Anime 40858 Psycho-pass 3 First Inspector Reviews Filter Check 1

Psycho Pass 3: First Inspector is a worthy conclusion to the third season. A lot of loose ends were resolved, although not all, and there was another development for the Sybil System. It isn't perfect and there was a lot more I wanted it to do but the movie focused on its own goals and accomplished them well.

It focuses entirely on the Bifrost organisation attacking the Public Safety Bureau and taking over their headquarters to either kill the governor or forcing her to retire. They break in slightly too easily to be believable in my opinion, but nevertheless, the officers need to find a way ... to protect the governor and to regain control of their buildings systems.

The movie is directed nicely although the third season and this movie both could have been scripted better. The music fits well and the fight choreography is stellar. Realistic movements combined with precise strikes makes for much better entertainment than loading up an energy beam for half an episode.

There were a couple of missed opportunities though. The entire premise could have benefited with Akane being involved in taking down the terrorists. Also, a few characters motivations still aren't clear. Additionally, even after all this time, the new characters have almost no charm.

The story shines in two areas. The first is in contrasting the ideologies of Arata and the antagonist Azusawa. The second is showing how the Sybil System is vulnerable and is ever adapting. Both of these plot points are handled very well in the film and cause the entire series to have a stabilized narrative.

Overall, this movie was a lot better than I anticipated and elevated the third season by completing the narrative in a satisfactory way. Also, a certain character didn't die in the third season and is shown by the end of the movie to still be alive. It was obvious but overall a good decision. There were minor missteps and inconsistencies but these are overshadowed by the films strengths. It also opens up possibilities of another season.

Apparently there was an after credit scene in the theatrical version where Akane tells the inspectors that she will tell them what happened two years ago (the thing that got her imprisoned). This definitely increases the chances of a fourth season.

Score: 8 (would have been a 9 but the it loses a point from association to the third season. Its narrative is a much better stand alone movie than a sequel).

First Inspector is a strong performance for the Psycho Pass series as a whole, not just Season 3. The animation quality might possibly be the series' best yet. However, while the movie wrapped up most plotlines for the season and could easily work as the series' ending, there were quite a few mysteries left unresolved and a few introduced. Though, the main goal here was to wrap up Bifrost cleanly, and it accomplished that well.

First Inspector breaks from normal Psycho-Pass tradition, though, with mixed results. As Director Shiotani noted, the movie gave less focus on the fight scenes. This worked well for Arata and Azusawa ... and flesh out the ideological rivalry between the two characters, making the final culmination of their fight very satisfying. While there were still an abundance of fight scenes, the pace of the story didn't keep you fixated on the fights like before.

The movie was well written and high-octane, though Season 3 could've done a little better in the lead-up.

There are two plotlines the movie excels at, though. The first is the passing of the torch between old Division 1 and new Division 1, which is developed quite nicely, save for Kogami hating Kei for some mysterious reason. Second is the Sibyl System and the gore of the series. Sibyl has become more of a human entity over the course of Season 3, and the cast is not at death's door, so you no longer have to feel guilty when things are going well.

Akane's plotline is still left unresolved but appears to be merely a plot device for Season 3. Kei's defection to the dark side in the Season 3 opening ended up merely being a red herring.

Homura ended up being a good guy as many anticipated, though there's still a lot of mystery to him. Though as he appears to be joining the main cast, he'll be the main source of excitement heading into season 4.

There were a lot of pleasant callbacks to Season 1. Though, Kogami seemed out of character in First Inspector, and perhaps it's signaling he'll be sidelined (living happily with Akane maybe?) for a new flagship character as Psycho-Pass moves forward.

Mostly importantly, though, Ubukata completely reestablished himself as a competent writer, so the series can move on with good standing regardless of whether Ubukata stays on or Urobuchi returns. Unfortunately, it doesn't erase Psycho-Pass 2 from existence.

Damn, it's almost like all the vague parts of the story that confused me in the third season were answered in this film. It's almost like I should've been patient and waited for this to come out. For real, though, this film filled in a lot of blanks that were left in the third season, which has left me very happy.

Before getting into that, though, I wanna talk sound and art. So, with Psycho-Pass, I don't pay attention to the sound that much. However, I did notice during this film that there were quite a few areas that either the music or the sound effects ... were used really well to set the tone or imply intensity in a scene or whatever. The art style is something I've fallen more and more in love with since the day I discovered Psycho-Pass, and this specific film had a lot of brilliant shots in it from the characters to the environmental shots to the action sequences. I will say, as far as the animation goes for this film, I think I picked up on something I didn't pay attention to before which is that the fight scenes in Psycho-Pass simultaneously look badass but also just a bit weird. I think it has to do with the fact that the movement can be a touch choppy and, when characters make impact with each other, the animation seems to slow for a moment. To be honest, I just feel like it's a stylized way to portray fight scenes that's specific to Psycho-Pass, and I don't mind it at all-- actually, I like it-- but it's something to mention. The choreography of the fight scenes is stellar as well, like always. That's a lot on art and sound, I understand, but these things stand out to me, okay?

So, by way of character development for this film (which was actually composed of three episodes, so I'm not sure why MAL doesn't say so?), in some ways it was done really well and in others it felt a bit lacking. There were areas in the third season that suggested things about the characters without ever explaining them, and this film did explain them, backstory and all, which was good. However, I don't feel like enough was said. Of course, that could come down to a plan for the future of Psycho-Pass, but I don't think that potential future plan would've been hindered at all if there was just a touch more development-- mostly for Kei and Arata, but Akane, I feel, should've gotten a bit more attention as well.

Speaking of Akane, I would like to hope for a future season/installment of Psycho-Pass that doesn't ignore Akane's past, and especially her past with Gino, Ko, and the Sybil System? That was one thing I was hoping this film would touch on that it didn't: what the hell happened in between the last time we saw Akane before she went to prison and where the third season starts? That, truly, was the only gripe I had about the story of this film. The rest of it was spot on. It answered the questions it needed to answer, it delivered an interesting twist, and the pacing was done very nicely. Of course, even though most of the third season was wrapped up with this film, it did leave some room for more in the future, so don't expect all the questions to be answered.

So, yeah, I think this film did a good job as a sequel to the third season; in a way, it was able to tie back to the first two seasons, at least partially, and we've got some hope for a future installment. It's just... Psycho-Pass, listen to me. Please stop ignoring the groundwork between Ko and Akane that you meticulously laid down for two full seasons and a movie, okay? Don't delay that branch of the world just because there's new characters now. Please, for the love of everything good about Psycho-Pass, figure out a way to make Ko, Akane, and Gino main characters again while also retaining Arata and Kei. Because, listen. That's the magic formula, alright? You gave us an amazing foundation and then revamped the entire series in a brilliant way. Combine those two things, and come back with a kick-ass installment. I'll be looking forward to it.

Psycho Pass The First Inspector is the conclusion to the 3rd season. With this in mind my review is going to be a mix of the 3rd season as a series and this movie because I see no point of only rating The First Inspector since both are really linked to each other.

First of all I don’t like the fact that they had to make a movie to complete the story of the third season. They could have made 3 episodes more instead of a movie which kinda ruined the feeling of the 3rd season at the end.

The story of this movie was fine. It ... was not special, not outstanding in both ways. It was just enjoyable. The characters from the previous seasons are rather disappointing. But I personally enjoyed the new main characters Arata and Kei. And when you see it as a soft reboot it is not a bad season or should I rather say a new reentry to the franchise. As you have probably watched the 3rd season (otherwise it would be pointless to read this review) you’d have have an own opinion about the characters. In this movie there is little to no character development which is fine since it is just a conclusion.
The sound was really good even with a 5.1 sound system at home (Amazon Prime provides it during the time I write this). I personally like the soundtrack which was good in this movie. I liked the songs for the opening and the endings even though I preferred Ling Tosite Sigure and Egoist to perform I think there was no mistake by choosing Who-ya Extended and Cö Shu Nie (again since it is a soft reboot the both bands are really fitting and good).
The animation was as great as in the 3rd season. The fighting choreographies were good as during the entire 3rd season.

So overall there is not much to say about the movie. If you enjoyed watching season 3 you will probably enjoy watching this movie. It resolves many mysteries and answers many questions but it also leaves possibilities open for a further prequel. I enjoyed the new characters and I’d like to explore the world further with this ending. This ending is rather surprising as I think, not the outcome of the Bifrost storyline but the potential future of some character which I am not going to spoil.

So in my opinion this conclusion is as good as the 3rd season with a rather surprising end. I overall enjoyed watching it. I know many people try to compare it to the first season but for me Psycho Pass 3 (including First Inspector) is a fairly enjoyable sequel or soft reboot, however one should not compare it to season 1. Just look at it as a well made soft reboot.

The short of this is that I feel like episodes 1 and 2 were way too padded out. I feel like a far better edited version of this could exist as a 1 hour and some change film.

Also treat this as a review for all of Season 3. The scores and final opinions put the whole season into consideration. If you want a score for just these last 3 episodes, I'd give it a 6/10.

I think the results of these 3 episodes are pretty great. The series has, in my opinion, totally redeemed itself from the mess that the 2nd season and the movie brought ... upon itself. I'd even go as far to say that the Sinners of the System OVA episodes have contributed to Season 3 being as good as it was.

However, while the end result is great, I'm having trouble with how these final 3 episodes tie in with the 3rd season all together. I'd like to think that we should think of Season 3 being all of the 8 episodes that aired with these 3 additional OVA episodes being a part of it. Whether or not that is the case, the 1st and 2nd episode in this OVA are, in my opinion, quite boring and are a huge slog. It's all just fighting fan service. As I stated in my opening paragraph, this should have just been a film with the majority of the 1st and 2nd episode being trimmed down. I say that because episode 3 has sooooooooo many meaty details that in the end get trimmed down quite a bit. All of the scenes leading up and consisting of the brain room should have been expanded upon. That whole episode should have been that internal and external struggle; not cuts between fight scenes and what not.

Because of all this, I'm having trouble painting this whole 3 episode finale in a super good light. The final episode is definitely the standout bit of content especially the final minutes. However the rest of the content is very meh. As a whole, all of Season 3 including these final 3 episodes are, all in all, a very good package of content. A solid 8 out of 10. Just try to consume it all in one go and don't let the special 3 OVA episode treatment give you any idea of something special.

Enjoyment: 7/10

Overall: 7.8/10

By this point in the Psycho Pass series it's a different feel. You don't get the masterful story telling and moral dilemma of Season 1. You get a better total story if you combine Season 3 with the First Inspector movie compared to Season 2.

Season 3 Psycho Pass is more of the cat and mouse game type of story with a lot of different characters doing different things to advance the story. The reason for mixed reviews is that it doesn't have that masterpiece plot that Season 1 had. It is also difficult to match arguably one of the greatest villains in anime history ... with the villains in the later Seasons. So they went for action and detective work.

I like Season 3 because this is what I always imagined what Season 2 would be. I actually liked Season 2 until they jammed everything into the messy ending. The artwork is amazing as usual. Characters from Seasons 1 and 2 have supporting roles and cameos. The end of Season 3 allows for a possible Season 4.

I started watching this series without much expectation as I was not entirely impressed with the S2 and S3. Coming from someone that has watched all Psycho-Pass episodes and series, I felt that they wrapped any loose ends pretty nicely as most things were laid to bare for conclusion. We also came to understanding about the foundation of Bifrost and its relation to Sibyl system. Basically, everything ties back down to Sibyl system, one way or another.

About the soundtrack, I still find that their usage was well-done in season 1 as compared to their recent sequels. This is because I felt that the recent ones ... are quite jarring to the mood of situation, especially the Psycho-Pass main theme that was always cut short during the fight scene. The use of CGI was not as fluid than the ones in Sinners of System. I wish that there are more character development and background extension for the characters shown, especially the enforcers and MOFA. In my opinion, S3 did not suffice in fleshing out all the characters' traits so I thought there will be more to them for this sequel.

Overall, I am surprised myself that the sequel for S3 has exceeded my expectations. If you felt unsatisfied after the ending of S3, then you are highly recommended to watch this sequel as it would wrap up most of the loose ends.

It was all dead silence for what seemed like forever, and then, suddenly, in the last 2 years, a surge in the Psycho-Pass fan service has been rising, 3 movies, a full-on the season, and now a sequel movie, one came after the other, it seemed like the treat the fandom wanted for forever. A moment of silence for those brethren that were big on the franchise, but didn't live long enough to witness its return.

- Story (8.6/10):
The third season was long, it was different, and very complex when it started, and very little was clear up by the time it ended, leaving us on ... a massive blood rushing cliffhanger, something making me question why this one was a standalone release, it can easily stand out as episodes 9, 10, and 11, and seeing how each episode is a massive 40 minutes screening, it can allude to a total of 22 normal episodes, taking after the first season.

These 3 episodes or 2 hours movie (depending on how you saw it) do clear up all of most of the confusion left from the third season, it focuses on the infiltration of the Nona tower, an intense fast-paced tactical epic that had everyone we knew on the tip of their toes running against the clock.

The plot really shows that there is more to the Sybil system than we thought we knew, it expanded the lore more and dropped gazes at possible plot points that can be exploited for more stories to come.

The movie ends up on a peaceful open-ended note, a satisfying conclusion to everything from season 2, and that's a lot seeing how many releases we got, it tied up a lot of loose ends for once and for all, but also set up to a possible continuation that we hopefully get shortly.

- Art (9/10):
Fantastic, this series is one of the rare ones that get the treatment it deserves and more. Everything falls in at a normal perspective, aside from the minimal CGI that slips, everything is blent just perfectly.
The fight scenes are given the proper time and effort, some of them even look like they've been rotoscoped. Definitely a product of a massive budget and a talented team of animators.

- Sound (9/10):
I was mesmerized, even more than the prequel third season.
I would have been super fine if they reused the same opening song from the previous season, but man, I was both surprised and amazed at how good the new one is, I mean, I enjoyed all of the OPs that came from this project, but I never put anyone close to the first OP, but now, they are on equal footing if it weren't for the nostalgia that surrounds the first one. “Synthetic Sympathy” by “wyxt.”, google it, it's mesmerizing. Probably the only opening that comes close to the vibes of the first season.

The ending theme song had some great emotions as well, very calming, and also saddening.

The voice acting was superb as always, the Seiyuus clearly love and enjoy what they are doing, every character feels like a genuine living being if its role. Ginoza and Kougami, of course, are present, and so is their charming voice, Arata too had some great performances especially at his big moment in the end.

- Character (8.2/10):
Plot-wise, Kei and Arata, no, their whole unite was the star of the third season and this one, but deep inside, we all know the OG team from season 1 was and is always the protagonist, their presence was very hard felt during both entries. It's very well directed too seeing how they didn't halt or overtake the progress of the new team, we do see them involved yes, but Arata and Kei did also have their shining moments, they contributed to the plot and gained somewhat of a following from the fans.

- Enjoyment (9/10):
The third season while good, always felt like it lacked something import, the secret ingredient that makes Psycho-Pass what it was, we all thought, and for the longest time it was Kougami and folks, but hey, we did have them, even for a brief time before, but now, this violent action-driven arc made it clear, it was always the lore and the focus on the Sybil system, pulling on the threads and seeing the conflict rise up. It really gave literally everyone presents an opportunity to do something, even Shinon had a great moment with her character arc after so long. Definitely a promising comeback for the series.

- Overall (8.76/10):
If you have already made it through the third season, I don't see what's stopping you, this is a canon continuation and it clears up all the foggy mess that the previous season left unclear, if fact, I would encourage people to watch the third season just so they can experience this greatness.

This review is a bit shorter since most of my thoughts are already in my Psycho-Pass 3 review. First Inspector is mainly about wrapping up the story and driving its point home, and I argue it did its job pretty well. That's not to say there aren't some detractors; I've been seeing a lot of fours in the list of reviews and I think that's rather harsh, especially if they're from people who are fans of Psycho-Pass. To be clear, I didn't read any of those reviews, hence the "if" in the last sentence.

Are some characters lacking or even devoid of personality? Most definitely, and ... that is by far Psycho-Pass 3's greatest issue. One character in particular does a complete... okay, not a 180, more like a 120, but it was still a plot development that needed more buildup. It would have been cool if that character had a whole episode (or half, since these are 45 minutes each) to really iron out all the mystery elements from that person's perspective and get a more firmly developed grasp on their motivations and ideology. We still somewhat know this person, but I feel that more could have been done.

That said, the loose ends of the mystery are tied up and mostly explained, something for which I am quite glad. We find out the truths of the man in the mask, Bifrost, Koichi Azusawa, and Shizuka Homura, all of which are welcome. Do we get any mention of Kei's brother's fate? Yeah... the two times, and it's never brought up again, let alone properly answered. That was rather disappointing, but disappointment alone does not a four out of ten rating make. I want reviewers to remember that.

While the plot does mostly wrap things up nicely, I will acknowledge that it takes some 20 minutes to really get going. When your main lead is literally sleeping under his desk at work wearing a goofy sleeping mask while his colleagues are being pursued, captured, and/or killed, that's kind of a problem. However, this leads me to one of the strongest aspects of this show: the setting. This story takes place almost entirely within the confines of the Public Safety Bureau's headquarters, giving a feeling more distinct from other Psycho-Pass franchise entries and closer to the films "Dredd", "Die Hard", or "The Raid: Redemption", all of which I highly recommend. "Claustrophobic" is not really the term that best describes the feeling, for neither this film nor those other ones; I think "controlled" is more apt. Furthermore, while certain areas (especially the hallway leading to the server room) have familiar elements to them and are reused, the locations never felt stale to me. Props should be given to the directing and background design for keeping the locations varied and fresh while still maintaining a careful sense of geographic location for all the characters, especially once they really start to move around inside the building.

I do, however, believe that some characters are given remarkably little to do. Most have some moments to shine (e.g. Shion, Shimotsuki, and Todoroki to name most of them), but others (Sugou, Irie, and Kisaragi) are rather underutilized. Kisaragi in particular feels left out; she isn't heavily involved in any action scenes save for one (and all she does is throw a few grenades) and seems to be more of a spectator. When you factor in her history with the main villain, it's downright idiotic that she has so little to do with the plot. There's nobody to blame but the creative team for that.

Moving on, voice acting, music, and sound design are all on par with their predecessor. I will say, though, that the music is not nearly as good as in season 1; the tracks themselves are fun to listen to, but how the music is used to showcase/accentuate conflict and/or character traits is far less interesting outside of a few key moments. Even so, it was nice to hear "Dominator", "Latent Criminal", and "PSYCHO-PASS Symphony" again in addition to the newer tracks (sorry; I don't know their names).

Visually, this work looks great. Shading gradients are prevalent, I didn't notice anyone go off-model, animation is sometimes rather limited but mostly fluid, characters are drawn at often difficult-to-draw angles, and (of course) Mika Shimotsuki's expressions never fail to impress :D. Characters aren't quite as emotive as earlier on in Psycho-Pass 3, but Shion's little thumbs-up and wink was adorable and the great voice acting carries the rest. None of the action scenes look like the franchise's very best, but they are still a definite step above most of what Japanese animation has been offering as of late. There's still the chance that Production I.G. will be able to keep themselves afloat given the current animation industry crisis Japan has been suffering, especially in the wake of China's recent outsourcing to Japanese animators. That said, I will reserve my hope for that outcome until I know that Production I.G. treats their animators well and pays them more than a meager 20K in U.S. dollars annually (China is able to sustain nearly 60K, for those who are curious). [Source: "Nikkei Editorial Predicts Gloomy Times Ahead for Japanese Anime Industry as China Puts Focus on Domestic Animation" on AnimeNewsNetwork]

Overall, Psycho-Pass 3 is something of a mixed bag, but still a definite positive in my book (especially after Id:Invaded was a bit of a letdown). It lacks quite a bit of the thematic richness of the first season (although it does retain some) and arguably has more characters than it can reasonably juggle. That said, it's an entertaining mystery that's welcome to both fans of the franchise and Production I.G.'s sci-fi style, and seeing as I fit into both categories, I had a lot of fun with it and would definitely watch more. Some improvements that I think could be made would be to slowly phase the more established characters like Kogami and Ginoza out of the television works and give them their own standalone movies (think Sinners of the System) so that the characters who still have a lot of room to grow can have the time allowed by a TV series to do so.

I can't in good conscience say I was particularly impressed with Psycho-Pass 3, but it was most definitely more than just slightly above the mediocre average I have unfortunately accepted from Japanese anime. For that, and for all the creators' hard work, thank you. If you make more Psycho-Pass, I will be there to at least try it, if not watch it.

Happy watching!
- LC

TL;DR - This movie is basically the final episode of the third season, so if you've watched it then watch the movie too to see how it concludes. If you haven't watched the third season you really need to watch it first, otherwise you wouldn't understand anything.
The movie follows Bifrost's final scheme. While govt. Karina Komiya is in the public safety bureau building, the entire building locks-up, all doors, both internal and external, are locked, all means of communications are shut-down and several people are taken hostage. It seems that Bifrost are going after Komiya's head. With surrender not being an option, the teams must ... find a way to take back control over the building and find Bifrost's first inspector, Kouichi Azusawa, who appears to run the scheme as though it were a game.
I'm giving this movie a slightly higher score than the third season since it's a step up and climax, and also since it finally explains some of the mysteries of the third season. It's also a good thing that no new characters are unnecessarily introduced and that some veteran characters are given more screen time, namely Mika Shimotsuki and to some extent Shinya Kougami.
Comparing to the previous movies (the first and the 3 "Sinners of the Case" movies) this is by far the best one, but it still not as good as the first season (at this point I'm not sure whether any future season or movie will).
Art it same as always. Sound gets a perfect 10 for good use of 5.1 surround.