“You know how wrong the current society is.”
Summary
The side story of MWPSB member Kunizuka Yayoi is revealed – as a former authorized musician, she was a latent criminal undergoing rehab at one of the city’s monitored facilities under Sibyl’s control. Gino and Shinya turn up one day to offer her a position as an Enforcer, and to aid her in making that decision, later decide to enlist her help in a case to source out a resistance movement.
Impression
“Good morning. It’s time to get up. Now, to all the latent criminals…be sure to work on purifying your Hue!”
Psycho-Pass is back! After two, long weeks in which the show went on hiatus, we’re finally kicking off with the second half of the series, in which (if previous shows by Urobuchi Gen can be made examples of) deaths will possibly start occurring, in gruesome, depressing ways. After all, it’s second cour was where all of Fate/Zero’s deaths happened, bar Assassin’s at the hands of Rider. And no-one cared about Assassin.
But I digress – this episode focused on one of the MWPSB side characters who we never really got to know before, Kunizuka Yayoi. Being dressed in a business suit and acting in a very professional fashion, I was always unsure as to whether she was a latent criminal or an Inspector, and tonight I got my answer. Being formerly part of an idol band, it’s clear that she’s very passionate for music, and is performing for its own sake – because she loves doing it. We never really did get a clear cut reason why she descended into latent criminal status, but I think I’m safe in saying that her Hue clouded during an incident surrounding one of her performances. For a latent criminal, she’s actually pretty mentally stable – unlike others in that facility (who were slamming their heads on the wall and whatnot) she was very calm and composed, until one of the drones revealed yet another ban on purchasing the guitar strings she wanted so much, which resulted in her hue clouding into dark yellow. It’s pretty extreme having sleeping gas immediately fill the room, and for people to be deprived of the simple things they enjoy in life even in such a confined area does make Shinya’s words ring true – no-one returns to society normally after being locked up in that place. Some break down and lose it, while others have worsened Hues and get executed. Even if you adapt and are eventually released, you’ll be a shell of what you formerly were. Exactly how many people successfully go through rehab and return to society in that kind of totalitarian regime?
“Are you gonna shoot me?! Go right ahead! You’re a damn blind fascist who kills people when Sibyl tells you to!”
Or, of course, as Shinya says, you can join the side doing the taking. I’m glad even the MWPSB are clear that things are unfair, oppressive and that there is a clear side that emerges as the victor. Psycho-Pass seems to be moving past the gore and focusing instead on the dystopian elements of their society, and the true enemy faced to the masses even beyond Makishima – the Sibyl System itself. The citizens (like that guy who got his guts blown up) are all aware that their life isn’t exactly peachy, and even things like music are segregated by Sibyl. Only “authorized” bands are allowed to make music – and let’s face it, “authorized” is defined as the type of music that is least radical, and least likely to cause some sort of mass rally that unites the population, as that would create the danger of overthrowing the system. The MWPSB and the Dominators serve as the eyes of Sibyl, killing people who pose that threat when Sibyl tells them to. Maybe it might have looked like a decent system to begin with, but when you hear from Rina that politicians are even chosen by Sibyl (while in our society, they’re the ones fucking things up) there’s something very, very wrong, and the citizens know it. Hell, I laughed when Rina revealed that Sibyl has named the system a democracy. Sibyl allocates and divides the power, and it’s those who receive it that win.
It wasn’t surprising that Rina managed to walk away free, even when Yayoi pulled the trigger and the Dominator refused to fire for her – but to be honest, with a back story like that fully revealed, this whole episode served as one huge death flag for Yayoi in the very near future. Give it a few weeks, and there’ll be an incident in which Urobuchi finally decides to start killing off some of the MWPSB cast, in horrific and violent ways. Finally, a new OP by Nothing’s Carved in Stone (who did Zetsuen no Tempest’s first OP) was featured, as well as another Egoist track for the ED. Neither of them felt as stunning as the first OP/ED, though maybe they’ll grow on me in later episodes. No Akane either – and I’m interested in seeing her current mentality, and how she’s handling the whole ordeal of Yuki’s death.
It seems like the MWSPSB is pretty ill equipped to take down who they’re going up against this time, because they always have to watch out for the system that might judge them as part of the problem as well.