PSYCHO-PASS - 05

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As if I needed another reason to love PSYCHO-PASS. Well another one wouldn't hurt now would it

This episode was simply great. We got mystery, we got some psychedelic colour sequences and a nice plot twist at the end of it all, to tie things together. The mystery fan in me just kept itching as the episode progressed and at the end I was simply enamoured with PSYCHO-PASS.

Glad to see the mystery being so interesting and clever. As someone who watches way too much of the genre in many media forms, I appreciate the small hints that solve the mystery itself and the process of getting there more than the actual resolution of the case. The minor detail that lead to the case resolution seemed like a very plausible minor detail.

This was followed by a decent hunt for the criminal and along the way we got even more philosophical conversation about human nature. The discussions really exploited the whole logic vs psychology debate that PSYCHO-PASS has created. A perfect example in this episode was comparing Rousseau's work with Game Theory, two contrasting fields of study. Being an economist and currently studying game theory, I always found the mathematical logic to decision-making a little too logical and so this particular discussion really resonated with me. Game Theory and other behavioural economics aims to quantify and rationalise our decisions, which may for the most part but of course it can't be used to explain why murderers do what they do or other human behaviour. Needless to say, this discussion was satisfying for someone like me who does behavioural economics studies and often considers how limited the actual logic behind all of this is.

Other than remaining true to the main theme of the entire premise, we got some funky animation towards the end and the return of the guitar song for a brief moment. Interesting to say the least and it worked in tandem with the psychological meltdown the criminal had in a "having a bad trip on LSD" kind of way. What we got in the end was a good boost in the evilness of the main villain with the way that he manipulated a foot soldier to insanity. Yet another use of the basic debate in PSYCHO-PASS used exceptionally well, and this time to build up the villain and show his control.

Then came the end. A little obvious in terms of a plot twist, though I wasn't really expecting it. Ginoza and Kougami's relationship didn't come across as one of previous partners. Ginoza has pretty much treated like a dog and I assumed it was because of his ideals and not a previous relationship. With this, things are really getting interesting and that's because we've established Kougami is on the hunt for someone big enough to sacrifice his inspector position.

PSYCHO-PASS is getting better with every episode!