Why You Should: Psycho-Pass

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The best content is the kind of content that not only makes us think about the world around us but content that actively questions our societal foundations and makes us remark upon that questioning. It's not enough to point out the issues (police brutality, capitalism, the automation of everything, etc.) because anyone can say "Thing bad" but it takes real skill and dedication to commentary to force people to engage in commentary about your commentary itself yet, Psycho-Pass does this perfectly. The first season of Psycho-Pass is hands down some of the best action-thriller suspense content I've ever seen across any medium or genre. Every episode builds suspense in an increasingly intense way until the final episode of season 1 gives you the perfect catharsis needed after all of the buildup. However, as with all really good anime, the exploration of it's specific themes are what truly shines in this anime.

Without spoiling it, Psycho-pass is mostly an exploration of what our society might look like without stress or the threat of crime. In a similar vein to Minority Report (2004), the world of Psycho-Pass eliminates these very natural and commonplace societal aspects and then asks us, "Is this really something you would want?". While the answer, at least from a 2019 United States point of view, may be a resounding, "Yes, girl wtf!", this anime robs you of that. By the end of season 1 you are nowhere near close to figuring out the answer but because the question has been presented to you in a captivating way, you're not done asking yourself either. Psycho-pass even expands into the emotional result of a society that has taken .... CERTAIN MEASURES.... towards zero crime or stress and the interrogation of your own emotional range and its consequences will leave you spinning, but in the best possible way. Many anime and most western shows are downright afraid of making their audience interrogate that much about their world and themselves but Psycho-Pass refuses to shy away from these questions and feelings. I wouldn't recommend a binge of this show AT ALL only because you might fry your brain but definitely watch this at a reasonable pace. You may even want to take notes, too.

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