Psycho-Pass: Sinners of the System

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Psycho-Pass: Sinners of the System
PsychoPassSinnersSystem.png
Poster of the films
Anime film series
Directed byNaoyoshi Shiotani
Written by
  • Ryō Yoshigami (Case 1)
  • Makoto Fukami (Case 2–3)
Music byYugo Kanno
StudioProduction I.G
ReleasedJanuary 25, 2019 (Case 1)
February 15, 2019 (Case 2)
March 8, 2019 (Case 3)
Runtime60 minutes (Case 1)
60 minutes (Case 2)
68 minutes (Case 3)
Wikipe-tan face.svg Anime and manga portal

Psycho-Pass: Sinners of the System, also shortened to Psycho-Pass SS, is a trilogy of Japanese anime films based on characters who appear in the Psycho-Pass television series. The trilogy was first announced in 2018 and the films were released by Production I.G in Japan in early 2019. The films stars the talents of Ayane Sakura, Hiroki Touchi, Kana Hanazawa, Kenji Nojima, Kinryū Arimoto, Tomokazu Seki among others. While different writers handled the three films, director Naoyoshi Shiotani worked in the three as he planned this trilogy with hints about the narrative for the third season called, Psycho-Pass 3.

The first film, Case.1 Tsumi to Batsu (Crime and Punishment), focuses on Nobuchika Ginoza and Mika Shimotsuki as they investigate the prison filled with people living in cheerful life. The second film, Case.2 First Guardian, focuses on Tomomi Masaoka and Teppei Sugo as how they met following the death of Sugo's friends. The third and final film, Case.3 Onshuu no Kanata ni (On the Other Side of Love and Hate) focuses on Shinya Kogami as he continues his life as a mercenary in Eastern countries while training a young girl seeking for revenge.

Critical response to the movies have been generally positive based on the narrative's focus on the main character's minds. The trilogy earned ¥378,636,200 in box office and the home media release also achieved good sales.

Plot[]

The three films feature backstories to characters who appear in Psycho-Pass television series.

Crime and Punishment[]

The first film, Case.1 Tsumi to Batsu (Crime and Punishment), focuses on enforcer Nobuchika Ginoza and inspector Mika Shimotsuki. The team finds a traumatised woman and it is quickly apparent that a drug has altered her state of mind, Akane Tsunemori's team is directed to return her to a special experimental prison - the place where the woman worked as a therapist. Akane dispatches fellow inspector Shimotsuki along with two enforcers, Ginoza and Kunizuka, to investigate the prison while she and the rest of the team investigate the case in Tokyo. Through a new combination of drugs, therapy, and work, the prison has produced a different kind of society where latent criminal prisoners act in harmony with one another - keeping their criminal coefficients under 90 in most cases and carry out work valuable to society at large. Mika sees the woman as a criminal worthy of being killed but she and Ginoza realize that the woman used herself as bait to seek protection for a small child. Mika and Ginoza discover the warden is exploiting the prisoners to harvest nuclear waste that was buried beneath the prison, causing the prisoners to die of radiation. Mika records the warden's confession of her actions and reveals it to the prisoners. Mika then kills the warden, but the prisoners riot. Mika and Ginoza hunt down the rest of the complicit staff then begin working to protect the prisoners. They later find out the Sybil System knew of the warden's motive since the prison is located above the former dumping ground of the System's nuclear waste.

First Guardian[]

The second film, Case.2 First Guardian, focuses on enforcer Teppei Sugo, who was formerly a respected military officer. He acted as the eye-in-the-sky air support for a ground squad of marines alongside Itsuki Otomo, another pilot and a communications officer. Together, they formed a tight military family, including Itsuki’s wife Rin who was the squad's ground commander. The squad was sent on a military strike outside Japan, but Sugo loses Itsuki during the fight. Sugo is devastated by this loss and tortured over why he was ordered to abandon his squad mates. He is confronted by MWPSB officers Aoyanagi and Masaoka who inform him that he is a suspect in a terrorist attack that is apparently been performed by his MIA squad commander, Itsuki. They discover that the military was testing a bio weapon against the enemy, which also killed the rest of the strike team. Itsuki knew about the attack beforehand and left his memories in an android to extract vengeance, but it is stopped by the Bureau forces. Rin attempts to assassinate the military commander but he kills her instead. However, the Bureau marks the commanding officer for high psycho-pass and terminates him. Following these events, Sugo's level of stress increases and he eventually becomes an enforcer in the MWPSB.

On the Other Side of Love and Hate[]

The third and final film, Case.3 Onshuu no Kanata ni (On the Other Side of Love and Hate) focuses on Shinya Kogami as he travels the Tibet-Himalaya region as a free-lance mercenary. He saves a bus-load of refugees from guerrillas, including a young part-Japanese girl, Tenzing Wangchuk. She asks him to teach her fighting skills so she can take revenge on the murderer of her parents. Kogami agrees, but warns her against walking down the path of revenge as he did in the past. He encounters Frederica Hanashiro of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ostensibly looking for kimin, Japanese who have been stranded outside the country with the aim of returning them home if they have a good hue. She assists Kogami to protect the refugees, but he is wounded and is saved by Garcia, a mercenary who formerly worked for UN peacekeepers. As Kogami recovers, he reflects on his past actions, of taking revenge by killing the criminal Shogo Makishima when abandoning Sybil. During peace negotiations, Tenzing tracks her father’s killer to a meeting with Garcia who is secretly sabotaging the negotiations. He badly wounds her, but she informs Kogami of Garcia’s plan. Frederica assists Kogami on the condition he works with her, so after he kills Garcia, he returns with her to Japan.

Production[]

Director Naoyoshi Shiotani at the release of the first two films in the Tokyo International Film Festival 2018.

The films were first announced in Japan by Fuji TV in March 2018.[1] Naoyoshi Shiotani returned as the film's director, having already worked in the previous Psycho-Pass series. Novelist Ryō Yoshigami wrote the first film's script while the second one was written by Makoto Fukami.[2] Shiotani was also thinking how a third television series would be made and what characters should it use but upon consulting with other staff members from Production I.G he ended conceiving the ideas for Sinners of the System. As a result, as the films were close to finish development, Shitoani also had ideas in regards to the third television series. The third film was created in order to provide a cliffhanger for the television series. Nevertheless, Shiotani aimed every film to carefully show the quality of each writer in charge.[3]

Since all previous Psycho-Pass series were written from Akane Tsunemori's point of view, Shiotani wanted a new take on the franchise through to the trilogy. Through this, Shiotani wanted to explore relationships not seen before like Kogami's and Ginoza's as well as introduce characters who would play a major role.[4] In regards to the first film, Shiotani picked Nobuchika Ginoza and Mika Shimotsuki as the main characters due to their similarities to the protagonists from the first television series, Shinya Kogami and Akane Tsunemori, respectively. Nevertheless, he noted these duo employed a different dynamic from Kogami and Akane while noting how Ginoza has undergone a notable character arc across the previous projects related to Psycho-Pass mainly due to his relationship with Masaoka and Kogami.[5]

The first two movies had a prescreen in the Film Festival from late 2018 where Shiotani explained to the fans that the third title was still in development.[6] Seki explained the voice acting for the third movie was completed in June 2018 though but still told the audience from the festival that he could break their expectations. Seki felt honored when reading the script from his movie, something which Nojima agreed with. The staff explained an idea they wanted to explore in the films was the long distanced friendship between Ginoza and Kogami as the two have been friends before the events of the first television series.[6] Seki still appreciated the handling of Kogami while also experiencing pressure because of the character's popularity with fans.[7] He further stated how people might enjoy the trilogy as each movie tells a different that, despite being set in the future, revolves around the detective genre.[8]

The first film uses a remix of the theme song "Fallen" by Egoist. The second one uses the remix of "All Alone With You" by the same singer. Masayuki Nakano was in charge of these two remixes.[9] Natsuo Sai also wrote a manga based on the first two films.[10][11] A concert, Psycho-Pass, was made in January 2019 in Shibyua in order to promote the trilogy while featuring tracks from Yugo Kanno and portrayal of the franchise's characters by the original voice actors.[12]

Cast[]

  • Voice actress Ayane Sakura believed Mika Shimotsuki was now more fitting for the role of a heroine thanks to her experience in the second television series where she was the youngest main character. Once the first movie premiered Shiotani commented the trilogy would "broaden your perspective [the audience's]. They're those kinds of movies".[5] Sakura found that Shimotsuki displayed a more gentle behaviour during the narrative, feeling it would display a more mature take.
  • Kenji Nojima (Ginoza) had a similar reaction to Sakura's role in regards to a more upbeat trait than in Psycho-Pass 2. Following recording of the film, Sakura believed the trilogy was amazing to her due to Sakura's character arc.[13]
  • Kinryū Arimoto voiced Tomomi Masaoka. It was Arimoto's final performance before his death. The actors described Masaoka's role in the franchise a fatherly figure not to only his son Ginoza but also Kogami. The actors expressed grief in regards to having no more Arimoto.[14]
  • Hiroki Touchi voices Teppei Sugo. Touchi referred to his story as a drama story that might appeal to both male and female demographics.[14]
  • Tomokazu Seki appreciated Kogami's handling but felt pressured by the character's popularity with fans.[7]
  • Sumire Morohoshi voices Tenzing Wangchuk. The director felt that Morohosh's work would be fitting to fit with Seki's work as Kogami, something the actor agreed.[15]

Release[]

At the Japanese box office, Case 1 grossed ¥189,833,400, Case 2 grossed ¥90,801,400, and Case 3 grossed ¥98,001,400, adding up to a total of ¥378,636,200 for the trilogy.[16]

The three movies were released all on September 18, 2019 in Japan in DVD and Blu-ray.[17] Each home media release has appeared in Oricon for bestselling volume in their releases.[18][19][20]

In Hong Kong, it was released by NeoFilms in theaters[21] with the first movie shown on August 1, 2019.[22] In Singapore, the trilogy was shown in Japanese with English subtitles on November 2, 2019.[23]

Selecta Vision has released the trilogy in Blu-Ray and DVD for Spanish-speaking countries.[24] Kaze Germany has released the trilogy in German-speaking countries.[25] Kana Home Video has released the trilogy in Blu-Ray and DVD for French-speaking countries.[26]

In June 2021, Anime Limited licensed the trilogy aiming to release them in August in English regions.[27]

Reception[]

Anime News Network scored the first film a "B+" based on the further characterization of the returning leads but criticized the fight scenes.[28] Both the second and third film received an "A-" by the same site, praising the way Production I.G handled the narrative not only of each individual episode but also of the Psycho-Pass franchise in general.[29][30] Similar response was given by All Time Anime due to the handling of the returning cast, most notably Mika, as this last character felt portrayed better than in the previous anime series. The reviewer praised the themes explored in the first movie without regarding dystopia, while the second instead focused on thriller elements while comparing with director Mamoru Oshii's most famous works, referencing Patlabor 2 while also commenting on Kogami's dilemma in the third movie. He concluded the reviewer positively stating in regards to the director as "the evidence of these new absorbing, enjoyable films, Shiotani isn't hidebound by PSYCHO-PASS’s guignol heritage; he believes all it really needs are solid, interesting stories."[31] In October 2019, the trilogy took the seventh place in the Newtype film awards of the year.[32] In retrospective, Shiotani believes the early screening of the first two movies were a success.[33]

References[]

  1. ^ "Psycho-Pass SS 3-Part Anime Film Project Revealed (Updated)". Anime News Network. March 8, 2018. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
  2. ^ "1st 2 Psycho-Pass SS Anime Films Reveal Returning Staff, Cast". Anime News Network. October 26, 2018. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
  3. ^ "『PSYCHO-PASS サイコパス 3』のメインキャラ一新は、批判も覚悟の上だった――塩谷直義監督の覚悟". News Live Door. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
  4. ^ "映画『PSYCHO-PASS サイコパス Sinners of the System』関智一×塩谷直義監督インタビュー". Animate Times. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b "Psycho-Pass Sinners of the System Case.1 Opening Day Report". Manga.Tokyo. Retrieved August 17, 2019.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b "PSYCHO-PASS Sinners of the System World Premiere Event Report". Manga.Tokyo. Retrieved August 17, 2019.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b "「狡噛慎也の人生を最後まで見届けたい!」関智一が語る『PSYCHO-PASS サイコパス』シリーズの魅力とは". Spice. Archived from the original on July 22, 2019. Retrieved July 21, 2019.
  8. ^ "Mamoru Miyano & Takahiro Sakurai share "GODZILLA Poses" at TIFF while Tomokazu Seki and his fellow voice-over artists appeal "PSYCHO-PASS"". Tiff. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
  9. ^ "Psycho-Pass Reveals Ending Themes For First Two Movies". Manga.Tokyo. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
  10. ^ "Psycho-Pass SS Anime Film Trilogy Gets Manga Adaptations". Anime News Network. Retrieved November 14, 2018.
  11. ^ "PSYCHO-PASS サイコパス Sinners of the System Case.2 First Guardian". Amazon.com. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
  12. ^ "『PSYCHO-PASS サイコパス IN CONCERT』 深見真が書き下ろした、狡噛慎也と槙島聖護の新録パートをコンサート内で発表". Spice Eplus. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  13. ^ "映画『PSYCHO-PASS サイコパス Sinners of the System Case.1 罪と罰』野島健児×佐倉綾音インタビュー". Anime ate Times. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  14. ^ Jump up to: a b "「サイコパス SS」東地宏樹、関智一が舞台挨拶に登壇 有本欽隆との思い出を語る". Anime Anime. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  15. ^ "「PSYCHO-PASS サイコパス」狡噛役・関智一「監督が相当気合い入ってますので、楽しみにしていてください!」". The TV. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  16. ^ "Box Office Gross, TV Anime Adaptations". Someanithing. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  17. ^ "BD & DVD". Production I.G. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
  18. ^ "PSYCHO-PASS サイコパス Sinners of the System Case.1 罪と罰". Oricon. Retrieved November 3, 2019.
  19. ^ "PSYCHO-PASS サイコパス Sinners of the System Case.2 First Guardian". Oricon. Retrieved November 3, 2019.
  20. ^ "PSYCHO-PASS サイコパス Sinners of the System Case.3 恩讐の彼方に__". Oricon. Retrieved November 3, 2019.
  21. ^ "Neofilms Teases Screening of Psycho-Pass Films in Hong Kong". Anime News Network.
  22. ^ "Neofilms Screens 1st Psycho-Pass SS Film in Hong Kong on August 1". Anime News Network.
  23. ^ Asia, Aniplus. "PSYCHO-PASS SS in Singapore |".
  24. ^ "La trilogía de nuevas películas de Psycho-Pass licenciada por Selecta Visión".
  25. ^ "Sünder des Sybil-Systems". www.kaze-online.de.
  26. ^ "Kana montre ses coffrets Blu-ray / DVD des films Psycho-Pass : Sinners of the System". February 25, 2020.
  27. ^ "Anime Limited Schedule Updates for July and August". Anime News Network. Retrieved June 3, 2021.
  28. ^ "Psycho-Pass: Sinners of the System - Case.1 Crime and Punishment - Review". Anime News Network. October 31, 2018. Retrieved November 13, 2018.
  29. ^ "Psycho-Pass: Sinners of the System Case.2 First Guardian". Anime News Network. Retrieved August 17, 2019.
  30. ^ "Psycho-Pass: Sinners of the System". Anime News Network. Retrieved August 17, 2019.
  31. ^ "Psycho-Pass: Sinners of the System 2". All Anime. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
  32. ^ "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Promare Anime Win Top Newtype Anime Awards". Anime News Network. Retrieved October 28, 2019.
  33. ^ "『PSYCHO-PASS サイコパス Sinners of the System』狡噛慎也役の関智一インタビュー". IGN. Retrieved December 24, 2019.

External links[]

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