Anime / Psycho-Pass 3: First Inspector

From left to right: Koichi Azusawa, Arata Shindo, Kei Mikhail Ignatov and Shizuka Homura.

Psycho-Pass 3: First Inspector is a 2020 anime movie sequel to the third season of Psycho-Pass. It's directed by Naoyoshi Shiotani with the script written by Tow Ubukata while Production IG did the animation. It was first announced on December 12, 2019 and was shown nationwide in Japan via theaters on March 27, 2020. It was also shown in Amazon Prime Worldwide with regional subtitles made available.

The movie starts after Bifrost Inspector Koichi Azusawa conducts an ambush and nearly kills ex-Public Safety Bureau Enforcer turned journalist Yayoi Kunizuka. Using her Sibyl-approved ID credentials, Koichi works with Bifrost Inspector/hacker Chiyo Obata alongside two Pathfinder mercenaries Jackdaw and Vixen to seize control of the PSB building and take all of its personnel and the newly elected governor Komiya as hostages.

Meanwhile, Division 1 inspector Kei Mikhail Ignatov has been forced to work with Bifrost as one of their inspectors in order to secure the release of his wife, Maiko, from a rehab center when her hue went beyond permissible limits, while Japan is rocking due to anti-foreigner sentiment going high.

With the PSB compound seized, the Inspectors/Enforcers locked up inside work to seize control of the building while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Suppressing Action Department is deployed to arrest Azusawa and take out Bifrost.

Little do they know that Azusawa wants something more than surviving the siege. And it has something to do with the Sibyl System...

Be warned: spoilers from Season 3 will be left unmarked if you haven't seen it.

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Psycho-Pass 3: First Inspector has the following tropes:

• Actionized Sequel: First Inspector goes right back into this territory as Bifrost launches a full-scale assault on Nona Tower and it's all hands on deck as the PSB and MOFA have to retake the building.
• Advertised Extra: Sort of in the case of Homura. While he is a major supporting character, seeing as how he's Good All Along and trying to take down Bifrost on the inside, but we don't get much of his story compared with the main plot. Still, he's advertised pretty darn clearly on the poster along with Arata, Kei, and Azuzawa.
• All for Nothing: Azusawa's plan to join the Sibyl System goes straight to hell due to his ignorance on criminally asymptomatic people. The Sibyl System calls him out on this with a truly epic "The Reason You Suck" Speech.
• All Your Base Are Belong to Us: Once again, the PSB building is under siege by Azusawa, Obata, their Pathfinder mercenaries and combat robots, as well as the Heaven's Leap cultists freed from confinement.
• And the Adventure Continues: The ending shows Division One making it out alive with Homura being the new bureau chief after having successfully shutting down Bifrost and Akane released from confinement as a "statutory Enforcer". The Sibyl System seems to have planned to show themselves to the public soon and appoints Arata as an intermediary when the time comes.
• Antagonist Title: The movie's title is named after Azusawa's position in Bifrost, showing how he nearly overpowers the PSB until the climax.
• Badass Crew: While Division 1 has always been badass, the movie shows how truly awesome the new Division 1 is. They show flawless teamwork with each other even when separated within the NONA tower and have some really kickass takedowns against all odds. Hell, even Shion and Karina get in on the action.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • Arata uses the cologne Karina gave him to get Shion and Karina to his location.
  • Ma-Karina, Karina's AI double, is used by Shizuka to expose Shirogane's AI double. That reveal leads to Shirogane's demise, and ultimately the destruction of Bifrost and the takeover of the Roundrobin system.
  • Ma-Karina is also used to copy Vixen's voice to trick Azusawa to think that Karina was killed.
• Cruel Mercy: During the climax of the movie, Arata calls out on the Sibyl System for tampering his Dominator in order to force him to lethally enforce Azusawa. After Sibyl reconsiders his request, Azusawa beats up Arata so his crime coefficient would increase and get himself killed after finding out that all of his efforts became pointless when Sibyl rejects his offer. However, Arata successfully paralyses him, preventing him from fulfilling his death wish.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • Kougami makes quick work of Jackdaw with a revolver and good ol' hand-to-hand combat.
  • Kei shows off his Russian military training by easily taking down Vixen.
  • While Kei is able to get a couple hits in, it's clear that Kougami has the fight. There are some implications that Kei might've been holding himself back to prevent Kougami from getting to Azusawa before Arata arrested him.
• Demoted to Extra: Most of the original cast- with the exemption of Mika, Shion and Hinakawa - don't have a whole lot of screen time. Poor Sugou probably gets the worst of this, as he gets injured early in the movie and is promptly ordered by Frederica to get medical treatment. Even Akane herself only shows up towards the end of the movie after the Sibyl System releases her at Homura's request.
• Driven to Suicide: In an interesting example, the movie has Chief Hosorobi throwing herself off the NONA Tower so as her nature as an android is not revealed. The end result shown is definitely not a pretty picture.
• Good All Along: Homura is revealed to be working with Sibyl - and by extension the PSB - all this time.
• High Turnover Rate: Division 2 gets completely wiped out (again) by the Pathfinder mercenaries. In the ending, Karanomori is discharged from the Bureau due to her decreasing Psycho-Pass and is free to live as a normal civilian. Meanwhile, Tsunemori is released from isolation and reassigned as a "statutory Enforcer." The Bureau Chief position, which is empty due to the "death" of Chief Hosorobi, goes to Homura Shizuka as Sibyl opts to put a real human in charge instead of another cybernetic avatar.
• Immediate Sequel: First Inspector continues Season 3 quite literally the next second after Episode 8's ending, which is noteworthy since every other Psycho-Pass movie occurs after a significant timeskip. In fact, it may be more accurate to say that First Inspector is actually Episodes 9, 10, and 11 of Season 3.
• Internal Reveal: Near the end of the movie, Arata is surprised to find out that Mika also knows about the Sibyl System being composed of criminally asymptomatic brains which she already found out about back in Season 2. Mika brushes off his reaction, saying that it's a long story.
• Jurisdiction Friction:
  • While the MFA and PSB do work fine with each other during the first two parts, the third part throws the partnership out the window as Hanashiro orders the release of Azusawa in exchange for information on the whereabouts of the remaining Peacebreakers. Obviously, Mika is having none of it and calls Arata to arrest Azusawa.
  • A milder variant when it comes to Kougami. Obviously both Kougami and the PSB want to bring Azusawa to justice, but Kougami wants to arrest Azusawa himself instead of letting Arata do it. Kei stalls for time by getting into a scuffle with Kougami, holding his own until he deliberately "loses" so that Arata can get Azusawa.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Azusawa subjects Arata to this after getting rejected by Sibyl. Luckily, Arata is able to shoot him with the Non-Lethal Paralyzer mode before his Crime Coefficient got above 300.
• Nothing Is Scarier: The third part invokes this with Arata sinking further and further into the metaphorical sea of the Sibyl System after going into too far in his Mental Trace of himself.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: The Sibyl System, of all things, roasts Azusawa for his arrogance and his ignorance of criminally asymptomatic individuals after he offered to join them. They bluntly reject his offer and call him a "self-righteous game enthusiast" because he never understands what criminally asymptomatic means.
• The Reveal:
  • Arata is actually the very first character to learn about the Sibyl System's true identity way before Makishima, Akane and Mika. In fact, his late father brought him to the main hub when he was a little boy and told him that he might join the Sibyl System soon. But Arata chose to live as a normal person instead which his father respected.
  • Homura is actually working with the Sibyl System all along and infiltrates Bifrost in order to destroy it from within.
  • Bifrost is actually a group of programmers who were the Sibyl System's debuggers when it was still in the early stages of development, and the Roundrobin AI was the actual debugging program being used. It ended up becoming its own entity where it could exploit Sibyl's vulnerabilities when the Bifrost members decided to use Roundrobin to make money. Their hideout and by extension, the Roundrobin system, is also located in Nona Tower where the Sibyl System mainframe is. This allows easy access for Sibyl to take over Roundrobin after Homura wins the game.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: All of Azusawa's efforts to take over the PSB headquarters and go to the basement of Nona Tower where the mainframe of Sibyl System is located so he can join them becomes pointless after Sibyl rejects his offer.
• Ship Tease:
  • Karina and Arata have some cute moments together near the end of the movie, with Karina acting as Tsundere as ever. On a bigger note, Karina's cologne was used by Arata to get Shion and her to his location.
  • Kougami and Akane get this big time after he picks her up from confinement. The first thing she asks him is to take her out to lunch.
  • It's more subdued compared to the top examples, but Irie and Mao get some of this when he reveals that he got her a music box for her birthday. She keeps it on her desk as a sign of gratitude. Mao also saves Irie from drowning when he gets electrocuted by the robot he was just fighting.
• Shotguns Are Just Better: A Dominator shotgun prototype gets used by Tenma after most of the Dominators are destroyed. It's pretty effective too, being able to scan and take out multiple people in a single shot. The major downside of it is that it has a long cooldown after every shot is fired, and its energy reserves are rather low, forcing the user to charge it by finding and using a docking station. It also lacks a Destroy Decomposer mode (making it ineffective against drones) because it would cause way too much collateral damage.
• Sequel Hook: The movie still leaves a lot of loose ends open such as what led to Akane's confinement by Sibyl's orders and what really happened to Akira Ignatov and Atsushi Shindo.
• The Stinger: The post-credit scene, which was never shown in Amazon Prime's international release, has Homura and Akane meeting Arata and Kei. Then, Akane tells the two Inspectors about the events that had happened two years ago. This scene was only available in the Japanese theatrical release, and then later the Japanese Blu-ray release.
• Surprisingly Happy Ending: First Inspector ends with Akane getting out of prison with a new position and reuniting with Kougami. Yayoi recovers from her injuries and moves in with Shion. Division 1 make it out alive with Homura being the new PSB chief and Bifrost dismantled with Azusawa and Obata arrested. A rare feat in the franchise given the Bittersweet Endings from the previous seasons.
• Two Lines, No Waiting: The main plot has Division 1 and the MFA racing against the clock to take back the Nona Tower from Azuzawa's hands before he gets what he wants. The subplot has Homura locked in a game with Shirogane, trying to win in order get the Sibyl System to take over Bifrost. The story then derails from that slightly in the third part, focusing on Arata's backstory as well as the revelation that he also knew about the Sibyl System's true origins, long before many of the other main characters; all the while trying to track down Azuzawa's position.
• Wham Episode: The third part reveals that Arata was one of the first characters to know about the Sibyl System, way before many of the major characters knew.