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Review: Psycho-Pass – Judge Dredd Meets Minority Report

By: Robert Prentice
Funimation Psycho-pass

Psycho-Pass is an interesting mix of Judge Dredd and Minority Report but in a good way. Psycho-Pass is a hardboiled, gun-slinging sci-fi series from the creator of Madoka Magica and the studio that brought you Ghost in the Shell.

In the future, even just thinking about a crime is enough to make you guilty – and justice is dispensed from the barrel of a gun. Detectives work in teams made up of Enforcers and Inspectors. Enforcers take out the bad guys, and Inspectors make sure their partners don’t cross the fine line between good and evil. The great equalizer in the war against thugs is the Dominator, a futuristic weapon that can read minds and assess the probability that a citizen will turn criminal. There are no trials. Only Enforcers, Inspectors, and the Dominator. Commit a crime in your mind – and the Dominator will make sure you pay the ultimate price.

The series provides an interesting look at what would happen if you lived in a future where a computer system basically tells you whether you are a criminal or not and once you are labeled your lot in life is set. Your Psycho-Pass is measured on the fly and an automated weapon determines your fate. The Sibyl System was designed to be the perfect system but no such thing exists. The serialized crime drama element is mixed with a strong over-arching story line that leads to the truth of the system and what the Inspectors have been lead to believe.

The feel of the series and The Sibyl System remind me of Dredd and Minority Report. Dredd because the Inspectors and Enforcers with their weapon are judge, jury and executioner in the field. The Minority Report side is the interesting twist that makes this series a must watch. Rather then ‘judges’ in the field passing judgement like in Dredd, a computer system “The Sibyl System”, makes the decision for them based on the Psycho-Pass scan of the person. Depending on your crime coefficient you might be given therapy, stunned or blown up.

The series leads up to Psycho-Pass: The Movie which was released last month and it should not be missed so be sure to preorder it below if you missed the chance to see it on the big screen. The movie opened up #4 in the Japanese box office for Jan 2015. The film takes place 4 years after the events of the first 2 seasons of the show.

I know we are late to the game with saying this show is worth watching but the new film has reinvigorated fans of the series and makes now the time to go and marathon the series before the film comes out on Blu-ray and DVD in June. Go and watch it NOW on Funimation.com or you can purchase it at Amazon.com

The series has 2 seasons consisting of 33 episodes and a theatrical movie that just came out last month and is expected to be released on home video in June. You can pre-order it here.

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