sybil's imminent doom. On the other, you have that ending scene that's nearly exactly the same as how the whole thing began. Perhaps Gen wanted to highlight how different she was from Ginoza, but it's still too vague to actually look like an actual glimmer of hope. I'm all for a second season if one does come out.
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Old 2013-03-24, 19:11   Link #204
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Qilin View Post
On the whole, I'd agree with KiraraKim's assessment that the ending ends up feeling wishy-washy with what its trying to say. On one hand, you have Akane boldly proclaiming Sybil's imminent doom. On the other, you have that ending scene that's nearly exactly the same as how the whole thing began. Perhaps Gen wanted to highlight how different she was from Ginoza, but it's still too vague to actually look like an actual glimmer of hope. I'm all for a second season if one does come out.
I liked the ending, but I would have loved a more clear indication that Akane was spearheading some real change. A few episodes ago, all of Section 1 looked like real badasses, staging a quiet revolt, and undermining the real intent of Sibyl's authority while still outwardly working within the system. I wanted to see that spirit of that chess game continue, and we only got a vague indication that it would.
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Old 2013-03-25, 00:10   Link #205
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Awesome ending to an awesome show. Just sucks that after all that, it really does seem virtually impossible to make a real change to the system, and the circle just keeps looping over and over.
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Old 2013-03-25, 02:24   Link #206
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ThereminVox View Post
I liked the ending, but I would have loved a more clear indication that Akane was spearheading some real change. A few episodes ago, all of Section 1 looked like real badasses, staging a quiet revolt, and undermining the real intent of Sibyl's authority while still outwardly working within the system. I wanted to see that spirit of that chess game continue, and we only got a vague indication that it would.
I'm not sure what you're referring to, since only Akane even knows about the system.



Either way, Akane has always been more about "things she can do right now for the people in front of her" than changing the world.

And it's not like one person can change the world to begin with.
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Old 2013-03-25, 03:46   Link #207
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I just don't get what people wanted Akane to do. If she destroys Sibyl, she causes a ton of destruction and despair. That would have been the most out of character thing in the entire show. That's not what she was about, and she's preached just the opposite throughout the show. Her conversation with Kogami in this episode outlined exactly what her thoughts were on the situation. Given that, what other options does she have? The only thing she can do is as Dengar put it, is do things for the people right in front of her.
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Old 2013-03-25, 04:57   Link #208
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ThereminVox View Post
I liked the ending, but I would have loved a more clear indication that Akane was spearheading some real change. A few episodes ago, all of Section 1 looked like real badasses, staging a quiet revolt, and undermining the real intent of Sibyl's authority while still outwardly working within the system. I wanted to see that spirit of that chess game continue, and we only got a vague indication that it would.
This was clearly never the intention of the series. It was something that was teased and hinted at but never got the screen time to be something that was ultimately aimed for.

Honestly, I think this is one of the better anime endings I've seen in a long time simply because they decided that once Makishima was dealt with, things are just "business as usual." It's realistic, and it fits with the rest of the series quite well. There was never supposed to be a big happy ending where everything works out well in the end.

Things just sort of happened, and in the end there were a couple victories and a couple defeats. No big tale of epic conquest or complete societal change. Just another chapter in the life of some law enforcers. You rarely get to see things just go back to "normal" at the end. I wish that we got it more often.

Also, Akane was a true badass in this episode and I'm going to fondly remember her as a precedent to female MCs.
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Old 2013-03-25, 05:14   Link #209
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I'm afraid I can't really spare the time to debate this properly anymore, and a few others have stated my arguments for why Akane's choice makes sense in a much more succinct way, especially cyth and Reckoner. So, just some of the key points:
Quote:
Originally Posted by cyth View Post
I guess what I really admire about characters like Akane is that they see and believe in change that doesn't involve a bloody conflict, whereas you don't seem to believe that's possible at all. The only question is whether Akane can come up with a method for producing a better society that Sibyl can reason with or rather one that bypasses Sibyl's ambitions completely.
Agreed. The conflict between Makishima's and Akane's world views really boils down to the question of whether change can be achieved within the system or not. There have been far too many series where the conclusion is that it cannot (Code Geass and No. 6 being two that spring to my mind), so it's somewhat refreshing to have seen one where that path that normally occurs in real life is chosen. Makes for less drama and immediate satisfaction, perhaps, but I also appreciate having to ponder what Akane, Saiga and all others discontent with the system could actually do to change it from within.

Quote:
Originally Posted by cyth View Post
I also interpreted it this way, but I believe there are enough signs without it to believe the only basis for people to comprehend the concept of justice under Sibyl is their arbitrarily assigned Psycho-Pass numbers. They took down those criminals because they wanted to protect their beloved Sibyl. This is why I put an emphasis on people's relationship with Sibyl in my rablings. Granted, the show could have done a better job at portraying Sibyl as a God-like entity.
Good observations. I got a similar idea from those scenes in episode 15 and 16, suggesting that if law and order - i.e. the system - were taken away, then the result would be absolute chaos.


Quote:
Originally Posted by cyth View Post
Why would you want to force a rough transition when Sibyl's ubiquitous nature requires a certain approach to taking it down? I think this was karice67's point. Yes, turn off the lights, but use your head first.

Some of us have been doing that, I just don't think you're reading our posts too closely. Two points why it fails: you write off manufacturing, food production, the economy, educational system as a logistic problem, when in actuality Sibyl Japan would need substantial man power to replacing their omnipotent God.
Thanks, that's precisely what I've been trying to say.

Though my main argument against Triple_R's proposals (the idea that Akane could start by saying that they're not going to use the Dominators; or that they could remove the brains systematically) is that, as someone else mentioned, she'd have to have pretty much totalitarian control over the bureau (and Sibyl itself) in order to implement them. Or she'd be disposed of. It's either work within completely within the system as she continues to do, or destroy it - and as Reckoner observed, that goes completely against what Akane stands for.

That said, cyth, I must admit that I'm not in favour of your solution either...

---

I'm not trying to argue that the system isn't bad. But I interpret Akane's decision as one of having the people in the society choose the rules and system of order that they want to follow. As per her admittedly idealistic argument in the final episode, people are always striving for a righteous way of living. And they cannot truly make that choice if someone makes it for them, whether by destroying the system that holds up what they believe to be righteous, by undermining it by cultivating a backlash based primarily on emotion (as revelation that human brains were actually running it would provoke), or by making a unilateral decision to remove what everyone believes is upholding the law without explaining it (which they would have to do if they just stopped using the Dominators). Akane's ideal world would consist of people just like her, people able to distinguish between right and wrong not based on what a system tells them, but based on their own values, and she strongly believes that it is still possible to achieve that peacefully within the system as it now is. I would even argue that to deny that implies denying her own existence. And though they left us with "Sibyl still continues", I choose to hope, and trust that Akane and others in their society are still working towards that hope. As at least one of the credit scenes suggests.
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Old 2013-03-25, 06:02   Link #210
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One thing about the position Akane is in at the moment, especially given that she's basically Sybil's right hand woman despite hating them, is that at least for the time being it's basically her job to stop other people's attempts to bring the system down. There will surely be more attempts. She may well have the opportunity someday to choose whether she allows those attempts to succeed. The Hyper-Oats thing would have killed many people, but there might be less dangerous attempts made at some point.

I'm not sure, in those circumstances, what Akane would do. Makishima was a straightforward case, in many ways.
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Old 2013-03-25, 11:00   Link #211
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Hm... I'm not sure, maybe, maybe not.

Either way, she won't do anything that will raise her Crime Coefficient. Not because she tries to avoid actions or trains of thought that raise it, but because she actually has no thoughts that would raise her Crime Coefficient. This automatically means that notions such as "explode the Sibyl system" or "allow someone else to explode the Sibyl system" don't even occur to her. It just wouldn't be lawful.

Don't mistake her for being lawful stupid though. Her idea of law is slightly different from Sibyl's idea of law. Basically it means that law is decided by the will of the people. And if the people will for Sibyl's plug to be pulled, then, and only then, is the plug allowed to be pulled. But NOT if only two or three people want to pull it.
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Old 2013-03-25, 17:59   Link #212
karice67
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Forgot to address this:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Triple_R View Post
You don't have an "evolutionary dynamic" away from a dictatorship. Sybil is essentially a dictatorship. It is essentially a totalitarian oligarchy. You either bring down a dictatorship, or you don't.

We're not talking about corrupt politicians that you can simply vote out of power and replace with better and/or more forward-thinking leadership. Or specific bad policies that you can argue against, and win support for changing. We're talking about a ruling council of 250 disembodied brains. You either remove them from power, or you don't.

Honestly, to me, it's like you and Kacrice67 are talking about a bad government with bad policies in a democratic country. Of course the slow game is best then. That's one of the most wonderful things about a democracies. At regular 4 or 5 year intervals, you can "throw the bums out" without needing to do anything particularly chaotic or violent to achieve it.

----

Such non-violent/non-chaotic change is of course possible... in some societal contexts. Not in all. In some cases, you have a dictator with a tight hold on power, and that dictator does not want to relinquish his power even in the slightest. So what do you do? You can't gradually wean the people off of the dictator, as the dictator himself doesn't allow that to be an option.

I don't like saying it, but there really are some societal situations where it's either coup d'état or bust. The ruling regime gives you no other option. And frankly, that's the impression I get with Sibyl.

...
I understand what you are saying. But what it suggests is that there is no way for a totalitarian/authoritarian regime to democratise, and the history of our own world shows that this is simply not true. Even the US was arguably not a democracy for a significant part of its history, no matter what we might label it from our vantage point (if there's anyone who doesn't believe me, please have a look at the academic - and political - debate over the "democratic peace"). For East Asian examples, Taiwan and South Korea are probably better than Japan, but the latter appears to be becoming more (truly) democratic as well.

Sibyl is not totalitarian - as cyth has already pointed out, Makishima admitted as much, and they even acknowledge to Akane that they wish to eventually reveal themselves to the public, when they are confident that the public will accept them and choose to retain them as their 'referees'. Akane believes that people are not so naive, and that they will choose to discard Sibyl when that happens. You might argue that Sibyl can simply choose never to reveal themselves to the public, but again history shows that this doesn't work in most cases (the only real questionable case, at least from my knowledge, being North Korea). If a government does not address the needs and wants of its people, it will be taken down, so the only alternative is for it to adapt when enough dissenting voices appear. And there are signs that this was happening in the final credits, despite the laughter of those brains and those final words.
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Last edited by karice67; 2013-03-25 at 18:18.
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Old 2013-03-26, 07:23   Link #213
Triple_R
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To cut down on space, I'm separating my replies to cyth and kacrice67 into two different spoiler spaces. These are long replies.


Spoiler for Reply to cyth:


Spoiler for Replies to karice67:
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Old 2013-03-26, 07:35   Link #214
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Originally Posted by Triple_R View Post
Sure it is. It's judge, jury, and executioner. It has the power to institutionalize kids the age of five, and drastically limit the life choices of such kids. It has the ability to jail people indefinitely, for no specific crime. It obviously has no respect for basic human rights.
It also has the power to seize people's brains against their will and to have people killed just for accidentally finding out the system's secret.
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Old 2013-03-26, 08:14   Link #215
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GoldenLand View Post
It also has the power to seize people's brains against their will and to have people killed just for accidentally finding out the system's secret.
If your position is that Akane is playing along with Sibyl for now because she feels powerless to take it down, and that she's actively hoping that somebody will soon arise that can take it down more smoothly/effectively than she can, well... That's perhaps the best interpretation of Akane that this ending leaves open, imo.

The real test for Akane is what she does when somebody like that arises. But we might never get to find that out, of course.
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Old 2013-03-26, 17:15   Link #216
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Triple_R View Post
If your position is that Akane is playing along with Sibyl for now because she feels powerless to take it down, and that she's actively hoping that somebody will soon arise that can take it down more smoothly/effectively than she can, well... That's perhaps the best interpretation of Akane that this ending leaves open, imo.
Personally I look at it in a less black-and-white manner. To me it seemd more like she's not waiting for "someone to take it down", but more like waiting for the time when the system is no longer needed.
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Old 2013-03-26, 17:40   Link #217
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Yeah I would say Akane feels society isn't ready to get rid of Sibyl and that there is work to be done to get to that point. Only then, will it be the time to get rid of the system.
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Old 2013-03-26, 17:50   Link #218
Anh_Minh
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Originally Posted by Dengar View Post
Personally I look at it in a less black-and-white manner. To me it seemd more like she's not waiting for "someone to take it down", but more like waiting for the time when the system is no longer needed.
That'd be a lot more comforting if she steered society that way. But by letting Sibyl keep calling the shots, society will just more deeper into dependence.

Oh, she made a vague threat that she'd stop cooperating once people have completely forgotten what a worthwhile set of laws looked like, but so what? Even if she could destroy Sibyl then, they'd just be deeper into the hole than if she'd lobbed a pipebomb at the brains just after the Makishima case.
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Old 2013-03-26, 19:46   Link #219
cyth
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Originally Posted by Triple_R View Post
This is why it would have been good for this final episode to give Akane something, almost anything, to demonstrate that maybe her way really is the best way, and that Sibyl can be moderated from within. But we don't see that at all. In fact, we see the contrary. We see how little has changed.
You honestly forgot how ruthlessly she negotiated for Kougami not to get disposed of if she brought Makishima in alive? Didn't that demonstrate that Sibyl can be reasoned with? Didn't that demonstrate how you can apply political pressure successfully if the situation doesn't favor the ruling party? Please, go ahead, try and discredit that.

As for how little has changed, OF COURSE THERE WAS VERY LITTLE CHANGE, IF ANY. That's what change is - slow, and painful for the crusaders. In real life, there are far too many forces and interests at play in constant struggle. Real change is all about making compromises and advancing forward inch by inch, taking bold action when an opportunity actually presents itself, and fortifying position when circumstances look unfavorable.

THIS WAS ME SAYING PSYCHO-PASS ISN'T THAT DIFFERENT FROM REAL LIFE. It's refreshing to see in anime.

Quote:
Yes, they wanted to bring stability back for its own sake. Sybil is hardly the only road to stability though.
LOL, okay.

Quote:
My impression is that you think the Japanese people of Sibyl Japan are passionately attached to Sibyl and love it with all their heart.
Not passionately, but strange as it sounds, Sibyl gives meaning to their lives. This is what Makishima was talking about in episode 21, that people have no communities left to turn to as a base for their own selves, they rely on Sibyl for that, which is like a framework for their existence. I know this is pretty far off into the world of metaphysics, but there you have it. Urobuchi Gen.

Quote:
If you point to a defensible alternative to Sybil, I think you could win them over.
I'm quite certain that's possible, but you can't force that change over night. I think that's also the reason why so many revolutions fail or descend into madness - because people just aren't ready for change yet. Society made a peaceful transition to Sibyl, as far as we know, so society had to be ready for a change as drastic they believed would be replacing egotistical humans with an artificial system administrator. This required a certain state of mind. If we believe that their society was once just like ours, then we can speculate this change was gradual, probably lasting a couple of decades before Japan's new Sheriff was firmly decided on. People switched over to Sibyl for a reason. What that reason was is anyone's guess, but I think Urobuchi wants us to look for clues in our own society.

Last edited by cyth; 2013-03-26 at 19:57. Reason: stuff
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Old 2013-03-26, 20:05   Link #220
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cyth View Post
You honestly forgot how ruthlessly she negotiated for Kougami not to get disposed of if she brought Makishima in alive?
Of course I didn't. But that just helped Kougami personally... In fact, it arguably didn't even do that, as Akane never once fired directly at Kougami with any sort of shot.

Ultimately, here's my biggest issue with this ending summed up in a nutshell - Akane should have received some "victory" here. Something concrete. Something that lends some semblance of credibility to her words and her position. Something that validates all of the wonderful character development she had going into this episode.

But what do we get instead?


She completely fails her mission. Kougami kills Makishima, and gets away. Total failure, from both her perspective and Sibyl's. So much for what she negotiated from Sibyl, as it never became a factor anyway.

Later Akane gets into a brief war of words with Sibyl. Frankly, Sibyl's argument sounded stronger to me. Sibyl's position is that through studying Akane, and slowly breaking down her anti-Sybil feelings, Sybil will better learn how to win over the general populace of Sybil Japan itself. That makes sense to me. It's not a bad idea or a bad plan on Sybil's part.

Akane's counter-argument is total Dreamer stuff, which is fine if you're giving a Rah-Rah speech to an army before a big battle or to some protest movement before a big march, but isn't terribly good as a lone individual trying to "speak truth to power", as they say. For Akane's argument to feel like a worthy antithesis to Sybil's, I think that we needed to see something concrete that added credibility to it. Something that affects more than just one guy that happens to be close to Akane.


Just this little added bit would have done a world of good for the ending...

"If you really want to win me over, then there's a suggestion I'd like to make." Akane says, while raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, and what is that?" asks Sybil.

"Our society would improve if the treatment of latent criminals improved. It would increase the likelihood of them successfully rehabilitating back into normal society, which would in turn bring a greater sense of hope and productivity to Japan. Clearly, locking everybody up in solitary confinement hasn't been terribly productive here. May I suggest we allow latent criminals more mobility and freedom within the facilities that house them? If we want them to psychologically recover then letting them socialize with others like them might not be a bad idea."

"Very well." responds Sybil, "We'll take it under consideration."

And then, in the Final credits, we see a scene of latent criminals walking freely in the halls of that facility that Yayoi was housed in, making it clear that Sybil ultimately agreed to Akane's request.


Just this little added bit would have totally changed my take on this ending. In fact, I might have even considered it a perfect ending then.
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