Anime Review: Tokyo ESP, PSYCHO-PASS 2

Having finally completed an anime series, I think I start my first anime review of the year. Today I'll review Tokyo ESP, which aired in summer 2014, and Psycho-Pass 2, which just finished last month. To start off, I did not like Tokyo ESP, but I really enjoyed Psycho-Pass. Both stories take place in Japan and deal with crime in some way.

In Tokyo ESP, there has been an outburst of glowing orange fish. If a fish chooses to pass through your body, you are granted a power and you become an esper. Due to this strange event, many espers chose to use their powers to commit crimes while some use their powers to stop crime. Tokyo experiences a lot of unrest and directed a lot of resentment towards espers. Meanwhile, another group of espers led by the Professor are committing acts of terror in order to force normal people to submit to espers as the new order. Urushiba Rinka and her friends and allies are determined to stop the Professor and his ultimate plan.

With Tokyo ESP, I didn't like how the story went towards the end. To me I didn't feel that it was well thought out because it came out with a lot of clique characters such as an anti-hero, a lust for revenge not well explained, and the main cast of characters using powers to fight evil. Sound familiar? The ending wasn't very well explained as two new characters popped out of nowhere. Perhaps they plan to make a season two for it which I'm not very interested in. I don't know if the manga was like this, but the writing was disappointing. The main protagonist, Rinka, is a headstrong girl who doesn't give up which a lot of people like seeing except her character is very lackluster. It felt like the author tried to make this very cool character, but failed in giving her depth. Many of the characters were very predictable and were designed to be heavily based on their superpowers. Tokyo ESP tried very hard to push the themes of good versus evil through the various espers introduced in the episodes. Despite my complaints for the show, I think some of these characters can be explored more. Murasaki, the weakest character in terms of strength, has an interesting background. Being the daughter of a yakuza father, she has a very gentle heart and perhaps because of this trait, her power of psychometry reflects her personality. By touching an object, she can feel the emotions and memories left behind. So when she touched her father's treasured baseball, she was able to channel the legendary throw through her body and replicate that action to its entirety. The Professor is perhaps the only character in the series that has the most depth even though I kind of predicted his motives in the beginning of the series. I did feel a little sad for his back story though.

When I heard there was a season 2 for Psycho-Pass, I was ecstatic. I loved the dark themes and disturbing crimes in the story. It was just so well written for a series that I looked forward to an episode each week. It was also my bonding time with my brother. Honestly, season 2 did not live up the greatness of season 1, but it doesn't disappoint its viewers. Season 2 continues with Inspector Tsunemori Akane with some new people on the team. (I still miss Kogami.) New additions include the annoying rookie Inspector Shimotsuki Mika who thinks she knows the right procedures, but later we see that she wound up into some really scary shit. There's a really timid, but talented Enforcer Hinakawa Sho who knows how to detect Holos and then there's the mysterious and eventually creepy Enforcer Togane Sakuya. Their new enemy is someone extremely intelligent like Makshima Shogo in season one. The problem they face is that the police don't even believe this person even exists due to the bizarre killings and extensive use of Holos. He is Kamui Kirito and has this strange ability to keep low Crime Coefficients.

Once again, it brings this dystopian feel to the series which I think many of us enjoy. Like season 1, it explores the issue of psychological health in a futuristic society where everyone's emotions is monitored. For those not familiar with the series, it is set in a futuristic Japan where everyone's mental state is measured in the form of a numerical Crime Coefficient. The higher the number, the more dangerous you become and there's a point where you cannot go back thus the Sibyl System, the system that Japan in this story uses, decides that you will be removed from society. I think each episode is packed with suspense and slowly eases in some disturbing details. I was a little disappointed to see that Ginoza didn't have a prominent role in season 2, but I guess it would be unnecessary since Togane and Shimotsuki play a very crucial role in the plot. There is a good amount of violence depicted though I heard they had to redraw certain scenes in order for Psycho-Pass to be broadcast on television. I personally wouldn't mind if the series became even bloodier. Season 2 wasn't as great as season 1 mainly because season 1 revealed a lot of mysteries that the audience didn't know about. Season 2 as a sequel had to build off of already known facts and create a new dilemma.