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It's also one of those shows that looks effortlessly pretty for me. I'm a fan of the evening breeze vibes I get.

I sorta related to Mikado's circumstances. Terminally online kid from the country taking in a bunch of new information with his move to the big city. Aside from that loose empathy (that's since faded), the cast are too quirky to properly level with, despite the insight I get into their lives. Furthermore, from what I hear about the direction of Mikado's arc in later entries, I think he's gonna become straight up alien to me.

What do you make of Narita's obsession with connecting everything together?

Glad to see you're enjoying Durarara!!

> I think Makishima's decision, at the very least, is a testimony to his strong beliefs. Not as earth-shattering as Griffith's choice, but yeah.

Agreed. Denying the Sibyl System reaffirms his stance. And generally speaking, it's a bold stance to take.

I could've made my Griffith comparison clearer. What I was trying to say, specifically, was that Makishima didn't have his principles tested. He didn't reluctantly turn down Sibyl. When I see a character urged to make the wrong decision, then resisting that urge, that's powerful to me. More points if the character in the hotseat chooses the more difficult path for justified reasons in-line with their character rather than merely hopium.

Griffith made the wrong decision in sacrificing his friends, but I found it compelling because it made total sense and he has to be talked into it. It could've gone either way. The earth-shattering scale of his choice isn't the appeal, it's the insight into his decisions as he falls to the God Hand, recalling his dreams, giving into the temptation of release from pain, and prior moments of character drama cropping up once again. Makishima's choice didn't have the large-scale impact, and that's fine. I just think more insight into his decision-making process would've made the moment more powerful for me, rather than a simple reaffirmation of a principle I already knew he held.

> I think Makishima's decision, at the very least, is a testimony to his strong beliefs.

However, I rewatched the scene. Plot twist: there's an interesting element at work that I had previously failed to acknowledge. Makishima's bias is valued by Sibyl. He is to be taken into account by the system. In the process, his decisions will be given more efficacy should he join. Makishima wants to mold society, and as you say, he is daring and committed in this pursuit. Joining Sibyl is an opportunity for him to receive the fast-track to the influence he desires. Accept the offer and enact his will in ways that weren't possible before. Couple with that call to power, and immortality, the scene becomes somewhat more compelling to me because Makishima stands to lose something we know is important to him specifically in declining this offer. Immortality is an applicable, lame, tenet at work in comparison. And of course, his will would've been one of many, but the stage upon which he'd be working is literally at the heart of Psycho-Pass's society.

Anyway, clearly there are layers to this show. Work has been done to make things make sense. Even if it falls short for me personally, I will always respect Urobuchi's efforts. He just makes it a bit difficult for himself sometimes haha.

> I don't think it would be as hard as you think. Anyone creating, sharing or consuming violent media would have (at least to some degree) a clouded Psycho-Pass, so information control would have been child's play once the scanners became omnipresent. And I expect people who are naturally violent would be isolated from a young age like Kagari was.

"All these people have lived up until now without ever even considering that something like this could happen."

I heavily disagree. I think it would be incredibly difficult to foster the conditions of this ward. Every single person needs to be stripped of innate desires of self-preservation, the very sight of blood and distress. The lady, when approached by this heavily built heavily breathing obstruction who forcefully turns her around to face him, she just stands there for a solid five seconds without running away or calling of help. There's apathy and mere curiosity, then there's fucking aliens. I can't even conceptualise how a massive group of people stands by like this, so I'm at a loss in even trying to use headcanon to make it make sense.

As for this violent media point, I struggle to see how a person watching violent media has their psycho pass clouded as a result. I know you say "at least to some degree", but this is still fundamentally suggestive of a connection between the violent media itself and the psycho pass. As in, the violent media clouds the psycho pass by a unit ranging from 1-99, so to speak. I just doubt how the violent media is a cause even by 1 unit. This echoes that old-ass argument that violent video games are corrupting our kids LOL. The connection could be there, but it's highly highly contentious in the real world nevermind on the massive scale that we see in Psycho-Pass. And the perfection of the information control that we see in this ward is even more difficult to reconcile.

In any case, I'm doubtful that the world of Psycho-Pass establishes that violent media has been banned and quarantined off in the manner that you suggest. I mean, come on man, the lethal setting on the Dominators turns its target into porridge. People know that there is a police force. There are screwed up sadists on the fringes inspired by theory and violence of the past. How can only these people encounter these resources, but not some wider subset? Why is the information control so selective? At the end of episode 4, our characters stun two suspects in a night club and bystanders run away. In episode 5, Kagari shoots off a suspect's arm in a hallway. Bro runs away, passes some random bystander in the elevator, blood dripping everywhere. In episode 6, the corpse artwork is described to be made in "bad taste" by passerbys. I get that this was made by a girl from a school where Sibyl's coverage was limited, and I credit the show for ironing out that kink (alongside the overall emphasis on clean-up, sending people to institutions). Again though, the asking price is so high. Sibyl's effects are difficult to accept. This was a quick glance over three episodes, the perfection of information control has already been impacted. Like, we don't see our characters taking in this lady (who saw the guy's dismembered arm in episode 5), and I guess we're left to assume no one in the entire building happened across the trail of blood. Idk, it's just so difficult to accept that a single ward can be perfectly insulated from violence on the conceptual level.

The Sibyl System's process is also wacky to me. The system is an aggregate of minds observing its subjects' mental states. What is it reading? Well, it can't be anything outside of brain activity because the helmets block it completely. So we're left to accept that a system as ingrained and successful as this can't engage in pattern recognition reCaptcha style, as in, recognising shapes: "what is wrong in this image?" There's no reading of language, body language, heartrate, bodily trauma, etc. It gets more stupid the more I think about it.

> Mind you, Makishima would have become practically immortal if he joined the Sibyl System, but he turned that down.

I find Makishima's stance against the Sibyl System somewhat compelling in and of itself, but I didn't remember the offer being all that tempting to him to begin with. "Counter-culture sociopath, ardent Sibyl hater denies joining the system he hates", not exactly shocking to me. Was Makishima ever especially tempted by the prospect of immortality in the first place? It makes his decision less powerful to me. Think Tenma edging toward killing Johan now that Wim has a makarov pointed at his head. This is a weaker challenge to Tenma's no-kill rule than Johan as-is (without innocent child hostage LOL). It'd be about killing Johan moreso that saving Wim's life right there and then. I guess people generically value immortality, maybe? Idk if Makishima values it though. Anyway, as for putting himself in harm's way, he definitely does that. But yeah, turning down joining Sibyl wasn't exactly a Griffith sacrificing the Hawks moment for me. It was only ever gonna go one way, I don't recall any inner conflict within Makishima.

I'll respond to your message soon. For now, though, I'm curious where you stand on these questions Psycho-Pass seems to get us asking.

Is free will more important than the prosperity of society at large?

Is an individual's free will more important than the prosperity of that individual?

> One likely explanation is that the first incident woke up the people. All the violence that happened publicly is shown to have started the following day, after the incident went viral. For the first time in their lives, these people get acquainted with the idea of violence and the fact that their lives are in danger. Their actions thus are more in line with what we would expect.

These following incidents make more sense to me. It's just the prior -- perfect -- maintenance of the bubble shielding these citizens from the concept of violence (etc.) that doesn't.

"All these people have lived up until now without ever even considering that something like this could happen." Genuinely, how tf does this even happen?

> I get you, but personally I prefer it this way. It's the perfect blend of entertainment and intellectualism, and I guess someone as famous for his sadism as Butch Gen would be more comfortable making something like this over something more dialogue-heavy.

Fair enough. What I was suggesting wouldn't even require that much dialogue though, and it's not too far removed from what's there already. I mean, come on, Makishima explains a Gulliver's Travels plot thread to make a simple point when he's offered to join the Sybil System. Gen is no stranger to this LOL.

> Liebert is an awful villain because his unfortunate upbringing gives him a warped worldview. He has nothing relevant to say because he wrongly assumes that everyone is like the Nazis. Monster is a terminally boring and pointless exercise in proving an obviously misguided villain wrong. Makishima is different. His beliefs are born of his own free will, and his statements are of utmost relevance to the society he inhabits.

I'm not comparing Makishima to Johan and Yoshii on the grounds you're suggesting. Here's the basis of the comparison: It's "thought-provoking" in the sense that you, the viewer, are left to explain how Makishima emerges.

Johan is screwed up because he had Anna's experiences of the Red Rose Mansion massacre relayed to him in detail, he was hurt by his mother's decision to give one of the twins up, and he was in a Nazi super soldier program. He also sought escape (?) and identity in Bonaparte's picture books, the events of which determined aspects of his personality.

Yoshii is screwed up because he was bored and frustrated by the constant mundanity of living on the Surface World. All struggle was (somehow) erased. Him and Sakimura were like 0.0005% of the population who up and left. He decides to start sewing specifically violent chaos because he notes that physical power -- gang presence -- is the main method of control in Lukuss. I don't know why Yoshii is so proficient in combat considering his day-to-day life on the Surface. I don't know where his sadism comes from, maybe it's Lukuss's stark contrast with his home that's enough to incite such a thrill. My guess is that he's taking joy in seeing people "brimming with primitive energies", and those energies just happen to be violent in nature. He appears to deem certain characters to be too reliant on their ambitions and kills them. I don't know how he cultivated his "freedom can't lean on anything" mindset, but it's interesting that he has that outlook, I guess. I don't know why he believes that if someone is apparently displaying traits of a Theonormal, that warrants death for him. Again, we're speculating a lot here.

I presume Makishima sees people as animals because they're brainwashed subjects of Sibyl. And so he has no trouble killing them. Why/how the Sibyl System can't read his psycho pass, idk, or at least, I can't remember. He takes pointers from literature, and as you say, he's interested by how society was run before Sibyl.

The fact that Sibyl society is far more explained, I have more to work with as to why/how Makishima was molded. Of course you'll never be able to "complete" an explanation of why a character decides to be sadistic, or anything really. I'm aware that's a stupid expectation to have of storytelling, I guess what I want to communicate is that Makishima's mysterious background gives him the same intrigue as Johan and Yoshii. I only consider Makishima "better realised" because I have a deeper understanding of the conditions he spawned from, you know, unlike Nazi super soldier camps and book reading clubs, and some vague eugenics-run (late-capitalist?), totally apathetic society.



> I think the massive scale at which the Helmet Arc plays out proves that claim. A lot of people have been done wrong by the Sibyl, and they will take up arms against it when given the opportunity. Even inspectors like Kogami and Ginoza fell prey to their emotions. The very existence of criminally asymptomatic individuals like Makishima proves that mankind as a whole will never fully give up its free will, even if it means sacrificing prosperity.

I agree with all of this. While I'm hazy on the play by play of the Helmet Arc and everyone's specific grievences with Sibyl, this makes sense to me. What I was getting at before was linked to my overall point: the well-read scholar Makishima doesn't take some sophisticated rational stance against the Sibyl System and its effects. So when I say that he doesn't "demonstrate" that "Sibyl society will ultimately be dismantled, whether it be naturally or through revolution", I mean that he doesn't make a case for this himself. But yeah, given staunch inspectors like Ginoza can mentally buckle, it does set a precedent in support of this statement.

> I almost feel Makishima would be less convincing if he were more rational. I personally don't feel a need to hear him arguing in support of his beliefs. As long as his beliefs stand in opposition to widely accepted ideals and as long as he can effectively demonstrate the validity of his beliefs, I am going to be invested in his character.

I think I get what you mean. Do you mean he'd be less exciting to watch if he were more rational? Is the starkness of his opposition to the system what makes him an interesting character for you? Like the very premise of a "Makishima" existing in a pristine world such as Psycho-Pass's...

Personally, I'd find Makishima more compelling if he was making genuinely correct statements about the Sybil System's subjects. Engaging in lines of inquiry weighing up whether free will would be worth pushing aside Sybil's fruits. He'd meaningfully acknowledge the system's benefits rather than seeing them as easy to be pushed aside. Or perhaps he could feign that hesitance in an effort to put up a reasonable front to people he'd need to convince in his revolution (here we'd be able to keep the murderous sadism, all things considered). That Makishima would just happen to be correct in his decorative arguments against the system -- it would make him manipulative in a way that has me edging towards his side -- "I know bro likes killing children or whatever, but he's kinda made some good points here."

However, despite this, I also find the idea of Makishima's mere existence and principles to be a cool premise. I really like the show, I just find it kinda flawed in places.

> I still wouldn't find this premise to be extreme as you said in your previous comment. Crime has been practically eradicated, so what these people are witnessing is something they have never even heard of let alone seen beforehand. So I would say it's reasonable to believe that the general populace has been desensitized to crime.

Anyone who sees the dominators working on lethal mode are presumably left with clouded psycho passes (I guess), and they're stunned, shipped off, and isolated. So they can't spread rumours of how these guns work and the destruction they leave. Respectably, Psycho-Pass highlights the efforts required to maintain a clear psycho pass as an inspector through Akane and Ginoza's struggles. And I find the whole idea of enforcers, who already have compromised psycho passes, doing the dirty work awesome. They tank the mental hit. As you say, the police are the ones exposed to the violence, so it makes sense that they are the ones under the most strain.

Crime has been practically eradicated, but what about violent media? Nevermind that, what about ingrained fight or flight instincts. Are you telling me that every single adult in this ward has been completely and totally cordoned off from any form of violence for their whole lives up until this point? I guess, maybe, this is possible. But I think this is our impasse -- considering that the our characters are shocked by the idea of people ignoring blatant violence like this, considering that other citizens in other wards react to blatant violence in a way more familiar to us, I struggle to accept this scene. I don't dislike Psycho-Pass, in fact, I think it's really good. The writers do a bunch of work to explain certain impacts of the Sibyl System, but a scene featuring a massive group of people unanimously unable to conceptualise violence, in stark contrast to surrounding wards with no explanation as to why this is happening, leaving us to speculate, it's like... "okay Gen, let's calm down."

>There's also a little bit of alienation Makishima feels from society, given his criminally asymptomatic nature.

This reminds me of the point that Makishima is only able to kill people so ruthlessly because he cannot see them as moral agents. Murdering them is akin to murdering animals, so to speak. That is an interesting idea that I'll be looking to substantiate when rewatching the show. I also find it almost laughably ironic that the Sibyl System, a system created to stifle crime, violence, and perversion, could be directly responsible for the emergence of someone as sadistic as Makishima. Of course I'd love to see Psycho-Pass itself put forward a case as to how someone like Makishima is born. How he developed a taste for violence in a society that stamps it out so absolutely, what exactly he values in the literature he reads covering pre-Sibyl society, what arguments he has that we ought to recenter moral intuition, and to recenter will. Seeing him rationally convince people over to his side while withholding sadistic tendencies (so as to not scare them off), rather than merely appealing to other people with similarly sadistic tendencies. Don't get me wrong, I like that he targets variants cut from his cloth, I just wish I could see him making genuinely important arguments rather than putting forward the general proposition that living under Sibyl leaves you less free than living in a world more recognisable to us, the viewers.

Incidentally, this is why I want to see a Psycho-Pass wherein the Sibyl System is, at least, less unanimously accepted and unquestioned. A setting like this is more complicated, and it would afford more rationality to people, so they're not quite the silly lobotomised guinea pigs we're shown throughout the actual show. Makishima wouldn't just be convincing other sadistic psychos, he'd also be convincing rational people to his side. But the transitory setting would make his job not easier or harder, but both, because the fruits of the Sibyl System are not yet fully evident. Again, people would be harder to convince, but the mere possibility of Sybil's impact leaves a lot of room for debate. I don't think a setting like this detracts from his "profundity" or whatever, I think this demands him to be a more formidable mind to engage with.

The contrast of Makishima's sadistic tendencies and the pristine society he inhabits reads as simply shocking and demanding of an explanation to me -- it leaves more questions than answers. It's "thought-provoking" in the sense that you, the viewer, are left to explain how Makishima emerges. "Oh, Makishima must've gathered x point from Baudrillard, hmm yes, he seems to be privy to the Underground Man. I guess this means he has abc beliefs because of efg things that happened to him in the past". That's why he gives Kazuho Yoshii and Johan Liebert to me, only I'd consider Makishima better realised. (But these comparisons would take a long time to explain).

Accepting the premise that bro was created because of the Sibyl System, I'd also like to add that, in a sense, Makishima is a living embodiment of the Sibyl System's flawed functionality. This would be unavoidable truth standing in stark contrast to the way it's advertised and trusted. "Sibyl society will ultimately be dismantled, whether it be naturally or through revolution." I don't quite think that Makishima demonstrates a claim as strong as this, but I think he demonstrates -- and lives as evidence for -- its imperfection.

TLDR. I wish Makishima was earnestly asking (or putting up a sophisticated rational front to cover his sadism and asking): "is [free will] really more important than the prosperity of the society at large?" I want to see his reasoning as to why free will is worth sacrificing everything for rather than being left filling in his reasoning for him.

> Makishima would argue that freedom under Sibyl is merely an illusion of control.

An illusion of control? Do you mean, like, (1) Sibyl's control over human society is an illusion? Or, (2) do you mean that Sibyl gives you the citizen an illusion of control over your own life? Or both? I'm only confused because we were talking about free will, but you also mentioned that Makishima was limit testing Sibyl, so I don't know which type of control you're referring to here.

> When your choices are made within the options that the Sibyl gives you, you are nothing better than a domesticated animal. If it determines you to have low aptitude for a certain job, it will simply not allow you to do that job; it refuses to take into account willpower. If it determines you to be a latent criminal, you are robbed of a good life without ever having done wrong; it refuses to take into account self-control.

Do you think that Sibyl leaves you as nothing more than a domesticated animal? Or is this Makishima speaking?

> I don't think Psycho-Pass expects you to endorse Makishima'a anarchy

Man, I never even suggested that it was trying to get you to endorse it.

I just said that "I wouldn't endorse Makishima's anarchy as the alternative". The alternative was Sibyl. I should've been clearer, I guess. Makishima's anarchy is all that's left to engage with for me. What I've tried to communicate is that Makishima could be making rational arguments against the Sibyl System and its fruits while still realising the same boom boom exciting bloody end. To restate, I want Makishima himself to suggest an alternative to the Sibyl System -- arguments he has made against it. Not arguments we are making on his behalf. Perhaps you value the fact that we're making arguments on his behalf, perhaps (because it's been like 3 years) I'm misremembering the show and Makishima does make arguments against Sibyl himself... I don't know. I just value antagonists, especially when they're seemingly well-read ones like Makishima, who put forward compelling arguments, even if this rationality is a facade to laud people over, hiding a twisted mind.

> I wouldn't say the Sibyl System has conditioned people to become immoral.

I didn't quite say this. Just because someone doesn't have moral intuition or has lost moral intuition, it doesn't mean that they're immoral. There can be a correlation, sure.

I said that it's making people apathetic bystanders to blatant violence that's happening right in front of them and the episode outright confirms this. They're not endorsing the violence. There's no feigning apathy, there's just true apathy and curiosity.



Later in the episode:

Masaoka: "To think that it happened right in the middle of a busy street. What on Earth has happened to this town?"
Akane: "Do you think it's the same perpretrator as the pharmacy attack?"
Ginoza: "It's very likely. Even so, all the people that were here. What were they, scarecrows?!"
Akane: "The witnesses' testimonies are all very similar. They said the couldn't understand what was going on. I don't think we can blame them. The idea of someone being killed right before their eyes... They couldn't even dream up something like that. It simply wouldn't occur to them. All these people have lived up until now without ever even considering that something like this could happen."
Kagari: "In the end, no one reported the incident, and the Area Stress Level warning was what revealed the anomaly."
Kogami: "And it wasn't just the people who overlooked it."

Firstly, the stress level didn't go up because of the bystanders, it was the victim of the attack experiencing bodily trauma that raised it. I can't be 100% sure that this was the case, but it's heavily heavily suggested given the apathetic witness reports, their psycho passes not raising attention from Sibyl, and these shots.


Also, the helmets work in a more nuanced way than I remember. They don't just block the psycho pass from being scanned, they reflect nearby individuals' psycho passes; they're read instead of the perpretrator's.

Another thing, given that this reaction to such a brutal crime is news to the our characters, this kind of behaviour from bystanders seems to be isolated to this particular ward, it's not a national commonality as I implied. My bad. This answers my query concerning why people like Akane can read brutal acts on her own moral intuition without such wholehearted reliance on Sibyl. Basically, in Psycho-Pass, sometimes people are apathetic to brutal violence, sometimes they're not. This also applies to bystanders.


This was all fine until it raised another question that I'll rephrase a few times. Why is only this ward is affected like this? Why is this an "anomaly" and not more typical? What's so special about this ward?

> People just don't want to get involved in stuff that doesn't directly concern them

There's not getting involved in things that don't directly concern them, and then there's not: running away, intervening, reporting the incident to authorities, screaming, recoiling in disgust, or even (if we believe Akane) conceptualising what is happening full stop.

> it's not even that uncommon in present-day society either.

I don't know about this. Even Psycho-Pass knows this is an anomaly in its world. This incident might be an example of the bystander effect, but given that these bystanders didn't undergo any denial of what was happening in front of them, it doesn't align with the details of the phenomena (nevermind whether they felt threatened themselves or anonymous, busy, or feeling like "ah someone else will deal with it"). Anyone purporting the theory dubs it a phenomena, and the famous report of Kitty Genovese's murder that initially prompted discussion of the effect is commonly regarded to be dubious. A study conducted in 2019 (with larger numbers of participants than those positing the phenomena) concluded that bystanders are more likely to intervene in cases of blatant acts of violence like the one we see in Psycho-Pass. I just want to know how an incident like this can happen, that is interesting. That is also where the depth is found for me. If Psycho-Pass can make a creative case for how atypical incidents like this occur under Sibyl's purview, I'd be singing this moment's praises. But all we get is Akane restating the problem.

> Of course, the Sibyl System is also partly to blame given how the Dominator has become the sole means of exercising justice, so people feel discouraged from taking action on their own.

They could contact Public Security or, idk, dogpile the crazy hammer wielding murderer.

> He believes from the bottom of his heart that even the whole sum of society's advancement isn't worth selling one's free will, not today, not ever. Even if it means engaging in rampant violence and plunging society into anarchy, free will is worth it. It's an incredibly powerful statement to make.

I honestly don't remember why the trade off was worth it for him, you'll have to remind me. Or rather, you're gonna have to give me your take as to how someone like Makishima is molded. In principle, though, I don't really see it as all that profound. The show would have to make a case for how Makishima was created. His claim is just kinda bold to me, he is sacrificing more in his quest. Though the circumstances they're pushing against are pretty different, he gives Kazuho Yoshii... so he's not all that contemplative of an antagonist for me.

> Lastly, I don't think that the Sibyl system was introduced in some secretive sort of way. It must have been opposed initially, but seeing the unparalleled prosperity it offered in exchange for what many would consider a small price, the criticism would have slowly died down.

I put suggestion forward but, I mean yeah, maybe. I vaguely remember an episode where Kogami and Akane are told details about prior versions of Sibyl, but I'm too tired to look for these moments atm, I'll look some other time.

Overall, I think my point stands. At least with regards to these helmet arc incidents, the asking price is higher to accept than something like anonymous actors backing Aoi's cause. The Laughing Man was an example of a stand alone complex. The stand alone complex is the thing I am left contemplating. I understand why Aoi lacking a bold ideological goal can make him less compelling. Doubly so when I consider that bro is a charisma vacuum. Makishima certainly has more screen presence, even if I think the guy is a goofy edgelord.

> Is [free will] really more important than the prosperity of the society at large?

I think that free will comes part-in-parcel with prosperity. Under Sibyl, people were still free to some extent, just not free enough for Makishima's standards, apparently. So, one thing's for sure, I wouldn't endorse Makishima's anarchy as the alternative. Paternalism in political philosophy is a very complicated topic that's kinda beyond me if I'm being honest, gotta read a bunch of shit.

Fair enough. It's just interesting to compare perspectives, if anything. Psycho-Pass felt more intense to me because of Kogami's personal investment in the investigation. Akane's investment in Kogami's standing in society, her tested psycho pass, and ofc her friend being murdered by Makishima contribute as well. Then there's Ginoza maintaining his psycho pass and his relationship with his father. Basically, there's more personal baggage, never mind the more graphic violence and blood art from that one episode (because Urobuchi).

I find the stand alone complex more interesting than Psycho-Pass' Sibyl System thought experiment because it's more believable. Iirc, Japan is like a testing ground for the Sibyl System, no? The idea that the system is being phased in, so as to account for the nuances of the population, rules. But we enter too late in this process*. Like, citizens are merely curious or apathetic to blatant acts of violence happening right in front of them (recall that lady being beaten to death in the helmet arc and everyone just standing there unbothered and curious). This isn't just trusting Sibyl, but it seems like an inability to distrust it. I can see why Makishima is concerned because moral intuition has literally been replaced by the Sibyl System, that premise is awesome. So now I'm left invested in Makishima's motivation while watching Psycho-Pass, but when I leave I think "well, it's not like moral intuition can erode to this extent, right? Especially as a commonality as in Psycho-Pass." I just take issue with the extremity of the premise. The citizenry in Psycho-Pass aren't detached from the suffering of people overseas (an idea put forward in Patlabor 2) or non-human animals. They're detached from brutal assault because the belligerent's psycho pass isn't cloudy. But then some people, like Akane, are able to tap into a moral intuition more recognisable to us, and regard her friend's throat being slit as "bad" despite Makishima having an unaffected psycho pass.

SAC is more like a collection of observations, if that makes sense. The claims it's making aren't as bold. So I can see why they'd be less exciting to contemplate, but their asking price is lower than "a helmet can stop the general population from reacting to brutal assault". Still, at least it's not "unfettered technological advancement and genetic modification (according to vague criteria) somehow led to total freedom that somehow stripped 99.9% of humanity of their motivation to do anything", that'd be pretty bad...

Also, and this is more of a 'me' thing too, Makishima's isn't a convincing antagonist. Like I said, I can see why he'd be upset in concept because the human moral intuition has been handed over to the Sibyl System. I also find him believable as a 1/million variant (it's also cool that Sibyl seeks to account for variants like him). The problem is that society is like 95% content. They have their ideal careers and daily lives. He's calling out something bad and doing something even worse to make his point, and consequently threatening a system that, idk... just kinda fucking works in so many cases. If he came in during an earlier stage of Sibyl's integration, where the possibility of severe consequences to selling off moral judgment loomed, where people are still being sold on the possibility of living their best lives and actively having to make the trade off now for themselves and future generations... then I'd find him a more compelling antagonist. He would have a stake in the debate, so to speak. Still though, the whole slicing innocent victims' throats thing would remain a let down lol. Doesn't do much for his credibility. Aoi was personally screwed over by Serano Genomics and he wasn't seeking to change a whole society that was pleasing most people. His goal was just to release the truth. His followers chose to back him by concealing his identity for reasons completely unknown to us (I find the concept of anonymous actors misinterpreting and finding some personal value in Aoi's cause easy to accept, especially in light of 'Chat! Chat! Chat!'). Even holding Serano at gunpoint was a last resort. Makishima has more screen presence, and he's more active in the plot, so again, I can see why he's more exciting to watch. Most of Laughing Man's appearances aren't Aoi himself.

One last thing, I find the ending kinda a let down. I remember agreeing with the take that "Psycho-Pass doesn't follow the "take down the system!" cyberpunk convention, and is therefore good". But the answer it gives is basically just "all systems are flawed, keep Sibyl around and maybe we can improve it later on". That's far from what I'd consider terrible though, I agree that we shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

* Although I've seen people saying the trade is obviously worth it, I'd like to see why Sibyl would be accepted by the population at large. Was it misadvertised? Was it integrated in subtle ways? Perhaps it was only initially detected by like, idk, academics, lawyers, journalists, and/or the police? Maybe it was given the green light by people who'd be detached from its consequences -- by people who thought they'd stand to benefit from it?

Would you have your ideal career and daily life provided and mapped out for you based off of Sibyl's (or an equivalent system's) readings? Is that a valuable life? Seating Psycho-Pass at an earlier stage of Sibyl's integration would be ideal for discussing this forthrightly, rather than leaving us after the show has ended to discuss it. It's great that we're left off at a point wherein we can have this discussion, but Psycho-Pass could've gone a bit deeper I feel.

> I feel they put the main plot on the backburner for too long

The breaks in the main plot made sense to me. I think SAC gets some stuff wrong, but the structure aint one of them. I like that the complex plot is essentially two major events: Laughing Man's reappearance, then Section 9 getting too close to uncovering the truth of the Laughing Man incident, and thus becoming entangled with Narcotics and JMSDF black ops. The two other complex eps are clue seeking. The long stretch of stand alone eps doesn't feel jarring to me because, after 'Portraitz', the only imperative in the Laughing Man investigation is research for an indefinite stretch of time. It's not like these stand alone eps are interrupting any action.

What's more, there are direct crossovers between the stand alone and complex eps; 'Machines Desirantes' is essential viewing for the complex plot -- for Batou, Motoko, and especially the Tachikomas. 'Ag20' fleshes out Batou's plight as a full-body cyborg/instrument of the government and 'Escape From' restates the Major's worldview and adds another notch in Tachikoma's development. These episodes make the payoffs in 'Barrage' as meaningful as they are. The stand alone eps benefit in other ways too, but I won't get too much into it. Still though, the structure definitely isn't conventional so I get why it isn't as appealing.

I'd also argue that every episode of season 1 is at least good. I couldn't imagine removing any of them. If I really had to, I could only sacrifice like, 'Not Equal' (despite the badass fight sequence). Push me further and maybe 'YES', 'Angel's Share', and 'Lost Heritage' can be scrapped -- despite the latter two offering some good Aramaki content, with 'Angel's Share' showing his one-on-one relationship with Motoko.

> I feel that the standalone episodes drag down the main show more than I previously thought

How? Pacing?

Nope.
ENGI has a really bad track record.

Have a great day ~

Happy birthday! :)

No problem! :)