Psycho-Pass 2

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No spoilers.

Season 1 of Psycho-Pass is arguably one of my actual, and I do not say this at all lightly, favorite shows/literary works of all time. Upon watching many a YouTube video and reading scathing reviews, I was turned away from Psycho-Pass 2 with the knowledge that it just doesn't live up to most of what the original series had going for it.

So why did I read this manga? Television and film inherently subject the audience to the pace that the creators want them to experience, expecting them to sit through each episode or whatever. At least with manga, I can go at my own ... pace, which may just be one of the reasons why I didn't hate this experience all that much. Stick to your own pace, keep your expectations low, you might find it tolerable. With the subjective opinions aside, let's check out what facts explain why this story is mediocre.

Best thing to come out of this: most of the supporting cast. Sho Hinakawa in particular is just so quirky and adorable that I found myself wishing he was utilized more. Teppei Sugou was also a decent addition; while he is lacking a bit in personality, he does have some serious baggage he collects over the course of this series, and he ultimately earns his place with Division 1. Yayoi Kunizuka is, as usual, just kinda there without doing anything, and Shion Karanomori keeps doing her thing. Good ol' Ginoza really wears his veteran stripes, playing a role rather reminiscent of Masaoka's from season 1, and while I wish he had a more major role, I'm kinda glad he didn't; he was used enough to not be cannon fodder, but not used too much to be cannon fodder. Yeah, it's that kind of story.

One of the worst things about this series, though, was another (semi) new character: Inspector Mika Shimotsuki. God, this kid is annoying and worthless. Her incompetence literally gets innocent people, including her own colleagues and subordinates, killed and I have no idea why Sibyl thought she was up to the task of being an Inspector. Another terrible character is the series' main villain, Kirito Kamui, one of the most lifeless, generic, wet-blanket characters ever. Seriously, naming him "Kirito" cannot be an accident. His motivations barely make sense: is it revenge you want? Revolution? PICK ONE ALREADY. How does killing every mofo in the PSB further his goals? Also his henchmen all suck balls filled with lifelessness. This one former inspector lady could have been waaaaaaay more interesting as a villain than she turned out to be. Basically, the only time we see her as a villain and not conjoined to Kamui is at the very end. Tougane, another Enforcer, isn't too bad in that he actually does have a personality, but his place in the story is absolute garbage. Why would Sibyl let him do any of the crazy things he does? Unless just one of its people takes over whenever it interacts with him, but that can't be the case because they would have gotten rid of that brain ASAGDMFP if that were true. IT JUST MAKES NO SENSE!!!!!!!

Yeah, this manga's story is pretty bad. Akane Tsunemori is pretty uninteresting here, undergoing basically no character arc but still getting a "big dramatic moment!!! :D" at the end like something special happened throughout the whole thing.

What I want to know is this: why would they follow the Psycho-Pass 2 anime's story if they knew it had been poorly received? Tow Ubukata is not THAT bad a writer, having a number of no less than halfway decent works under his belt, so why not try to rectify the story for the manga? Do what Evangelion did and make it redemption for what went wrong with the production.

Whatever. The art's okay, some of the character designs suck (looking at you again, Kamui), the music I was listening to while reading it was good, and I ultimately walked away pretty annoyed at the lost potential. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to continue reading Vinland Saga.

Happy reading!
- LC