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REVIEW: Psycho-Pass Season One Blu-Ray


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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 12:29 pm Reply with quote
I haven't seen Blade Runner before but I thought this review summed it up pretty well. GITS is one of my favorite franchise so I'm glad the show had some similarities. I also noticed a similarity involving the style of the series relating to Minority Report. (as for that movie's Pre-Cog system and Free Will themes)

Anyways, I'll look forward to season 2 this Fall. Will probably pass on the edit version this summer though.
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jmfsilenthill



Joined: 31 Aug 2009
Posts: 1863
Location: Chinese cartoons are srs biz
PostPosted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 12:50 pm Reply with quote
Why does a wooden, passable dub get an A-?
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 12:55 pm Reply with quote
The first episode is really bad, especially the info-dumping explanatory dialogue. And if Akane is fresh out of the academy then why does she have to be told everything again on the job? She already should know what her job entails, but she acts like someone pulled off the street with no knowledge of anything.

And Akane starts out too passive and blank, and only gets good in the second half. I know she has to start out weak so she can get stronger later on, but she still could have been interesting right from the get-go. I would have liked to have seen more of her backstory, more of what made a woman who could have done anything she liked choose to go into such a difficult, dangerous and ill-regarded career. And her childhood could have been covered, which would have been a good way to show us how she was so different to other kids plus how the society affected, moulded and controlled its children.
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RestLessone



Joined: 02 Aug 2009
Posts: 1426
Location: New York
PostPosted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 12:59 pm Reply with quote
Yeah, I don't like the dub very much. Most of the side characters are fine, but Kogami in particular is rather wooden. To each their own, I guess.

I enjoyed Psycho-Pass and wait in anticipation for the next season. Some questionable plot details aside, I really appreciated each character's individual arc. Though, as I mentioned in the Shelf Life talkback, spoiler[I do think Kagari got snubbed in this department, and unfortunately he has no opportunity to become a stronger character now. Perhaps we'll get another 'raised by government' character next season to explore that angle.] I also would have preferred the isolated Japan point to be played up a bit; how long did it take for them to make it clear? spoiler[Sounds like something that should have been subtly present since the beginning, just for the fact that it is somewhat important to the finale.] Overall, though, my critiques are relatively minor.

Edit:
Oh, yeah, and I was bothered by the info-dumping in the first episode. They could've explained the system without having Akane be completely clueless about it. It's like she didn't even attend the academy...
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor


Joined: 05 Jan 2002
Posts: 7912
Location: Anime News Network Technodrome
PostPosted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 1:10 pm Reply with quote
jmfsilenthill wrote:
Why does a wooden, passable dub get an A-?


That score is for the show dubbed, not the dub itself.

Yes, I know it's confusing.
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mdo7



Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 6248
Location: Katy, Texas, USA
PostPosted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 1:13 pm Reply with quote
Zac wrote:
jmfsilenthill wrote:
Why does a wooden, passable dub get an A-?


That score is for the show dubbed, not the dub itself.

Yes, I know it's confusing.


Thanks for the clarification, Zac. Smile
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Trypticon



Joined: 25 May 2013
Posts: 80
Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
PostPosted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 1:20 pm Reply with quote
I watched this anime last week and the best way I can sum up my thoughts; it’s the Sci-Fi anime I’ve been waiting for. I wrote my thoughts of it on the Funimation Forum, what I got and how I interpreted everything. I see a lot of similarities to Blade Runner cosmetically and with the lead male characters, but I also see these commonalities with movies like Equilibrium, Minority Report and of course 1984.

I talked in great detail about the characters there along with the themes and ideas I felt were conveyed on this series, but I do want to talk a bit about Akane here. I thought her character arc is an example of brilliant writing; she starts off passive and unaware about the job she’s undertaken. This writing trick gives the viewer a first person perspective vicariously through Akane of how things work in their society from the details of being a detective, to what sort of neat technological advances they have; which serve to continuously foreshadow coming events later in the series.

The gradual process she undergoes in her development as a character is masterfully done. I particularly found the scene where she takes the wheel in the car and starts driving on her own to be her transition point along with having other important implications.

Lastly, some of the references; of course the villain reading 1984, but I liked the 2112 reference which is a Rush concept album about a dystopian socity.


Last edited by Trypticon on Tue Apr 29, 2014 1:21 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Knight-Hart



Joined: 27 Mar 2014
Posts: 266
PostPosted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 1:20 pm Reply with quote
I thought the dub itself was pretty good, though.
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Redcrimson



Joined: 30 Mar 2013
Posts: 160
PostPosted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 1:27 pm Reply with quote
Well, will ya look at that. I got my wish from the Fate/Zero thread! Should I go for broke and ask for a Gargantia review too?

It doesn't bother me in the slightest how blatantly Psycho-Pass borrows ideas from other works. If you're going to take pages out of other people's books, they might as well be some of the best books ever written.

On the subject of the dub: at the very least, I think Ginoza is easily Josh Grelle's best role to date. Awkward script anomalies aside, I felt like he really nailed the character.


Last edited by Redcrimson on Tue Apr 29, 2014 1:30 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Marzan



Joined: 29 Mar 2009
Posts: 514
PostPosted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 1:27 pm Reply with quote
Anyone know how this did in Japan saleswise? It cannot have been too bad if it can merit a second season.
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normajean19



Joined: 14 Dec 2013
Posts: 81
PostPosted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 1:30 pm Reply with quote
Stark700 wrote:
I haven't seen Blade Runner before but I thought this review summed it up pretty well.

If you like Psycho-pass you have to see Blade Runner! Its an incredibly influential science fiction film.

Really good review. I can't wait to watch it again on blu-ray. Hopefully I'll be able to get more out of the story when I watch it in English.
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Barbobot



Joined: 06 Feb 2007
Posts: 460
PostPosted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 1:59 pm Reply with quote
Redcrimson wrote:

On the subject of the dub: at the very least, I think Ginoza is easily Josh Grelle's best role to date. Awkward script anomalies aside, I felt like he really nailed the character.


Him and Alex Organ's Shougo were excellent in the dub. But I also thought the majority of the performances were great and didn't really end up noticing much of the awkward pauses, though I'm sure now if I go back to the show I'd notice them since they are in my mind. The dub was also my first and only experience with the show as I never watched any of it till I got my blu-rays. Tried the first episode dubbed and subbed and decided to stick with the dub the whole way through.
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sainta



Joined: 21 Feb 2011
Posts: 989
PostPosted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 4:03 pm Reply with quote
Psycho Pass made me watch Blade Runner and Minority Report. I could tell the similarities but I didn't enjoy much of the former for some reason. Maybe it didn't age well. Anyway, I will watch more western films.
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unready



Joined: 07 Jun 2009
Posts: 398
Location: Illinois, USA
PostPosted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 4:23 pm Reply with quote
normajean19 wrote:
Stark700 wrote:
I haven't seen Blade Runner before but I thought this review summed it up pretty well.

If you like Psycho-pass you have to see Blade Runner! Its an incredibly influential science fiction film.

Blade Runner pretty much started the PK Dick craze. If you see the movie today, the ending is different (more downbeat) from when it was released. I've got the super-deluxe incredibly-special-edition of the DVD, and it doesn't even include the original theatrical ending as a bonus feature or anything. Apparently that's just how much Ridley Scott hated it.

For people who know nothing about Dick, I suggest not reading any biographical info on him until after you've seen movies based on his stories.

The biggest ones are:
Blade Runner
Total Recall
Imposter
Minority Report
Paycheck
A Scanner Darkly


People who hated Flowers of Evil may not like A Scanner Darkly, since most of what they hated seemed to me to be the rotoscoping. (I'm not trying to start another flame war over Flowers or Evil here, so move along, move along.)
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danilo07



Joined: 25 Dec 2011
Posts: 1580
PostPosted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 4:33 pm Reply with quote
sainta wrote:
Psycho Pass made me watch Blade Runner and Minority Report. I could tell the similarities but I didn't enjoy much of the former for some reason. Maybe it didn't age well. Anyway, I will watch more western films.

Blade Runner has aged spectacularly well in my opinion.To this day the aesthetics of that film look beautiful.And yes that movie was really influential on anime scene .I remember reading an interview with Oshii in which he said that he watched Blade Runner 30 times.
Quote:

The biggest ones are:
Blade Runner
Total Recall
Imposter
Minority Report
Paycheck
A Scanner Darkly

I wouldn't recommend seeing Imposter and Paycheck.
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