Psycho-Pass 2 Review

This is review number four hundred and twenty six. This anime is part of the Fall 2014 lineup, and it’s called Psychopass 2. It’s an eleven episode anime about a non-moe character and a lot of people dying. Hey, if you’ve seen the first season then I don’t need to explain this one. Let’s just read on.

Story

The Sybil System continues to shield people from trouble. It continues to weed out potential criminals and keep the world save from harm. Inspector Tsunemori returns to continue her duty as part of the Public Safety Bureau, and this time around, she handles a case that outright exposes the weakness of the system. A revolution is brewing, and a ghost is leading the charge.

Taking the Pants Off

So we are back into the society run by the Sybil system. Once again, The Urobutcher will give us a story that’ll-

He did not take part in this anime. Ok, that’s weird. In fact, Production IG didn’t make this anime. Aside from the director, everyone else that made the first season didn’t have a hand in this show. I guess that’s why a lot of people didn’t like the second season of Psychopass. It just didn’t feel like the one where Makishima went on his awesome bender. You can also expect the people that came off the first season to have their own idea of how the second season will go down. They hyped themselves up for the awesomeness it’ll bring, and I bet a lot of people were disappointed at what they watched. I personally had a dream story where Tsunemori and Kogami would clash over their ideals after Kogami comes back realizing Makishima is right all along. That’s the second season I had in my head, and what we got isn’t really in that kind of scale. But you know what, this is the Psychopass that I actually wanted from the first season. The writing is tighter, the character arcs are more focused and the underlying themes are more pronounced. I really enjoyed the second season of Psychopass, because it was the Psychopass I never got from the first season.

First Season’s Crime Coefficient

The first season honestly felt like a celebration of The Urobutcher. Coming off an incredible run doing Madoka, with a notoriety that made him a rock star, Production IG was kinda jizzing their pants when they got him on board to do Psychopass. I believe they really gave him creative freedom, and the studio just produced whatever the guy can give them. The stuff he gave them was awesome. The premise of a dystopian future with a tilted idea of justice is pretty brilliant. People also pop like balloons, so that’s fun. The first season kinda ran for too long though. The first few episodes were episodic, so it didn’t really impact the overall story. I believe Makishima was fully introduced towards the end of the first half, like ten or so episodes, and the middle chunk of the show was all about the subplots that slowed the action down. The first season really only picked up towards the later parts of the second half where Kogami is close to catching Makishima. Before that, it was a lot of aimless episodes featuring awkwardly handled characters that didn’t really impact the story as much. If Kogami or Makishima wasn’t in the frame, then the story was kinda dull.

It possessed the typical symptoms of an original anime, and that’s really alright. The first season sold us on an idea and a “what if” scenario that you can write a thesis about. Even the relationship of Kogami and Makishima is awesome. The show really just suffered from a lack of editing, and I can understand people just gushing over The Urobutcher’s ideas because that was really the strongest hook of Psychopass. The man is a genius, so I’d want every opportunity for this guy to feature his genius all the time. In fact, the first season of Psychopass is a critical success. Every aspect, theme, character relationship and world building is savored by critics and audiences alike. The second season really had no chance. Without the butcher, the second season will be forever compared to the success of the first season. But that’s really the problem staring us in the face, why did Production IG and Gen Urobuchi pawn the project off to someone else? If it was a giant success that’ll forever be praised by critics and audiences, then why did they choose to hand over this beloved series to someone else?

I honestly don’t know, but it is interesting to see The Urobutcher’s declining presence in the anime scene back in 2014. Aside from not doing Psychopass 2, he also used his name to promote Aldnoah Zero. If you look at his filmography, his only legit credit is a script episode for gawd damn Wooser’s Hand to Mouth Life. After evolving his style by experimenting on Susei no Gargantia, The Urobutcher kinda fell off the map. It’s like he didn’t really enjoy what he was putting out, and I guess the pressure of being declared a genius kinda got to him. Still, Psychopass is his baby. I’m surprised he easily let go of such a critical success of an IP, but I’m more shocked Production IG just readily tasked another studio to make the second season. It’s like they couldn’t be bothered. There’s a story here, but I can really only guess what happens. Let’s just move on to the most important aspect of Psychopass 2.

Not a Second Season

In spirit, the second season of Psychopass isn’t really a continuation of the first season. At best, the second season is a spin off or a 13 episode OVA about Psychopass. It’s something that doesn’t really continue the story of the first season, but it mostly offers a side story non consequential to the events of the first season. This is an important mindset to have when you’re going to watch the second season, because it feels entirely different. Since it’s from a different writer and animating team entirely, the spirit of the first season is not in the second season. We can argue the Psychopass movie could be more regarded as a sequel, but I’d have to check it to make sure. But this anime, produced by Tatsunoko Production, is not a second season. It doesn’t live up to the first season, and no element of the first season is continued or explored here. They wipe the slate clean, and they made something new out of it. Now, is the second season bad for being a glorified spin off? TPAB says no. This anime is amazing.

While The Urobutcher’s writing is no longer here, it doesn’t really mean that the show is outright bad. In fact, the show kinda gives us something more than the one presented in the first season. If the first season is a dystopian story akin to Minority Report crossed with Blade Runner, the second season is more like a procedural cop movie with a strong psychological twist like Se7en or Silence of the Lambs. Thematically, both shows are offering something different. The first season is telling us the dystopian society doesn’t work, and it builds up to a twist that kinda tells you soylent green is made of humans. Wait, why am I being vague? The Sybil system is mostly comprised of brains from criminals and other creepy people. So, the system that judges humans are composed of the most evil brain soup and they are tasked with handing out “fair” judgement to the people of this world. The system is downright corrupt, and Makishima kinda strolls in and tries to tell everyone of this fact. His motives are very vague though. He’s an anarchist that doesn’t really care how the world burns, he just wants to enjoy watching it burn. In terms of themes, the first season explores freedom, morality and how people make up a society. The writing isn‘t this straightforward though, since a lot of episodes are standalone that just follows the Enforcers and Inspectors doing their job as part of the system.

Here’s the brilliance of the second season, it understood what the first season is trying to achieve. The writer and the director knew what Psychopass is all about, and they were able to make something uniquely good out of an already established story. For the most part, they took the first season’s world building and story then shoves it in the backdrop. They exist, but it isn’t the focus of the show. While the first season explores freedom, the second season is more political. Actually, in 2018, the climate of the second season kinda rings true, which means we are a few notch below Psychopass’ world. Terrorism is the biggest aspect of the second season, also something Makishima never really try to achieve because he’s weird like that, a revolution. The first season tells you not to believe the system, think for yourselves and live free. The second season tells you that in order to be free, you need to crush the system. In a writing standpoint, Tow Ubukata (the writer) is outright challenging The Urobutcher. He tells us the first season is flawed to a sense, and he now offers a new idea that works within the same world. No one can change the world by himself, he needs a bunch of likeminded people to achieve a goal. Makishima tells us to rebel against the system, Kamui Kirito tells us to rise up and start a revolution. Hitler didn’t change the world by himself, yknow. He rallied a country embarrassed and abused by France and England to pin point their aggression over something that they can all get behind. The Urobutcher gave us an idea, a “what if” scenario that you can ponder on. Tow Ubukata tells us all that you can to make this come true with a revolution.

The Urobutcher > Tow Ubukata

As much as I love the second season, there is a reason why no one bought into what it was trying to sell. The writing is strong, but it is also sloppy. In all honesty, The Urobutcher worked with what he knows. He didn’t really try to do anything out of his bounds, and the result is a tried and tested success that reflects back to when he crafted a God Status anime with Akiyuki Shinbo. Nonetheless, people consume the first season because the themes were strong, the dystopian setting is beautiful, and Makishima can make your hair stand up. Tow Ubukata had to work in The Urobutcher’s shadow and he tried to make something that can step out of that shadow. Unfortunately, his writing is a bit sloppy. The pacing is ridiculously fast, certain scenarios aren’t given proper time to build up and there is so much thrown at the audience. The story had no time to properly breathe, and the story takes a lot of sharp turns without any foreshadowing or build up. Especially towards the end, new characters are introduced, twists are shoe horned in and the themes had no time to really blossom into something that’ll stick to viewers. That’s really what makes Gen Urobuchi’s writing top notch. He implants an idea to the audience, and they live on forever thinking about it. Madoka is so powerful because the dark nature of show was just unnerving, and it asks you head on, “do you want to be a magical girl?” and it happens in Psychopass as well. Are you ready for a world run by The Sybil System? The fact that The Urobutcher’s shadow is huge and the second season had only 13 episodes to work with, Tow Ubukata really understood flaws and shortcomings are bound to happen. He allowed those hits to land, and he focused on other things that’ll improve the second season immensely instead.

Above the System

One of the most impressive aspects of the second season, and something I actually wanted to see from the first, is Tsunemori playing the lawful good character she was destined to be. At the very first episode, you can see her behavior is really unusual. She values the lives of Enforcers, she puts herself in danger first so no one else does, and she also doesn’t pull the trigger right away. The entire first episode is her chasing down a criminal and ensuring he gets below the lethal level. Right off the bat, Tsunemori is reflecting the character that she ended with in the previous season. This is a woman that knew the secret of the Sybil System, stared it right in the face and promised to bring it down while the brain soup collective had a hearty laugh as she walks away. This is the Tsunemori that could’ve captured Makishima and kept Kogami in control. The burden of her past exists, and you can tell she vows never to make the same mistake again. This is the Tsunemori The Urobutcher had a hard time fully conceiving in the first season, and here she is hitting all the right notes under the direction of a new writer. Do you understand how freaking hard that is? To capture character motivations and continue a character growth started by another person, I’ve never seen it pulled off this effective before. This is Tow Ubukata telling us he knows what he’s doing, and damn right, he’s doing an impressive job of it.

Throughout the series, Tsunemori is actually the best part of the show. She is Kogami and Makishima rolled into one. She is Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling in one awesome character. She is Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt combined as she hunts for John Doe. Tsunemori has displayed that she can function within the Sybil System without being greatly dependent to it. She knows when to act on its behalf and she also knows when to question its decision. She doesn’t live by what the system dictates of her, and in its most idealistic sense, Tsunemori represents the theme of the first season: she is free. She has obtained freedom without resorting to anarchistic tendencies or to let her obsession control her. In the battle of ideals from the first season, Tsunemori is victorious as she stares into the abyss unflinching and ready to consume it at any moment. This character is just amazing, and she really elevates the anime despite its sloppy writing.

The anime had a lot of ham fisted moments, like a politician suddenly involved in a conspiracy even though he was only introduced fifteen minutes ago. The truth behind Kamui is honestly convoluted and overwrought, and a lot of his big plans seem illogical. These are the weakness that Ubukata really allowed to fester, because he focuses more on making the strong aspects shine, like how Tsunemori will affect the story. Several times in the series, you’ll see a big event go down and you’re only reaction would be to see how Tsunemori would handle it. How will she work around the problem? Who will she rely on to solve the riddle? How will this event affect her akin to everyone around her? This anime is the Tsunemori show, and that’s really why it doesn’t really represent a true sequel to the first season. It’s a brand new story born out of the first season, and the character with unachieved potential is on center stage really proving she was the best character the first season never got to properly utilize.

The First Season as Backdrop

There was a lot of stuff in the first season that was quietly reworked into the second season. They were never the persistent subplot that they were in the first season, but I just love how the second season still folded these subplots back into Tsunemori’s cop show. The best example of this is Nobuchika Ginoza’s new role as an Enforcer. In the first season, he was an Inspector and he had an unusual task of being one while his father is an Enforcer. Towards the end of the first season, Ginoza’s Psychopass was clouded and he was demoted into an Enforcer. This was mostly a result of his uptight nature and Makishima killing his dad. While he never really had a definite role in the second season, the events of the first season are reflected in his actions. The cold and distant Inspector is now a caring and insightful Enforcer. Whenever Ginoza warns Tsunemori not to get obsessed with Kamui’s case, it was always a constant reminder of Kogami’s obsession with Makishima. Ginoza lived the events of the first season as much as Tsunemori and I love how his very little dialogue reminds us of the first season. It’ll always be Ginoza that’ll tell Tsunemori to get some rest. He always lingers in the background making sure one of the best Inspectors of the Public Safety Bureau doesn’t end up like him. While we never truly explore his new life as an Enforcer, his role was still pronounced and effective given how limited it was. I can count seven or eight moments with him while Tsunemori banks more than thirty. But, of those eight insignificant moments he had, it always reminded us that the Makishima event happened and both he and Tsunemori lived through it.

Perhaps the strongest indication of the first season as a backdrop is signified by one character. Quite possibly the best character in the season, Mika Shimotsuki re-establishes that this society is heavily dependent on the Sybil System.  Mika is an absolute b*tch, but she is actually a character that was absent in the first season. Every important character in the first season hated the system in one way or another. I guess aside from Tsunemori, who always remains as the audience’s window into the series. Mika is a worker bee of the Sybil System. She has lived her entire life believing in it, she doesn’t question it, she resents anyone that questions it, and she truly believes that a happy life is a life with a clear Psychopass. She was a character that really separated Urobutcher’s “what if” scenario to Ubukata’s “you’re living in it” scenario. The Urobutcher doesn’t really humanize the dystopian future. We see it as it is, a dystopian setting with the nightmare front and center. I mean, just looking at how criminals are dispatched kinda evokes a negative reaction from viewers. We were never really convinced that the system works. Mika proves that the system works, because she lives totally imprisoned by it. Any situation that can cloud her psychopass, she outright flees from. Any judgement from the Sybil System, she would outright trusts. She doesn’t really need an explanation to how the system works, because she just knows deep down in her soul that she needs to live by it. She’s the very person that Makishima hates, and I would’ve loved to see her meet him. She isn’t the only sheep in this story though, because every other Inspector and Enforcer kinda functions like her. If the Dominator tells them to kill the criminal, then they’ll kill the criminal. The Sybil System works, and no one should even dare think that it doesn’t.

But again, she’s a b*tch. She always antagonizes Tsunemori, and it’s often in such a predictable and one dimensional manner. I’d call her a very flat character, but she kinda has depth because she embodies the Sybil System. Much like the collective brain soup, they think Tsunemori is a joke and they hate the fact that she exists. Mika is the same. She hates Tsunemori with her being. She is jealous of her, she is annoyed at her free thinking personality, and she hates how Tsunemori functions outside the Sybil System. I sympathize with Mika, because I know where she’s coming from. If you were raised thinking the sun is orange, then you’d hate anyone that tells you it’s actually yellow. If you functioned your entire life knowing the sun is orange, then how dare this person tell you it’s actually yellow. You don’t need proof, because an orange sun has been ingrained in your being. An orange sun is part of your entire life, so you’d hate anyone that believes it’s actually not orange. Mika is such an effective character, and up until the end, she proves that the orange sun is part of her life. She’s ready to die holding onto that belief.

Another great backdrop to be introduced into the second season is the appearance of Jouji Saiga. I distinctly remember him as the teacher Kogami visits before he took down Makishima. Much like Ginoza, this is a character that has lived through Makishima’s madness but he is repurposed for the second season. Jouji is the guy that mentions Makishima is the anarchist that wants to burn the world. Actually, I believe they outright established he is more than an anarchist, but his role in the first season is simple. He stripped Makishima down to his simplest form. He presented the puzzle to Kogami to fully understand his enemy, and it was this conversation that led to Makishima’s death. I’m blurry on the basics now, but let’s just say Jouji has always been fascinated with Makishima. This guy is now fascinated with Tsunemori. Something happened between the two seasons for a guy to like one insane anarchist in one season and then a by-the-books lawful good cop in the next. In fact, Tsunemori asks him to join the hunt for Kamui and Jouji becomes a regular part of the cast now. This character has ties with Makishima, and he now lives through the madness of Kamui Kirito.

Do I love this season or what? The biggest flaw of the second season is the absence of Kogami. He was the bloodhound that tore down the entire city to chase after Makishima. While he did leave the city at the end of the first season, his absence is glaringly obvious. Some moments needed his bad assery, and it just doesn’t feel right to see Tsunemori alone for a lot of the scenes in the anime. But once again, we’ve gone subtle. Kogami is very well part of the series and Tsunemori actually relies on him a lot. I love how they presented the link between Tsunemori and Kogami, because it’s very intimate. It’s very human, and it’s very vulnerable contrast to how strong they presented Tsunemori. The link establishes that she misses him intensely, and you can also argue that she lives free of the system because of how much Kogami impacted him. As I said before, Tsunemori represents Kogami and Makishima in this season in ways you’ll be surprised to see. I am mostly in awe at how much restraint, originality and well placed sentimentality is present in Tow Ubukata’s writing. You can argue The Urobtucher cannot do this. He tried this kind of sappy writing in Susei no Gargantia and it was tilted through and through. This is where Tow Ubukata really shined, in my opinion. He kept Kogami in the story without Kogami being part of the story.

Kamui’s Revolution

The weakness of the writing is really evident in the main story concerning Kamui Kirito. It’s actually four different cases with Kamui at the center of it all. The four cases slowly reveals Kamui’s true plan, but it’s presented in a very fast paced manner. Without giving anything away, I can give 184 reasons why Kamui’s plan isn’t really that well written. Now don’t get me wrong, it had its moments but the overall plan was kinda stupid. So what exactly is Kamui Kirito? Simply put, he is a ghost. He is an entity that the system does not recognize and he has used this fact to start a revolution. The initial stages of his plan are actually pretty great as it exposes weakness in the Sybil System. He has found loopholes in various areas of the system, and he would basically do act of terrorisms to prove his point. The fun part is that he doesn’t really pull the trigger. Someone else does all the dirty work for him, and they do it in the name of Kamui and his revolution. The first part of his plan is actually really smart, because they’re the same loopholes that exist since the first season. Stuff like, why isn’t Makishima just blowing up the entire city? Why the f*ck did he go for super oats as his final plan? I mean, Kamui had the more logical plan to expose how the system doesn’t work. Once again, the first season explores a hypothetical, and the second season super imposes this into our real world. Kamui doesn’t disembowel a person and leave her upside down in a cross. Kamui is chaotic good, and he’s able to amass a lot of power and influence thanks to that.

Each of the cases is really enjoyable on their own. Every move Kamui makes, he ensures society is both the victim and the hostage. From the first case with the bomber up until the arson case with the foreign animals, they all had a chilling point to make that kinda proves Kamui right. It’s just really sad that they aren’t presented properly. Towards the second half, Kamui’s revolution kinda crumbles. It didn’t have time to setup the cases, so the impact weren’t as effective. The first three cases are really awesome. The last one, and arguably the most important, was rushed to hell. We were introduced to the Season of Hell, the secret Tougane experiments and a convoluted bomb plan that ends on a Dues Ex Machina. They tried to cram as much in the last five episodes or so, and the result is an underdeveloped mess that clearly could’ve been done better. I love the Season of Hell subplot, but it really needed to be expanded some more. I think a few more episodes could’ve made the last case more impactful, but I guess the ending is still a massive deal breaker.

A Stone That God Could Not Lift

The final moments of the anime would be the biggest hurdle for the show. Kamui has exposed the loopholes of the system and it’s time for the Sybil System itself to face the omnipotence paradox. I like this ending, because the system itself is put on trial but you can also argue that it’s the worst part of the entire anime. The excitement kinda shriveled up and the conclusion to the paradox is a bit lackluster. I mostly like the ending because the character driven story has led up to meeting the Sybil System one more time. They laughed at Tsunemori once, but they’re actually afraid of her during their second meeting. It was pretty satisfying, because Tsunemori achieved what Kogami and Makishima has failed to do. She conquered the system and made it bend to her will. Of course, that wasn’t the point of the ending. Kamui’s revolution ended on a whimper. The guy the system could not judge is suddenly gone without any passing mention. The way he went out was lackluster and very unsatisfying. He did alter the system to a frightening degree, and we realized he also craved an orange sun, but it just didn’t feel like the ending the anime deserved. After all his terroristic actions and cult-like power, Kamui needed to go out even better than Makishima. He deserved a giant explosion and not a disappointing whimper.

Paint It Black

To me, perhaps the most disappointing part of the second season is Sakuya Tougane’s subplot. He is established as the criminal with the highest crime coefficient in history, and he was buddy-buddy with Tsunemori. While you can never really trust him, Tsunemori does. He was kinda a good replacement for Kogami, and he had a wonderful anarchistic role that the show kinda ruined in the end. Out of nowhere, he was suddenly a super bad guy and the transition was a bit abrupt. The mystery of his character made him interesting, so revealing his true intentions made him kinda lame. I loved how he clouded the psychopass of everyone he came across with, and he had a wonderful obsession with Tsunemori. He wants to cloud her as well, but she never really budges. Sakuya is a true chaotic evil character, and it’s a shame he was badly mishandled in the end. I would’ve loved some extra episodes where he just does his best to trigger Tsunemori because his subplot is really good. Maybe flash back to some events of the first season to establish how tough Tsunemori is, and this subplot really had potential that just was not properly developed.

Tatsunoko Production and Naoyoshi Shiotani

I talked plenty about Ubukata, so let’s keep this one short. I honestly did not realize Production IG did not do this anime. Tatsunoko Production did a good job capturing the quality of the first season, and I guess it wasn’t as good but it was good enough to tell the story. The gritty style is still here despite the spirit of both seasons being totally different. I think it’s good that Naoyoshi continued directing the series, since he already had a good idea on where the series is headed. He handled a lot of in between and key animation for a lot of studio. This guy has been all over. From Studio Ghibli to Studio 4 centigrade to Production IG, he has worked on some really cool projects. He also directed Blood plus, and it’s kinda funny since Sakuya kinda looks like Saya’s vampire servant in terms of design. I really love how he kept the Psychopass vision alive in the second season. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen two studios handle the same anime. Hamatora switched studio for its two seasons, and you can actually feel Seiji Kishi quitting as you watch the second season. Naoyoshi is different. It feels like he’s very proud of Psychopass, and I bet he’ll be willing to continue it if given the chance.

Sight and Sound

Katekyo Hitman Reborn’s creator still handled the character design. Akira Amano’s work is still pretty solid. A lot of the characters do look alike though, especially within the Public Safety Bureau. Kamui’s design is also pretty bland, but there were some really good character designs here that captured the grittiness of the series. I believe the “no moe” rule is still in effect for this anime, because even the child characters look pretty gritty with strong facial features. I like Mika’s design though, and there were also a lot of half-naked girls in this anime, so I like those too. I guess the character design doesn’t really stand out, but it does help emphasize the dark story. Combined with the dark environment and the realistic character designs, it helps to super impose the story to the actual world. The mental facility hostage case is particularly good because of how close to real life it is. Characters may not be distinguishable, but they help illustrate the carnage and insanity of the story.

The animation is pretty great. I think the gore is given more emphasis in this season, because a lot of people blow up this time around. There were also some graphic scenes of people beaten to death and drones killing innocent people with blood flying all over. As I said before, the quality still matches up to the first season despite being handled by two different crews. There is some dip in quality in some episodes, but I think the first season is also guilty of that as well. The action is fast paced, and the cinematography really helped bring the story of life. There is some ambitious camera work here, and they do flow with the story and the atmosphere of a scene. I also love the background design in this anime, particularly the workplace of Division I. The visuals really capture a busy precinct workplace despite being set in the future. The animation of the computer screens and the information within it is also really awesome. Sometimes they punctuate a scene and really inject emotion in them. A lot of scenes have the characters stuck in a room, but you still feel the action paced story coming through. I think the CG work for the dominator isn’t as flashy as the first season, and I think the entire first season is a lot darker in texture, but these are small details I think the second season can live without.

The anime’s OP is “Enigmatic Feeling” by Ling Tosite Sigure. I love this song. It’s so in your face about someone going insane and an ensuing retribution that’ll fall upon them. It’s pretty awesome. I also love the instrumentals and the singers really adding personality to the song. It’s also accompanied by some impressive OP sequence. It features a lot of Tsunemori, but there are also a lot of split second scenes that comes at you hard. It captures the spirit of the second season and gives a foreboding twist to it in this very small montage. I also love the snippets of Kogami in it, because you won’t see it unless you really pay attention.

The anime’s ED is “Fallen” by EGOIST. It’s the same style as the OP, but the voice really gives me flashes of Guilty Crown’s OP. I did not know Egoist is an actual band that is still rocking hard. The song has the same feel as the OP, and the same techno pop style so I really like it. The song is about love or something vague, I honestly did not catch it because I was more focused on the ED sequence. It features the impressive animation of the show, but it also smartly presents Kamui’s plan in a vague way. The shot of the entire cast is also a nice touch, and abruptly shifting to Kamui is really awesome.

Overall Score

9/10 “It’s not as good as the first season, but it stands on its own and makes a strong impact nonetheless.”

This anime is clearly not as good as the first season, but the effort is there. The writing is strong, and it delivered something new to the Psychopass series. I can imagine downright hating this show as well if I came off the first season hyped beyond belief, and I can understand that. The second season has its own unique charm, and I love how it tries to be different from the first season. I do believe a true sequel is needed for Psychopass, but the second season is a good side story to help flesh out the Psychopass universe. It has its problems, but the anime is really doomed from the start. For it to find success outside the first season’s shadow is pretty impressive. Not a lot of anime, more so second seasons, can do this. For pulling off an impressive feat, I do highly recommend this.