A collection of thoughts about Psycho-Pass 3 + First Inspector #01
Psycho-Pass 3 turned out to be one big surprise last year, a fresh breeze of a show like I havenβt watched in a long while, so when I heard episode 8 wasnβt the conclusion Iβve got to admit I got a bit intrigued. It turns out a sequel movie calledΒ βFirst Inspectorβ was in the making and it would carry on the plot starting where episode 8 had left it.
I wondered if waiting four months for this story to wrap up wouldnβt accidentally dim my initial enthusiasm for it.
It turns out the exact opposite has happened. The charisma of the new characters alone was enough to really make me want to watch and rewatch these episodes, and I was pleasantly greeted with the discovery of new layers of interpretation and details whilst doing so. In such ways, I doubt a single first watch will ever do this season justice.
This may or may not be the reason I absolutely loved the First Inspector film - or, well, three episodes, depending how youβve watched it - much to my delight Arataβs short story seems to have wrapped up to a relatively satisfying degree. It gives a solid nod to theories and suspicions weβve come to nurture. Weβve got clear answers about Bifrost, about Shizuka, about his goal. We got justice for Akane. We got a resolution for Azusawa. At the same time, thereβs still potential for yet another kickass arc:
- On one hand, because Shizuka and Akaneβs story is yet to be told - the theatrical version of First Inspector in Japan seems to have included a short teaser to what will be the next Psycho-Pass release in the future - it ended with Akane about to tell Arata and Kei what actually happened to her.
- On another hand, because we still donβt know what was the deal with Atsushi getting accused of killing off Keiβs older brother - enough of Arataβs past seems to have been revealed, but there are still mysteries to be told about Akira and his relationship with Atsushi, as well as Atsushiβs role in Bifrost in general.
Iβm not gonna lie, I grew absurdly attached to Arata and Kei, and I do hope we do see more of them both in the future!
The main theme of Psycho-Pass has always revolved around the theme of βJusticeβ - itβs no surprise the third season follows suit. But if I were to summarize a sub-topic of Psycho-Pass 3 in one word myself, I would say rather claim its theme is about Prejudice.
Because everything about this season is a commentary on xenophobia and many other manifestations of prejudice and what passing superficial judgement on others encompasses. This is manifest in the world building, the plot (in subjects that go from economy, to politics, to religion) but it ties essentially to the identity and personality of both main characters and their enforcers.
On one hand, Kei, a refugee from Russia, is someone who had to endure war back home, and then, even when he finds a country to live in peace with his wife, he has to constantly put up to the unnecessary antagonism of people around him; as well as corruption, and hypocrisyβ¦
Mind you, I got surprised how Kei turned out to be such a stubborn and resilient guy. In the end they made him the kind of character who doesnβt bend his sense of justice to others just for whatever reason - thus testing the audience ability to trust him as well. Itβs his methods that seem peculiar; from the looks of it his goal may have been to investigate Bifrost, the issue being in the fact he has the bad tendency of working alone (perhaps due to the kind of reactions heβs used to receive from others at this point. Which does explain Maikoβs need to pressure in having him trust Arata).
The past in regard to Keiβs brother is still to be told though. It doesnβt mean Kei arc is necessarily unfinished because Kei could try to move on and focus on the present instead of the past for myriad reasons. But this is the tricky part. He could. Except heβs shown to be a pretty stubborn guy and this entire mystery is the reason he has signed up for this job along with Arata in the first place. So I donβt think he will let it go. When another season/film takes place, we may be shown glimpses of what happened. And perhaps even see some of those scenes the opening has casually teased us with. But who knows?
On another hand, Arata, criminally Asymptomatic, with every label and prejudice it brings attached (a challenge to us, the audience). A condition that in every piece of media out there is associated with serial killers and murderers, go figure. A trope abused too often that really messes up perceptions left and right (but allow me to leave this one for later in this post).
Azusawaβs attitude on another hand keeps reminding me a lot of my philosophy professor in university when I engaged in Art Studies go figure. Iβm not sure Iβm articulated enough to explain this in a contrived medium like this with my only limited English skills, but in my field the question βWhat is Artβ was a constant.Β Jumping from Kant, to Schiller, to Nietzsche,β¦
Itβs usually brought up among scholars that Aristotle for example absolutely denied βgamesβ a place in philosophy. He worried about the alienating aspect of simulations and argued if philosophy is to be the pursue of knowledge, it means it has to stay connected to truth. Not to a fake version of it (simulations).
But on another hand you also have Friedrich Schiller, who defended βMan is only Human when at Playβ, thus defending the Aesthetical education of Man, and Nietzsche, who has eventually challenged the classical perception and to whom we owe much of our educational methods. Simulations are perfect for children to develop and prepare themselves for real life situations before they happen, and without simulations our society would hardly be prepared to βdebugβ many of todayβs issues.
Thereβs actually an entire group of scholars defending perhaps Aristotle wasnβt as ignorant of this as we may have thought until recently, and that we may have completely misunderstood Ancient Greek cosmology in that regard - for even Aristotle was deeply engaged in Arts and most specifically Greek tragedies performed in the form of drama plays. He thought highly enough of the potential of storytelling and playing to educate audiences and invite citizens to question the importance of good values in an educated society. Telling stories and tragedies about the predicament of Gods, actually allowed citizens food for thought in the most varied topicsβ¦ from sacrifice, to courage, to the most varied aspects of life itself.
Schillerβs epiphany seems to have been that Man is, fundamentally, Homo Ludens. The Man who plays. Questions such as βWhat makes a given group acknowledge a certain object as art?β get to be answered to when you think of society like a big game with its own rules. For a given group of people, like letβs say, that engage in dadaism, something may be considered artistic as long as the participant artists play by the rules of dadaism. Even if in this example the rule isβ¦ not obeying any rules.
Then again, this is hardly exclusively to art; this is trait that exists in the DNA of humankind itself. To belong to a given something - a group, a system - you always have rules of some kind. We are social creatures.
And this isnβt without an innate desire to always break those same rules. We create rules at the same time we always seek to break and transcend them, as if to escape from βhere and nowβ.
This is where some may turn to the most varied forms of escapism. Being gambling, drugs, alcohol, or even the most self-reassuring forms of religion.
In that regard, itβs kind of amusing to me Azusawa calls Sibyl βGodβ. It seems that merging with Sibyl is the ultimate and most perfect form of transgression for him. His ultimate desire is to escape society by merging with the entity that controls it - this is Azusawaβs own way of outwitting society itself.
Itβs too bad that didnβt turn out right for him. The only way of truly merging with the transcendental βOneβ is to look after your individuality and accept yourself as the unique human being you are, and in that regard one may argue Arata did manage to do it better than Azusawa.
I have replayed the scene Arata visits the cemetery and looking back itβs actually striking how much of this character is built on the pillars of faith. Faith in Kei, faith in humans nature (thereβs something endearing in how he counterargues Keiβs statements on episode 8 and tells him most people are normal instead of criminals, they just want peace), and then faith in his father and teacher Shindo Atsushi (whose image he has desperately tried to restore in order to keep living, it seems).
It may be a sign of intelligence to question everything and consider every variable in any situation. The trap of this mindset is accidentally falling into an attitude of distrust in regard to every and any situation. Because worst case scenario possibilities arise in your mind. When articulated with fear, especially of another personβs intentions, prejudice and unfair judgement may take over a personβs actions. So I think there is some merit to faith in this context. βNot everybody is out there to get youβ, that is.
Itβs a rather frail rope to hold onto, but in this context, itβs also the lifeline holding us people onto our humanity.
Arataβs faith that even Azusawa can atone for his sins is yet another frail rope to hold onto. Ideals arenβt to be taken lightly; they require some gambling and risk taking. But this kind of faith may as well be required if any society really wants to move forward.
And that is also Akaneβs bet.
A lot about growth is related to challenging comfort zones and taking a step towards the unknown. If this goes for the individual who enters adulthood, it isnβt farfetched to consider perhaps it also applies to group of individuals. To collective beings.
I think Psycho-Pass in general isnβt as pessimistic about this as it might look like.
Looking into Hoffmannβs βNutcracker"Β - which I have always heard about but never knew the contents of before this show anyway - it turns out itβs a rather simple Prussian tale. One about (surprise surprise!) Prejudice.
In the PPFI movie, Azusawa has basically used the entire building as a stage for the reenactment of the Nutcracker drama playβ¦ what I didnβt realize during my first watch is he has even created an algorithm for it. Suddenly the entire scheme doesnβt feel as complex.
Karina is set up into a situation sheβs given the choice of either playing Marieβs role (a character who likes others by judging their hearts instead of their looks thus completely overlooking how different they may look like) or the role of princess Pirlipat (who rejects marrying the Nutcracker for being "differentβ).
Karina didnβt really pick any of these choices because Arata has stepped in and interrupted the course of the events. But Azusawaβs intent seems to have been originally that of βeducatingβ Karina and teach her a lesson about the true value of people in this stage (he wanted her to sacrifice herself to save En). Naturally, all of it backfires. He has done everything he tried to make Karina accountable for in this setting. The guy really did think of himself beyond the realm of human judgementβ¦
Interesting enough, in episode 8, Azusawa tells Obata-chan he thinks of himself like the Nutcracker. If thatβs so, you could say Arata is like Marie/Clara in the very last part of First Inspector.
This may be just me, but thereβs an underlying meaning to this Azusawa/Nutcracker parallel, that seems to imply Azusawa himself had to deal with his own share of prejudice sometime in his lifetime. Something happened that may have metaphorically cursed him and turned him into the Nutcracker. Azusawa was once an Enforcer, so I have to wonder if whatever situation he has lived once was anything similar to Todoroki Tenmaβs predicament.
This prompts me into thinking he didnβt arbitrarily decide to trick society for the sake of tricking it. Something may have happened, and itβs intriguing Atsushiβs ability to play with minds seems related to it to some degree. By acknowledging Azusawa can still be redeemed could it be did Arata undo whatever insecurities and unresolved issues his father created inside of Azusawaβs mindβ¦?
This season is told from Arataβs pov. Itβs not like Arata needs his backstory to decide to not pull the trigger, soβ¦ Maybe itβs perhaps precisely due to the fact he doesnβt know that he gets to be Azusawaβs βyoung Marieβ here.
Azusawa thought he was already a βGodβ even before he approached Sibyl and asked to join them. Itβs an entire new level of self-righteousness. Sibyl draws a line and argues, for all it counts they donβt exist to corner people into binary choices the way Azusawa does (Hence, the algorithm. You can clearly see the βtruesβ or βfalsesβ of his binary system).
I have my questions here⦠In the first season you could easy argue Sibyl does end up fulfilling that role. But then again⦠is it the system itself, or is it the fact people put blind faith in the system and excuse themselves of the burden of choice and free will with it?
Here Sibyl doesnβt even realize how used they are to being obeyed without being questioned. It takes someone like Akane or Arata showing up to shake their structures, because they donβt pull the trigger even when the system basically tells them to.
I suppose this is where the issue of Artificial Intelligence taking over societyβs Government acquires a whole meaning of its own. Why is it meaningful that Shizuka defeats an AIβs attempt to take over the system?
When Aristotle said gaming, simulations, or anything that is a mere copy of the real world wonβt even achieve the status of truth, I guess we do have to take into account the cosmology greeks had back in the day (I wonβt go through the pain of explaining Platoβs cave here, google it). But what he says stills hold some truth in regard to the issue of Gaming enabling a tendency for Escapism. In this exact context there is meaning into defeating AI in favour of allowing for flesh and bone people who hold responsibility for their own lives, actions, and emotions (AIs being but mere simulations of human intelligence, in Plato terms, there are but mere shadows of real human beings).
True or False. There is no escaping this when it comes to algorithms, even in the case of AIs who have the ability of going back to pick another kind of answer once they learn a given outcome returns a bad end. Human beings can take into account variables no machine ever will.
I was also pleasantly surprised to find about the sentence βThe rain is fallingβ that Atsushi uses and Arata repeats to trigger Mental Trace actually refers to one of Miyoshi Tatsujiβs poems, whose works of literature usually focus in helpess feelings of loneliness and isolation (the Great Aso poem).
I have refrained from referring to Arata until now, but itβs actually mesmerizing to me that for once we have a canon βpsychopathβ main character that - while still held accountable for his thoughts - he just blends in well enough in the role of aΒ βgood guyβ type of main character to be rooted for. Instead of hyper focusing on how cleverly twisted psychopaths are, PP3 decides to focus on how awfully lonely these individuals can be, offering an alternative view that in my opinion is slightly more accurate and aligned with the reality of such people.
There used to be a rather embarrassing bias in how studies about psychopathy or sociopathy were conducted - after all, whenever you wanted to find those people what would you do? You would go to a prison hospital and find the object of your studies there, all ready to answer to stuff and be studied from. This is so obvious itβs dumb but, think about it: if you only study criminal psychopaths, naturally, youβre going to end with results that mirror that reality. That will affect the results and overall conclusions about these people. The thing is, there are those who blend in society well enough to have an arguably βnormalβ life and those used to be hardly ever seen in such studies.
From what I have read, upon having realized this issue and deciding to make up for it, some clinical psychiatrists have grown wary of using terms such as βpsycopathβ or βsociopathβ. Some apparently even defend using the term βantisocial personality disorderβ instead - although this isnβt without a heated debate and arguments as to what actually fits in the box of such labels - what are worth keeping and whatnot. But one of the grown shaking studies I have read last year was that these individuals do experience a rather vast range of emotions, they just are unnable to recognize them and therefore to intuitively build and develop what most people naturally perceive to be empathy.
It may sound confusing to claim psychopaths can empathize if they really want to, or that they do feel regret and disappointment; not to mention its still possible to develop cognitive empathy. Instead of emotional empathy, that ought to come naturally to most individuals.
And I think this is where PP3 offers a bit of an updated take. If Psycho-Pass is to be a pun of how Japanese language reads βpsychopathβ, while itβs laughable to expect accuracy from a piece of fiction, ignore it and all we end up doing is glamorizing the issue. Not to mention, contributing to the misconception that these individuals are nothing but pathological criminals or liars. βLyingβ for these individuals isnβt a matter of option. Itβs all they can do to make up for the lack of natural empathy they are borne with.
There is objectively nothing wrong with glamour itself of course; all things considered if we build misconceptions perhaps thatβs more on us for judging without actually looking into it. And itβs not like fiction has any commitment to realism for the sake of realism, or else, what would be even the point of storytelling? This only works in the context of PP3 because the entire season seems to pose a reflection about prejudice, misconceptions, and related topics.
Itβs precisely due to the fact this is a series that from the very beginning exists to make the audiences question and asks themselves, βwhat is justice?β. If that is indeed the epicentre of this show, the theme that guides its direction, it only makes sense it worries about it. Without undermining the world building it has had until now, it still offers what in my opinion at least is an interesting twist to the Psycho Pass universe and the topics it touch upon. I believe this is why in PPFI we have Akane telling Sibyl with a smile, whatever laws they make up for Arata, it will limit Sibyl itself and therefore bound them to responsibility for their actions.
Iβm still unsure if Atsushi did join Sibyl as the visuals of the film suggest. Because he apparently has shot himself in the head and in the novel they go as far as referring to the stains of blood in the driversβ seat of his car. Stains hard to remove.
So I have my doubts here: was he really CA too? Did he really join Sibyl? Did they retrieve whatever was left of his head and put it in Sybilβ¦..? I hope to get answers in the novel at least. Assuming Atsushi was CA, that would certainly explain why it feels like heβs such a lonely guy that he did what he could for Arata to get himself a friend for a lifeline no matter what.
This means Mental Tracing may have been originally developed a technique to (over)compensate for lack of empathy and ensure they can have more of a socially-aware life. Atsushi first⦠and then Arata.
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