This anime was fantastic. Great cyberpunk feel without leaning into the punk too hard more into the philosophy of technology ruling over society. I'd place this up there with gibson and Stephenson, while not as deep and philosophical as those it does an incredible job world building and takes an excellent humanistic approach with its cast. By far the most Interesting villian I've seen in an anime medium . High recommendation
@bringinthedope the grimey aspect such as a drug gang ridden beat up city that represents the downfall of society. I always think of snow crash by Neal Stephenson or the bike gangs and riots in neo Tokyo from akira
Some people would say that the philosophy of technology ruling over society is the most punk part of cyber punk. Punk has, after all, a very important ideological component that shouldn’t be overlooked.
Shogo Makishima is a legendary character in a legendary anime. For psycho-pass to be a work of fiction, it draws too many thematic parallels to our society today to be comfortable with, but that's besides the point. Shogo is an antagonist that was so close to being right, but chose the wrong way to go about it. Had he cut out some of his needless brutality it'd be hard to argue with his issues on the society he lived in. Sibyl created a society of absolute order, without room for deviation, and while nice on paper, it couldn't be more devoid of the soul of humanity. It created the "optimal" human framework, a nation populated by biological machines where anything that doesn't fit within that optimal narrative is removed. There is no room to not even be special, but simply be unique. It's understandable to view the world of psycho pass, and to a much lesser degree, our real society through that lens, and I'd take a lot of issue with it as well. There are certainly times where violence is the only way to bring about needed change (unfortunately), however Shogo took it a step beyond that just to prove a point, and that was his excess that he partook in. He too wanted to be special, at least in some twisted genuine way. He wanted to mean something in a world that lacked substance, and find something else just like it. That was the entire point of his final monologue (which hits way too close to home in our society in my opinion), and his last exchange with Kogami; which I believe was his only real smile when Kogami validated him by saying he hoped he could never replace him. Shogo was just as human as everyone else in that respect. As for your final dialogue regarding taking interest in people simply for the sake of enjoying them and vice versa being an alien concept to many, well, there is no one size fits all reason, though I do believe it has several unintended reasons due to societal development. I believe it has to do with the warping of the ego through the perceived concept of "success" and "validation." (I mainly blame social media for this) It's never been easier to compare yourself to peers, fester insecurity, develop alternate personalities to appear better than you are, present yourself as more virtuous or morally correct than you are, hold yourself to unnecessary standards, immediate gratification, etc. Over time, and without realizing, this culminates into the very self-centered hollow persona that Shogo despises in the series, which happens en masse. Due to this, genuine connection and care without expecting anything back becomes unfamiliar, and often misinterpreted as romantic intent (i.e. trying to get something from someone.) This certainly isn't the case 100% of the time, and varies in degree, but I find something like this to be the case more often than not when communicating with people. Just my experience with people. TLDR: Shogo longs for genuine human connection and despises a society that produces fake/selfish people. Thanks for the in-depth take on Shogo, he's one of the best antagonists of all time in one of the best series. Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays!
I've definitely known some who assert (to me) that the issue or mistake is "Wanting to be happy (and pursuing it)." They like to assert that "a person is not going to be happy the vast majority of the time, and to expect or pursue otherwise is a mistake." Of course I also feel like there's an inherent assumption that "life (regardless of circumstances)" is somehow inherently valuable, whereas I tend to think that "life has the potential for value because it theoretically represents possibilities (and the opportunity to choose and pursue possibilities)." In my mind, Makashima is one of my favorite villains. He's got such a sharp intellect and poignant insights. Many of his actions are regrettable, but there's a sense of how "the system really did fail him." In my mind he tries (again and again) to try and find an answer to his dilemma (by exploring how others resolve their own dilemmas). I think, among other things, he was looking for peers, for others who could understand and relate to his feelings and perspective, but instead he kept finding himself ultimately disappointed that those who engaged (for the most part) had no deeper insight to contribute. Given the opportunity to be more free, they didn't actually innovate or challenge themselves. I think it's very apt how some in that series literally end up "sleeping through life." It's also an interesting statement how others seem to envy Akane's degree of freedom and natural resistance to the challenges that can so often threaten others (like her unusually resilient aura/psycho pass), but in turn, she finds herself unprepared and struggling with that freedom, uncertain what to do with it. In some ways she's very similar to Makashima, with the exception that she tries to explore, understand, and resolve her issues while staying within the confines of the system, while Makashima seems to alternate between indifferent and actively hostile towards those confines. In many ways I think Makashima is frustrated by the idea that "without such confines" there would be many more people (and things created by people) that would actually be interesting, that might help him find some (perhaps temporary) respite from his struggles with meaninglessness and boredom.
If your life is manufactured and decided by a computer, its a dull existence. People are definitely more interesting if they had the freedom to choose their path in life.
I agree with a lot of your takes here, but I'm more interested by your first two statements. I guess I'm wondering how you would define "happiness" and "value." I would argue that it isn't good to be happy (in a common sense understanding) every waking moment of the day as without suffering or strife, you couldn't truly appreciate happiness and take it for granted. As for value, I do believe that there is inherent value in every life. There is no life that is truly without value. Even the worst of people have brought a modicum of value to the world.
As someone who's spent more than a third of my life with depression and existential despair, I'm always fascinated by how horrified neurotypical people become when I question the, to them, innate value of life, even an unhappy one.
@@TheDJman248 If I were choosing to live of my own volition, and not because I have family members pressuring me to keep doing it 'for their sake', sure.
30:00 "He does not accept society for a reason. Because Humans are worth more than just one fourth of the day." I dont know why this hit so hard with me but it did. Thank you for that.
Makishima is an example of what Nietzsche called "the Overman". Most people depend on society or something outside in order to give themselves meaning in life. The Overman transcends that and decides to make meaning from himself.
14:22 That part has always been so ironic to me. Sybil did everything in it's power for humans to be oblivious to their darkness all together - exact opposite of confrontation. Carl Jung would roll in his grave at such sight. Had Roichi Oryo seen through the effects system really has on the society, he would probably be just another rebelling, censored artist who feels his work is now needed more than ever before in human history.
It was such a good anime. The writing and pacing was amazing. Most really popular anime seems kinda dumbed down like the viewers don't have the cognitive skills to understand complex topics imo. But this was different in all the right ways
I don't think it's inherently better than series which could be called "popcorn," even though I prefer it. I can't blame anyone for doing what works, but I appreciate that Urobuchi was able to do something different and succeed here
That's a problem I have with most anime that come out nowadays, anime back then dealt with complex topics that made you think, and it took itself seriously (Evangelion is another great example besides Psycho Pass). Nowadays we get "Reborn as a Vending Machine", I don't think I need to elaborate how retarded that is
ProfessorViral you have no idea how much I love your psycho pass series. I hate writing essays and suck at literacy analysing, but I always rewatched your psycho pass video essays and tbh, it helped me alot in my final high school exam. I just got a place in a uni I wanted in psychology last week, and I wanted to thank you!!! I look forward to all your videos including the psycho pass ones!! And I hope you could make one on the 10th anniversary psycho pass movie coming out next year which will bring back season 1 og characters again!!
I used to outright refuse to do literature projects in high school, which is funny considering I now do them for fun. So, I understand haha. But thank you for such a kind honor, and congratulations! Best of luck with psychology, it's a topic very crucial to everything we know and love here 💙
Damn, this one really got me reflecting. My work shift is 10 hours long. I work night shifts so the periods between 2pm-6pm. I'm happy. 4 hours. Something needs to change. I need to do something
That s what I said to myself. I dont want to waste my life trying to survive with a 9 to 5 or even longer job. It feels like a purgatory and I feel like I need to change something about it. I have my plans for that already happily, I need to put them into practice.
Remember what Makishima said to Kogami in the last episode, something along the lines of "Will you be able to find a replacement for me?" This also fits for us viewers
Your conclusion hits hard. This was w a y more insightful than I was expecting when I clicked on the video, you've done an incredible job of breaking down all of this. May you be recognized as who you are, and appreciated for more than what you can do.
I'm so happy UA-cam recommended me this. And I always perceived and analyse psycho pass this much deeply compared to other fans or friends and always struggled to explain it. Thank you sir! I'm a fan now!
Psycho Pass is probably my favorite anime of all time as I was instantly captivated by it right from the beginning. I found several aspects of the first season absolutely fascinating. One of them were the episodes where they explore Yayoi's past in addition to Rikako's tie to art. The ideas of approved/unapproved expressions of art. How the show's society tried putting regulations on expression based on the likelihood of being able to keep mental health separate from the influence of the self expression. Do you do what freely makes you happy regardless of outside opinions or do you do what makes others happy and gain their approval? Other point that always intrigued me was the fact that SIBYL seemed to apply to all of the country. That there was no point it didn't register a crime coefficient, which means they sentenced children to be criminals even potentially before a crime was committed. This is especially fascinating given how long it takes for children's minds to develop. One of the final points I found so attention grabbing was the absolution in the judgment of SIBYL. The matter of being guilty simply by the potential of being a criminal. Having those members of society wearing a figurative scarlet letter. A more extreme take on "guilty until proven innocent".
This outro resonated with me so strongly, I find myself getting frustrated with people's assumptions that interest in another human = love automatically. So I find myself actively choosing to not interact in most cases, thus video has me wondering if that is the right approach or not, even if it brings me less stress over all
In my experience, there are many types of people, and not all types are equally prevalent. There are types of people (in terms of how a person things, feels, and tends to see the world) that are rare, and many have a hard time engaging or understanding people like that (partly because those who find that most people are “like me” often underestimate how different one person can be from another). If it helps, I believe that your perspective and thoughts have great value, make a lot of sense, and are very legitimate. In many ways your remarks resemble some of my own thoughts, and while most find it tiring and troublesome, I believe that there is real value in such questions, and I believe that many will eventually come to appreciate that value. Granted, that can be less than helpful when they do not in the present. I do not wish to presume to know you or your experiences, but within my own experiences feeling like “most do not relate to how I feel and see the world,” I found it helpful to learn a form of personality theory, as a way of going “Okay, so this is what’s normal for someone like me, and here’s what’s normal for other personality types, and here’s how to loosely recognize a prominent trait in another person (and potentially identify an underlying pattern that can help me better understand how we compare).” I definitely feel your views, perspective, and emotions are valid. There is real reason to feel frustrated, and I think it is very kind that you choose to share so much, and with such honesty and candor.
I often enjoy the intellect and thought behind your videos. Watching them, I feel like I get to have conversations about anime I have watched, conversations I often crave but rarely find others who also wish to discuss in this way (so I end up only engaging my own thoughts). You do very good work, deep and insightful, and I think your skills are quite impressive. Also, you are quite eloquent. Thank you for investing so much thought and effort into these videos, and sharing so much of yourself through them.
I really loved the sincerity in this video - And I encourage everyone to seek, but also explore in this mysterious world, it’s sad that our time is limited and our loves, beliefs and attachments can sometimes make it harder for us to explore more - glad there are more people to pressure us into it in that respect Only through honest exploration and “sit downs” with ourselves on a regular basis - can we start to figure out where we are relative to others Don’t worry, no one can take away your honest love, nor your subjective experience So don’t let that fear stop you from exploring and learning more about yourself The rules of society are far from right or wrong, they’ll change and shift - just as you change how you govern yourself and how you act with others through your own evolving thoughts Balance is right there in the middle between your thoughts and the criticism of society In this post modern world - honest “reflection” is our source of balance and freedom - but we can stay in it for so long that it can almost become our “second life” - some deep moral obligation in all our decisions in this world - so that’s like another balancing act - but it feels like it’s what we’re meant to do as creatures with minds like ours It almost becomes as essential as breathing, eating and sleeping - And the farther we move into the future - it feels like the landscape of “reflections to be had” expand along with it Kin, love and trust, and the need to play a role in society for survival help to keep “everlasting reflection” at bay The anxiety from being aware of that landscape can feel like a life sentence Perhaps in the past they only needed to reflect on a carpet length of land, now it feels like a mountain We’ll try the best we can and try to make something we can honestly appreciate out of the time we afforded with our lives, something we would be proud of reading about it in hundreds of years from now Hopefully we are all graced and blessed with the opportunity to reflect and know how to balance out “leaving it” and “coming back to it on a regular basis”
@@disasterdisaster581 your reaction thrills me It’s incredible A world where the non-binary accepts a straight man that says he’s straight Meanwhile, a binary individual gets second thoughts about his fellow straight man who speaks of an open mind You’ll be surprised by a variety of folks and their perspectives my friend I wish you peace
Very excellent analysis. There is ONE sticking point I want to give a rebuttal on, though it may not be to everyone's agreement: On Shogo being forced to be harmful. I don't see it that way, because to say society is solely responsible for Shogo's harmful actions is to deny his autonomy in said actions. He did harm by his own volition, this cannot be denied. But...what I can say is that the society around him made is substantially easier for Shogo to take those harmful actions in his trying to reach his goals. So I wouldn't say that in this setting it's "okay to be the villain", but more that it's a case of "when it's understandable to be the villain", since Shogo could have been anyone of us in a similar situation, where making the choices he made was infinitely easier than the alternatives. It doesn't make the harm caused by those actions okay or justifiable...but it definitely shines a damning spotlight on the society that made those actions easy to commit to. at least, this is how I choose to see it.
Theres been times ive had to play the "bad guy" (mostly just re-enforcing my boundries and refusing the be stolen from and taken advantage of) and it was satisfying finally being able to fight back for once instead of just letting stuff happen to me. Sometimes you need to be the "bad" guy
I completely agree with makishima, our lives are worth way more than the 4-5 hours of peace and a solid 8 hours plus of torture. I started a job recently and I feel like that the hours and shifts are not worth what you are getting. You are putting more into the job than the job is doing for you 😭
Agreed. I often find myself angry and frustrated with many of my jobs bc they feel like dead end jobs that are a waste of precious time and i have no idea how to escape it.
I see a staggering number of people who see themselves as individuals whom I can only describe as "mundanely special": People whom are unwilling to participate in society except entirely on their terms, even if participation could actively bring about positive change. For my part, my day job has me come in contact with people who are never afraid to share their opinions on what is wrong with society: There is a constant undercurrent of meritocracy, value as expressed through wealth and status, and isolationist privacy in many of them... while they may not all call themselves special, they all see their view of society as highly individualist and see anyone who doesn't adhere to their values as scammers and degenerates. Now as far as I can tell, society (even ours now, for its many flaws) has a lot of benefits to the individuals within it that allow them to accomplish things at a scale which would be otherwise impossible (at least within a far shorter span of time) but is structured in a way that forces many individuals both in and out of society's functional ideal to do things that make them unhappy... as a result, they are forced to work for the benefit of others but often only the survival^ of themselves. The core of the problem, of course, is the way in which society as it currently stands is structured to disproportionately benefit the few to the detriment of the majority... worse yet, while the majority have the numbers to affect whatever changes to the society they could feasibly come up with as a collective, their individual ideals are so fragmented by millions of perspectives for millions of societal issues that getting them to agree upon any of them is a staggering challenge... even if those benefiting above them weren't scheming to manipulate them to their benefit, they may still lack consensus for action. Perhaps because it's all I've known, but I am so desperately tired of the intrinsically cynical outlook on society: Perhaps I am naive, but I still hold out hope that it could be fixed. All I know is it's impossible to fix something that's broken if you believe there is nothing you can do to fix it. (^ - Yes it is theoretically possible that you could pack up what little you truly own and go off and live somewhere in the woods, but the amount of knowledge and equipment to do so and survive much less live a life with even a modicum of comfort is considerably high.)
You are taking the steps in realising democracy is collective slavery. “Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what to eat for dinner”- Benjamin Franklin
Society has a cost, the trick is to know how much freedom you are paying. Morality however is just the sales pitch but the thing is, its not everyone who buys it. And boom! You have a criminal. - A dude i met, studying law. Thought it fitting when i watched Psycho-pass, because even with our own society the reason criminals exist is because they cant align their idea of freedom, with the idea of freedom society created. I know its more nuanced then that irl, still its a weird thought i think Psycho-Pass shows well with Shogo, it being "Does absolute freewill make you a criminal?" .
At the end of the day, humans are not completely logical beings, which is a good thing. Psycho-Pass is a pretty solid example of what happens when a society is founded solely on logic, not taking human emotion & soul into account. Emotion is part of what defines us. It’s an intrinsic part of who we are. Most can’t imagine what it’s like to be void of ALL feelings. My point being that, our happiness is what we make of it. Simple joys maybe small, but in a world where we only wine about the system what else is there? Makashima makes it pretty clear to me. (No, I do not support his extreme actions. Get a clue.) If you aren’t going to act to change your life, you sit back, be satisfied w/ what you have, & learn to find joy in that.
@@carlgauss1702 Of course logic has its place in humans. We wouldn’t have gotten this far w/o it. But as Tom McCallum once said, “We are feeling creatures that think, not thinking creatures that feel.”
@@TheOddityFair My apologies, I hadnt read the comment in full. Actually I appreciate your worldview. Nevertheless we should strive to be more logical every day. Also, I dont think emotions and logic are at odds. Just logic and a subset of emotions.
Everyone is owed love, but that love comes from fate at the moment of birth. Parents, siblings, children. These three types of people are ones that should give love and that love should be eternal (at least to the point of death. After that who knows). That doesn't mean excusing or tolerating a person's bad behavior, but in fact calling them out on it because you love that person. True love means tolerating the little differences that might bother you and attempting to help that other person through their worse issues. It clear from what we see of Masatake he doesn't have any loved ones in his lives. Friends and loved ones are not the same thing. Friends may drift apart. Loved ones do not. Its very rare you get that type of connection from someone outside of blood ties. Usually this is left to eventual spouses, adoptive child/parent relationships, and in rare cases adoptive siblings which usually occur from intense bonding over extreme situations like war. It appears Masatake didn't even have real friends. Complete isolation like that can totally shatter the psyche and can create massive resentment and anger.
This analysis was an excellent presentation. It made me rethink the whole concept and philosophic messages PP left me. Well done for this. Also, if not already I highly recommend you (and everyone who loved the show) to go and watch the extension series. There must be a bunch of them on youtube (they are not a series them selves). Just better understandings of the characters and more philosophical expansions. Lastly, please watch the extensions (or series) with tha Japanese voice actors. You are missing so much..Makishima's voice actor also got a reward for his sublime voice acting. I think the extended series is called "Sekai Remastered" and is about 35 min long.
I hate that most of the humanity issues discussed by Makishima didn't appear at all in Season 2 and 3. They were swept under the rug in season 2 and 3 under the pretext that "t-the humanity is not ready!" "j-just give sybil 500 more years it''ll be good!!"
I always rooted for Shogo Makishima to win, now I know why: he was, quite simply put, correct. The society presented in the anime is a horrible dystopian hellhole I consider to be worse then universes such as warhammer 40K, the motive is simple: stagnation. The society of future Japan presented in psycho-pass is limiting to its most horrible extent: the first side villain you presented wanted to feel loved and validated so he went into online communities but this isn’t because he simply loved online community’s…it’s because he didn’t felt validated and loved anywhere else because the Sybil system does not need love and genuine care, after all how can you have any form of true relationship be it friendly/brotherly love or romantic love if no one here can actually be their true self? Relationships are built on trust and trust is built on honesty, the Sybil system prevents honesty by punishing any behavior that goes out of the way so the only choices someone have are to live a lie within it or to go to extremes and condemn one self to punishment or at least marginalization. Such a society is disgusting and death is certainly preferable to living in it.
I think it's more like, his conclusion was correct, as was his desire for validation. but HOW he went about it is, ironically, what made it necessary for him deserve to lose. Quite a tragic villain in a way. the society around him made it easy for him to do what he did, and ultimately his means (rather, how far he took it) ultimately doomed him to be heard less. as for true selves...well. That's far more complex. By denying people the chance to confront, accept and overcome their own darkness, Sybil made sure everyone was too busy holding tight to their masks so that they could survive in the system it created. I didn't want Shogo to win...but I did want his message and meanings to be heard.
@@TheDJman248 I believe that when a society becomes so oppressive to a point where it hinders human character and development, said society should be destroyed or reformed, that's what we are walking towards anyways
@@jonhstonk7998 Yes, but the means by which said society is reformed or destroyed can and should be judged accordingly as well. There's more than a few moments where Shogo most certainly did NOT have to do what he did. Yuki's death and the sadistic way it happened was not necessary, since she most certainly did NOT contribute to how that society is nor would I say that it was deserved in any way or excusable.
@@TheDJman248 that is fair but you can't blame someone for taking drastic and desperate action against a system that offers you few alternatives, i believe that the destruction of such society´s are preferable to their reformation as reformations rarely succeed
Nah. Sibyl was not ideal by any means, but to think Shougos way was the only alternative is **** naive. With his superior will he could have gotten an edge without having to full blow everything. He could have a comforting isolation where no one would bother him. But no, he wanted it all. He lived a lower lifespan than the average man, how successful. Lets be generous and concede his life was more 'entertaining' but I would also chllnge that.
The interting is that makashima absolutely is a monster, and all th acts of sensless cruelty he does , are horrid, But his final plan, is actually, as much coleteral was, probably a good way to shake things enough people have the ability to reclaim their agency and get rid of the sybil system. Its actually not senseless cruel or sadistic, just amoral but argumently justified. That is very interesting. Becaue prior, he is more a monstr enabld by sybil, but here, he has a decent plan that is morally, interesting. The loss of humanity under civil and victims vs causalities. And personally, yeah it can go terribly wrong but its probably worth it. argumently. Through ther should be a better way but for a society to change, a bit chaos and collateral, is probably inevitable. So, i cant ay he is wrong, notr akane, through she i too idealistic. And makashima i more complex, he wants to feel , and h proaly has no reason to care about human life, but that makes him enable monster like sybil enabled him. He just, also is right that sybil has to e fought and sacrifices, are proably nessesary. Though he could probable with akanes help directly go there, maybe. What makes me most memorable parts is the music. Music that cant exist , expression that cant exist (and i know some consorship, can exit, but it has to really jutify itself, like natsee rhetoric, that is fair) but art has to be able to exist if its literally just expression o being human, the good, the ugly, and the conflicting. and the subversive.
Except the issue is since there is no formal sense of rebellion in the society all that would happen would be society collapses, and we see that it took very little to shake the foundations of that society. Destroying the food supply would destroy sybil but it could very likely cause the rest of the society to collapse as well.
@@thesun5275 Fair! It could happen someho tht ociey has to be rebuild, and makashima isnt really having any plans or preperations to have any kind of how to hav a formation of constructive ideas. But thats hy he is th villain, and intereting that he has a right idea badly executed if that were for society. And is selfish ultimately. I gues thats anothe villain has right idea but overlooked actually having something to prepare people to rebuild. That maks him till wrong, i jut find it intereting that neither akane or him have the full solution, like akane woul probably able to add that element. A moral person that could put up a rebellion and , maybe i am overthinking but both have elements to have a rebellion suced, pragmatim and unwavering ideals that are humaniterian.
Yes enjoying or trying to understand people is great and I definitely I try to even if it's not romantic. People are interesting and dumb but that's life. The way someone is doing something to consider the logic is a great past time
In a society of alienation showing a depth of interest in a person is an uncommon thing normally only considered something you should do with close friends and romantic partners. People and life itself are fascinating, however we are pressured into not engaging too much with our own existence. Just try to be clear with the people in your life when they misinterpret you.
That deep I do sometimes just look at people at a mall thinking who are they and what there story or reason why there at the mall. Good video and made me think a bit Thxs
its crazy to finally relate to someone around 34:00 part i get the same situation it sucks people dont understand what you said in real life cause i can relate especially when people being interesting but without needing to be attracted to someone
Makishima was kinda right. In order to really realize a better society we must accept the fact that humans have also a dark side, and they have to accept that side too. It's the same dycothomy of Star Wars: in a galaxy full of Jedi that rules it, a kid is born by the Force to brings balance. What kind of balance they wanted in a universe without evil side but all bright and good? It was obvious that the kid would have become the greatest Sith of the time. For many mediocre Jedi, there must be an equal number of mediocre Sith... or just a few number of extremely powerful Sith lords. To balance the power of light, of good. Otherwise there will be no equilibrium. This internal struggle between our two sides is often portrait in many films, TV series, operas, theatrical dramas etc. We all knows what comes from losing our own equilibrium. Ruin, chaos, defeat, mystery, death. In this sense, a certain dose of evil is considered "necessary" to maintain the equilibrium. That's for example why people uses to tell other people that they have to be more worried about their own conditions and carry only about themselves.
If I wasn't already radicalized enough by our society this video would have put me over that edge. My hue has never been clear, but man it's getting darker by the day.
Same my hue wouldn't be clear in the slightest. I would be like kogami I would see the flaws in the system and how it needs to be stopped . Makshima to me was a anti hero he did things in morally wrong ways however he wasn't wrong in what he was trying to accomplish kogami realized that as would have I. Akane to me is a willful pawn is why I think to me at least is the weakest character. She's a example to me of a result of the control over freedom. And if I found out what sybil was most people would and rightly so destroy it utterly and completely. She too me isn't a hero She is more of a tool who lacks any moral of hero own simply keeping the status the same. I see her as the pyscho in the title .
I really want to do a detective like way drawing lines to life and anime. They all have a layer that connects to real life. Do a few clips of psycho pass(a collective of evil controlling common folks turning them into zombies a mix of augmentation, corription, high ranked individuals controlled, and fals information. Also to add the book makishima shows 1984 talks on totalitarianism), and babylon (suicide/drugs for suicide. A real world thing)
tl;dr - I love this video. It puts a lot of my thoughts and feelings into words in a much more organized fashion than this comment, but I've still done my best here to respond with thoughts I feel are relevant. Keep in mind that I'm still working my way toward my own answers. Solutions don't just appear out of thin air. It takes effort to develop them and get there and I'm fully prepared to seek out a healthy solution that takes me to a far better future than I can imagine now. I'm getting tired of even my own perspective being forced into a limited, narrow scope of what is or isn't realistic. In human society, humans define what's realistic. Humans make human society, after all, not the laws of physics, so I want to challenge my own negative biases as much as other ones. This being said, what's realistic is still limited by the people around me and what they're willing to do and my limitations as simply one individual. My current goal is to do something about how I feel as I bring up these thoughts. All thoughts have value to be acknowledged, not just the good ones. I'm not like most people. This is okay and society shouldn't view people like me as deadweight with nothing to contribute. I need resources and extra support that most people don't require, but that doesn't mean I'm useless and can do nothing for myself. It doesn't mean I cannot offer humanity something of meaning and justifiably receive monetary compensation in response. All it means is what I offer is different and that's still worth acknowledgment. I don't feel valued in modern society. I feel like society views me as collateral damage in a system I already feel is beginning to collapse. I'm not trying to fear monger anyone. I'm just trying to express what I see and how I feel. This doesn't mean I'm right. Things can and should get better. Fight for a better future for all of us. It's possible if we all come together instead of being divided by meaningless headlines. This video reminds me of who I am but not in the sense that I'm a villain. It's more that I cannot fake who I am and I'm not able to develop what isn't me. You can't make me into something "socially acceptable." I'm not hurting people, what I want isn't unreasonable, and being different isn't inherently wrong by itself. I just want to pursue what makes me happy within the constraints of a structured society. I understand there must be laws and rules. There must be some form of governance or humans are going to be stupid, but I cannot destroy myself to live. If people try to force this on me, I will simply cease to be capable of survival altogether. In a society where I don't fit in, I shouldn't look at the average person the same way I look at myself. I do. Even though people are doing what's expected, that doesn't mean they get what they're told they should have. Instead, society is destroying itself day-by-day in a system that no longer works or perhaps, arguably, never did. The defined standard I am supposed to meet doesn't even work for the people that can live by those standards. So, if I try to live like that, what happens to me? I cease to be capable of survival. If it doesn't harm people, why are we forcing them to live a life of utter misery? There's a difference between work and self-destruction. When society tells you everything you are is wrong, of course self-destruction becomes an innate quality you possess. I'm not saying I'm not doing anything to improve my situation. I'm saying the system by nature is going to prevent its solutions from helping me at some point in the future and I cannot simply change myself to fix that. It's not my place to fix anything, except myself to the extent it's realistic. However, what I see when I step outside isn't exclusively on my end. I lack resources, support, and I lack stability. There is no way to help me given the way society is now. In the future, when I am expected to adjust and be proper, you can't tell me to avoid this or that when the very problem is society itself strips me of all hope that I can live. Once you take away what little I have left, nothing I say will be able to convince society that I've tried it all, but I can't be anything other than who I am. Either I am able to succeed doing things that are part of who I am as a person or I die. This isn't a choice. It's a matter of life and death. Very few people are trapped in the same way I am, but I can guarantee almost everyone is trapped in some form. When I say I cannot do this or that, I want to be trusted. When I'm at my limit, I want to be believed and validated. When I say I want to act the way I should, I want the resources and support to keep me there. Instead, all I see is a future where society itself becomes my ultimate demise. This is a response to the video, but these are thoughts I've had for awhile now. It just so happens these thoughts are relevant to the discussion. It's a depressing thought as well. I'm doing all the right things, but I can only conclude there is a day where I snap and break and society shrugs like I'm just being dramatic. I've shown the capability to do things for myself when I have the flexibility, freedom, resources, and social support. I'm not deadweight. There are things I can contribute to society, but the more I think about it, the more I really do have to be the exception to the rule if I am to survive. I'm not sure I can be the exception. I'm told on repeat that I simply am not, but how would people know? I'm forced into a lifestyle that ultimately doesn't support me in a way that allows me to demonstrate that I have value. I'm just different and this doesn't have to be demonized. I'm not hurting anyone and I don't want to get hurt. Even though I am different and I may be capable of some great things, I cannot change the structure of modern society. This would be a foolish thing to attempt, but in the coming decades, I won't be the only person to suffer from thoughts like this and the system has already failed countless others before me and it's currently failing people in worse situations than me. In fact, it's failing someone living in my household, not just me. I'm able to survive in a functional society and cannot take risks with my mental health within a society that doesn't care about it. So, even if I attempted vocational rehab or something related, the risk that I won't be able to remain stable is far too high to be acceptable. Although the same consequences could occur by pursuing my dreams, making use of my natural skill set increases the chances of survival and long-term success, not destroying my sanity to develop skills for a job that doesn't guarantee me affordable permanent, consistent, lasting healthcare. My therapist has already heard the contents of this comment and no therapist can repair damages done to a person by the system itself rather than personal issues. Therapists aren't trained to fix societal problems. So, even though I've talked about this in therapy, my therapist can't necessarily help me do anything about it beyond a shift in my perspective, which alone isn't enough. The problem is bigger than my mind.
I haven't watch the video because I haven't already watched psycho pass (and I want to watch it) but I know that the scenarist of psycho pass is gen orobuchi (gen orobutcher) the guy who made a lot of Amazing famous animes like black lagoon, fate zero and Puella Magi Madoka Magica, he's known to do very dark animes, in Madoka Magica, the antagonist is also a moral antagonist, I find it funny to see there are some similarities between gen orobutcher's anime
(!Warning! Unfiltered stream of consciousness ahead. Just FYI.) Well that's the thing: Everyone wants to be special and unique but no one is. No one deserves anything, neither happiness nor sadness. There is no greater purpose or a reason for why we exist, no point for why we are here besides the fact that we are. Consciousness evolved on a chance because those better at communicating and understanding others around them had a bigger chance to have a offspring. There is no choice to be born and there's even less in choosing what to do with our life's since looks, intelligence highly are genetically dependent and personality is half genetics, quarter environment in which one lives and quarter upbringing. A person is mostly developed before the are truly aware and independent enough to make their own choices. A human exists simply because they exist, because all living organisms have instincts that drive them to continue existence and nothing more. We are one day born, exist for a bit then we die, we are because we are. That's about it.
I haven't watched this anim'e but it's funny how this world punishes empathy with its system it works by deciding a person's guilt on there feelings of guilt thurs empathic people would suffer unfairly under this system since they feel for other people as well.
The villains in psycho pass had good motivations, they were villains because of the people who were hurt and died due to their actions. Sybil was the greatest evil in the show, far worse than any of the human villains.
I wish the show had ended on season one. It was so good but the moment they thought they could milk the series and replace makishima was when it went downhill
at min 6:40 i would guess that rehabilitation is deemed to fail if the recipiant doesnt see the wrong in this ways or thinking which is amplified by a system that runs on preventing crime in the first place. rehabilitation from (percived) innocence is punishment in itself even with a total focus on rehab it likely that the receivers of this meassure would still stay in rehab since its pretty hard to fool a system that comes close to read your mind. you may consider to play along but when the system knows you dont belief in wrong i would guess you stay a latent criminal in their opinion.
Honestly I never TRULY understood the show to its extent, but when I finished it I felt empty Like the villains had some mad good points although fucked up, but so did the heros
Follow the non-aggression principle. If your free will is impeded beyond the scope of that principle, be an army of your own and fight for your right to be who you are. That has always been my take on this conundrum. Society might be justified in trying to subjugate you in order for the masses to live the lives they want to live, but so to are you equally justified in jeprodizing the happiness of society in order to live the life you want to live. Just be wary that you will usually lose; there is, though, something noble to being a martyr for your own free will. As for Makashima he did commit unambiguously evil deeds along his route to martyrdom-put simply he violated the non-aggression principle-and he should have to answer for that, but the ends he sought were noble and were the right ones in my eyes.
I like that a lot, explaining the right to fight for who we are, but recognizing the costs and adding a restriction thats justified for society's sake. Thank you, I'll have to look into that more!
@@ProfessorViralAs long as I'm not hurting you, taking from you, trapping you, I can do whatever I want, and vice versa. But what happens when what we each want is still mutually exclusive? I think a common answer to that question is "whoever has the most people agree with them is morally in the right to have it their way." But personally, I think it's a mistake to extrapolate an objective political process like democracy out to general morality. There doesn't always have to be a right answer to who should have it their way. Sometimes you just have to accept that the two sides may have to duke things out for what they believe in with neither being the bad guy. Sometimes that might even be one guy versus society at large. As long as he is ready to accept the consequences, I cannot resent him.
Ok, so I'm going to challenge two things from the video. One kinda small, one pretty big. The first is your use of the term "Happy" with regard to the people that are latent criminals because I don't think it's someone you can say on principle when the happiness of some latent criminals is "Just getting to play music about how society is stupid" and then you have whatever flavour of human torment heading towards Hannibal Lector. I'd use personal satisfaction or personal enjoyment, call it a nitpick. I'm not calling you out or saying you're justifying anything terrible, pure linguistic stuff that I would say is worth considering. The second would have to do with your view of Makashima. His issue is a life long one starting with him realising the SYBIL system can't see him. He always felt snubbed by this and developed a general disgust for the society for denying him a place. Since he is as meticulous and thoughtful as we see he would have started digging into what gets a person seen and acknowledged. There would have been a series of escalations from petty things to violence, premeditated violence and eventually murder to test when he would get seen. Since you can just get you psycho-pass run and see your results he would have known that the whole system was flawed because the demanded homogeneous structures on people were incapable of dealing with him. A lot of his talk of free will is just him spreading grains of truth to justify his goal of upending everything with no regard for the consequences because he knows he will be fine since he will be well prepared in advance. He can talk the talk but he's kind of toolbox edgelord at the same time.
Psycho-pass really is something special. If this story was made by Hollywood our protagonists would be rebels and before end credits female and male lead would kiss against the background of Sybil blowing up in a huge explosion. Actual psycho-pass is a bit more interesting than that, is it not? It's basically a reversal, story presented from the POV of who we would think be villains, except they are given plausible motivations so we would not be immediately sick of them and the actual antagonist has to commit some senseless acts of cruelty so viewer would not root for him too much. It might actually be that writers of the story did not intend it this way - Asian countries have more acceptance of collectivism and might genuinely consider if something like Sybil can be worth it but for me the conclusion that I reach more confidently with every re-watch is this - burn it all down, Sybil doesn't deserve to exist. Akane's way is hardly justifiable either - she seeks reform but it's not obvious that it's anything other than cowardice and desire to avoid conflict. Besides, I would say that the temptation to respond tyranny of such extent with anything other than defiance is damning by itself. We might consider it from deontological grounds - if there's enough people who are ready to respond to tyranny uncompromisingly no matter what then tyranny will simply never take hold. Though I think rebelling is worth it even individually, no matter the hopelessness of it. Is it not less than human to live like this? We are not going to live forever anyway and neither will anything we build so I would say that civil war, post-apocalyptical wasteland, or even extinction beats whatever the hell Cybil is.
It's hard for me to connect to this video. It's not saying it's good or bad, just I can't really make a judgment because of my own ethical framework. (but commenting to feed the algo.) As for "special".... If everyone's special, nobody's special as the old chestnut goes. The problem with the villians here and the characters in cyberpunk is in in assuming they were special, but they really aren't. In psycho pass, the villians just got chucked into the vat and made into part of the sybil system, and become part of the system they resisted. in cyberpunk, David assumed he was special, but wasn't. (I believe in your video you even went as far as to say he was made to feel special even though he wasn't). The protagonist in psycho pass was the actual special one, and the system acknowledged it. In Cyberpunk, they all admired Adam Smasher, and in the end, David was SEVERELY outclassed by him. It's an old point. THere was an episode of GITS:SAC that featured a guy who had a low position but daydreamed of being a terrorist and was visited by the Major. there was 2 years ago a mech anime on Netflix that was basically a kid getting a mech that could influence time, and the more he used it, the more he screwed up the future. being the villian isn't ok, unless you really truly are able to justify the means. Paul Atreidies in Dune, for example: The people who are horrible, they know what they do is horrible, and yet it's humanity saving (in the context of the story). And special... special isn't a good thing. It means being the thing society despises or the thing society consumes. The Ubermensch doesn't have a good ending.
This is a great comment on how Japanese are always ready to give up their individual freedom for the collective. Although I also don't agree with extreme individualistic views like the Americans' in general, I'm far more against how things are in Japan.
Consciously maintaining the illusion of perfection within a society even when one knows it is untrue for the sake of day to day civility has it roots in the "noble lie" from Plato's "Republic". This original noble lie was that some people were simp!y born better qualified to lead by having a purer soul that the others. This intertwining of inherent supremacy validating one group to rule over others is the poison seed within the roots of society as we know it. Be it intellectual capacity, racial ethnicity, religious beliefs, philosophical beliefs or simply being born into wealth, there is this core subconsciously enforced belief that one group deserves to rule over others and resistance to that rule is unnatural and blasphemous. Psycho-Pass and other science fiction systems simply allows technology and the ones who program it to be added to that list of "superior beings". Well, not so much fiction now given the social credit system of China which is meant to deny or grant access to resources depending on how good a citizen is to the state via constant electronic surveillance of their actions.
I watched psycho pass back in high school and the conclusion was that sybil eroded the human soul, what can be labeled as latent criminal to me screams opportunity to grow as a person. Eventually stress will fade much like our emotion swings from time to time. There is no way that technology even as advanced as sybil can measure human potential. Also i liked Shogo's last attempt to make sybil obsolete by trying to force open japan to the international world to put sybil into international scrutiny
I think growth is a good perspective on it. Growth is a positive thing, but also dangerous. It requires society to shift and change, adapting to new and better people. Sibyl, as a figure of authority first or foremost, would hate growth for that. Happiness in stagnation is their ideal of society. So, I think there is a lot to be said on what you mention for sure
@@ProfessorViral what was that Benjamin Fraklin quote? "he who traded liberty for security deserved neither." that's basically my basis on that, just linked it with personal growth as a concept Keep in mind that not all latent criminals are as shown like the loon house after all Kougami and particularly Tomomi is just your daily active dudes doing things in their spare time and you can never forget Professor Saiga. Stress is a part of the wheel of life after all at one time we can be stressed AF for even the tiniest of things and another time we are so calm and composed to the point of terrorist vs police shootings IRL does not even faze you at all while you eat your meatballs (yes this actually happened IRL)
its definitely not a flawless system however its quite effective to keep everything in check, *its all for the greater good* as we can see crimes have been decreasing exponentially, due to the sybil system. one or two flaws are inevitable, lets simply install the patch later on. plain and simple
it seems a lot of these characters are set up to extremes of character and also to the stealing of others possessions, be it life or attention; fulfilling their gluttonous lusts with having a vain glory in doing so, thinking they can eat their cake and have it too. so a villain is an extreme... a being not temperate in his actions. one who has lost the ability to control? no, that's a monster... a villain knows, and does it anyway of free will, not bound but free in a twisted form. though the 'noble lie' of Psycho-Pass's society is the most villainous.... because they won their perverted wish. Hope you have a great day & Safe Travels!
Well I'll say it. This vid was very insightful, balanced and well researched, then went a little school shooterish at the end, can I just say. My man, please you are not an anime villain, please get that ego in check, love ya buddy. 🤟🤙
Makishima's reasoning is just as evil as his Methods, and it has nothing how "Extreme" or not he is. Makishima has no interest in the objections to the Cybil System that the audience had established by episode 1, no much of his exposition in the finale implies he thinks the Sybil actually does work as intended. I am highly suspicious of any would be Revolutionary who's objection to the Status Quo is even partly explained by finding it Boring.
Happy holidays. Hopefully you get around to Mob Psycho, this season, especially the Mob arch that's going.on. Great analysis on Psycho Pass and giving me some new perspectives on the show.
my favourite part is that sybill was right, Kogami was more of a liability than he was a useful part of society, killed off one of there most valuable little resources
I love Kogami, but I think many people ignore that he really was selfish. Not in trying to be free, but in going against the person who's will he specifically said would make a better society in Akane. He was doing something wrong and knew it, but did it anyway. But that kind of grey character is what makes it an anime you can write 10+ essays on
Thank you for making this video, a friend tried to show me psycho pass, and although the idea of it sounded interesting, the goreporn gun was too much for me, and i couldnt bear to watch the show.
Okay ProfViral, did you intentionally use what sounds like a rendition of Seether's Save Today for the background music? Or was it just a fitting audio track? Also, I truly love your rants as a sign off, this one really hit home.
This is one of the few works of fiction where I root for the villains without even the slightest hesitation. I'm generally not a particularly causey person, but in if I lived in this world I'd be a terrorist.
I'm glad someone's doing such thorough analysis on psycho pass, such a good show
my favorite of all time, always have to give it some love!
It pains me to see how almost Noone talks about it.
@@shanahjrsuping7344 Like really though, Ive met so many weebs in college and maybe 1 in 20 of them have watched this classic
It's the best, and makishima was such a cool villain
well be happy that out of my 120 list of amine its in the top 3
This anime was fantastic. Great cyberpunk feel without leaning into the punk too hard more into the philosophy of technology ruling over society. I'd place this up there with gibson and Stephenson, while not as deep and philosophical as those it does an incredible job world building and takes an excellent humanistic approach with its cast. By far the most Interesting villian I've seen in an anime medium . High recommendation
Interesting, could you elaborate a bit on the punk part of cyber? What does it describe when it comes to the genre?
@bringinthedope the grimey aspect such as a drug gang ridden beat up city that represents the downfall of society. I always think of snow crash by Neal Stephenson or the bike gangs and riots in neo Tokyo from akira
Some people would say that the philosophy of technology ruling over society is the most punk part of cyber punk. Punk has, after all, a very important ideological component that shouldn’t be overlooked.
@Miss Goetia yeah it's all part of making cyber punk what it Is vs it just being more sci fi
Needs more punk
Shogo Makishima is a legendary character in a legendary anime. For psycho-pass to be a work of fiction, it draws too many thematic parallels to our society today to be comfortable with, but that's besides the point. Shogo is an antagonist that was so close to being right, but chose the wrong way to go about it. Had he cut out some of his needless brutality it'd be hard to argue with his issues on the society he lived in. Sibyl created a society of absolute order, without room for deviation, and while nice on paper, it couldn't be more devoid of the soul of humanity. It created the "optimal" human framework, a nation populated by biological machines where anything that doesn't fit within that optimal narrative is removed. There is no room to not even be special, but simply be unique. It's understandable to view the world of psycho pass, and to a much lesser degree, our real society through that lens, and I'd take a lot of issue with it as well.
There are certainly times where violence is the only way to bring about needed change (unfortunately), however Shogo took it a step beyond that just to prove a point, and that was his excess that he partook in. He too wanted to be special, at least in some twisted genuine way. He wanted to mean something in a world that lacked substance, and find something else just like it. That was the entire point of his final monologue (which hits way too close to home in our society in my opinion), and his last exchange with Kogami; which I believe was his only real smile when Kogami validated him by saying he hoped he could never replace him. Shogo was just as human as everyone else in that respect.
As for your final dialogue regarding taking interest in people simply for the sake of enjoying them and vice versa being an alien concept to many, well, there is no one size fits all reason, though I do believe it has several unintended reasons due to societal development. I believe it has to do with the warping of the ego through the perceived concept of "success" and "validation." (I mainly blame social media for this) It's never been easier to compare yourself to peers, fester insecurity, develop alternate personalities to appear better than you are, present yourself as more virtuous or morally correct than you are, hold yourself to unnecessary standards, immediate gratification, etc. Over time, and without realizing, this culminates into the very self-centered hollow persona that Shogo despises in the series, which happens en masse. Due to this, genuine connection and care without expecting anything back becomes unfamiliar, and often misinterpreted as romantic intent (i.e. trying to get something from someone.) This certainly isn't the case 100% of the time, and varies in degree, but I find something like this to be the case more often than not when communicating with people. Just my experience with people.
TLDR: Shogo longs for genuine human connection and despises a society that produces fake/selfish people.
Thanks for the in-depth take on Shogo, he's one of the best antagonists of all time in one of the best series. Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays!
Yeah, if he wasn't as brutal, if he was more like Fight Club's Tyler Durden, people would look at him less as a villain.
I've definitely known some who assert (to me) that the issue or mistake is "Wanting to be happy (and pursuing it)." They like to assert that "a person is not going to be happy the vast majority of the time, and to expect or pursue otherwise is a mistake."
Of course I also feel like there's an inherent assumption that "life (regardless of circumstances)" is somehow inherently valuable, whereas I tend to think that "life has the potential for value because it theoretically represents possibilities (and the opportunity to choose and pursue possibilities)."
In my mind, Makashima is one of my favorite villains. He's got such a sharp intellect and poignant insights. Many of his actions are regrettable, but there's a sense of how "the system really did fail him."
In my mind he tries (again and again) to try and find an answer to his dilemma (by exploring how others resolve their own dilemmas). I think, among other things, he was looking for peers, for others who could understand and relate to his feelings and perspective, but instead he kept finding himself ultimately disappointed that those who engaged (for the most part) had no deeper insight to contribute. Given the opportunity to be more free, they didn't actually innovate or challenge themselves.
I think it's very apt how some in that series literally end up "sleeping through life."
It's also an interesting statement how others seem to envy Akane's degree of freedom and natural resistance to the challenges that can so often threaten others (like her unusually resilient aura/psycho pass), but in turn, she finds herself unprepared and struggling with that freedom, uncertain what to do with it.
In some ways she's very similar to Makashima, with the exception that she tries to explore, understand, and resolve her issues while staying within the confines of the system, while Makashima seems to alternate between indifferent and actively hostile towards those confines.
In many ways I think Makashima is frustrated by the idea that "without such confines" there would be many more people (and things created by people) that would actually be interesting, that might help him find some (perhaps temporary) respite from his struggles with meaninglessness and boredom.
If your life is manufactured and decided by a computer, its a dull existence. People are definitely more interesting if they had the freedom to choose their path in life.
I agree with a lot of your takes here, but I'm more interested by your first two statements. I guess I'm wondering how you would define "happiness" and "value." I would argue that it isn't good to be happy (in a common sense understanding) every waking moment of the day as without suffering or strife, you couldn't truly appreciate happiness and take it for granted. As for value, I do believe that there is inherent value in every life. There is no life that is truly without value. Even the worst of people have brought a modicum of value to the world.
As someone who's spent more than a third of my life with depression and existential despair, I'm always fascinated by how horrified neurotypical people become when I question the, to them, innate value of life, even an unhappy one.
@@yautl1 Well, isn't you continuing to live you basically seeking that value in life, even if it doesn't feel innate to you due to said depression?
@@TheDJman248 If I were choosing to live of my own volition, and not because I have family members pressuring me to keep doing it 'for their sake', sure.
30:00
"He does not accept society for a reason. Because Humans are worth more than just one fourth of the day."
I dont know why this hit so hard with me but it did.
Thank you for that.
Makishima is an example of what Nietzsche called "the Overman". Most people depend on society or something outside in order to give themselves meaning in life. The Overman transcends that and decides to make meaning from himself.
By killing people? Overman is just a psycho..
@@afrosamourai400True
14:22 That part has always been so ironic to me. Sybil did everything in it's power for humans to be oblivious to their darkness all together - exact opposite of confrontation. Carl Jung would roll in his grave at such sight. Had Roichi Oryo seen through the effects system really has on the society, he would probably be just another rebelling, censored artist who feels his work is now needed more than ever before in human history.
It was such a good anime. The writing and pacing was amazing. Most really popular anime seems kinda dumbed down like the viewers don't have the cognitive skills to understand complex topics imo. But this was different in all the right ways
I don't think it's inherently better than series which could be called "popcorn," even though I prefer it. I can't blame anyone for doing what works, but I appreciate that Urobuchi was able to do something different and succeed here
That's a problem I have with most anime that come out nowadays, anime back then dealt with complex topics that made you think, and it took itself seriously (Evangelion is another great example besides Psycho Pass). Nowadays we get "Reborn as a Vending Machine", I don't think I need to elaborate how retarded that is
ProfessorViral you have no idea how much I love your psycho pass series. I hate writing essays and suck at literacy analysing, but I always rewatched your psycho pass video essays and tbh, it helped me alot in my final high school exam. I just got a place in a uni I wanted in psychology last week, and I wanted to thank you!!! I look forward to all your videos including the psycho pass ones!! And I hope you could make one on the 10th anniversary psycho pass movie coming out next year which will bring back season 1 og characters again!!
I used to outright refuse to do literature projects in high school, which is funny considering I now do them for fun. So, I understand haha. But thank you for such a kind honor, and congratulations! Best of luck with psychology, it's a topic very crucial to everything we know and love here 💙
Damn, this one really got me reflecting.
My work shift is 10 hours long.
I work night shifts so the periods between 2pm-6pm. I'm happy.
4 hours.
Something needs to change.
I need to do something
That s what I said to myself. I dont want to waste my life trying to survive with a 9 to 5 or even longer job. It feels like a purgatory and I feel like I need to change something about it. I have my plans for that already happily, I need to put them into practice.
Psycho pass wasn't the same without him. The next villains, kirito kamui and azusawa koichi, could barely fill the role he left.
Remember what Makishima said to Kogami in the last episode, something along the lines of "Will you be able to find a replacement for me?" This also fits for us viewers
YES, FINALLY. Some deep dive content going over PsychoPass
One of my few favorite animes
I have a whole playlist of it too, only 14 videos. I kinda like the anime 😅🤣
Your conclusion hits hard. This was w a y more insightful than I was expecting when I clicked on the video, you've done an incredible job of breaking down all of this. May you be recognized as who you are, and appreciated for more than what you can do.
Thank you thank you. The kind words really do mean so much 💙
We live in a society, batman
I prefer when george costanza said it
@@ProfessorViral Cooooostanza!
I'm so happy UA-cam recommended me this. And I always perceived and analyse psycho pass this much deeply compared to other fans or friends and always struggled to explain it. Thank you sir! I'm a fan now!
I may or may not have a whole playlist on the series 👀 but, thank you very much!
Psycho Pass is probably my favorite anime of all time as I was instantly captivated by it right from the beginning. I found several aspects of the first season absolutely fascinating. One of them were the episodes where they explore Yayoi's past in addition to Rikako's tie to art. The ideas of approved/unapproved expressions of art. How the show's society tried putting regulations on expression based on the likelihood of being able to keep mental health separate from the influence of the self expression. Do you do what freely makes you happy regardless of outside opinions or do you do what makes others happy and gain their approval? Other point that always intrigued me was the fact that SIBYL seemed to apply to all of the country. That there was no point it didn't register a crime coefficient, which means they sentenced children to be criminals even potentially before a crime was committed. This is especially fascinating given how long it takes for children's minds to develop. One of the final points I found so attention grabbing was the absolution in the judgment of SIBYL. The matter of being guilty simply by the potential of being a criminal. Having those members of society wearing a figurative scarlet letter. A more extreme take on "guilty until proven innocent".
Shogo Makashima is one of the coolest villians ever
100%, after this rewatch I love him all over again
Also one of the most unrealistic.
This outro resonated with me so strongly, I find myself getting frustrated with people's assumptions that interest in another human = love automatically. So I find myself actively choosing to not interact in most cases, thus video has me wondering if that is the right approach or not, even if it brings me less stress over all
In my experience, there are many types of people, and not all types are equally prevalent. There are types of people (in terms of how a person things, feels, and tends to see the world) that are rare, and many have a hard time engaging or understanding people like that (partly because those who find that most people are “like me” often underestimate how different one person can be from another).
If it helps, I believe that your perspective and thoughts have great value, make a lot of sense, and are very legitimate. In many ways your remarks resemble some of my own thoughts, and while most find it tiring and troublesome, I believe that there is real value in such questions, and I believe that many will eventually come to appreciate that value.
Granted, that can be less than helpful when they do not in the present.
I do not wish to presume to know you or your experiences, but within my own experiences feeling like “most do not relate to how I feel and see the world,” I found it helpful to learn a form of personality theory, as a way of going “Okay, so this is what’s normal for someone like me, and here’s what’s normal for other personality types, and here’s how to loosely recognize a prominent trait in another person (and potentially identify an underlying pattern that can help me better understand how we compare).”
I definitely feel your views, perspective, and emotions are valid. There is real reason to feel frustrated, and I think it is very kind that you choose to share so much, and with such honesty and candor.
The average person is dull, ignorant to most of the world, and can not comprehend anything beyond what the TV told him.
I often enjoy the intellect and thought behind your videos. Watching them, I feel like I get to have conversations about anime I have watched, conversations I often crave but rarely find others who also wish to discuss in this way (so I end up only engaging my own thoughts).
You do very good work, deep and insightful, and I think your skills are quite impressive. Also, you are quite eloquent.
Thank you for investing so much thought and effort into these videos, and sharing so much of yourself through them.
Ditto.
The passion you show in the last six minutes is what I consider true human nature. Thank you for this.
I really loved the sincerity in this video -
And I encourage everyone to seek, but also explore in this mysterious world, it’s sad that our time is limited and our loves, beliefs and attachments can sometimes make it harder for us to explore more - glad there are more people to pressure us into it in that respect
Only through honest exploration and “sit downs” with ourselves on a regular basis - can we start to figure out where we are relative to others
Don’t worry, no one can take away your honest love, nor your subjective experience
So don’t let that fear stop you from exploring and learning more about yourself
The rules of society are far from right or wrong, they’ll change and shift - just as you change how you govern yourself and how you act with others through your own evolving thoughts
Balance is right there in the middle between your thoughts and the criticism of society
In this post modern world - honest “reflection” is our source of balance and freedom - but we can stay in it for so long that it can almost become our “second life” - some deep moral obligation in all our decisions in this world - so that’s like another balancing act - but it feels like it’s what we’re meant to do as creatures with minds like ours
It almost becomes as essential as breathing, eating and sleeping -
And the farther we move into the future - it feels like the landscape of “reflections to be had” expand along with it
Kin, love and trust, and the need to play a role in society for survival help to keep “everlasting reflection” at bay
The anxiety from being aware of that landscape can feel like a life sentence
Perhaps in the past they only needed to reflect on a carpet length of land, now it feels like a mountain
We’ll try the best we can and try to make something we can honestly appreciate out of the time we afforded with our lives, something we would be proud of reading about it in hundreds of years from now
Hopefully we are all graced and blessed with the opportunity to reflect and know how to balance out “leaving it” and “coming back to it on a regular basis”
You should stop commenting on UA-cam videos.
This was some of the gayest shit I've ever read.
@@disasterdisaster581 your reaction thrills me
It’s incredible
A world where the non-binary accepts a straight man that says he’s straight
Meanwhile, a binary individual gets second thoughts about his fellow straight man who speaks of an open mind
You’ll be surprised by a variety of folks and their perspectives my friend
I wish you peace
Another amazing video and another knew way of looking at society as a whole. Its content like this that make all the annoying youtube adds worth it
Very excellent analysis. There is ONE sticking point I want to give a rebuttal on, though it may not be to everyone's agreement:
On Shogo being forced to be harmful.
I don't see it that way, because to say society is solely responsible for Shogo's harmful actions is to deny his autonomy in said actions. He did harm by his own volition, this cannot be denied. But...what I can say is that the society around him made is substantially easier for Shogo to take those harmful actions in his trying to reach his goals.
So I wouldn't say that in this setting it's "okay to be the villain", but more that it's a case of "when it's understandable to be the villain", since Shogo could have been anyone of us in a similar situation, where making the choices he made was infinitely easier than the alternatives. It doesn't make the harm caused by those actions okay or justifiable...but it definitely shines a damning spotlight on the society that made those actions easy to commit to.
at least, this is how I choose to see it.
Theres been times ive had to play the "bad guy" (mostly just re-enforcing my boundries and refusing the be stolen from and taken advantage of) and it was satisfying finally being able to fight back for once instead of just letting stuff happen to me. Sometimes you need to be the "bad" guy
That's right- you don't need to hear it from us, but rock on!
In you outtro you put something into words that I was unable to put into words. Thank you.
I completely agree with makishima, our lives are worth way more than the 4-5 hours of peace and a solid 8 hours plus of torture. I started a job recently and I feel like that the hours and shifts are not worth what you are getting. You are putting more into the job than the job is doing for you 😭
Agreed. I often find myself angry and frustrated with many of my jobs bc they feel like dead end jobs that are a waste of precious time and i have no idea how to escape it.
@@Celeste-jh2lj sigh right exactly. I hope you find something you want to do or start your own thing.
You aren't entitled to free stuff or a life with no problems.
@@flavorgod Everyone is entitled to a life where they can have every basic need met, alongside physical, mental and financial stability
@@egbertmilton4003 nope
in alot of ways the show is a commentary on japanese culture in general and its tendency to value social cohesion over personal wants and freedoms
Merry Christmas
Same to you!
I see a staggering number of people who see themselves as individuals whom I can only describe as "mundanely special": People whom are unwilling to participate in society except entirely on their terms, even if participation could actively bring about positive change.
For my part, my day job has me come in contact with people who are never afraid to share their opinions on what is wrong with society: There is a constant undercurrent of meritocracy, value as expressed through wealth and status, and isolationist privacy in many of them... while they may not all call themselves special, they all see their view of society as highly individualist and see anyone who doesn't adhere to their values as scammers and degenerates.
Now as far as I can tell, society (even ours now, for its many flaws) has a lot of benefits to the individuals within it that allow them to accomplish things at a scale which would be otherwise impossible (at least within a far shorter span of time) but is structured in a way that forces many individuals both in and out of society's functional ideal to do things that make them unhappy... as a result, they are forced to work for the benefit of others but often only the survival^ of themselves.
The core of the problem, of course, is the way in which society as it currently stands is structured to disproportionately benefit the few to the detriment of the majority... worse yet, while the majority have the numbers to affect whatever changes to the society they could feasibly come up with as a collective, their individual ideals are so fragmented by millions of perspectives for millions of societal issues that getting them to agree upon any of them is a staggering challenge... even if those benefiting above them weren't scheming to manipulate them to their benefit, they may still lack consensus for action.
Perhaps because it's all I've known, but I am so desperately tired of the intrinsically cynical outlook on society: Perhaps I am naive, but I still hold out hope that it could be fixed. All I know is it's impossible to fix something that's broken if you believe there is nothing you can do to fix it.
(^ - Yes it is theoretically possible that you could pack up what little you truly own and go off and live somewhere in the woods, but the amount of knowledge and equipment to do so and survive much less live a life with even a modicum of comfort is considerably high.)
You are taking the steps in realising democracy is collective slavery. “Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what to eat for dinner”- Benjamin Franklin
Society has a cost, the trick is to know how much freedom you are paying. Morality however is just the sales pitch but the thing is, its not everyone who buys it. And boom! You have a criminal. - A dude i met, studying law.
Thought it fitting when i watched Psycho-pass, because even with our own society the reason criminals exist is because they cant align their idea of freedom, with the idea of freedom society created. I know its more nuanced then that irl, still its a weird thought i think Psycho-Pass shows well with Shogo, it being
"Does absolute freewill make you a criminal?" .
i love psycho pass season 1- so good --- one of my all time faves
Still my all time number one, and it'll take a lot for it to lose that spot
Another great video, thanks for the thought you put into this one, it was clearly quite close to you so thank you for trusting us with your truth :)
At the end of the day, humans are not completely logical beings, which is a good thing. Psycho-Pass is a pretty solid example of what happens when a society is founded solely on logic, not taking human emotion & soul into account. Emotion is part of what defines us. It’s an intrinsic part of who we are. Most can’t imagine what it’s like to be void of ALL feelings.
My point being that, our happiness is what we make of it. Simple joys maybe small, but in a world where we only wine about the system what else is there? Makashima makes it pretty clear to me. (No, I do not support his extreme actions. Get a clue.) If you aren’t going to act to change your life, you sit back, be satisfied w/ what you have, & learn to find joy in that.
Error. Humans are not completely logical, but thats a fault on us. If I denied the logic of better not jumping high cliffs, its me who loses.
@@carlgauss1702 Of course logic has its place in humans. We wouldn’t have gotten this far w/o it. But as Tom McCallum once said, “We are feeling creatures that think, not thinking creatures that feel.”
@@TheOddityFair My apologies, I hadnt read the comment in full. Actually I appreciate your worldview. Nevertheless we should strive to be more logical every day. Also, I dont think emotions and logic are at odds. Just logic and a subset of emotions.
Oh this brings back why LOGOS is deemed divine in aspects that preconceive our human uniqueness.
Everyone is owed love, but that love comes from fate at the moment of birth. Parents, siblings, children. These three types of people are ones that should give love and that love should be eternal (at least to the point of death. After that who knows). That doesn't mean excusing or tolerating a person's bad behavior, but in fact calling them out on it because you love that person. True love means tolerating the little differences that might bother you and attempting to help that other person through their worse issues.
It clear from what we see of Masatake he doesn't have any loved ones in his lives. Friends and loved ones are not the same thing. Friends may drift apart. Loved ones do not. Its very rare you get that type of connection from someone outside of blood ties. Usually this is left to eventual spouses, adoptive child/parent relationships, and in rare cases adoptive siblings which usually occur from intense bonding over extreme situations like war. It appears Masatake didn't even have real friends. Complete isolation like that can totally shatter the psyche and can create massive resentment and anger.
This analysis was an excellent presentation. It made me rethink the whole concept and philosophic messages PP left me. Well done for this. Also, if not already I highly recommend you (and everyone who loved the show) to go and watch the extension series.
There must be a bunch of them on youtube (they are not a series them selves). Just better understandings of the characters and more philosophical expansions.
Lastly, please watch the extensions (or series) with tha Japanese voice actors. You are missing so much..Makishima's voice actor also got a reward for his sublime voice acting. I think the extended series is called "Sekai Remastered" and is about 35 min long.
I hate that most of the humanity issues discussed by Makishima didn't appear at all in Season 2 and 3.
They were swept under the rug in season 2 and 3 under the pretext that
"t-the humanity is not ready!"
"j-just give sybil 500 more years it''ll be good!!"
I always rooted for Shogo Makishima to win, now I know why: he was, quite simply put, correct.
The society presented in the anime is a horrible dystopian hellhole I consider to be worse then universes such as warhammer 40K, the motive is simple: stagnation.
The society of future Japan presented in psycho-pass is limiting to its most horrible extent: the first side villain you presented wanted to feel loved and validated so he went into online communities but this isn’t because he simply loved online community’s…it’s because he didn’t felt validated and loved anywhere else because the Sybil system does not need love and genuine care, after all how can you have any form of true relationship be it friendly/brotherly love or romantic love if no one here can actually be their true self? Relationships are built on trust and trust is built on honesty, the Sybil system prevents honesty by punishing any behavior that goes out of the way so the only choices someone have are to live a lie within it or to go to extremes and condemn one self to punishment or at least marginalization.
Such a society is disgusting and death is certainly preferable to living in it.
I think it's more like, his conclusion was correct, as was his desire for validation. but HOW he went about it is, ironically, what made it necessary for him deserve to lose.
Quite a tragic villain in a way. the society around him made it easy for him to do what he did, and ultimately his means (rather, how far he took it) ultimately doomed him to be heard less.
as for true selves...well. That's far more complex. By denying people the chance to confront, accept and overcome their own darkness, Sybil made sure everyone was too busy holding tight to their masks so that they could survive in the system it created.
I didn't want Shogo to win...but I did want his message and meanings to be heard.
@@TheDJman248 I believe that when a society becomes so oppressive to a point where it hinders human character and development, said society should be destroyed or reformed, that's what we are walking towards anyways
@@jonhstonk7998 Yes, but the means by which said society is reformed or destroyed can and should be judged accordingly as well. There's more than a few moments where Shogo most certainly did NOT have to do what he did. Yuki's death and the sadistic way it happened was not necessary, since she most certainly did NOT contribute to how that society is nor would I say that it was deserved in any way or excusable.
@@TheDJman248 that is fair but you can't blame someone for taking drastic and desperate action against a system that offers you few alternatives, i believe that the destruction of such society´s are preferable to their reformation as reformations rarely succeed
Nah. Sibyl was not ideal by any means, but to think Shougos way was the only alternative is **** naive. With his superior will he could have gotten an edge without having to full blow everything. He could have a comforting isolation where no one would bother him. But no, he wanted it all. He lived a lower lifespan than the average man, how successful. Lets be generous and concede his life was more 'entertaining' but I would also chllnge that.
I never noticed the johnny mnemonic reverence but i cannot unseen it and i am that much more glad for it!!!
I just watched psycho pass and this anime is definitely worth watching! Amazing story/characters!
The interting is that makashima absolutely is a monster, and all th acts of sensless cruelty he does , are horrid,
But his final plan, is actually, as much coleteral was, probably a good way to shake things enough people have the ability to reclaim their agency and get rid of the sybil system. Its actually not senseless cruel or sadistic, just amoral but argumently justified. That is very interesting. Becaue prior, he is more a monstr enabld by sybil, but here, he has a decent plan that is morally, interesting. The loss of humanity under civil and victims vs causalities. And personally, yeah it can go terribly wrong but its probably worth it. argumently. Through ther should be a better way but for a society to change, a bit chaos and collateral, is probably inevitable. So, i cant ay he is wrong, notr akane, through she i too idealistic.
And makashima i more complex, he wants to feel , and h proaly has no reason to care about human life, but that makes him enable monster like sybil enabled him. He just, also is right that sybil has to e fought and sacrifices, are proably nessesary. Though he could probable with akanes help directly go there, maybe.
What makes me most memorable parts is the music. Music that cant exist , expression that cant exist (and i know some consorship, can exit, but it has to really jutify itself, like natsee rhetoric, that is fair) but art has to be able to exist if its literally just expression o being human, the good, the ugly, and the conflicting. and the subversive.
Definitely not worth it. He is absolutely wrong.
Except the issue is since there is no formal sense of rebellion in the society all that would happen would be society collapses, and we see that it took very little to shake the foundations of that society. Destroying the food supply would destroy sybil but it could very likely cause the rest of the society to collapse as well.
@@thesun5275 Fair! It could happen someho tht ociey has to be rebuild, and makashima isnt really having any plans or preperations to have any kind of how to hav a formation of constructive ideas.
But thats hy he is th villain, and intereting that he has a right idea badly executed if that were for society. And is selfish ultimately.
I gues thats anothe villain has right idea but overlooked actually having something to prepare people to rebuild. That maks him till wrong, i jut find it intereting that neither akane or him have the full solution, like akane woul probably able to add that element. A moral person that could put up a rebellion and ,
maybe i am overthinking but both have elements to have a rebellion suced, pragmatim and unwavering ideals that are humaniterian.
@@thesun5275 good. Only way to fix things.
Yes enjoying or trying to understand people is great and I definitely I try to even if it's not romantic. People are interesting and dumb but that's life. The way someone is doing something to consider the logic is a great past time
In a society of alienation showing a depth of interest in a person is an uncommon thing normally only considered something you should do with close friends and romantic partners. People and life itself are fascinating, however we are pressured into not engaging too much with our own existence. Just try to be clear with the people in your life when they misinterpret you.
Спасибо большое за видео! Сейчас пересматриваю первый сезон, и так круто что сериал дает пищу для размышления всегда..
No problem, happy to expand on the series' food for thought here!
That deep I do sometimes just look at people at a mall thinking who are they and what there story or reason why there at the mall. Good video and made me think a bit Thxs
its crazy to finally relate to someone around 34:00 part i get the same situation it sucks people dont understand what you said in real life cause i can relate especially when people being interesting but without needing to be attracted to someone
We're so fearful of death, that we're afraid to live, by ourselves choosing meaningfulness above all else.
Makishima was kinda right.
In order to really realize a better society we must accept the fact that humans have also a dark side, and they have to accept that side too.
It's the same dycothomy of Star Wars: in a galaxy full of Jedi that rules it, a kid is born by the Force to brings balance.
What kind of balance they wanted in a universe without evil side but all bright and good?
It was obvious that the kid would have become the greatest Sith of the time. For many mediocre Jedi, there must be an equal number of mediocre Sith... or just a few number of extremely powerful Sith lords. To balance the power of light, of good.
Otherwise there will be no equilibrium.
This internal struggle between our two sides is often portrait in many films, TV series, operas, theatrical dramas etc.
We all knows what comes from losing our own equilibrium. Ruin, chaos, defeat, mystery, death.
In this sense, a certain dose of evil is considered "necessary" to maintain the equilibrium.
That's for example why people uses to tell other people that they have to be more worried about their own conditions and carry only about themselves.
never heard of this anime before, but just the permise alone sells me.
If I wasn't already radicalized enough by our society this video would have put me over that edge. My hue has never been clear, but man it's getting darker by the day.
I like to think I'm one of the main characters, but I'm really just Saiga. Worsening hues as I speak haha
Agreed. My hue was never clear and just gets worse
Same my hue wouldn't be clear in the slightest. I would be like kogami I would see the flaws in the system and how it needs to be stopped . Makshima to me was a anti hero he did things in morally wrong ways however he wasn't wrong in what he was trying to accomplish kogami realized that as would have I. Akane to me is a willful pawn is why I think to me at least is the weakest character. She's a example to me of a result of the control over freedom. And if I found out what sybil was most people would and rightly so destroy it utterly and completely. She too me isn't a hero She is more of a tool who lacks any moral of hero own simply keeping the status the same. I see her as the pyscho in the title .
11/10, love you and your content, It is fun to actual slightly abnormal just to get peoples attention, to make them question what is.
Finally an in depth analysis of one of my favorite villains oat and from you specifically
this rant was fire
Thank you 🙏
Happy Holidays 🎉 Psycho Pass is awesome! Thanks for rhe video Viral 😄
Greatest series ever 😎 and no problem at all!
You have piqued my interest, so I'll be checking out more of your videos!
Psycho pass is underrated. And underanalyzed. This video is great.
Hey, I'll always keep dipping back to it. Thanks!
Happy holidays gang, here's to another year of Viral and existential crisis 🍻
I really want to do a detective like way drawing lines to life and anime. They all have a layer that connects to real life. Do a few clips of psycho pass(a collective of evil controlling common folks turning them into zombies a mix of augmentation, corription, high ranked individuals controlled, and fals information. Also to add the book makishima shows 1984 talks on totalitarianism), and babylon (suicide/drugs for suicide. A real world thing)
tl;dr - I love this video. It puts a lot of my thoughts and feelings into words in a much more organized fashion than this comment, but I've still done my best here to respond with thoughts I feel are relevant. Keep in mind that I'm still working my way toward my own answers. Solutions don't just appear out of thin air. It takes effort to develop them and get there and I'm fully prepared to seek out a healthy solution that takes me to a far better future than I can imagine now. I'm getting tired of even my own perspective being forced into a limited, narrow scope of what is or isn't realistic. In human society, humans define what's realistic. Humans make human society, after all, not the laws of physics, so I want to challenge my own negative biases as much as other ones. This being said, what's realistic is still limited by the people around me and what they're willing to do and my limitations as simply one individual. My current goal is to do something about how I feel as I bring up these thoughts. All thoughts have value to be acknowledged, not just the good ones.
I'm not like most people. This is okay and society shouldn't view people like me as deadweight with nothing to contribute. I need resources and extra support that most people don't require, but that doesn't mean I'm useless and can do nothing for myself. It doesn't mean I cannot offer humanity something of meaning and justifiably receive monetary compensation in response. All it means is what I offer is different and that's still worth acknowledgment. I don't feel valued in modern society. I feel like society views me as collateral damage in a system I already feel is beginning to collapse. I'm not trying to fear monger anyone. I'm just trying to express what I see and how I feel. This doesn't mean I'm right. Things can and should get better. Fight for a better future for all of us. It's possible if we all come together instead of being divided by meaningless headlines.
This video reminds me of who I am but not in the sense that I'm a villain. It's more that I cannot fake who I am and I'm not able to develop what isn't me. You can't make me into something "socially acceptable." I'm not hurting people, what I want isn't unreasonable, and being different isn't inherently wrong by itself. I just want to pursue what makes me happy within the constraints of a structured society. I understand there must be laws and rules. There must be some form of governance or humans are going to be stupid, but I cannot destroy myself to live. If people try to force this on me, I will simply cease to be capable of survival altogether.
In a society where I don't fit in, I shouldn't look at the average person the same way I look at myself. I do. Even though people are doing what's expected, that doesn't mean they get what they're told they should have. Instead, society is destroying itself day-by-day in a system that no longer works or perhaps, arguably, never did. The defined standard I am supposed to meet doesn't even work for the people that can live by those standards. So, if I try to live like that, what happens to me? I cease to be capable of survival.
If it doesn't harm people, why are we forcing them to live a life of utter misery? There's a difference between work and self-destruction. When society tells you everything you are is wrong, of course self-destruction becomes an innate quality you possess. I'm not saying I'm not doing anything to improve my situation. I'm saying the system by nature is going to prevent its solutions from helping me at some point in the future and I cannot simply change myself to fix that. It's not my place to fix anything, except myself to the extent it's realistic.
However, what I see when I step outside isn't exclusively on my end. I lack resources, support, and I lack stability. There is no way to help me given the way society is now. In the future, when I am expected to adjust and be proper, you can't tell me to avoid this or that when the very problem is society itself strips me of all hope that I can live. Once you take away what little I have left, nothing I say will be able to convince society that I've tried it all, but I can't be anything other than who I am.
Either I am able to succeed doing things that are part of who I am as a person or I die. This isn't a choice. It's a matter of life and death. Very few people are trapped in the same way I am, but I can guarantee almost everyone is trapped in some form. When I say I cannot do this or that, I want to be trusted. When I'm at my limit, I want to be believed and validated. When I say I want to act the way I should, I want the resources and support to keep me there. Instead, all I see is a future where society itself becomes my ultimate demise.
This is a response to the video, but these are thoughts I've had for awhile now. It just so happens these thoughts are relevant to the discussion. It's a depressing thought as well. I'm doing all the right things, but I can only conclude there is a day where I snap and break and society shrugs like I'm just being dramatic. I've shown the capability to do things for myself when I have the flexibility, freedom, resources, and social support.
I'm not deadweight. There are things I can contribute to society, but the more I think about it, the more I really do have to be the exception to the rule if I am to survive. I'm not sure I can be the exception. I'm told on repeat that I simply am not, but how would people know? I'm forced into a lifestyle that ultimately doesn't support me in a way that allows me to demonstrate that I have value. I'm just different and this doesn't have to be demonized. I'm not hurting anyone and I don't want to get hurt.
Even though I am different and I may be capable of some great things, I cannot change the structure of modern society. This would be a foolish thing to attempt, but in the coming decades, I won't be the only person to suffer from thoughts like this and the system has already failed countless others before me and it's currently failing people in worse situations than me. In fact, it's failing someone living in my household, not just me.
I'm able to survive in a functional society and cannot take risks with my mental health within a society that doesn't care about it. So, even if I attempted vocational rehab or something related, the risk that I won't be able to remain stable is far too high to be acceptable. Although the same consequences could occur by pursuing my dreams, making use of my natural skill set increases the chances of survival and long-term success, not destroying my sanity to develop skills for a job that doesn't guarantee me affordable permanent, consistent, lasting healthcare. My therapist has already heard the contents of this comment and no therapist can repair damages done to a person by the system itself rather than personal issues. Therapists aren't trained to fix societal problems. So, even though I've talked about this in therapy, my therapist can't necessarily help me do anything about it beyond a shift in my perspective, which alone isn't enough. The problem is bigger than my mind.
I haven't watch the video because I haven't already watched psycho pass (and I want to watch it) but I know that the scenarist of psycho pass is gen orobuchi (gen orobutcher) the guy who made a lot of Amazing famous animes like black lagoon, fate zero and Puella Magi Madoka Magica, he's known to do very dark animes, in Madoka Magica, the antagonist is also a moral antagonist, I find it funny to see there are some similarities between gen orobutcher's anime
Commenting for the algorithm! :)
Thank you as always! 😁😁
Thank you thank you thank you for this video
Thank you
(!Warning! Unfiltered stream of consciousness ahead. Just FYI.)
Well that's the thing: Everyone wants to be special and unique but no one is. No one deserves anything, neither happiness nor sadness. There is no greater purpose or a reason for why we exist, no point for why we are here besides the fact that we are. Consciousness evolved on a chance because those better at communicating and understanding others around them had a bigger chance to have a offspring. There is no choice to be born and there's even less in choosing what to do with our life's since looks, intelligence highly are genetically dependent and personality is half genetics, quarter environment in which one lives and quarter upbringing. A person is mostly developed before the are truly aware and independent enough to make their own choices. A human exists simply because they exist, because all living organisms have instincts that drive them to continue existence and nothing more. We are one day born, exist for a bit then we die, we are because we are. That's about it.
Knew this would be dope from the intro
I haven't watched this anim'e but it's funny how this world punishes empathy with its system it works by deciding a person's guilt on there feelings of guilt thurs empathic people would suffer unfairly under this system since they feel for other people as well.
Psycho-pass is goated
The villains in psycho pass had good motivations, they were villains because of the people who were hurt and died due to their actions.
Sybil was the greatest evil in the show, far worse than any of the human villains.
You would be surprised how the regular human resembles sybil more than he is willing to admit.
I wish the show had ended on season one. It was so good but the moment they thought they could milk the series and replace makishima was when it went downhill
at min 6:40 i would guess that rehabilitation is deemed to fail if the recipiant doesnt see the wrong in this ways or thinking which is amplified by a system that runs on preventing crime in the first place. rehabilitation from (percived) innocence is punishment in itself even with a total focus on rehab it likely that the receivers of this meassure would still stay in rehab since its pretty hard to fool a system that comes close to read your mind. you may consider to play along but when the system knows you dont belief in wrong i would guess you stay a latent criminal in their opinion.
Hello there! What's the name of the music used in the background at the beginning of the video?
Great video as always
Thanks!
Honestly I never TRULY understood the show to its extent, but when I finished it
I felt empty
Like the villains had some mad good points although fucked up, but so did the heros
These videos are amazing
given the nuance your videos look at, i’d love to know your thoughts on the monster anime/manga if you see this
Follow the non-aggression principle. If your free will is impeded beyond the scope of that principle, be an army of your own and fight for your right to be who you are. That has always been my take on this conundrum.
Society might be justified in trying to subjugate you in order for the masses to live the lives they want to live, but so to are you equally justified in jeprodizing the happiness of society in order to live the life you want to live. Just be wary that you will usually lose; there is, though, something noble to being a martyr for your own free will.
As for Makashima he did commit unambiguously evil deeds along his route to martyrdom-put simply he violated the non-aggression principle-and he should have to answer for that, but the ends he sought were noble and were the right ones in my eyes.
I like that a lot, explaining the right to fight for who we are, but recognizing the costs and adding a restriction thats justified for society's sake. Thank you, I'll have to look into that more!
@@ProfessorViralAs long as I'm not hurting you, taking from you, trapping you, I can do whatever I want, and vice versa. But what happens when what we each want is still mutually exclusive?
I think a common answer to that question is "whoever has the most people agree with them is morally in the right to have it their way." But personally, I think it's a mistake to extrapolate an objective political process like democracy out to general morality.
There doesn't always have to be a right answer to who should have it their way. Sometimes you just have to accept that the two sides may have to duke things out for what they believe in with neither being the bad guy. Sometimes that might even be one guy versus society at large. As long as he is ready to accept the consequences, I cannot resent him.
I want to congratulate you man. You formulated it better than I did.
Wait no, only the first paragraph was well formulated. The last one wasnt.
@@carlgauss1702 what was wrong with the last one?
Ok, so I'm going to challenge two things from the video. One kinda small, one pretty big.
The first is your use of the term "Happy" with regard to the people that are latent criminals because I don't think it's someone you can say on principle when the happiness of some latent criminals is "Just getting to play music about how society is stupid" and then you have whatever flavour of human torment heading towards Hannibal Lector. I'd use personal satisfaction or personal enjoyment, call it a nitpick. I'm not calling you out or saying you're justifying anything terrible, pure linguistic stuff that I would say is worth considering.
The second would have to do with your view of Makashima. His issue is a life long one starting with him realising the SYBIL system can't see him. He always felt snubbed by this and developed a general disgust for the society for denying him a place. Since he is as meticulous and thoughtful as we see he would have started digging into what gets a person seen and acknowledged. There would have been a series of escalations from petty things to violence, premeditated violence and eventually murder to test when he would get seen. Since you can just get you psycho-pass run and see your results he would have known that the whole system was flawed because the demanded homogeneous structures on people were incapable of dealing with him. A lot of his talk of free will is just him spreading grains of truth to justify his goal of upending everything with no regard for the consequences because he knows he will be fine since he will be well prepared in advance. He can talk the talk but he's kind of toolbox edgelord at the same time.
Psycho-pass really is something special. If this story was made by Hollywood our protagonists would be rebels and before end credits female and male lead would kiss against the background of Sybil blowing up in a huge explosion. Actual psycho-pass is a bit more interesting than that, is it not?
It's basically a reversal, story presented from the POV of who we would think be villains, except they are given plausible motivations so we would not be immediately sick of them and the actual antagonist has to commit some senseless acts of cruelty so viewer would not root for him too much.
It might actually be that writers of the story did not intend it this way - Asian countries have more acceptance of collectivism and might genuinely consider if something like Sybil can be worth it but for me the conclusion that I reach more confidently with every re-watch is this - burn it all down, Sybil doesn't deserve to exist. Akane's way is hardly justifiable either - she seeks reform but it's not obvious that it's anything other than cowardice and desire to avoid conflict. Besides, I would say that the temptation to respond tyranny of such extent with anything other than defiance is damning by itself. We might consider it from deontological grounds - if there's enough people who are ready to respond to tyranny uncompromisingly no matter what then tyranny will simply never take hold. Though I think rebelling is worth it even individually, no matter the hopelessness of it. Is it not less than human to live like this? We are not going to live forever anyway and neither will anything we build so I would say that civil war, post-apocalyptical wasteland, or even extinction beats whatever the hell Cybil is.
Ahh wish all other season were as good as first one but sadly thats not the case
Same here. I actually wish they hadn't made more, I think the ending of season one was perfect for what it was saying
Oh hey, it's my favorite anime
I came for Psycho Pass but stayed for Pittsburgh footage.
gotta represent
4:40 ain't that Saul Goodman 😨
I fucking loved makishima first time I've rooted for the bad guy
It's hard for me to connect to this video. It's not saying it's good or bad, just I can't really make a judgment because of my own ethical framework. (but commenting to feed the algo.)
As for "special".... If everyone's special, nobody's special as the old chestnut goes.
The problem with the villians here and the characters in cyberpunk is in in assuming they were special, but they really aren't.
In psycho pass, the villians just got chucked into the vat and made into part of the sybil system, and become part of the system they resisted.
in cyberpunk, David assumed he was special, but wasn't. (I believe in your video you even went as far as to say he was made to feel special even though he wasn't).
The protagonist in psycho pass was the actual special one, and the system acknowledged it. In Cyberpunk, they all admired Adam Smasher, and in the end, David was SEVERELY outclassed by him.
It's an old point. THere was an episode of GITS:SAC that featured a guy who had a low position but daydreamed of being a terrorist and was visited by the Major.
there was 2 years ago a mech anime on Netflix that was basically a kid getting a mech that could influence time, and the more he used it, the more he screwed up the future.
being the villian isn't ok, unless you really truly are able to justify the means. Paul Atreidies in Dune, for example: The people who are horrible, they know what they do is horrible, and yet it's humanity saving (in the context of the story).
And special... special isn't a good thing. It means being the thing society despises or the thing society consumes. The Ubermensch doesn't have a good ending.
This is a great comment on how Japanese are always ready to give up their individual freedom for the collective. Although I also don't agree with extreme individualistic views like the Americans' in general, I'm far more against how things are in Japan.
Consciously maintaining the illusion of perfection within a society even when one knows it is untrue for the sake of day to day civility has it roots in the "noble lie" from Plato's "Republic". This original noble lie was that some people were simp!y born better qualified to lead by having a purer soul that the others. This intertwining of inherent supremacy validating one group to rule over others is the poison seed within the roots of society as we know it. Be it intellectual capacity, racial ethnicity, religious beliefs, philosophical beliefs or simply being born into wealth, there is this core subconsciously enforced belief that one group deserves to rule over others and resistance to that rule is unnatural and blasphemous. Psycho-Pass and other science fiction systems simply allows technology and the ones who program it to be added to that list of "superior beings".
Well, not so much fiction now given the social credit system of China which is meant to deny or grant access to resources depending on how good a citizen is to the state via constant electronic surveillance of their actions.
I watched psycho pass back in high school and the conclusion was that sybil eroded the human soul, what can be labeled as latent criminal to me screams opportunity to grow as a person.
Eventually stress will fade much like our emotion swings from time to time.
There is no way that technology even as advanced as sybil can measure human potential.
Also i liked Shogo's last attempt to make sybil obsolete by trying to force open japan to the international world to put sybil into international scrutiny
I think growth is a good perspective on it. Growth is a positive thing, but also dangerous. It requires society to shift and change, adapting to new and better people. Sibyl, as a figure of authority first or foremost, would hate growth for that. Happiness in stagnation is their ideal of society. So, I think there is a lot to be said on what you mention for sure
@@ProfessorViral what was that Benjamin Fraklin quote?
"he who traded liberty for security deserved neither."
that's basically my basis on that, just linked it with personal growth as a concept
Keep in mind that not all latent criminals are as shown like the loon house after all Kougami and particularly Tomomi is just your daily active dudes doing things in their spare time and you can never forget Professor Saiga. Stress is a part of the wheel of life after all at one time we can be stressed AF for even the tiniest of things and another time we are so calm and composed to the point of terrorist vs police shootings IRL does not even faze you at all while you eat your meatballs (yes this actually happened IRL)
its definitely not a flawless system however its quite effective to keep everything in check, *its all for the greater good*
as we can see crimes have been decreasing exponentially, due to the sybil system. one or two flaws are inevitable, lets simply install the patch later on.
plain and simple
@@aiya5777 The edgelords will never get it.
"There is no way technology even as advanced as sibyl can measure human potential" You talk as if human potential was infinite.
it seems a lot of these characters are set up to extremes of character and also to the stealing of others possessions, be it life or attention; fulfilling their gluttonous lusts with having a vain glory in doing so, thinking they can eat their cake and have it too. so a villain is an extreme... a being not temperate in his actions. one who has lost the ability to control? no, that's a monster... a villain knows, and does it anyway of free will, not bound but free in a twisted form. though the 'noble lie' of Psycho-Pass's society is the most villainous.... because they won their perverted wish.
Hope you have a great day & Safe Travels!
Your t-shirt is awesome
Well I'll say it. This vid was very insightful, balanced and well researched, then went a little school shooterish at the end, can I just say. My man, please you are not an anime villain, please get that ego in check, love ya buddy. 🤟🤙
Makishima's reasoning is just as evil as his Methods, and it has nothing how "Extreme" or not he is. Makishima has no interest in the objections to the Cybil System that the audience had established by episode 1, no much of his exposition in the finale implies he thinks the Sybil actually does work as intended. I am highly suspicious of any would be Revolutionary who's objection to the Status Quo is even partly explained by finding it Boring.
hell yeah. The guy was just enamored with the worst emotions, thats all. No need to suppress them all the time, no need to express them all the time.
Me: *starts watching Psycho Pass*
UA-cam: here's a video which explains the anime that you're watching right now, we're totally not spying on you btw.
Sybils just looking out for you. A lot. Closely.
Happy holidays. Hopefully you get around to Mob Psycho, this season, especially the Mob arch that's going.on.
Great analysis on Psycho Pass and giving me some new perspectives on the show.
my favourite part is that sybill was right, Kogami was more of a liability than he was a useful part of society, killed off one of there most valuable little resources
I love Kogami, but I think many people ignore that he really was selfish. Not in trying to be free, but in going against the person who's will he specifically said would make a better society in Akane. He was doing something wrong and knew it, but did it anyway. But that kind of grey character is what makes it an anime you can write 10+ essays on
@@ProfessorViral not the best trait someone can have, but it's definitely an interesting one, not exactly a bad one either
Sorry my guy, 3 minutes in and I had to stop watching... You baited me into watching the anime in that short time and now I don't want spoilers lmao
I hope you came back to watch the video after!
Hidako could draw well, but she lacked the true soul of an artist. Like the Joker said, its not about the money, its the message.
Thank you for making this video, a friend tried to show me psycho pass, and although the idea of it sounded interesting, the goreporn gun was too much for me, and i couldnt bear to watch the show.
Okay ProfViral, did you intentionally use what sounds like a rendition of Seether's Save Today for the background music? Or was it just a fitting audio track?
Also, I truly love your rants as a sign off, this one really hit home.
That would be entirely incidental haha. But thank you, the rants sometimes just take over, so I am glad they tend to work 💙
What's the track at the end of the video? It's speaking to me.
This is one of the few works of fiction where I root for the villains without even the slightest hesitation. I'm generally not a particularly causey person, but in if I lived in this world I'd be a terrorist.
Not a chance, man. You already there and dont realize.