Anime Column] Tokimeki☆Time Trip vol.5 "PSYCHO-PASS: Psycho-Pass" Drama about the fates of handsome men who have followed their own way of life.

I still love it when I look at it now!"

Why were they so popular with the ladies?"

There is a reason for everything that is interesting!　A female anime writer takes a look back at some nostalgic works that became hits with female anime fans.

In this fifth installment of the series, we focus on "PSYCHO-PASS: Psycho-Pass" (2012), for which an exhibition of original artwork will be held in Shibuya, Tokyo in August and in Osaka in September.

It became a very popular work that continued with a new edited version broadcast in 2014, a sequel "2," and a movie version released in 2015, but the secret of its popularity was the hit of the first series.

The story takes place in a future society where people's psychological states and personality tendencies are instantly measured and judged, and quantified and controlled by a value called "PSYCHO-PASS. In this world, "crime" is judged neither by law nor by trial, but by the "Sibylla System," a comprehensive lifelong welfare support system. People are judged by the "crime coefficient," a numerical value related to crime, and social stability is maintained.

Summer is an interesting time for chilling stories!　We look back at the appeal of "PSYCHO-PASS Psycho-Pass," a hard-boiled drama filled with bizarre crimes that has won the hearts of female fans.

The original character design is by manga artist Akira Amano.

I think one of the keys to telling a story is how you can create a dense drama with a limited number of people, and "PSYCHO-PASS Psycho-Pass" was very good at that. It is like a stage play.

In the worldview of "Japan is controlled by the Sibura System," the main characters are six members of the Criminal Section 1 of the Public Security Bureau of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, one member of the Analysis Team, and a criminal, Seigo Makishima. This is quite a bluff, since it depicts a major incident that could destroy the urban functions of Tokyo.

By limiting the number of characters, the author succeeds in writing about each of them in depth.

It could be said that this film is a psychological drama, although it is supposed to be a near-future dystopian police action story (and of course it is).

The reason why "PSYCHO-PASS Psycho-Pass" attracted the attention of female fans in the first place can be attributed to Akira Amano, who was in charge of the original character design.

Akira Amano is known as the author of "Tutor Hitman Reborn," a manga serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump that has also been made into an anime (an anime adaptation of "El Drive [ēlDLIVE]" is scheduled for 2017), which aired for four years, was extremely popular among women. Many fans were interested in "PSYCHO-PASS Psycho-Pass" because the original creator, Amano, was in charge of the original character design.

The characters, who were given profound drama by the scenario, moved with lively charm in the drama, adding solid physicality and weighty movements to the gorgeous visual drafts.

A good-looking cast! Attractive and Tasteful Male Characters

The charm of this work can be attributed solely to the male characters.

First, there is Shinya Kogami, the main enforcer from the first season of the TV series.

He is muscular, handsome, and stoic!　He is a physical man who trains silently by himself, but he is also intelligent, well-educated, and a brainy man who loves paper books. He is a mad-dog enforcer who will stop at nothing to investigate, and is a stubborn man who has sworn to avenge his former subordinate.

The opposite of Cunningham is the other main character, Makishima Seigo, a rare criminal.

He is slender, good-looking, and talks a lot of nonsense. He is a bizarre character, and is so terrifying that you can't take your eyes off him. I can't get into him at all, and yet I gradually feel that what he says is right. It makes me think deeply about the question, "What is humanity? I am deeply moved by his words. Thanks to him, I want to read paper books while watching the anime.

The "big two" are intertwined with the watchdog, Nobumoto Ginoza.

He is intelligent, glasses-wearing, good-looking, and a hard worker. Although Ginoza has become cooler and cooler since the second season of the TV series, in the first season he was in a difficult position mentally, as he was pushed around by Zhu and Cunningham, who were running around at full speed, and worried about his former partner Cunningham in his own way. It can be said that his pity for them tickled the hearts of his female fans.

Other characters include the enforcer, Darning Shusei, a mischievous kid with blackness in him, who has been certified as a potential criminal since he was a child.

Tomomi Masaoka, a reliable old man and a Showa-style detective nicknamed "Totsan," is also an enforcer.

Choi Gu-seong, Makishima's subordinate and valuable confidant, who is strong in hacking, loves paper books, and is aloof and scary.

The women, led by the hero and heroine, Akane Tsunemori, are all involved. However, the theme is still "a drama about a man settling a man's score.

In fact, they are similar to each other!　Fatal Composition of the Three Protagonists

Visually, Cunningham and Makishima are black and white, and their names, Shinya (midnight) and Seigo (noon), are depicted as irreconcilable opposites.

Yet, in a world where the judgment of the sibura system is absolute, Cunningham and Makishima are the only two spiritual twins in the world who refuse to accept the system's judgment. In the play, they are both individuals whose personalities are accentuated by each other, and they shine with vitality.

When the sibylla system is combined with Akira Tsunemori, who gradually becomes suspicious of the system, the composition becomes a neat equilateral triangle. In fact, all three are social outliers. They are similar to each other.

Among them, Cunningham and Zhu believe that "killing people" is unforgivable, even if the sibura system does not consider it a crime (even if the crime coefficient is a safe value). In this sense, Makishima is a common and hated enemy.

Zhu wanted to decapitate Makishima in a way that Cunningham, as a potential criminal and watchdog, would not lose his place in society.

In the end, however, he parted company with Cunningham, who would not choose any means to settle the score with Makishima. In other words, Cunningham chose Makishima over Zhu.

Who is the winner?　The finale of loss and triumph

The last episode of the first season of the TV series, "A Perfect World," concluded the drama of the three very nicely. Cunningham, Makishima. And Zhu. Each of them lost something big.

Zhu lost his trust in Cunningham and the system. Cunningham lost his job and his place in society. Makishima lost his life.

But at the same time, they also gained something. Zhu gained experience, boldness, and fighting spirit. Cunningham gained the satisfaction of having done what he believed in and freedom from the sibula system. Makishima got the answers he was looking for.

In that sense, this is a story of triumph for each of them, tragic as it may seem.

Each fulfilled their own wishes, followed their own way of life, and gave up something important in exchange. We did what we had to do. It had to be done.

Perhaps each does not regret what he or she lost. That is why the end is somewhat refreshing. It was a final episode with a lingering feeling.

Everything started in the first season.

In the newly edited version, with the addition of new scenes of character monologues and other new scenes, the themes and directorial intent of the above story can be felt more clearly.

The second season and the theater version, produced as a sequel, depict the subsequent one-section of the story. The activities of Zhu and Ginoza, who have grown stronger and tougher, and of Cunningham, who has been reunited with them, are deeply moving.

That is why, when I think back on it, I still miss the first season. In that one, all the fun leading up to the movie version was packed.

If you watch the first season after you have seen everything, you will surely discover something new.


(Text by YAMAYU)

(C) Psycho-Pass Production Committee