Psycho-Pass: Sinners of the System Case.2 - First Guardian

This is gonna be a tough one to review, I think. I guess we'll do what we can. So, I think straight away, I want to talk about the characters in this film because they really shined. I've said this before about Psycho-Pass, but each character's personality and their relationships to each other are always written so well. This film wasn't an exception to that, and in fact, it did it especially well. For this being a prequel to everything Psycho-Pass, I wasn't expecting much. However, the plot to this film was able to develop certain characters very nicely and establish others more firmly. While we'reon plot, it's important to note that the story for this film exceeded that of the previous SS film by quite a bit. The balance between the militaristic, investigative style and the quintessential tone of Psycho-Pass as a series was beautiful. The story itself was interesting as well as it explored a facet of the Sybil System that hasn't really been touched before. All in all, it was a really solid film, and you get to go back to a familiar time with familiar faces that makes it all the better. On to the final SS film!

After really disliking Case 1, I was expecting Case 2 to be equally bad. But it is actually good. Now, one hour is way too short for a movie, so it still feels a bit rushed and some characters get so little camera time that their appearances feel more like a cameo. But the story is solid. Nothing outlandish, just a plain old revenge tale, but solid indeed. And we get a great deal of character development as this takes place before season 1, so we get a peek at some characters life before that time. It also gives us a look at how the military functionsunder the Sybil system, so we get some nice world-building for the PP universe in the same package. All in all, a 7/10. And it could have been an 8 or even a 9 if it had got some 30-45 extra running time to tell the story at a nicer pace.

In my continuous questions of why cashgrab sequels keep being made, we arrive at another Psycho Pass movie. Perhaps a little introduction on my philosophy about the subject is needed. Continuations have a specific purpose, since they should not only tell what happens next. Your work should feel whole regardless of future events, with no worth in simply showing what happened next, everything and nothing are both valid retorts when thinking about the future in fiction. So when writing a sequel, it is important to expand on why it’s different, maybe on the setting, tone, characters you are following, to generally excuse the differenttime of release. In addition, maybe expand on something, progress an idea, make it seem like you are writing the natural evolution for events. You need to have some god dawn point, behind opening an ended story. Sometimes the result could be a new appreciation, or context on an earlier work, a new light or way to see an experience. This is not an example of anything said earlier. Even if going for more Psycho Pass, just for the curiosity in regards to what happened next, you are going to be disappointed. The movie is a weird prequel, telling the story of our group of officers before Akane Tsunemori joined the gang, mixed with a backstory for one of the more forgettable characters in the franchise, Sugou Teppei. Which finds its biggest achievement on either front, in giving Sugou the minimal emotional investment in his struggles and conflict? The issue of only achieving the bare minimum in terms of characters extends to the entire cast. There is a stark lack of focus, coming with a difficult to find just one narrative to tell. Instead, it opts for several stories, that of one soldier looking for revenge on the nation that allowed him to die (It reminds me of Patlabor 2 in several instances). Alternatively, one about intrigue, corruption in several military factions, and undistinguishable higher ups in the army. And a detective story, a la Psycho Pass norm, focusing on another flawed aspect of the Sybil system (Gee, where have I seen this before). There are not many threads connecting each story. The way it comes together as whole is usually forced, the disjointed parts barely relate, inform or progress one another. Sure, the same characters get tangled and involved in several things, but besides their presence, the connective threads come mostly from convenience. The end result is something that barely seems to have been written as a movie, but more of a blueprint and introduction to future events. The central theme is clear, even if not present on most scenes, this presents a conflict of several characters trying to maintain their sanity, be part of the normal society. In addition, they face a world that forces them to take maddening, self-destructive actions, for the good of that same system. Basically the same question of the first season, with actually less depth and way less dramatized struggles. On a certain way, this movie actually reminded of the original forgettable Psycho Pass Movie, with its setting of guerrilla warfare, corrupt military and shaky dealing of Sybil with the outside world. Yeah other nations were basically hell, and the movie offered more of a simplified justification on why people followed Sybil in the first place, because new places were even worse. Nevertheless, it was still an expansion, giving a better picture of international affairs. The current one does not even have the luxury to amount to such excuse, because it repeats the setting and the same twists about the military. Not all is awful as I am trying to portray. We still did not get the legit awful movie, so it can be elected as the second coming of Psycho Pass 2. Action scenes are serviceable (Ok no they sucked, but they are beautiful some of the time). The highlight may only come from an almost throwaway moment of Masaoka, telling the person he loved the most his life ideals and ambitions. Really, I sure as hell love this scene. Perhaps it is wrong for me to expect fiction more focused on questions, studies of human nature. Give me a sci-fi with strange aliens and technologies, which does not ask how a technology works, but instead how it affects society and life. That is all I need for a great time. In here, we have a somewhat watchable action series, (no longer a detective show because it is somewhat autistic in regards to intentions), which is occasionally fun but gives me no motivation to watch more.

TL;DR - What a letdown... This movie focuses on an enforcer named Teppei Sugou, who used to be a soldier, telling the story how he became an enforcer. The entire movie (except for the first five minutes and last two minutes) is a flashback a few years back, which, in my opinion, is a bad thing by itself because it feels like the first minutes of the movie are a spoiler of the entire thing. Not that the actual story is really noteworthy - An attack on the ministry of defense building resulting in multiple casualties is carried out using a drone who appears to be operatedby an ex-soldier who was declared MIA, presumably dead, in a military operation a few years earlier (yes, a flashback within a flashback, yikes!). The public safety bureau arrives in a military base and questions Sugou as a suspect of being an accomplice but the reluctance of the military personnel to cooperate with the investigation hints that they may be trying to cover something up. Yup, yet another coverup story, been there, done that. Seriously nothing impressive. The link between the movie and the main Psycho-Pass world is very thin, to the point where you could just change the character names and turn it into a standalone movie, but then again, who would watch it? Really too bad, because the first episode of Sinners was quite good. Like I said, what a letdown. Art and sound - Same as the TV anime, nothing surprising here.

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