It seems as if the best course of action at this point is to accept Psycho-Pass for what it is rather than worry about what it isn’t, especially as what it is is a pretty solid show all things considered.

I think the gloves are pretty much off now as far as what Urobuchi Gen is trying to do in Psycho-Pass.  Make no mistake about it – this series is a broadside aimed squarely at the heart of the Japanese national identity, no less and no more.  There are elements of more overtly restrictive societies like North Korea in the scenario, especially once talk turns to food production, but that’s just Gen saying that the difference is only a matter of degree.

Japanese history is a study in isolationism and xenophobia, waxing and waning in turn.  For most of that history, in fact, Japan has been almost entirely isolationist in its national policy – and before it was socially developed enough to have a national policy, by practical necessity.  Outside influences always managed to slip through, humanity being what it is (Buddhism, for one) but the Xenophobic side of the national character has never totally disappeared, even now.  It’s reflected in the propaganda from the current prime minister and it’s reflected in that distinctly Japanese notion that no one else can quite understand Japan, no matter how long they live here.  Psycho-Pass presents a Japan that’s sort of a Nirvana for the Japanese isolationist – dependent on no other nation for food, a society entirely controlled by dispassionate bureaucracy where subservience of the individual to the needs of society isn’t just a character trait, but the basis of existence.  But one man’s Nirvana is another man’s Naraka, of course, and that’s where the likes of Makishima come into the picture.

This all makes for some fascinating intellectual mill grist (hyper-oat variety) and as is so often the case, Gen anime seem to be at their best when they’re showing two or three people quietly talking to each other.  The downside of all this of course is that everything with Gen is about making a point – a point about society, or the depravity of human nature – and as a result, his characters never seem to exist completely in their own terms.  It’s not enough for the lives of the characters to be the focus in their own right: they must always serve his greater purpose.  For me, the impact of this is an emotional disconnect from what happens to them because they never fully make the transition from the page to the screen as real people.    So we see the same patterns repeat themselves as each cast member fulfills their assigned role – Kougami figures everything out from a single bread crumb.  Akane wrestles with self-doubt and looks adorable.  Gino rages at his intellectual and moral impotence.  And Makishima looms over all of them like a spectre, mocking both the society he loathes and the ones who seem determined to defend it in spite of mounting evidence of its depravity.

But again, I should take my own advice and accept all that, because 19 episodes in Psycho-Pass (and Gen-san) certainly aren’t going to change.  And viewed as the intellectual exercise is it, this is still a pretty interesting place to be.  I welcome the return of Professor Saiga to the fold, because he represents an interesting outlet for ideas (and I love his gorgeous, “Falling Water” house).  As he and the fugitive Kougami dine on fresh eggs, vegetables and (gasp!) real coffee, they discuss how 99% of the food in Japan comes from genetically modified “hyper-oats”, grown completely without the benefit of human hands with the help of drones and benign viruses.  The irony here is operating on several levels – it’s not just about the food, but about the people of Japan, similarly isolated and vulnerable because of their homogeneity.  If the hyper-oats make a convenient target for Makishima’s final assault on Sibyl, they also make a convenient symbol for Gen’s final attack (for this series) on Japanese society.

Saiga represents a sort of idealized embodiment of the anti-establishment intellectual – Frank Lloyd Wright house, back-to-nature lifestyle, stylish sweater and glasses, indoor scarf-wearing, fully stocked wine cabinet.  And he’s connected to the old-fashioned 2chan-style boards that exist as a place for the discarded hipster detritus of the new Japan to vent their frustrations with Sibyl – their discussions taking place on foreign servers (an allusion to the likes of Iran and North Korea, no doubt) and so low-tech that they fly under Sibyl’s radar.  He’s a very entertaining character, and his discussions with Kougami have been some of the best moments in the series – I especially liked the moment when he encouraged Kougami to imagine Makishima sitting at the table with them.  What Saiga does – and Kougami too, for that matter – amounts to magic, pretty much.  It’s deduction in service to plot, not real detective work – but it’s undeniably fun to hear Saiga spouting Weber and Kou bouncing it back with threats of Bentham and Swift.

The deeper point here is that Saiga is right, Kou and Makishima are very much alike in many ways.  This is something that Makishima is quite comfortable with and Kougami is not, and in fact it seems to me that Kougami is so intent on killing Makishima largely so that he doesn’t have to be mocked by the existence of someone so uncomfortably close to a soul-mate, yet so much a ruthless terrorist.  Saiga knows this too, and it’s clear he sees Kougami’s single-minded obsession with killing Makishima for what it is – and in fact would love the chance to interview him himself.  He helps Kou out of a sense of loyalty, and because he knows Makishima is the most dangerous man in Japan.  But there’s a deeper irony here, and it’s that two men who – if anyone does – should have both the ability and inclination to despise Sibyl and work against it are instead acting as its main defenders.  Makishima is indeed dangerous and a serial murderer – not quite an anarchist in the conventional sense, as Saiga says, but certainly an insurrectionist of the first order.  The problem, though, is that in the long view it’s hard to imagine the country wouldn’t be better off if he succeeded.  Kougami and Saiga are interesting men, but they’re fighting the wrong fight for the right reasons – and this disconnect is one of the more interesting elements Gen has attached to Psycho-Pass.

What seems to be the predictable conclusion – we’ll see – is that it’s Akane who ends up being the destruction of Sibyl.  That’s certainly been my stated view for months – that she would be the downfall of Sibyl from the inside, with her own quasi-Makishima like ability to confound the system, without all that nasty killing.  Sibyl’s decision to try and recruit her seems almost certain to be its fatal mistake, and it seems likely we’ll see Akane GAR-moe moments in true Arthur/Saber style in the finale as she kicks Sibyl’s ass.  That’s all well and good, but of more interest will be the confrontation between Makishima and Kougami – the real main characters – and the ultimate resolution between Gino and Masaoka.  Though minor characters in the big picture (Masaoka especially is criminally underutilized) their relationship is the most interesting in the show in purely human terms.  Gino has only become sympathetic himself as the depth of his frustration has become clear – he’ll never be the man Kougami and Masaoka are, and he knows it.  He lacks both their insight and their clarity of purpose (sweet irony, given how Sibyl views them) and is forever being “left behind” to use the words he uses himself this week.  Masaoka clearly still loves his son and is trying to save him – and Akane too – but the only way he can see Gino saving himself is be recusing himself from events altogether.  It’s a sad thing that he has no faith in his son’s ability to actually make a difference, but even sadder in that nothing we’ve seen from Gino would make us question that judgment.  There are so many characters in the series that seem targeted for bad ends – especially in a Gen series – that it seems well within the realm of possibility that only Akane among the main cast will survive the carnage to come.