Psycho-Pass is a 22 episode crime anime that is set in the far future of 2113, where something called the Sibyl System, a type of complex software, is able to continually perform the "Psycho-Pass" assessment of all people through scanners. The "Psycho-Pass" assessment reveals a person's crime coefficient, which is their aptitude or likelihood to commit crimes. Having a coefficient higher than regulation means that they will be captured before they can commit their crimes (theoretically), kind of like Minority Report. Crime coefficients are affected by the stress levels the person's feeling. As a result, a person's life is dictated by their crime coefficients and by extension, controlled by the Sibyl System as they can dictate whether a person is suitable for a particular job or not based on how much stress they can handle.
The way in how the Sibyl System calculates the crime coefficient or even how it all really works is deliberately left vague in the beginning. The constant surveillance by the Sibyl System creates a familiar backdrop. People are desensitized since all their choices are made for them, whether it be which job they take or even lacking proper reactions to crimes that are happening right next to them. Patrolling the population is the Public Safety Bureau's Criminal Investigation Division. It follows Akane Tsunemori who is a newbie in a police unit and learns about the way the division works. Akane is an Inspector and only people who's crime coefficients that are able to handle the extreme stress of the job can become one.
In order to avoid getting the Inspectors' hands dirty and as a way of protecting them from some stress, there are Enforcers who perform most of the arresting and in most cases, killing. Enforcers are latent criminals whose crime coefficients are much higher than the regulated amount but the Sibyl System has judged them to be appropriate to assist in arresting other latent criminals. They have severely restricted freedom and can be easily terminated if deemed a threat. To aid the capture of criminals, Inspectors and Enforcers are provided with handguns called Dominators which when pointed at sometime, will perform the "Psycho-Pass" assessment. If their crime coefficient is higher enough, it will unlock the trigger and shoot paralyzing projectiles.
If the Dominator handgun is targeted at someone whose crime coefficient is so high to the point that new therapy will be able to help them, then the Dominators will shoot lethal projectiles which causes the person to explode. The exploding into a splash of blood is a bit hard and overkill, and at no point does this lethal projectile feel acceptable. Throughout the series, we get to see the effects of the Sibyl System controlling every facet of society and how much dependence is placed upon it. Psycho-Pass places a lot of emphasis on the psychological factors and this is what differentiates it among other anime. Of course with something this controlling, resistances are bound to appear and the rare people who are unaffected by crime coefficients.
It takes a while for the series to build up momentum but once the true villain shows themselves during the halfway mark, Psycho-Pass will reveal its cruel self. The scale of impact this one person had to the whole system is incredible. We've seen the weaknesses of the Sibyl System, judging people through algorithms and apprehending them for their potential to commit crimes rather than actuality. Psycho-Pass seeks to reveal the intricate psychological imbalances this causes and it evokes various emotions from the viewer. The beginning of the series takes on a more episodic approach with separate crimes that are investigated and solved in each episode but the overall plot arc being slowly coming together. There are a lot of twisted and demented murders in the series, but it is the ones that incite flames of injustice that the viewer will get frustrated about.
It feels unfair that the villains in the series are able to get away for what they did, and this sense of morality keeps the viewer watching until the very end, waiting for justice to finally prevail. However, it is not only the viewer feeling this way, as characters in the series are also going through the same journey of watching things helplessly and not being able to do anything about it. That said, the ending in how all the plot points were resolved were not satisfying if you wanted the villain to experience the same pain and grief he had caused other people. The ending was melancholic with how everything panned out. It feels as if the series has come full circle with the final scene which made it an appropriate way to end the series.
Considering everything that happened in the series, you may find it hard to believe that with all the advanced technology, they do not have a manual override on the Dominators or some sort of warning system that can adapt when they see people being murdered. You can explain it as that people are so comfortable and confident in the system but it feels like a convenient and not very probably explanation. Overall, Psycho-Pass is an excellent anime that touches upon heavy themes. It does its job well in capturing the viewer's attention from the first episode to the last scene in the final episode.
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