Psycho-Pass The Movie is the sequel of the TV series set two years after the second season. It was directed by Naoyoshi Shiotani and written by Gen Urobuchi and Makoto Fukami who both wrote the first season. Production I.G. returned to animate the film. It was released on January 9, 2015 and is licensed by Funimation, who will give the movie a theatrical release in the United States in March, 2016.
It's July 2116. the Japanese government is exporting the "Sibyl System" technology to other countries, spreading it throughout the world. A state in the midst of a civil war, SEAUn (the South East Asian Union, pronounced "see-un"), brings in the Sibyl System as an experiment, and the coastal metropolis of Shamballa Float achieves temporary peace and safety. But then terrorists from SEAUn appear in Japan, slipping through the Sibyl System and attacking from within. Interrogation of a surviving attacker reveals that they are affiliated with a certain renegade Enforcer, and Akane Tsunemori leaves for SEAUn to investigate...
The first trailer can be seen here
, second here and the English dubbed trailer here.
The movie has also received a novel version in Japan.
The movie was followed by the Psycho-Pass: Sinners of the System trilogy in 2019.
Be warned: spoilers from the TV series will be left unmarked if you haven't seen it.
This film provides examples of:
- Action Prologue: The film begins with foreign terrorists infiltrating Japan and attempting to buy weapons from a contact on the ground until the Public Security Bureau tracks them down.
- All for Nothing: Near the end, Akane convinced the Sibyl System to let the puppet Chairman Han to resign and let the people decide via elections. Then, The Stinger revealed that Han got reelected which renders Akane's actions moot. However, it could be argued that Akane was advocating for the principle of democracy, and not necessarily rooting for a specific outcome as long as the people can decide it. It also seemed that Wong was the one actively persecuting the rebels, so things will probably be much easier for them with his death, as Sibyl seems content to live and let live.
- And the Adventure Continues: By the end, Kougami is on the loose again, no major characters from the TV series die, and Akane still works for the Sibyl system.
- Attack Drone: Sibyl is supplying the SEAUn government with lots of cool toys to put down the rebellion, including mini Chicken Walkers and UAVs in addition to the standard wheeled Drones it uses ubiquitously.
- Batman Gambit: The Sibyl System set up Akane's mission to go SEA Un by letting her think that Kougami is sending the terrorists to Japan since they're aware that Akane is close to Kougami so they can have her uncover Col. Wong's deception and have him and others terminated once the system has firm control on the country.
- Big Damn Heroes:
- Before Akane and Kougami were executed by Nicholas Wong, Division 1 arrived in time to save them
- Ginoza came just in time to save Kougami from the Big Bad, Desmond Rutaganda.
- Bloodier and Gorier: The movie is brave enough to show a lot of people getting gunned down and the bloody remains of a person being blown up by a Lethal Eliminator mode from a Dominator. And by bloody, we mean your innards!
- Bond Villain Stupidity: Col. Wong and Desmond are possibly the dumbest antagonists in the entire series which would make Makishima and Kamui rolled in their graves. Why? After capturing Kougami and Akane, Wong had the two handcuffed near a helicopter and states his plans to blow it and Make It Look Like an Accident by staging that Kougami took Akane hostage and escape with the helicopter and Military Police tried to stop him only they had to shoot it down. Akane pointed out the flaw in that plan stating that the Sibyl System, the bureau and Chairman Han would investigate it further. And then, Desmond opened his big fat mouth by saying that they're working for the system and the real Chairman Han is dead with a body double taking his place. Of course, these two didn't get the memo that the Sibyl System are not the most trustworthy bunch. But again, even if they kill Kougami and Akane right away, the system would still get rid them which would give them a tenfold reward where not only killing those who already served their purpose but also killing their critics.
- Brick Joke: Early in the movie while Akane prepares to travel to the SEA Un, Ginoza asks her to punch Kougami in the face should she encounter him. Akane shrugs this off by telling Ginoza to do it himself. Later, when Ginoza and Kougami are reunited, Ginoza does just that.
- The Bus Came Back: After being absent in Season 2, Kogami will finally make his appearance.
- Akane's friend Kaori, who hasn't been seen since the first half of season 1, makes a brief appearance. She's getting married thanks to the Sibyl System finding her a match with a high Romantic Compatibility rating.
- The Cameo: Makishima appears during Kogami's Imagine Spot while running away from the Bureau.
- The Conspiracy: Kougami seemed to think that there's more behind Chairman Han, getting support from the Japanese government and earning the Sibyl System. He seemed to be right when Akane uncovers that the Sibyl System got rid of the real Chairman Han and put a body double as puppet to take control of the situation in the SEA Un.
- Crapsack World: The movie reveals all the world's countries except Japan leave in anarchy, with guerrillas constantly rebelling against governments. Japan lives in peace, but only because they're managed by the Sybil System.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: While being blown up up from the Lethal Eliminator mode from the Dominators is usually gruesome, the movie showed the actual remains of those who are blown up. Wong's death is the biggest example.
- Dead All Along: The real Chairman Han is dead prior to the events of the movie though it wasn't revealed when he was killed and the man who is talking with Akane and Col. Wong is a body double made by the Sibyl System.
- Dead Person Conversation: Kougami has one with Makishima, who berets him if he's ever going to be like him.
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Although Kougami might insist otherwise, he seeks conflict out in order to have an opponent to face and defeat. Coming to SEAUn for the express purpose of opposing the corruption in SEAUn and Sibyl. Even the Makishima hallucination points out that Desmond is ultimately insignificant, but that a hound like Kougami will still chase him even with his injuries. But again, see
Alternate Character Interpretation. - Demoted to Extra: Mika, Yayoi, Teppei and Hinakawa have less screentime, considering that Akane is only person sent by the Sibyl System to SEAUn to find Kougami.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: While Akane and Wong were traveling to Shamballa, they passed by the bodies of some civilians which were hanged on the posts which reminds you of the Iranian government's public execution by hanging on the cranes which is still practiced today.
- Earth Is a Battlefield: It's mentioned a few times that Japan is the only true safe haven on the planet, and that every other region on Earth is engulfed in war.
- Most of the characters who say this though are ones who have either been raised by Sybil or are high-ranking members like whichever Sybil brain is in Kasei's body. So it might be a case of Unreliable Expositor. It's at least partially confirmed by Kougami, who noted that after leaving Japan, he drifted through country after country that was in the middle of conflict. That said even Kougami's statements might be unreliable due to him actually seeking out conflict and someone to oppose. However, the Sinners of System Case 3 - Beyond Love and Hate and the third season show that some countries did experience civil wars which explains the influx of immigrants to Japan in Season 3 leading to some tensions from the natives.
- Fanservice: We get Akane naked in the shower and on her underwear in a couple scenes, as well as Kougami being shirtless (as always).
- Future Copter: The attack helicopters the military uses are a very interesting design with dual rotors set at about 75 degree angles.
- Gatling Good: Lots of the weapons the SEAUn military uses are equipped with these, such as their mini-walkers, helicopters, and tanks.
- Gratuitous English: From the trailer, you can hear some badly mangled English.
- The language that the majority of the SEAUn characters are speaking is English and yet, it's done very poorly. Fortunately when talking to Japanese characters, they switch to Japanese for their convenience.
- Deconstructed with the Japanese characters such as Akane and Kougami since the accent is obvious in their part.
- Hero-Worshipper: Several of the guerillas looked up to Kougami who trained them, provided them information about the military police's newly improved weapons and became their strategist. Akane comments that he's becoming like Makishima though Kougami asserts to her that he's never going to end up like him.
- La Résistance: SEAUn is still under attack by a guerrilla group who are against the Sybil System taking control. Kougami is one of its members.
- Locked Out of the Loop: None of the characters, except for Mika, knew what the Sibyl System was up to until Akane figured out in the end.
- Mouth of Sauron; Similar to Kasei, fake!Chairman Han is the Sibyl System's mouthpiece in Shamballa.
- My Fist Forgives You: When Akane was about to leave Japan, Ginoza asks for a favor to punch Kougami for him when she meets him. Akane tells him that she will arrest Kougami first and then, let him punch him. Upon meeting Kougami at the end of the movie, Ginoza double-punches him on the face.
- Never Trust a Trailer: The second trailer is framed in such a way to make the viewer think that Kougami is the Big Bad. He's not.
- No One Gets Left Behind: Sem, one of the guerrilla companions of Kougami, stayed behind to help his men in attacking the mercenaries. Too bad that he got shot.
- Nothing Is the Same Anymore: By the end of the movie, Sibyl has established a firm foothold outside of Japan in Southeast Asia. The Stinger even has a line of text onscreen that outright states "The world under the system is evolving."
- Scenery Porn: The movie presents a lot of beautiful scenes of Cambodia.
- Sequel Goes Foreign: After two seasons set in Japan, the movie goes to Cambodia.
- Sequel Hook: Kogami and Akane part with the clear intention of meeting again, then, after the credits, we hear Akane's voice saying "One day, this system's true worth will be tested" along with the message "The world under the system is evolving".
- Shout-Out: In the opening scene of the movie, a voice (which appears to be a combination of Kougami, Makishima, and a sythetic computer speech program) recites a passage from a later part of In Search of Lost Time (the Doorstopper novel of which Swann's Way is the first part).
- Desmond Rutaganda is seen reading and quotes the work of post-colonial philosopher Frantz Fanon, in particular Black Skin, White Masks and The Wretched of the Earth.
- Space-Filling Empire: The majority of the movie takes place in a region known as the Southeast Asian Union. While we never see a map, it appears to be centralized in Cambodia given that the rebel base is located not too far from Siem Reap. In addition to that, many of the peasants speak Vietnamese, the Rebel Leader is Cambodian, the SEAUn chairman has the very Chinese name of Chuang Han and Colonel Wong are likely Singaporean (or Malaysian Chinese), so SEAUn appears to be a superstate of the Southeast Asia region.
- Spy Bot: One of the new drones that has been developed since the TV series is the Pillbug, a circular mobile camera that walks on spider legs and is about the size of a CD.
- Status Quo Is God: Despite Akane's suggestion to have Chairman Han to step down from his position and let the people choose their leader, The Stinger showed that Han remains in power after winning the election which once again, repeats the cycle of rebellion. Apparently, this is Truth in Television where there are instances that people vote for the same person in the same position over again in countries like Singapore and Malaysia.
- The Stinger: Kogami watching a kid play with a gun while hearing the results of the elections: Chairman Han will keep his rank, which possibly means the Sibyl System staying in SEAUn.
- Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist: Upon learning that Kougami is now a terrorist, Akane is ordered by the Sibyl System to arrest him.Kogami: To think you’d come this far. What are you going to do, Inspector? Are you going to stop me, or let me go? Which is it?
- Take Over the World: The plot for the movie involves Sibyl beginning to expand its reach outside of Japan, beginning with a test run where it exports its Drones to SEAUn, the Southeast Asian Union. This is likely a future version of ASEAN.
- Trailers Always Spoil: The official trailer along the list of cast were released while Season 2 was still airing. So, everyone knows that main cast (such as Ginoza, Mika, Teppei etc.) survived Season 2 while Togane did not.
- The second trailer reveals Kougami is now a terrorist, and Akane has to stop him under Sybil's orders.
- Transforming Mecha: The military's tanks can covert the treads to legs to traverse rough terrain.
- Translation Convention: Zigzagged. When SEAUn people talk to Japanese characters or among each other, it's all done in English. However, the majority language of the average SEAUn citizen is Vietnamese. When Akane first arrives in SEAUn, she speaks English at first to Colonel Wong and then uses a translation program on her wrist comm. From that point on, whenever Wong talks to Akane, it's in Japanese (even though he actually doesn't speak Japanese). Averted with the mercenary leader, he speaks all in English, but once he realizes Kougami is Japanese, he speaks only Japanese to him with no use of a translator. Presumably, he's had a long enough mercenary career that he's picked up a few languages along the way.
- The Unreveal: So who aided the terrorists into entering Japan which has a high security level and gave them high-powered weapons? Kougami discussed this with Akane in the rebel base but after they were captured by Desmond and Col. Wong, this was never brought up again.
- Unwitting Pawn: Nicholas Wong, his men, Desmond, and Akane are manipulated by Sibyl as part of their agenda. They are also implied to have been the ones who let the terrorists Kougami trained into Japan as a way to distract Akane.
- The Uriah Gambit: Han explains to Wong that one reason why Sybil allowed Akane to come to SEAUn alone was that it was deliberately trying to get her killed. Turns out, it was part of a Batman Gambit instead, and Sybil had Akane come to uncover Wong's corruption. Bonus points for Han being one of Sibyl's agents.
- Villain Ball: Desmond Rutaganda is well read but he gloats to Akane for knowing nothing and tells her that "hey, do you know that the SEA Un guy is a body double and me and this long-haired dude got rid of the original because we're ordered by Japanese Big Brother to do it etc." He should have stopped on "you know nothing" at Akane or stopped gloating at all. Even Wong calls him out for holding the ball.
- We Can Rule Together: Desmond offers Kougami a chance to join his Mercenary Squad after capturing him. Kougami turns it down.
- You Have Out Lived Your Usefulness: Nicholas Wong deals this to the servant Akane tried to free after promising to free her brother of his collar. Nicholas, Sibyl, and Desmond dealt this to Chairman Han and put a Sibyl cyborg in control. Sibyl does this to Nicholas, his forces, and Desmonds men at the end once they had their foothold in the country. Sibyl also does this to the SEAUn rebels they let into Japan in order to distract Akane.
- Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: The terrorists that attacked Japan and the ones trained by Kougami and lead by him and Sem seek to depose the corrupt ruling party of SEAUn and keep Sibyl from taking over.
