#Kougami (mention)

[pieromachine]

Money or not, they can have their vacations anywhere.

[dragonsrainbows]

This here is the true joy of being in the PsychoPass fandom!

PP Providence knew what they were doing

So, you are gonna tell me that in this movie, we observe 3 instances of folks straddling one another in some way, shape, or form and there is nothing symbolic or telling there?

Akira and Prof. Stronskaya in the begining scene

Akane and Kogami in THAT scene

Gino and Frederica for that awesome close call scene

Each had tense situations surounding them that calls for different positions/demeanors/reactions. That is very true. However ( my shipping goggles are absolutely on), I can't help but notice the intimacy they drew between Akane/Ko. Obviously, Akira is not gonna be getting too close and personal with someone like Stronskaya so his positioning/demeanor/reaction all check out in the scene. He needs to explain the gravity of the situation to her, knowing full well what will need to happen.

Then we have Gino and Frederica's straddle. Gino grabs a hold of Frederica while falling debris rains down from above, and these are NOT small chunks either. They could easily be crushed and killed in this situation, a fate that almost befalls poor Frederica ( Thanks Gino, the Akane/Ko cheer squad must maintain our ranks!). Again, the positioning checks out, this moment is tense with a lot of unpredictible factors at play. I can't imagine anyone wanting to hunker down and remain that way during all that chaos. The demeanor and reactions between the two also check out. Shocked at narrowly avoiding death, they pause for a very brief moment before scrambling to their feet and hightailing it out of there. A lovely scene all around.

Then...THEN we have these two. Akane and Kogami. Setting the scene here, they are on whatever ungodly high level of this building and are currently crossing over on a sky bridge. Ko catches wind of the planted bombs and barks out a warning to everyone. They all scramble away and Ko (instinctively) flings himself on top of Akane to shield her from the oncoming blast. PAUSE.

I noticed a few things in this scene that I appreciate. We are treated to the moments directly before AND after the detonation of explosives, and that is critical to reading the tension between these two in this moment. On instinct, Ko flings himself at Akane and brings her to the ground. I'd like to take a moment to point out the cradle Ko placed Akane in as they fell, such a wonderful touch to show the depth of his protective instinct and CARE for Akane's wellbeing. It's super sweet. But what I mainly focus on in this scene is how they land. Ko's face is buried in Akane's arm, the same arm that is actually coming up to grasp around his shoulder, and Akane finds herself pressed up against Ko's collarbone/neck area ( a sensitive/vulnerable place, don't you think? More on that later...).

If you look carefully at Ko's positioning as he is JUST upon Akane, you can see the placement of his legs. They indicate that Ko would be landing squarely between Akane's legs for a full, classic lover's straddle in their brief tumble. From our angle, we can clearly see Akane's leg hitched up to the side and her armed splayed with the dominator still facing the threat she was unware of. I appreciate this little touch as well because it tells us that Akane has not quite caught up to the implications of what the danger is or where it is even coming from and so, her weapon remains drawn and pointed behind them. So in one smooth motion, we have Ko planted in between Akane's legs, partially interlocked via arm/shoulder, Ko has his face buried in Akane's sleeve and Akane herself has her head near his shoulder/collarbone neck area. Not quite a lover's embrace but gdi, close enough.

The explosives detonate immediately after this and we are given a bird's eye view of the explosion that takes place. I'd like to think this also serves as a reminder to the audience of the dangers they are currently facing. While crossing a sky bridge, explosives are detonated and anyone in this situation would be plenty concerned about the structural integrity of the structure floating so many stories in the air. Despite this, we cut back to the scene inside and quite a few things have changed. Akane has tucked her hand between their bodies (presumably with the dominator...kinda awk but who am I to kink shame? lolololol) and Ko has both shifted to cover her legs with his own and also brought his body high above hers to shield her completely.

The positioning has changed quite drastically, so what sparked such a shuffle? The hint is in the smudge/bruising on Akane's cheek when we see Ko shifting his body slightly away from Akane's to check on her after the initial blast. My HC is that while Ko may have acted with good intentions, the same instinct he relies so heavily on during his missions can be both a boone and a curse. On instinct, in the first PP Movie, he flung Akane quite roughly to the ground before shielding her, but now? Ko finds himself nestled between her legs, cradling her close. That's quite a drastic shift, all things considered. Enough of a drastic shift, I'd bet that just for a moment, a VERY brief moment, Ko forgot about where he was and what they were supposed to be doing. That Ko was surround in the essence of Akane and temporarily short circuited. It was brief, but long enough for a few things to happen.

That explosion generated pretty high temperatures within the blast radius and, feeling the shock of that blast and the heat produced, Akane most likely responded instinctively in kind. The most natural way I would assume that could happen is for Akane to shrink in on herself, or in this case on the barrier currently blocking most of the blast. That would be Ko. Her movements would have snapped Ko back into reality when he realized Akane was not as secure as he intended/hoped. Ko would have felt Akane's legs tighten around him, her body tense and shrink further into him and realized his error, thus causing him to shift their positions as the dust cleared.

When things finally do settle, Ko has Akane fully covered and protected with his neck fully bared to her (beautiful and symbolic). Kogami pulls away SLIGHTLY and simply LOOKS at Akane. He's checking her over for injury of course but in that brief silence, Kogami can not look into Akane's eyes. To me, he almost looks as if he is ashamed of something. His break in concentration maybe? Her resulting injury (IF it was bruising, honestly, I thought it was just smudging from the blast)? The weight of the last conversation they had hangs between them in this scene as well and the tension is just- *chef's kiss*

Ko shifts AGAIN, not completely lifting himself from on top of Akane, but instead lifting his torso a bit higher off of hers. Far enough for Akane to turn and face him full on. Ko finally looks at her but all he can really muster out is a "It's dangerous here, let's head back" or something of that nature. It is also my HC that this statement was not for Akane. It was for Ko himself. A reminder of the situation they are currently in. He even shifts his eyes away shortly after uttering those words to check in on their companions before Akane is finished responding. I saw someone say that Ko was a bit dumb for stating the obvious here but I think it was more of a grounding statement for Ko himself and had less to do with informing Akane some new tactic or approach. The scene cuts there, and obviously, Ko got up eventually but SHEEEEESH boi...took you like...5 infinities to do so. I aint mad at ya LMAO

Anyways, thanks for coming to my Psycho Talk

Oh and what do you guys think the mark on Akane's cheek was? My money is still on it being smudging from the explosive and not actual bruising. ( We saw bruising later for Akane with her cheek and to me it seemed darker and had more contrast with her skin but IDK)

[lemonadecandy103]

Psycho Pass Providence — The Re-introduction of Kougami Shinya

Still working on a general review on Psycho Pass: Providence and also a Shinkane/KouAka post. But I had so many thoughts on Kougami after watching the movie twice that I had to document them while they were still fresh. This is a follow-up to a post I made about Kougami prior to watching PPP: some of my impressions did change while others stayed the same. It’s a lot so keep reading if you’re interested in what I thought about Kougami’s character in Providence. WARNING: Spoilers!!!

I’ll begin with the scene in Dejima where Kougami and Saiga are drinking together. There’s one particular line that I felt could’ve been made smoother: Saiga says “the girl is neither a saint nor a bodhisattva, screw around too much and you’ll end up getting enforced. Apologize while you still have the chance Kougami. Take it from an old timer like me.” and he raises his glass with a smile. I watched both the subbed and the dubbed version and the line is very similar across both. I can’t help but think that line could’ve been improved slightly. Maybe it flows more naturally in Japanese so I can’t speak on that matter. But if I had the liberty of tweaking it even just a little, it would go as follows: “the girl in neither a saint nor a bodhisattva, screw around too much and you’ll end up losing her forever.”

And I don’t mean to necessarily press for him losing her as a love interest, but even just a trusted friend or at least a colleague who always had his best interest in mind.

Ultimately, not exploring the more emotional (and by extension—the romantic) aspects of Kougami’s character was a missed opportunity for Providence in my opinion. He’s the second main character in this installment and we got very little inward reflection from him this time around. The last 15 or so minutes of the film is what really impressed me with respect to his character. Seeing him exit the isolation facility, looking back, and then looking ahead, declaring “I swear, I’ll come back for you,”  with such ardor reminded me that he’s still a hero in this story, however unconventional he may be.

It was clear that Akane and Kougami’s relationship had to change in this installment. After 6 long years, they are both different people now and cannot go back to the same relationship dynamics as in Season 1. More on that in a different post. Consequently, the portrayal of these individual characters had to evolve in order to match this change. Initially, when I watched the promotional clips, I was put off by his bluntness—especially towards Akane. But there were instances where we saw the caring Kougami seep through. He smiles once in the film. And this is when Saiga tells him: “I don’t work with the PSB, I work with Akane Tsunemori.”  I don’t know if he smiles because he still finds it funny that Saiga is cooperating with the government or if he smiles at the mention of Akane’s name or even some matter of pride at how much Akane is respected by Professor Saiga. Either way, it was nice to see this moment.

The other less noticeable moments from Kougami were two times when he showed what I can interpret as a combination of grief and frustration. From my observations, his eyes were animated to have this glistening/“quivering” motion, similar to this gif, minus the actual tears — there were no tears in Kougami’s case:

It’s very subtle but please let me know if anyone else also noticed this. The first time his eyes did this was when after Saiga died and he called Shion to consult Saiga’s psychological profile of Tonami along wirh Akira’s poem. Shion mentions how horrible it was — what happened to the professor. Kougami pauses and adds “Yeah”  but the tone is almost as if he had to force it out of himself. I couldn’t help but feel like he was holding it together for the investigation, but deep down was grieving the loss of his dear professor. After all, he told Akane to keep it bottled up until the end of the case. The second time I saw this effect of his eyes was while he was reading Akane’s letter in his isolation cell. He gets to the part where she writes about being glad to have seen him again and that he helped her find the answer. He calls her a bakayaro, and his hands grab the letter so fiercely that it kind-of crumples while he throws his whole body into a defeated hunch — since he’s stuck in his cell and can’t even do anything to stop her.

I had read some early accounts by Japanese viewers that he was crying while reading her letter: this effect in the eyes may have been what was mistaken as crying.

Although it was nice to see Kougami go through these moments in PPP, I can’t help but feel like there could have been more. However, Providence is a very dense film and I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt that with all the action sequences, Akane’s iconic scenes, and the supporting cast all getting their own memorable segments, Kougami’s development just wasn’t a priority. If Shiotani, Fukami, and Ubukata intend to make an SAD spin-off as they’ve expressed in interviews, I would hope that they explore possible romantic or other intimate human feelings on Kougami’s part — similar to how he learned to be a father figure to Tenzing. In fact, I would argue that after Providence, it’s likely that they’ve backed themselves into a corner with regards to Kougami’s interpersonal relationships. The tension between Kougami and Akane was essentially the secondary conflict of the film and it ended with some resolution midway but also a shift in Kougami’s disposition once he read Akane’s letter, realizing the impact he had on her life. If there’s further content on Kougami as a person, we almost certainly need to at least confront his relationship with Akane and even Ginoza (was somewhat addressed on the boat scene and we see them on good terms in Season 3/PPFI). The other route is just watching a 007-Misson Impossible Kougami getting into knife fights and performing crazy stunts, but I think the PP fandom in general agrees that this option would be dull and a waste of a character who had such an artful inception. Now I know that PP wants to go for a more shōnen look and are cautious of depicting romance between the main characters. It was pretty obvious with Arata being introduced as the new main character and the fact that Yuki Kaji was brought on board to voice him (he’s done fantastic work on many popular shōnen characters including Eren Jaeger). But, showing how love could affect Kougami and how him giving love could present new angles of his character would undoubtedly be exciting to see. We know he wants to protect people. We know that he’s decided to work outside of the law in order to do that. He’s made peace with his revenge and he’s learned that he wants to protect people without any reserve or obligation. Saiga warned him about potentially becoming a killing machine like Tonami if he keeps letting people use him as a hunting dog, and he agreed that he doesn’t want that. I expect that he could follow the same thought process as Ginoza did in SS Case 1 where he ultimately just wants to help people with his detective work, without much care for who’s judged to be good or evil. On this note, it would be beneficial for Kougami to understand his heart a bit more. Maybe visit his mother too? Maybe actually value his own life instead of running into a fight like he has nothing to lose? He’d already prepared Akane for his death way back between S1 and S2. Would he fight differently if Akane were expecting him to come back home alive?

Hope you enjoyed reading my thoughts on Kougami’s character. Still love our chaotic spikey-haired gun-slinging emo cowboy. And I’m looking forward to what the creators might do with his character next.

[tact-and-impulse]

Shinkane Week 2024 Day 1

@shinkaneweek, thanks for giving the perfect prompts for this superhero/vigilante AU occupying my work-exhausted brain 😛

Day 1: Urban

From the other side of the door, Akane could sense his presence. She entered anyway, the cool air of her apartment washing over her face. She maintained the impeccable holo overlaying her crimson bodysuit, but dropped the half mask.

His pointed mask was also absent, the laceration on his cheek was encircled by a deepening bruise. The dark armor-like quality of his costume was at least intact, better than before. He gave a strange smile. “Lady Justice.”

“Please, don’t. Kougami-san, what happened?” She turned away, retrieving her medical kit. If she were a telekinetic, it’d be much easier to summon, especially with how often they met like this.

“A scuffle for information.” He winced when she pressed the antiseptic wipe to his skin.

“And did you find what you needed?” She immediately regretted the sharpness in her voice. It had been a lengthy day, with additional meetings and public events that Sybil’s favored leader of elite psionics could not avoid. And it was always complicated with Kougami; she knew her own mind would be an emotional storm to any other telepath.

“Akira’s gone missing.”

She froze. “Kei’s older brother?” The Russian born brothers had the same familial ability of psychic shields, but while Kei was one of her new Bureau colleagues, Akira walked the vigilante path, just like Kougami had decided six years ago.

He nodded, grimacing now. “No trace at all, not even a scrap of fabric I could use for detection.”

“Was he still following the new lead?” She asked carefully. Technically, she shouldn’t have been aware of his group’s extrajudicial pursuit of the Peacebreakers. However, they were past the point of secrets between them.

“Yeah, he was. The rest of us split to cover more ground, but I ran into two of the targets. They got away, but they mentioned someone called the General. Have you heard of them before?”

“Never. Then again, the last knowledge of the Peacebreakers on my end was from Tibet, and in a report. I’ve been solely occupied with domestic affairs for a while.”

A flicker of understanding crossed his expression, and then, his callused fingers caught her chin. “When was your last break?”

Akane swallowed hard, her memory failing at his touch. She was glad his psychometry didn’t extend to people, or his mind would be flooded with the reminiscence of a small humid room in Shambala.

The sounds occurred simultaneously. The trill of her wrist alert, and the vibration of his alarm. A nearby disturbance, so they’d be working together for the moment. Now, the storm cleared to excitement.

“It’ll have to wait. Let’s go.” She hastily said, stepping to her balcony. She noticed the lock was intact and frowned as she prepared the flight mode on her boots. The evening wind carried her words. “Isn’t this where you came from?”

“No.” He had the gall to smirk and tossed a shocking statement before he rappelled off the ledge. “I still have the spare key you gave me last time.”

***

They perched on the roof of the invaded high-rise building. From the street surveillance footage, the trio of disrupters were climbing the floors with clear intent. As Kougami secured his grappling hook, he casually inquired. “Fifteen minutes until the Dominators arrive?”

“Ten. We can use delivery drones now.”

“Now, I’m the one with outdated info.” He meant it as a joke, but she still felt the sore twinge of his departure. “In the meantime, I’ll go first.”

Akane opened the telepathic bond between them. They had done this so often, that sharing their thoughts wasn’t overwhelming at all. Be careful.

Same to you. With the hiss of the tensile wire unraveling, he leapt to break in.

She counted the seconds before taking a deep breath and slowly descended into the bright city. Flashing news banners, advertisements for mental care, the small red sirens drawing closer. The people, bustling and conducting their peaceful lives. And despite everything she’d experienced since she first joined the Bureau, her resolve to protect them had never faltered.

Lady Justice soared into a combat scene.

Smoke obscured the floor, one person knocked unconscious. Kougami was trading brutal, efficient blows with a muscular man; the other one, struggling to get up from a broken table, unsheathed a dagger. Akane started with a psychic tap, a self-defensive maneuver that was typically enough to bring a person to the ground. However, he seemed unaffected, mechanically standing and raising his arm. Left without recourse, she broke the wall and peered in his thoughts.

Pure static.

She reeled back and shot a message to Kougami. They’re brainwashed.

Her usual methods of telepathic communication and persuasion would not work. Unless she found the higher psionic in control, she was stuck until the Dominator arrived to measure Crime Coefficient. She pushed the limits of her telepathic range, but her strength was in intensity, not distance.

Explains their complete silence. He whirled, the dagger wielder sinking his blade into his comrade’s shoulder. He cracked their heads together, the sound nauseating, and Akane glimpsed blood pouring down their faces as they went down.

Abruptly, she received comms from Karanomori and Hinakawa. The drone was on its way, and Arata was the closest, but was she alright? She refrained from mentioning Kougami, though she could sense his amusement through the bond. He picked up the dagger with a gloved hand and paused.

Akane!

She startled, but he was already grabbing her waist and sprinting to their entry point. They plummeted, the urban lights blurring, before the explosion blew out the glass walls. Her boots activated, operating at full power to carry them through the air. Her arms tightened around him, her face flush against his mask.

When they landed in an empty alleyway, they disentangled and she put on a brave face. “That was close. Thank you.”

He cleared his throat, his gaze singularly on her eyes. “You don’t need to thank me. As many times as you need me, I’ll be there.”

Flustered, her gaze fell to the dagger, secured in his belt. “Does that belong to Akira?”

“It seems familiar, but I’ll examine it. Later.” He amended, with the sound of approaching sirens. The Bureau would arrive in minutes, and he retreated into the darkness, Lone Wolf once more.

“Yes.” She reluctantly shuffled backwards, her heart aching. “I’ll catch you next time.”

A short laugh escaped him, as his grappling hook clicked in an overhead spot, and his voice faded. “Looking forward to it.”

Akane straightened, walking to the illuminated street. They’d chosen different methods, but as long as they both desired to protect this city, they’d meet again.

[cina-full-moon-xanadium]

ever since it was mentioned to me yesterday that this guy's actor is Kougami in OOO it's killing me every time to look at him

[brilliant-red-eternity]

How do we feel about the handcuffs in Psycho-Pass Providence, Shinkane fans?

Shouldn’t we celebrate that director Shiotani confirmed the handcuffs in a radio interview with Anime Stellar? Kogami and Akane’s left hands are indeed handcuffed in that bridal carry scene in Providence, even if the audience does not immediately notice it! I didn’t listen to Shiotani’s interview myself but I read some comments from Japanese fans. Kogami kills Tonami in front of Akane, that’s why he voluntarily surrenders and lets her arrest him. It is said that he’s finally ready to be judged for his crimes – that is, not by Sibyl but by Akane. I’m screaming!

I wish they had made this detail more obvious in the movie. The arrest seems to be important for the story because it explains why Kogami ends up in the isolation facility. Why not show us a small scene in which a feeble but law-abiding Akane says “you’re under arrest, Kougami-san” and then he helps her to cuff his wrist replying “even so, I believe in you who strives for righteousness”?

If you think about it further, it may also explain why Akane kills chief Kasei and writes in her letter to Kogami that she found the answer thanks to him. Is it because HE would not be fairly judged without the law? That HE has been the real precedent, for years? Am I right, director Shiotani?

But why is Kogami released from the isolation facility after Akane’s incident? I thought his crime coefficient was just below 300? Was he judged by Sibyl or was his case reviewed by a judicial body? Did Akane negotiate? Well, who would have thought that the simple mention of “handcuffs” would raise so many questions?

Kei and Maiko exchange rings in PPP, but Akane and Ko exchange handcuffs. Interesting parallels indeed!

[vermillion71401]

MY REVIEW ON PSYCHO PASS PROVIDENCE

Disclaimer: I’ve been Psycho Pass fans since (roughly) 9 years ago. I’ve never want to write any reviews on the series until now because I NEED THIS TO GET OUT OFF MY HEAD, and there’s some things I don’t understand. Still, I’m just a fan, this review is based on my opinion only. After I finish this so called essay, I found more question than answer, so if you don’t want extra headache, don’t read it. Also if you’re not Kouaka shipper, pass it, you’ll find me annoying.

Apologize beforehand if there’s any typo or any missed info. I hope you understand my write (English isn’t my first language, so I struggled a lot.)

This post consist on four part; review, my opinion on character, relationship, and my irregular thoughts throughout scene.

BEWARE OF THE SPOILERS.

..

STORY, CHARACTER

PPP occur after Kougami’s return to Japan. Shorty after, Peacebreaker make their way to steal Stronskaya Paper for their gain, terrorize everyone that blocked their plan. Akane can’t stay still after witnessing horrible acts of this group and their leader, determine to arrest them along with division 1 and SAD team.

Overall story is pretty straightforward, which I like. They make a new storyline and new interesting character and villain, makes it compelling. A new system like General is a fresh idea, rather than just stick with Sybil System. We actually can relate to villain, learn through his trauma and backstory, eventually we feel sympathy for him. Not to mention some cool stunt and action.

Aside from storyline, what makes this more interesting is we get to see relationship development between Kougami, Akane and Ginoza before S3. The three OG character since s1, and how they see each other now.

Akane, as a main character can finally have some development also in the end of the movie. I wish they explore it more.

MUSIC, VISUAL & ANIMATON

The music director did a good job on this. The music match with the atmosphere of the scene so well, so we, as an audience totally immerse in the story. Some soundtrack even take samples from season 1, create nostalgic feeling into it.

Production I.G did it again for visual animation! Texture detail, smooth animation and background image is top tier. I have no right to complain anything.

OVERALL CONCLUSION (7.5/10)

This is what movie should be. Action, good plot, good character development. I had so much fun than I expected to be and recommend to every anime fan to watch it.

..

MY OPINION ON CHARACTERS:

Kougami

Kougami being Kougami again. Ever since SS3, I think we truly knows what kind of person he is, and he’s never change. That might be the reason why he didn’t regret what he’s done. Some people care for his well being though, like Prof. Saiga and Akane, she’s concern he might be used as violence tool only, that’s why she actually wanted to bring him back to CID.

In this movie, aside from being agent, it’s refreshing to see him being a detective mode even for a little moment, like the scene he had with Shion, because apparently he has brain too :/

2. Akane

Some thing never change, Akane and her unshakeable trust to the system. Like I mention before, I wish they explore more the moment before she took the action.

Throughout the film, she seems more emotional than usual. Her explosive anger remind me of s2 Akane so much.

After the incident, I was speechless of how brave she is to let it all go. Imagine your flawless, peaceful, secure life suddenly take turns and now all people will label you as unhinged. She earn my respect.

3. Ginoza

He’s truly MVP, along with Sugo. He basically carried everyone, especially how he help Sugo and Frederica.

His interaction with Kougami at first is amusing and predictable. He only mad for awhile, before he finally accept him again. At the end, his face shown frustrated for Akane’s decision, leaving everything that she achieve so far. I wonder if he feel failed again to ‘save’ his friend.

4. Frederica

She’s the perfect example of good subordinate, I think. She’s the type who obedient to her boss, not judging or question Yabuki’s decision. The contrast between her and Akane in this aspect made me laugh and make me realize that Akane is such a rebel, (lol). But she wouldn’t rebel if Sybil wasn’t an asshole.

5. Akira

Sad tool to Yabuki and Shindo :’( Seriously, he remind me so much of Kougami. Akira is selfless, willing to sacrifice himself as undercover agent for MoFA. Not to mention he even beat Kougami and Sugo in close fight, state how strong he is. If it’s not because of his kindness to spare Kougami on that scene with Tonami possessing Yabuki, Kougami would be dead by now. I think that’s why Kougami make frustrated face when he die. Seriously, his death is such a shame. He also makes me think that Kougami wouldn’t end up like Tonami, but more like him, because until PP3, the man doesn’t have ambition.

..

RELATIONSHIP OPINION:

Kougami and Akane

Idk if some people see this relationship is sink, or whatever. For me it’s actually the opposite. Akane FINALLY understand Kougami a little more. Even inspired by him. I don’t know exactly what she see in Kougami that inspire her to shot Kasei, is it because despite his CC, he actually have conscience, and ‘certain’ reason to commit crime, thus leads to make people questions (and debate) his justice?

(I’m an idiot to not know this, lol).

Akane care for him. I know the official denied romance between them, but she clearly care for him. She doesn’t want him to work like a bloodthirst hound, and value his life. At the same time I can also see what writers planning to do with him since Desmond Rutaganda address him in PP movie. 

I also notice they cut down their screen time together, even some scene that usually involve in face zooming, now they don’t. They could make their reunion so much more friendly, but they choose not to. (My guess is because they’re main characters, they can’t become lovers, that could potentially mislead the genre.) Honestly, this is so sad. If they can’t make them canon, why bother making such a great dynamic between them. Male and female can’t be friends, if you ask me. It’s too late for sudden change between them.

It’s a shame because I miss them being a partner again. Fight side by side.

Anyway, probably the only person who support her deeds is just Kougami. Regarding the convo these 2 have after he shot Tonami will address later.

2. Ginoza and Akane

Ginoza intention to become shield for her is honestly so pure. His reasoning sounds like personal feelings rather than fulfilling his duty as enforcer. Other than that, I’m more curious about his feelings after the incident. From what I see through his frustrated face and kind of ‘resentment’ face in PP3, my guess he’s somewhat angry to her for sacrifice her life (and angry at himself). I wonder what kind of face he’d make if he knew Kougami inspired her (lol, rip Kougami.)

3. Kougami and Frederica

Not so much thought, beside Kougami actually look angry at her when he lied to the team and professor. Though only angry for a second, he quickly being professional again when Akane mad at Frederica. (and look at Akane face, she’s shock and somewhat feel distance because her ex-enforcer standing up to his new boss.) Poor choice of words, Kougami.

My thoughts and issues will have another post.

[patchoulism]

This is the first time Makishima is getting mentioned and described on the pages of this book and it already goes "GOD HE'S SO FUCKING HOT AND WHITE HAIRED I WANT TO SUCK HIS BISHOUNEN COCK GODDDDD" and this part of the book is written from Kougami's point of view and not Tenzin's (he's the one hallucinating him, after all), like chill, man.

[ruiyuki]

Aight folks, I went to watch Providence with Japanese subs TWICE in three days now and after the initial emotional anechoic chamber it put me through, I can finally recount the movie and make sense of its plot and themes. So here is a ⚠️‼️ VERY SPOILER HEAVY RECAP ‼️⚠️ of the whole movie (literally very long, scene-by-scene of everything I can rmbr) & some commentary under cut.

The movie opens with a group of assailants raiding a cargo ship. Seems like their target is a woman aboard named Professor Stronskaya who's accosted in her room by a man with red dreads and a blond man. Over the ship we see Kougami flying on a plane with Frederica over the radio. They're there to rescue the Professor. Kougami drops down to the ship (in only what I can call, a flying squirrel suit) and there's a shoot out. He finds the Professor's room but she's dead. He's attacked again and hears somebody speaking to him an excerpt of the bible. Things are exploding on the ship and Kougami escapes to safety by jumping into the ocean.

Cut to Nona tower after the OP credits. Akane is speaking at a meeting of Directors about Japan's upcoming decision to abolish the legal system now that judicial proceedings are more or less moot with Sybil in place. We meet Atsushi Shindou, Director of Welfare who tries to keep the peace among the members and he says a guest was suppose to join them but did not make it to the meeting. Akane gets an urgent call from Mika and excuses herself from the meeting.

Mika tells Akane about the attacked cargo ship that's sailed up to Japan's port and tells her to "stop playing politician and get back here already" lol. Shindou approaches Akane and accompanies her to the cargo ship. Turns out it was Shindou that invited Professor Stronskaya as the guest for the meeting and that she is a global researcher who wrote a document called "The Stronskaya Papers". They have a discussion in the car ride where Shindou tells Akane he has high hopes for her, but also, maybe she shouldn't piss off people that could help her in the long run. Big oops mood but also, nice to see our classic Akane still, haha.

Akane and Shindou arrive at the site of the cargo ship where we find Mika being difficult to Frederica to say the least lol. Frederica is with the Director of Foreign Affairs (who I honestly forgot his name so I'll just refer to him as "DFA"). Shindou calls up Kasei and she instructs Division 1 to hand over the case to Foreign Affairs. There's a funny moment after of Mika badmouthing the situation and Shindou sneaks up on her telling her to watch what she says cuz the DFA has a really special hearing aid LMAO.

Division 1 recaps to Akane what they could find on the ship in the short amount of time while Akane also fills in her team abt Professor Stronskaya. Gino mentions they found the Professor dead but confirming it would be difficult bc she was decapitated. Hinakawa says the Professor sent one last message out before she died and it was to Jouji Saiga (👀‼️).

Akane calls Saiga-sensei in the privacy of the MWPSB car. Shindou knocks on the window and joins in on the call. Turns out Shindou and Saiga-sensei know each other from their university days where Shindou was Saiga's senpai (again another 👀‼️). They talk abt Prof Stronskaya but Saiga says he wants to speak to Akane alone about it.

Akane meets Saiga-sensei in his isolation unit and they talk abt how he knows Shindou, Prof Stronskaya and the Stronskaya Papers. Saiga tells Akane the papers are about Sybil and its impact on society and that they could very well change the stability of the world and Japan. He confirms the last message he got from Prof Stronskaya is the location to a P.O. box in Dejima, Kyushu where the papers are kept. Akane asks if Saiga would help her retrieve the papers, ofc Saiga agrees.

Before they head out to Dejima, Akane meets with Kasei alongside Mika, Frederica, and the DFA. They debrief on the assailant group and its here we learn of the main baddie of our movie: a man call Tonami who was part of the Japanese military group, the "Peacebreakers" formed by the MOFA. The Peacebreakers were active overseas 5 years ago on behalf of the MOFA, but all its members including Tonami went rogue. Now that they're back in Japan, its decided this will be a joint operation to reign them in. Kasei says smth along the lines of "you cant hunt feral animals with dogs so what better way but with bloodhounds, make good use of him" referring to you know who !!!!

Cut to Division 1's office. Gino's livid and ready to start a fight at the sight of Kougami back in Japan (he's really yelling "how dare you show your face here again"). Sugo breaks them up as Akane, Mika, and Frederica enter the office. Kougami greets Akane with calling her "Inspector" (🥺) while Akane (tries to?) keeps a poker face.

Akane, Gino, Sugo escort Saiga with Frederica and Kou to Dejima while Mika, Yayoi, Hinakawa and Shion stay in Tokyo as support. They discuss Tonami again on the plane where Gino asks a question and Kou tried to answer but Gino retorts a petty "I wasn't asking you" LMAO. They arrive at one of the MOFA buildings for their stay and it's noted that Dejima is where all the refugees/immigrants live in Japan while they await naturalization.

Saiga looks into profiling Tonami and the Peacebreakers. He and Kou discuss it over liquor and Saiga-sensei gives some more dad advice to Kougami (he tells Kou to apologize to Akane while he still can 😂). Kou calls up Akane on the balcony a while later and they talk about why he's returned. Akane hangs up on him when he says he doesnt regret his decision (and his face is priceless 😂😂😂) cuz she was also hoping he would apologize but he didnt. Frederica meets with DFA for something and he tells her dont let Kougami or Saiga know of their plan.

The next morning the team goes to retrieve the papers at the P.O. box and there's another Saiga-dad moment where he teases Kougami for "[he] couldnt do it, huh" while Kou plays dumb (😂). The P.O box address was a fake, Prof Stronskaya didnt leave the document in there to be safe. Turns out DFA also planned Saiga to be a setup: there was a leak in the MOFA to lure the Peacebreakers targeting Saiga-sensei for the papers. Now the Peacebreakers—including the dreads guy and blond guy (now named Kai) from before—are attacking, and its a matter of keeping Saiga safe.

Akane, Kou, and Frederica try to evacuate Saiga to the extraction point while Gino and Sugo fend off Peacebreakers on their own. They find out the Dominators dont work on Peacebreaker soldiers bc of (artifically) low Crime Coefficients and have to resort to brute force or guns. Kou's group is attacked by the man with red dreads shortly after walking past some bodies with bomb traps (where Kougami FUCKING RAN to protect his wife shield Akane from one that set off... gouchisousama deshita 🙏). Kou gets trapped in a shoot out with other Peacebreakers while Frederica engages the red dreads guy but gets overpowered. The red dreads guy ends up holding Saiga hostage at knife point but Kou manages to shoot the dreads guy in the head (literally mere inches from Saiga-sensei, Kou that's insane. Saiga calls him out on it lol).

But the red dreads guys isnt down yet (?!?!) Or at least, he is suppose to be very dead but his body still moves and talks like he's possessed by something. Kou engages him again but Saiga gets slashed and starts to fall off a ledge of the atrium they're at. Akane runs to catch him but she can't pull him up. Saiga-sensei looks up to Akane and puts his faith in her, tells her smth along the lines of "justice and truth can be seen by those high above and he believes she is capable of reaching there". He lets himself slip out of her grasp and falls to his death, crashing into the fountain under the atrium.

I asked where was Saiga-sensei in S3 but I didnt want the answer to be he fucking DIES 😭😭😭

Akane runs down to the fountain as Kou still tries to handle the dreads guy. Eventually Frederica takes over as Kai and the Peacebreakers make their retreat now that their target expired and Kou chases after Kai. There's a Kougami vs Kai 1v1 in a holo room while Frederica, now with Gino, fights the possessed dreads guy (there's a lot of hand-to-hand combat sequences in this movie) also Sugo got shot but he's ok. Kai manages to escape from Kougami, but not before monologuing at him another excerpt from a book and leaving Kou a dagger with a tassle stuck in his shoulder. Gino punches a hole through the dread guy's torso with his prosthetic arm just as the dreads guy sets off a grenade in suicide. Gino thankfully disconnects his prosthetic in time and jumps back to safety.

In the aftermath, Frederica finds out the DFA is missing bc of the Peacebreaker attack (he was initially observing their whole decoy plan from a surveillance room). Akane chews her out, but Shindou suddenly appears in Dejima and says he'll handle the clean up. Akane starts to get suspicious of Shindou at this point but there is nothing she can do since no one wanted Saiga-sensei to die. Kougami and Akane share an elevator ride where Akane's starting to cry over losing Saiga-sensei, and Kou gives her a pep talk of "keeping calm, she can cry after the case is over" (a callback to the pep talk he gave her after Yuki died by Makishima in S1 🥺).

Once Kou is back in his room, he thinks about the monologue Kai gave him and runs a search. The excerpt was from a book called the "Great Aso". He calls up Shion for the forensics result from the tassled dagger and she says the tassle was made of horse hair. He asks her to do a search of horses location restricted to Aso, Japan while the conversation moves to cognitive and scientific theory of body possession (makes sense given that Shion is a physician), and more specifically—possession of a body by a god?

By morning we get a scene of Shindou meeting with Arata, Kei, and Maiko in Dejima. If you've been paying attention to the names you'll realize Maiko is Prof Stronskaya's daughter. Shindou is there delivering the news of her death to the young'uns. On top of that, he mentions Kei's older brother—Akira—might be able to return for Kei and Maiko's wedding happening shortly after Lunar New Year. Shindou and Arata leave and stroll through Dejima as the immigrant residents prepare Lunar New Year festivities in the district.

There's a scene change to now watch the Peacebreaker side of things. We follow Kai as he walks through their secret base. He stops to observe Tonami speaking to Peacebreaker soldiers like a religious cult leader and it is revealed they kidnapped the DFA and are water torturing him. We follow Kai for a bit longer to his quarters where he struggles with body convulsions, takes some pills, then smash his reflection in the mirror (looking hot doing it). He gets a call from Tonami telling him to handle the DFA again as Tonami is now leaving to meet with their leader called The General.

Back to Akane's crew: Mika, Akane, Frederica have now found the Peacebreaker's secret base located in Aso, Kyushu thanks to Kougami's search. They request a raid with the use of traditional guns from Kasei who allows it. There's a really nice sequence of Kou and Gino partnered up being the vanguard of their raid. They get stuck in a gun fight against turret drones though and have to hide behind stone pillars until the drones are suddenly disabled. But by whom?

Surprise! It's Kai, who has extracted the DFA. Turns out Kai is an undercover agent for the DFA and Shindou, and his real name is ‼️ Akira Vasily Ignatov ‼️ Kei's brother!!!! Now it all makes sense—dropping the monologue and tassle dagger as clues.

Akira tells Kougami and Ginoza to restrain him and take him in before Tonami finds out about the base. DFA is recovered but needs medical attention, so Akane, Frederica, and Kou escort them both by heliplane back to Dejima while Akane leaves investigation of the Peacebreaker base to Gino. Aboard the plane, Akira reveals the details of the Stronskaya Papers: its actually a formula for a simulation using Sybil's Crime Coefficient concept to calculate society's likelihood of disagreement and unrest—a Conflict Coefficient. The Conflict Coefficient could be used to settle wars or elevate them which is why Tonami wants the papers. Akira reveals the data is stored in a chip implant in his brain, but also says there's a second implant in his brain from the Peacebreakers called "The Divider". The Divider can negate negative thoughts and emotions by sharing it to another entity, which is how they fake Crime Coefficients read by Dominators, and it's also how Tonami possesses a soldier's body.

When they reach Dejima, they're greeted by Shindou. Shindou thanks Akira saying it must have been hard on him. Akane requests to talk with Shindou, Frederica tends to DFA and Kou takes Akira in for his statement. Akira reveals he was the one that killed Prof Stronskaya to protect the mission (and it hurt him to do so now knowing their familial ties 😔) and that Tonami can possess members of the MOFA bc each MOFA agent already has a brain implant for translation, while Shindou explains why Akira was undercover in the first place. Akane questions Shindou on why everything he does seems to have no flaws, like things are perfectly laid out for him; he's about to answer when they're interrupted by Kougami's urgent call. Kou's and Akira's questioning was interrupted by Tonami possessing DFA who locked Frederica in the elevator and shot Kou in the leg. He's hijacked Akira's body and making a run for it, trying to escape with the Stronskaya data.

When Akane and Shindou catch up to the Tonami-possessed Akira, Akira tries to overcome the body possession and struggles pointing a gun at himself to suicide. He manages to shoot himself in the chest and chucks the gun at Shindou, pleading to be killed so Tonami can't get the Stronskaya data. Shindou obliges (but not before Akira asks him to look after Kei) and shoots Akira dead as Lunar New Year fireworks go off in the background and Akane and team watches on. Kasei arrives in Dejima to speak to Shindou.

We get to the interlude before Act 3 of the movie now. Akane visits Kougami in hospital bed recovering from the leg injury regretful that he couldnt prevent the loss of Akira. Akane reminds him that they're a team, and they'll get Tonami next time (🥺 again, it's a nice call back to S1). Kasei meets with Shindou in his car in the middle of Dejima's Lunar New Year festivities, where Shindou addresses Kasei as "Sybil System". They discuss the events and Shindou taking responsibility for it. Kasei leaves Shindou with "a parting gift" and exits the car. Not long after, Shindou calls Akane to meet him, still in the midst of festivities and explains Kei is getting married very soon and he requests for Akane that news of Akira's dead not made public til after the wedding. He then invites Akane to attend the wedding too.

Shindou and Akane arrive for the wedding where they're greeted by Arata. Arata walks Maiko down the aisle and Kei and Maiko are really cute at the altar. Shindou gives a speech at the reception (that really is more cryptically directed to Akane and Arata, I think 👀) then immediately disappears after the speech. Arata and Akane notice Shindou's gone and go searching. He's in his car, looking at a photo of him with his wife and a child Arata. The parting gift from Kasei is a gun. He shoots himself. Arata and Akane find him.

At the morgue, Arata, Kei and Maiko mourn Shindou. Arata, distressed, tries to get answers from Akane to make sense of the events but Akane doesnt know either. The joint investigation between MOFA and Division 1 is called off and Division 1 is ordered back to Tokyo. Akane meets with Kasei who shows her a video message from Tonami. The Peacebreakers have relocated to the northernmost islands (the Kumail Islands? Or smth, I forgot the name) of Japan declaring independence with The General as their leader. Apparently Sybil has conversed with this General of theirs and agreed on the terms, and wants Akane to deliver the Stronskaya Papers to Tonami (as a peace offering I guess?). Kasei basically tells Akane to shut up and go with it, Akane will be out of MWPSB soon anyway as Sybil will have her take Shindou's place as the new Director of Welfare.

Ofc, Akane's never gonna "just shut up and go with it" lol. She reviews the notes Saiga-sensei came up while profiling Tonami that concludes with "God?" and calls up Kougami asking him to join her in solving this case. He says he was going to go with her regardless if she asked (🥺). Frederica overhears Akane's call and she agrees too to "finish the job their boss failed to do".

So the team assembles at the office. The plan is for Kou, Frederica and Gino to arrive at the islands to take down as many Peacebreaker soldiers before Akane arrives via MWPSB heli as the decoy for Tonami with the Stronskaya Papers. Sugo takes care of the transportation issue, and Mika, Shion, Yayoi again work logistisical support. We learn that the Peacebreakers have a satellite in the stratosphere which is how they do jamming and control The Divider devices, so Sugo will fly a drone within its airspace after dropping Kou's team off for Hinakawa to hack it. Akane makes a point that they'll operate by MWPSB standards and by that will mean use of Dominators, and she's already arranged for Kou and Frederica as temporary users.

I really like her speech of "if we are going to enforce the law, we will do so as MWPSB detectives" 🥺 bc that brings me back to her learning what it means to be a detective in S1 from Kou and Masaoka.

Everyone divides into their assignments. Kou's team loads onto the boat Sugo has arranged with the JDF submarine. There's a snarky tsundere-Mika moment as she gives Gino a new Dominator she's had R&D work on. Akane sees Kougami & co. off, though not without Kou tell her to not do anything reckless as the decoy and she replies "I can't guarantee that.." / Kougami: "Oi. 😑" / "So make sure you get there (to me) quickly".

On the boat, Gino and Kou have a heart-to-heart finally with Gino asking again why Kougami's come back. He says he's trying to do the responsible thing and Gino think it's at least an improvement. They share the thought that they are the reason for Akane tying herself down to her job as an inspector, and want to protect her for it.

I really loved this part bc you can feel the friendship is still there between Gino and Kou, and although they now see each other in different roles with respect to Akane (metaphorically, Gino being a "shield" for her, and Kougami as her "sword"), the shared guilt and understanding of their motivation ever since end of S1 is there which is what makes the team so great.

Kougami & co. get to the islands, setup, and start infiltrating the Peacebreaker base. Sugo flies the drone to the satellite after but is met with laser defences trying to shoot it down. (There's a whole CGI sequence for this part and the jury's still out on whether I like it or not 😂). Akane arrives at the base where Tonami greets her. She says the Stronskaya Papers are now in her brain from Akira's implant and that she wants to meet the General before handing them over. It's revealed that the General is a medical AI (the Bifrost in S3) that was initially created to support latent criminal rehabilitation within the Sybil System, but the project was scrapped and later repurposed by the MOFA for the Peacebreakers. Essentially (for what I can interpret at least), the Peacebreakers were created to do the MOFA's overseas dirty work where the implant in their brain would transmit negative thoughts & emotion to the medical AI as a sinkhole for the soldiers to stay.. unburdened (is the best word I can describe? Somebody pls correct me if I understood this wrong lol). Tonami and fellows resented that, the hypocrisy of them being used like that, which prompted their defection and subsequently trying to claim the medical AI as their own system to elevate world conflict through the addition of the Stronskaya Paper's simulation algorithm with religious rhetoric. Tonami tried to added Prof Stronskaya's decapitated brain to The General in place of the papers, but it didnt work which is why he's still after them. Akane debates that AI systems like Sybil and The General cannot replace the will of humanity but Tonami will have none of that and shoots her in the thigh.

Outside, Kougami's team is fending off Peacebreakers while Sugo drone-piloting is trying to hold out long enough for Hinakawa to hack the satellite. They cut it very close with Hinakawa excitedly exclaiming when they're finally hacked in. (I am so proud of him this whole movie cuz there were small moments where Hinakawa openly voices his thoughts on the case and his hacking capabilities: "if the enemy is using this type of thing, then I should be able to hack it"... it's a mile growth from the meek enforcer we met in S2!!). Shion & Yayoi use the hacking to shut down the Dividers creating fake Crime Coefficients and to put the Dominators online for Kou, Gino, and Frederica. The next bit is a nice sequence of Kougami initializing the Dominator's start up UI with the PSYCHO-PASS theme playing (more callbacks to S1, god I missed these moments). Gino's new Dominator from Mika is apparently a multi-target lock on Dominator, and Frederica's gets a new railgun Dominator with a multi-shot Destroy Decomposer. Once they get mostly control of the battle, Gino shouts at Kougami to "get to Tsunemori!" (he actually says "Tsunemori ō mamoru!" in Japanese which made me keel over cuz that can be translated as "go protect Tsunemori" 🥹), and Kou bolts.

Things are looking alright until Shion, Yayoi & Hinakawa realize the satellite isnt stopping its motion and is actually on course to crash into the Peacebreaker base as a fail-safe for being hacked. At this point, Mika actually suddenly left the operations room to go to Kasei. She argues to Sybil that Akane is too valuable to let die, so Sybil pulls the strings to get the JDF to shoot down the satellite before it crashes into the base. (I do appreciate that for all her attitude, Mika does respect Akane and see the importance she has in her role. We see another moment of this later on too. This movie finally moved me from negative opinion of Mika to neutral lol). The debris from the shot down satellite fall onto the base where Gino & Frederica are fending off the last of the Peacebreakers and they take cover. We finally catch up with Akane and Tonami.

Akane's handcuffed by Tonami and bleeding from her leg profusely but she's still fighting back. She crawls far enough to reach her Dominator that has fallen on the ground and chucks it to the terminal that controls The General. Seems like she actually hid the Stronskaya data in her Dominator and the contact with the terminal updates The General's AI. Akane says she places faith in the system that The General's AI will choose to opposite outcome that Tonami wants, where the AI will choose reducing conflict with the peace Sybil brings to society. The AI does just that and assimilates itself once again with Sybil, updating itself to remove Tonami's influence within its system and shutting the base down. Tonami is ofc, livid at Akane's ideologies and shoots her again in the abdomen. She gets held at gunpoint with Tonami standing over her just as Kougami arrives. There's more debate between Tonami and Akane about the nature of using AI systems in society, with Kougami listening on, gun in hand (honestly his facial expression looks really unimpressed with what Tonami is saying during this part, I couldn't help but laugh LMAO). At the end of Tonami's spiel, Kougami shoots him in the head just when it looked like Tonami would shoot Akane again, and Kougami says that its true, he agrees with what Tonami is saying. Akane deflates saying she "promised she wouldnt let Kougami do that (kill/break the law) again" but Kougami explains that although he agreed with Tonami, he believes in Akane's sense of righteousness, and for that he also needs to be judged (by her and the laws upheld by their society with the Sybil system). He unlocks Akane's handcuffs (and there was someone that posted about him cuffing himself to Akane as they get up, symbolic of her arresting him, but I didnt catch that 😔) and bridal carries Akane out.

The case's aftermath is a recovered Akane meeting in Sybil's brain room. Gino and Sugo had gotten approvals to transfer from Division 1 to MOFA, while Kougami was placed in a cell as his punishment for breaking the law (I guess), but he's not there for long since Sybil deems him useful enough so he'll be approved to go back to MOFA soon. Sybil reveals the roles DFA and Shindou had with the case and that it will be buried with their deaths as Akane soon accepts her new position as Shindou's replacement. Sybil says Akane will walk the path of Atsushi Shindou as they've prescribed as Akane leaves the room (which didnt click to me until my second watching here that the reason there were never any flaws in Shindou's "moves" was bc Atsushi Shindou knew the truth about Sybil, considering that Arata is criminally asymptomatic. Shindou went along with everything he did with no flaws bc it was already arranged by Sybil.. in order to protect his son..). Shion, Yayoi, and Hinakawa comment that things will be different in Division 1 now that so many members have left, but now it's time to watch Akane's promotion ceremony broadcasted on live TV.

While the broadcast is happening, Kougami reads a letter from Akane in his cell. She writes about her thoughts on the case and tells him she now knows what she needs to do to question the nature of justice in their society, and its something that only she can do. Kougami realizes immediately what she intends and responds to that with a pained expression calling her an idiot (mirroring his letter to her in S1). At the ceremony, Akane dressed in uniform goes through the delegation, but when she's about to accept the promotion from Kasei, she pulls out a gun and shoots Kasei on stage with a blank expression. Mika, running security at the event points her Dominator at Akane where it reads her Crime Coefficient at 60. Akane leaves Mika with a bittersweet "please take care of Division 1" and Mika angrily says she cannot accept this. The news broadcasts that Akane committed a crime live on air in public but her Hue remained clear, bringing forth public questioning on the Dominator's judgement and that the dissolution of the legal system that was in dicussion at the beginning of the film is now halted. Akane is arrested and converses with Sybil in the MWPSB paddywagon, resolute in her decision. The film ends with Akane brought into her isolation cell where she can finally breakdown crying while Kougami leaves his cell promising to get Akane out.

👏👏👏 and that's it. Hopefully this will help anyone having trouble following the film (or aren't able to watch) bc I certainly missed a lot on first watch. Personally, I loved this film as a cumulation and celebration of the 10 years of this franchise. I have a few extra thoughts on how themes in this movie would fit with the rest of the franchise, but I actually haven't watched First Inspector yet and feel the need to rewatch S3 with a new perspective now. Hopefully enough people will get to see the film with international release now so maybe we'll get a S4. Prayer circles in the meantime I guess 😔🙏

[episodeoftv]

Round 1 of 8, Group 7 of 8

propaganda and summaries are under the cut (May include spoilers)

Kamen Rider OOO: 1.20 The Decoy, Quantification, and the Flaming Combo

tw Eiji gets dangled off a cliff (different from the second episode where he dangled himself off a cliff so Ankh wouldn't needlessly endanger people's lives), and Ankh gives death threats pretty lightly, because he's a monster made from human desires

After being abandoned by Ankh desiring the return of one of his Core Medals from Kazari, Eiji is found by the cowardly hoodlum Yasu while he continues to ponder if his partner can really be trusted.

First appearance of TaJaDor (fire bird combination), which is the best one in the show. Eiji uses Ankh's power fully, for the first time. And everyone is watching him fight the lionfish (half lion half jellyfish) Yummy monster. The monsters are made from giving form to the desires of random people, but only Greeed (misspelling intentional), including Ankh, can do so. Ankh doesn't do this, because he's lazy and trying to conserve his strength due to only being an arm and possessing a police officer (Izumi Hina's older brother, Shingo). He made Eiji collect the Medals (coins) for him because Eiji wanted to save Shingo from eternal possession by birb. And Satonaka (gun lady), Date (tall buff dude), and Gotou (twink) work for the guy who orchestrated the reawakening of the Greeed. They gave Eiji the last red Core Medal in order to take advantage of him via capitalism. Yaaaaaaaay! In other words, this show is a metaphor for how capitalism is an extension of the deadly sin, greed. It deals with themes of desires, impulses, and self-restraint. This episode in particular shows that great power comes at many different prices: the cost of a deal with the devil (Kougami Foundation), at physical cost to Eiji (he faints after defeating the lionfish), at cost to Ankh (he gets hope for the rest of his Cores yet gets his hopes dashed yet again). There's so much going on in this episode, so much about unfairness. But the biggest unfairness is how pretty TaJaDor Combo is. Goddamn.

The Hour (BBC): 1.03 A Country Affair

tw it's been a while but I believe someone falls down the stairs and dies at the end? I don't remember whether he gets shot and then falls down the stairs or if he was killed in the fall. also warning for cheating on a spouse

A weekend party at Hector's in-laws gives Freddie the chance to question Ruth's fiancé. Hector and Bel struggle with their attraction towards each other. Meanwhile, Isaac continues the investigation back at the office.

what DOESN'T this episode have. political tension, poetry recitations, party games, fancy dress, gorgeous costumes, and did I mention the poetry recitation?

[psychopasss4]

Previous anon here thanks for answering the ask🫶🏻I’d like to clarify I don’t mean to spread negativity at all.I am just a little disappointed with how things are turning out to be.I know we won’t know further until the next installment comes out but what do you think about Frederica so far?In providence did you notice how upset she was when her boss Yabuki asked her not to tell Kougami about using Saiga as bait?She also followed Kougami into the Akane rescue mission when she didn’t have to.I think she likes Kougami?😅Also what do you think about Kougami’s feelings towards her?He is a stoic through and through.I don’t think he’s directly expressed anything for anyone so far,has he?I know Kougami likes a“bijin”a traditionally attractive woman who can also be a good companion he can talk to but has he ever expressed anything for someone at all?I know he loves his mother and Tenzing,I am talking about his romantic relationships strictly.

I need to clarify this but I meant a Kougami x Frederica x Ginoza love triangle in my previous ask since Kougami and Ginoza both like Frederica.😮‍💨

Hi Anon! Again, sorry for the delay 😅

I kinda step back to writing down my own views for the series, coz I feel I have pour them all out on my previous posts (especially about Kogami x Frederica). And I should promote the official work instead.

But as a fan, I could definitely say Frederica likes Kogami. And Kogami tolerates her SO MUCH. 😁 And that's what the writers seem to impose.

Like for hundreds of times they mention Shinya x Akane is not a thing. They can't be in a relationship. But the fans keep on insisting so in the end they created Frederica Hanashiro to be paired with Kou.

Yet they saw the ShinKane is a BIG FANBASE so they use it's influence to bank on the merch. 😅😂

For the "rescue mission", she only joined because Kogami tagged her along.

Right after Akane called Kou, he asked Frede "I would go, how about you?" And the next day they showed up in front of Akane wearing the same coat. 😅

The whole Kogami x Frederica thing starts on the indirect bottle kiss and the fact that Kou calls her without honorifics. Like they're too comfortable with each other.

I don't think I have to explain things further. The whole fanbase felt it. Notice it. Got it. The writers are into something. And I don't have to expound that. And most of us are heartbroken with the transition. 🤧

❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

For Ginoza, I don't think he's completely smitten by Frede. I mean, he's nice to everyone but also a bit reserved when it comes to relationship. That's why he remains NGSB (No GF since birth).

The Seiyuus, particularly Kana Hanazawa-san, said she likes Ginoza for Akane. Because he's way too nice to her and more concern to her. He is always on Akane's side. Even when he didn't visit her often when she's on her cell. More on that on my actual (Shinkane or Fredegami analysis which I will post when there's time).

Ginoza is kind but I don't think he is as smitten as Kougami. In my heart, I will remain a Shinkane fan, and no one can stop me from shipping them. Eventhough I am still in the process of accepting or digesting the fact that the author's have different plan.

I think Kogami should be more worried over Shizuka Homura 😂

Overall, let's just wait for the Season 4 ☺️

[kyouka-supremacy]

What's p/p?

Ah, I meant to say, pp, Psycho-Pass. I usually add slashes to avoid unprompted rambles to show up in main tags, sorry if that resulted confusing.

I love Psycho-Pass. I already made a post about why bsd fans might find it enjoyable, but honestly, there's so much more to it beyond what it has in common with bsd.

The prompts for reflection this series offers are just wonderful: on the relationship between citizens and government, on pervasive systems, on freedom of choice and free will, on safety vs. freedom, on discrimination of minorities and creation of scapegoats, on propaganda and brainwashing, on the increasing and treacherous presence of technology in everyday life, on how government uses technology to control and manipulate people, on fighting the system from the inside vs. fighting the system from the outside. I should watch it again too. It's crazy good.

Akane Tsunemori - the coprotagonist of the first season, the protagonist of the second season and overall the true core and heart of the franchise - is one of the most complex and beautiful characters I ever met. Her growth and character development is truly amazing: the way she starts off as unknowing and naïve, and grows so so much from there; how her writing finds this perfect balance between becoming more mature / hardening and staying true to her beliefs - even when everyone, the system, the people she relies to, the people she looks up to - tell her that there's no other way, that it can't be. It's breathtaking. She is a breathtaking character. The way alone that no matter how conscious and aware she becomes of how cruel the world is, how unredeemable people are, how beyond saving the system is, she still keeps believing in humans… It may sound cliché by itself, but believe me, it's wonderfully executed, and her character is truly amazing. Not to mention, the way she mirrors the coprotagonist Kougami is fabulous, but this is not really about him; she's an amazing character of her own right, and I will die on this hill.

The female cast in general is all amazing honestly. Don't get me wrong, the male characters are just as complex and multilayered (and I LOVE Gino and Kou, how couldn't I), but that's… Something we're more accustomed to, while finding well written female characters is objectively much harder. Female characters in Psycho-Pass aren't written as female characters, they're written as people, just as much as their male counterparts are. They have their fears and hopes and strengths and weaknesses just like any other character. I love Yayoi for being strong and coolheaded. I love (LOVE) Shion for being her fabulous self, kind and flirty and confident and with an heart so big, and for her subverting the trope of guy in the chair by being a glamorous woman who's also incredibly competent at her job of analyst. I love Akane's friends and I don't like season 3 but Mai is genuinely awesome and a joy every time she's on screen. I love Risa so much I could die, I love how strong and independent she is, I love the dilemmas she had to face, I love her choices and how they might have been the wrong ones and how it still haunts her, I love the tragedy of her character in general, I love the doomed friendship that used to be between her Gino and Kou. I love love love Fredrica, I love her being bossy and confident, diligent and determined. There's just a lot of… Strong and independent women in Psycho-Pass, and it's not just a way of saying, they really are.

I LOVE women loving other women, canonly, on screen. The confirmation may be delegated to a small moment in the last episode of the first season, but the fact that it's still there nonetheless, and how it confirms that all the previous moments and exchanges were indeed moments and didn't leave it to ambiguity… It's nice, to say that the first season of Psycho-Pass came out in 2012. And you might have to wait eight years, three seasons, five movies for it, but the phrase “I just want to go outside, dine somewhere nice, and go for walks with someone I love” may make it worth it.

And I LOVE how all the leader positions are filled by women. It's a little funny, honestly, in the best way– despite what I made it look like so far, the Psycho-Pass cast is still men-dominated (or at least a pretty equally split 50/50?); yet all the leader positions are always filled by women: Akane and Mika and Kasei and Frederica and Karina, it's always women.

Also, Mika is a brilliant character. Of course I love her. I'm so so sorry for how much hate and criticism she gets (over being a purposely annoying character! Insane! When Dazai exists!), when she does really and excellent job at conveying “look! A fucked up brainwashed individual in a fucked up brainwashing environment! I wonder how that could have happened!”. Not to mention that her growth, her long and devious way to admitting that the system is flawed, is truly well made, too. Unpopular opinion, characters with big flaws, characters who are unsufferable and make lives impossible to everyone around them, characters who mess up again and again, are actually great to watch.

Again, don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore Gino and Kou too ahah. They're both great!! But that you can probably see by your own. Gino in particular used to be my favourite, how his character does a total 180° turn. I love to see men admit their mistakes and make the choice to be better tomorrow.

About that, the relationships between the characters are AMAZING. Especially the main trio Akane / Kou / Gino, all the combinations within it are beautiful and deep and brilliant, so so enjoyable to explore and with their fair share of canon content, while still never straying to romantic territory (I mean, Akane/Kou may be going in that direction, but if that's true, that's the slowest slow burn I've ever witnessed in my life).

What's more. The world building / general premise - a dystopian world, where your predisposition to do crime can be measured and the government makes use of such technology to monitor and control the population and guarantee everyone's safety - is genuinely interesting and compelling. The aesthetic is genuinely cool (AH, now that I think about it, I've got my unfair bias for people in suits, and pp has a LOT of people in suits… ). The opening and endings feature great artists like Egoist, Ryo, Who-ya Extended and Cö shu Nie, so you're sure to love them!!

(Also, Psycho-Pass is something I used to spend entire nights talking about with a friend, and I'm always thinking about her and hold her tight to my heart in every moment so. That's worth mentioning for me, pfffttt. I love my friend so much.)

Finally, because the other Psycho-Pass post I made here keeps haunting me for the lack of trigger warnings, please be aware: Psycho-Pass DOES have trigger warnings. Pretty much for eveything you can think of. Sexual assault and gore and body horror on the top of my mind, but it's quite dark and gritty at parts in its entirety, so please please keep that in mind if you decide to pick it up.

Well, this is the end of my Psycho-Pass love letter for now. Please give it a chance if you can! I'll go rewatch it now. General watch order, in order of release, is season 1 → season 2 → movie → Sinners of the System movie trilogy → season 3 → First Inspector movie → Providence movie. I don't really like the third season or First Inspector movie (the characters are still great tho, even the newly introduced ones), and I've yet to watch Providence. The first season later came out with an extended edition of added scenes between episodes, and they're quite nice, so if you can't get ahold of it, you might want to look up for a compilation of the missing scenes still.

[lemonadecandy103]

Ok I’m just gonna say it. My feelings about Kougami up to this point:

(Disclaimer: I have not seen PPP yet so my impressions are based on the spoilers and discussions that all the watchers have had, -and they are subject to change) - also trying to separate my shipper feelings from this but beware of my inherent bias anyway.

Season 1: Kougami is generally very warm and protective towards Akane. He doesn’t see her as a woman yet but they both validate each other to an unimaginable degree. I mean, she risked her life and psycho pass to help him track down Makishima who ppl believed was a ghost. She restored the credibility of his investigative abilities and made him actually think that there might be a better world without the structural divisions that they have. That didn’t stop him from breaking the law but it’s obvious that he especially thought very highly of her even after leaving the country.

Psycho Pass: The Movie: honestly, the movie is so enjoyable with regards to Kougami’s character development. He smiles at Akane so much in this movie, tries to get validation from her and again is really protective of her. They definitely pose Akane as more womanly and more as a equal with him - both in physical and mental abilities. She also impresses him several times in the film. He’s overall amused like “wow, she actually followed me all the way out here. What a woman”

SS Case 3: He sings praises of Akane ofcourse, even in the presence of an undeniable beauty like Frederica. If anything, we can contrast Frederica finding him to Akane finding him in the first movie, and his dialogue and body language alone show how he’s mildly annoyed by or at least resistant to Frederica’s presence. Most of his character arc here is in relation to Tenzing though which I suppose was supposed to teach him to be responsible for more than just himself(?), but that ends up being left open ended during his fight with Garcia (I mean he stabs the man to death before they can conclude the dialogue). Overall though, Kougami’s smiles are for Tenzing here and also when he’s saying that he’ll return to Japan.

Season 3 and First Inspector: He’s either all focused on the investigation at hand or with Akane. Everytime he smiles in this season- it’s for Akane! And not to mention, they don’t even really discuss work or philosophy in their interactions, but more about themselves and what they’ve missed from each other after being separated for years. This is what gave me hope that his emotional intelligence had improved and he would finally find some peace in Akane’s presence.

Providence: Based on what I’ve read, Kougami feels rather out-of-character in this. Like a weird blip in the timeline of his character arc. All the bonus scenes I saw anyway just made his interactions with Akane awkward. I didn’t expect it to be absolutely smooth but where’s the warmth that he initially had for this woman in S1 and the 1st movie??? What is this fuckboi behavior Kougami??? Maybe he’s able to make up for it in the 3rd act of Providence at least based on the notes I’ve read but he’s just so cold. Like he has a point to make?? I’m so confused. The tone of Providence is just cold in general and we keep seeing scenes where Ko and Akane are just on their own, never really together and communicating - the rain, the ice, the cold city drafts - just adds to it. But maybe the fact that S3 and PPFI comes after this gives us hope that he did get his act together and maybe visited her more and actually talked this out with her while she was in confinement. Maybe we’ll get some bonus scenes in a novel format.

I haven’t even seen PPP yet and I already need a season 4 to redeem Kougami’s character like what the hell. (And I’m sure the animation staff are exhausted and I don’t wanna encourage overworking them) - even if it’s like a measly 45 sec scene, I need to see the warm and caring Kougami again.

Providence looks phenomenal though - the team definitely outdid themselves - and I can’t wait to watch it.

[aseriesofunfortunatejan]

Someone mentioned this in tags recently but it's a bummer how much Psycho-Pass 2's reputation was impacted by people who had a greater interest in the dynamic between Kougami and Shougo than they did the other characters and worldbuilding. While S2 is different (shorter, different rhythm, some new cast and a different goal of course), whether those differences are better or worse than S1 is actually not that objective, and some people actually liked those aspects of S2 better than they did their "equivalents" in S1. Unfortunately, a mix of "a lot of people who were only here for Kougami" and "a few people who happened to dislike those different elements of writing" gives off this strong image that S2 was the type of bad sequel that ruins a series. That's just not the case. It's a sequel that's different from the first season - you may or may not like it, just like you may or may not like any story.

I guess there's Mika too. Despite Tsunemori remaining the hero, people just aren't comfortable with a flawed woman protagonist in my opinion. I believe the ways in which people hate on her go beyond just not enjoying her role or her character.

I'm defending S2 here, but the fans who were only ever interested in Kougami or Shinkane (the heterosexual non canon ship in a story that just isn't about building a romantic bond at all) (... sorry, the end of this paragraph should explain why I'm a little annoyed by it) remain to this day despite the fact that new story arcs and new protagonists and other major characters have been introduced since. I'm a huge fan of Psycho-Pass but I just can't find ways to interact with the fandom much, at least on here, because it feels like viewers are ignoring the anime in favour of these two characters. Trying to talk about the new stories and characters feels lonely, looking at the tag is a confusing experience that lacks any commentary on what you just watched and just focuses on exaggerations of a ship. I'm aromantic on top of being a fan of the new stories so it feels a special type of lonely.

[frankie-bell]

You know the biggest misinformation Mika haters peddle about Ginoza is he hates her which is objectively,canonically false.Trust me if he hated her he wouldn’t open up about Kougami to her of all people.(That Citizen Kane convo was just chef’s kiss)..He wouldn’t deduct about Mika giving away Aoi Tsunemori’s location and keep it to himself..He wouldn’t try to change her perception about latent criminals by asking her what kind of crimes she thinks Yayoi might commit..There’s this manga extra where Mika was calling him to talk about a transaction with Frederica but even after the conversation was finished he just happily excused himself to talk to her in private(I think you’d be a hotpot boss too🥹).It’s so clear that she looks to him for guidance/comfort and he’s more than willing to provide that.She keeps calling him because she’d rather not talk to that horrible blonde and he keeps answering her when he doesn’t have to.My favourite part is his shit eating grin whenever he sees Mika..Like it’s so endearing..I don’t you can watch/read all that and just say it with confidence that Ginoza hates her.He so obviously likes her..

Yes, yes, YES to all of this. If you’ve made it through PP3 and *still* think Ginoza hates Mika, then I have to believe you lack even the most basic form of media comprehension. Even in PP2, it’s clear he admires her confidence, conviction, and drive, although he doesn’t always think she’s using them correctly. Which is one of the reasons he takes such a vested interest in her — he likes her and doesn’t want to see her go down the same dark path he did. She can be a better version of him. And that’s just in PP2! By the time we get to Sinners of the System and PP3, it’s so obvious he finds her amusing and enjoys being around her. I know I mentioned this in a previous post, but Mika is the only person we ever see Ginoza tease or joke around with. Even if you don’t view their relationship as romantic, you can’t deny that there’s an unspoken fondness on both sides. They make a good team and genuinely care about each other.

Love that you mentioned the Citizen Kane scene from the novel, because it’s such a great example of Ginoza confiding in Mika — something we see him do several times throughout the series. If he didn’t like her, why would he talk to her about Kougami, or confess how guilty he still feels over his father’s death, or admit to the mistakes he himself made as an Inspector? Clearly, he feels safe with her. He doesn’t even talk to Akane about this stuff, and I think the reason why is pretty simple — after his demotion from Inspector to Enforcer, he placed her on a moral pedestal that makes her impossible to relate to, despite his devotion to her and her cause. But Mika, he can relate to. Mika, he can understand. She’s someone who reminds him of the person he used to be, someone he can trust and confide in, and that’s so important.

At this point, I’m convinced Mika haters are just ignoring canon because they can’t stand the fact that Ginoza actually likes her a lot.

[darklightsworld]

I went to watch the new Psycho-Pass movie on Monday. I really liked it, it bridged the gap between the previous movies and PP3 well. It is important to watch it after PP3 and First Inspector though, so you have an idea who is who and why things matter. To be honest I liked the movie more than PP3. I just can't care about the new characters and the Bifrost plot line was just plain stupid. After the movie I can't really feel Shindou's daddy issues either... (Anyway, I would really prefer to move the focus to SAD if there's a season 4...) I think the way Akane became arrested was plausible with regards to the issue at hand, and they even provided a semi-believable reason why Gino lost the manbun for PP3 XD Although there was a lot for Kougami and Akane, Kougami and Gino were not forgotten either. I only wanted to have one more mention of Gino and Sugou transferring to SAD, as we left them still as Enforcers...