Psycho-Pass 2 – 07

This episode finally got round to addressing some of my major issues with the way the story has been developing – mainly Sybil’s inaction and Kamui’s super-human skills – but I still can’t really say I’m properly satisfied by the answers provided.

So Kamui is legion – that is something I can actually get behind.  It is much more believable to think that Kamui is actually the figurehead of a large talent pool of devoted followers, rather than a single man with a ridiculously high-spec skill set.  I’m still not sure how Kamui amassed such a host of devotee’s, while he appears somewhat charismatic, we haven’t really seen much to indicate he has a philosophy compelling enough to turn people against the seemingly idyllic Sybil System.  After all life is pretty good for the majority of people in Psycho-Pass, they’re perfectly happy living normal lives under the direction of Sybil.  Of course we don’t see much of these ordinary people because that would be boring, we are only exposed to the outliers of this society, because those are the individuals that the MWPSB has to deal with.

Kamui really needs development as a character, and he needs it ASAP, as we need to know where he is coming from.  This week we learned he was the only survivor of a plane crash 15 years ago – the holo skins he and his followers have been wearing are aged up versions of his dead classmates.  We are also treated to some intriguing information about how an individual’s psycho-pass may be manipulated.  According to Saiga you can effectively transfer your psycho-pass to someone through organ transplantation – which would explain Kamui’s stash of human organs and his having a talented surgeon among his followers.  It may also go some way to explaining Kamui’s own status as a ghost to the system – I’d assume that he was heavily injured as a result of the plane crash and had a lot of his organs replaced.

I’m not completely sold on the idea though if I’m honest, mainly due to those episodes last season which dealt with cybernetic organs.  We had that one hunting obsessed  fella who had completely replaced all his organs with cybernetic ones – except for his brain, and he still registered a psycho-pass reading.  And it is also the brain which the Sybil System values when looking for new members to add to its collective.  This really leads me to think that your psycho-pass is completely tied to your brain rather than your other organs……but maybe this season’s writers have differing ideas.

Anyway, the other thing that had been bugging me was why Sybil was allowing Shisui’s access to the Dominators to continue unchecked despite her going rogue.  Akane finally brought this up with Sybil this week, but I really can’t say I’m too happy with the response.  Sybil basically says that while Shisui’s hue remains clear they won’t check her actions, basically because Inspectors authorised by the System are judged as being in the right, so long as they have a clear psycho-pass.  Akane rightly then states that Sybil just won’t do anything that may be interpreted as them correcting a flaw in their system.  The Sybil System only works because people believe it to be completely infallible, once the seeds of doubt are sown, the System’s days will be numbered.

However this still doesn’t satisfy me.  Sybil has been shown to break its own rules in the past – when it tried to kill Kogami for example.  Sybil really shouldn’t have any problems arbitrarily firing Shisui from her post as an Inspector and blocking her access to Dominators.  It’s not like Sybil has to report to anyone – they make the rules, and they could quite easily bury any information regarding Shisui’s clear hue, just like they buried information about the criminally asymptomatic individuals that joined their collective.  No one would really contest them on the matter since Shisui’s partner Aoyanagi is dead, and it would throw a spanner in Kamui’s plans for using the Dominators.

Again it just feels like Sybil is being dumb and that is really rubbing me the wrong way.  They are a fundamentally flawed system, but they are super intelligent and should be better able to see the big picture – breaking one of their rules to hamper Kamui’s actions should be more important to them.  It is also confusing why Sybil are ordering Kamui’s assassination rather than putting out an order for his capture like they did with Makishima.  Perhaps Sybil only has use for those who register with the system, a ghost like Kamui has no purpose for them.

The Togane aspect of the story gets a little boost this week too with Mika discovering that Togane has worked as an Enforcer before, but the Inspectors on his team all ended up with crime co-efficients over 300 and they were terminated.  This now has me wondering if Sybil has purposefully placed him on Akane’s team to see if she too can be corrupted – Mika should probably be getting worried about becoming collateral damage, especially since Togane knows Mika is suspicious of him.  That was about all Mika managed to do this episode though – she’s as whiny and inept as ever.  I found her attempt to pawn the work Akane had delegated to her off onto an already overworked Hinakawa particularly bitchy.  Mika does the least work of anyone on the team since she has no clear talent in any one area, and yet she’s the one that moans about overwork the most.

Other stuff that stuck out to me:

• I really liked that scene of Kogami in Akane’s mind palace thing.  The little touch of linking her holding a cigarette (I still don’t think she’s smoking the things) and the smell helping her conjure an image of Kogami surrounded by smoke, to help sift through new information, was a lovely detail.  I also definitely think that Togane is copying some of Kogami’s habits on purpose to hide his true face from Akane.
• That scene with Akane’s grandmother was just odd.  It felt really stilted and didn’t really feel necessary.  We already know that Akane doesn’t really show much regard for her own psycho-pass, we didn’t need it spelled out.
• The pharmaceutical angle was added to this week – seems the drugs Kamui has been developing are some complex shit (Hinakawa appears to be an authority on drugs as well as holos).  Of course we are now starting to tie plot threads together so it came as no real surprise that Togane’s family just so happen to own the biggest pharmaceutical company in the country.

Overall a better episode than the past few, but the writing still isn’t as sharp as it could be.  There are a lot of elements that don’t make a lot of sense and I’m really worried that they won’t be wrapped up in the limited time left in this second season.  Still interested to see where they are going with these new revelations about Kamui’s true nature though, especially now that we know Kamui has managed to get his people into so many key positions in this society.