vickys-death-note

[vickys-death-note]

Swampcon !!

Swampcon was an interesting experience. I went on Saturday afternoon with my friend, and we stayed there a couple of hours. When we got there, I was extremely surprised by how many were there. This was my first time attending a convention, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect. There were a lot of people in really detailed and accurate cosplay of various characters. My favorite one was easily anyone cosplaying as the angel devil from Chainsaw Man (easily best character sorry). Also really loved all of the kurapika cosplayers. There were so many people cosplaying there that I almost felt out of place with my tshirt and shorts. As we talked about during our discussion of Genshiken: they take fiction that it our there and transform it into fiction that is theirs alone. Through this medium of fan culture, people were brought together to share their interests in various types of media.

I wasn’t able to go to the panels that I really wanted to go to since I woke up late. However, I was able to go to “How to get a rizztraining order” and it was something !!! First off, I really enjoyed this panel and how hilarious it was, but it really showcased how many creeps are out there. This panel showed different instances of men leaving gross and inappropriate comments on cosplayer’s pages and messages. Unfortunately, this side of the fandom is the one that gets the most attention from those outsides of this fandom. I know before getting into anime, I was (unfortunately) someone who was predisposed against it just because of weirdos like them, who end up tainting society’s perception of fandom.

This was sadly the only panel I was able to attend, but I still had an amazing time at the vendor corner. I’ll be honest and say I am the craziest shopaholic. I am always buying the most random and unnecessary things online or at target, so I knew it was going to be hard to resist buying stuff at Swampcon. Thankfully, I was there with my friend, and he was my voice of reason, so I ended up only spending $15 on a Cinnamoroll headband and got gifted Kirby earrings :D I loved seeing all of the different prints, charms, stickers, and figures that were on display. TBH I almost caved and bought a $250 Mikasa figurine because she solos. Seeing so many different types of products really made me realize how big consumer culture is. Fandom is an example of unofficial culture capital. We all buy these little fun or cute objects that don’t really translate into any economic benefits. We buy them because they make us happy and we can show these items to others that also enjoy them. These little (but very expensive) items bring us so much joy because it materializes fictional characters that we all enjoy and love. I like to think that I have some self control when it comes to fandom consumer culture, but then again I do have a full drawer full of anime shirts and a whole shelf with manga and small anime figures. :/

Overall, Swampcon was a really interesting and enjoyable event! It was really cool being in a safe and comfortable environment filled with zero judgment. It’s crazy how people come from all over the state, and even from other states to be able to attend this convention. I was able to meet others who share the same interests for even the most obscure and random animes that I have watched. I would love to attend next year and see what new things it will have to offer. Enjoy this picture of me and R2D2 <3 

[vickys-death-note]

Neon Genesis Evangelion

This was my second time watching Neon Genesis Evangelion. Gonna be honest, the first time I only watched like 4 episodes because I wasn’t really into it. Upon rewatch, it grew on me a little more, and hopefully things pick up because I would love to keep watching this highly loved anime.

The anime starts off with teenage protagonist Shinji. We see him all alone with no guardian as Earth starts to be attacked by angels. Misato comes and picks him up and takes him away to NERV, an organization led by Shinji’s (very absent) father that creates huge robots. We see Shinji looking forward to finally seeing his dad after such a long time, but the reunion isn’t as happy as he had pictured it. His father barely even greeted him, and instead was immediately giving him orders to get inside the robot. I can only imagine how bad Shinji felt about his dad being distant his whole life then not caring about seeing him.

Throughout these first few episodes we see Shinji struggle with his fear and lack of confidence in himself. After his first time going into a fight, he was extremely resistant to doing it again (understandably). However, he is faced with a moral dilemma because he is the only one capable of fighting and people will die if he doesn’t.

This anime clearly focuses on war, which is pretty much a recurring topic in this class. As I have stated before, this anime is similar to Gundam, from which it drew inspiration. However, NGE adds more themes revolving around self-identity and image, making it more relatable to the audience.

[vickys-death-note]

Aggretsuko

This is not at all what I expected. I have never heard of this anime, so when I first pulled it up on Netflix, the cartoony animation caught me off guard. I’m a huge fan of slice-of-life anime and this one was enjoyable. It follows the life of the red panda Aggretsuko and her daily struggles with work and her guilty pleasure of death metal.

I like how there were many relatable aspects in this show, like the being the new guy, the terrible boss, or the little work crush. However, the most recurring theme is hiding your true self. Aggretsuko faces so many challenges at work, yet she is able to stay sane by going to karaoke by herself and blow off some steam with death metal. At the beginning nobody knows of her secret (except for the karaoke place employees) and Aggretsuko seems embarrassed about her happy place. This is something that’s relatable to a lot ol us, where we are hesitant to talk about our interests with others, in fear of being judged or looked down on.

My favorite characters have to be Gori and Washimi. The way the present themselves is so badass, but behind closed doors we see that they are normal people like everyone else. They have a great dynamic with Gori being more talkative and emotional and Washimi being the calm and rational one. I love how immediately accepting they were of Aggretsuko’s hobby and even tried to learn how she does it. This was such as heart-warming moment that was the spark for Aggretsuko to be more like herself infront of others.

Overall, this anime was pretty enjoyable and the aspect of using animals instead of humans was pretty neat! Stan Gori!!

[vickys-death-note]

Sailor Moon

This was my first time ever watching Sailor Moon. I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would, mainly because it was funnier than I expected. I’m such a fan of the 90s anime art style and all the fun different character designs.  

This show shows middle schooler Usagi and her becoming Sailor Moon. By the end of the first episode, she had already acquired her powers from her talking cat Luna. By the end of the first episode, we see very clear themes of power. The monster pretending to be Naru’s mother, along with the blonde man, was trying to steal the life/energy of innocent people. They keep coming up with elaborate plans, like creating fake fortune tellers, to steal these powers, which shows the extent they are willing to go.  

An episode I really wanted to focus on is episode 4. It starts off with Usagi crying because she had gained some weight, despite looking the same. I was expecting her friends and family to help her feel better, but instead they were somewhat bringing her down and agreeing she put on some weight and that she should take care of it. This reminded me of real-world societal beauty standards that women are expected to keep up with. The only person who was reassuring to Usagi was my king Motoki.  

In episode eight, we are introduced to Sailor Mercury. Before acquiring her powers, we see she is a hardworking, always studying student that is weighed down by this constant need to be academically perfect, since it's all she sees herself being good at. I look forward to seeing both Moon and Mercury working together in the future! 

This is a great anime so far and I’m sad we won’t get to watch more in class, but I’ll definitely watch more in my spare time. 

[vickys-death-note]

Mobile Suit Gundam (1,2,8)

This anime is pretty solid so far. I have heard a bit of Gundam, specifically the newer stuff. I was a bit confused after skipping 6 episodes, so I'll mainly focus on the first two!

This anime starts off with the citizens having to evacuate because of the war. We later see the city get shot at and Frow's family was killed right in front of her. Seeing her go hysterical about this was really sad but the way she was able to quickly get herself together and help others get to safety is really admirable. Amuro is an interesting main character who isn't afraid to take risks. He didn't hesitate to jump into the Gundam. Watching this scene play out reminded me a lot of the first few episodes of Evangelion since both Shinji and Amuro are teens who have piloted robots in a war. I decided to search up if anyone else noticed these similarities and I ended up finding out that Gundam is actually one of the main inspirations for Evangelion.

I look forward to watching more of this anime and focusing more on the topic of war and how it directly and indirectly affects the everyday person.

[vickys-death-note]

YES! The silent crying is so real. The aunt was so awful like they had just lost their home and their mother and still talks down to them like??? I agree that these films are what get us to see the real deal. I have never been one who is interested in history, but through Barefoot Gen and Grave of the Fireflies, I was able to learn about the extent of the tragedies that thousands of people faced during WWII.

Grave of the Fireflies

★★★★★

I put off watching this movie for so long because I was supposed to watch it with my friends so we could watch it together, but alas, I ended up watching it in my dorm and fighting for my life trying to cry as quietly as possible so my roommate wouldn't hear me. I didn't even get a chance to stop crying because I started sobbing again once I found out Nosaka, who wrote the story, based it off his real experiences with his sister. This film hurt so much to watch, and as I said for Barefoot Gen, I believe that is the purpose of making a movie like this. Whether you're fighting in the war or not, war makes people selfish. People gain this "every man for themselves" agenda as they fight for survival. Even their aunt started to see caring for Seita and Setsuko as a burden. Making films like this is how people can express what is truly lost in a war. We're forced to watch grief and trauma, and even almost experience it with the characters, to really open our eyes to the effects of a war on regular, innocent people.

[vickys-death-note]

Grave of the Fireflies

[Why do fireflies have to die so soon?]

Typing this and my eyes burn from crying so much </3

I knew what I was getting myself into with this film, but geez I didn't think I would be crying 20 minutes in. The journey of Seita and Setsuko was such a sad one to sit through. Seeing them deal with war, death, hunger, and illness was just so heartbreaking.

Something that I would really like to focus on is Seita's strength. Despite every obstacle that came his way, he was able to push forward and survive. Very similar to Gen from the previous film, Seita had to remain strong in order to take care of his family. When his mother died, he didn't allow himself to cry in order to prevent Setsuko from finding out. He carried her around everywhere and his top priority was her happiness and well-being. Seita is the epitome of a perfect older brother. Even when he was tired and didn't feel the best, he did what he could to bring food home. Seita took care of Setsuko, but there was nobody to take care of him. Every day, he had to push forward and do what he needed to.

When Setsuko died, I was completely shattered. I felt so awful for Seita, who had now lost all of his family. His family was the only reason he was able to get up every day and put food on the table. As we see at the beginning of the film, Seita dies as well presumably not too long after Setsuko.

This movie goes to show the struggles faced by innocent civilians during a time of war. Seita and Setsuko's story was one full of hardships, which inevitably led to their deaths. Despite everything, Japan still surrendered and lost the war. All of these deaths were in vain and could've been prevented if a more desirable outcome had happened sooner.

I'm glad I finally got around to watching this film since it had been on my list for a while, but now I'll probably feel empty for the next few weeks :D !!

[vickys-death-note]

I agree that the quote from Gen's mother was very impactful. War really messes up the lives of those who aren't even directly related to it. Gen was such a constant source of light in this very dark film. Yea, although everything went a little too "good" (major emphasis on the quotation marks) for Gen and his mother after the bombing, anything darker would've actually sent me over the edge.

Barefoot Gen

This film is impressing. Both from the art style and the theme. Even though it was heavy, for me, living in a time of relative peace and the end of nuclear war, Barefoot Gen impressed me more than it touched me.

One of the most memorable quotes to me was from Gen's mother, "The war end? Why the war end now? Not before the bomb?" War is essentially a game of politics, in which all people surfer in the war is insignificant. Gen lost father and siblings in the war, and Gen's newborn sister died due to food shortages. Countless people died in the bombing of Hiroshima, but there seemed to be little hope for those who survived. For those who survived, Gen and his mother were lucky to be unscathed, having to endure only food shortages and the effects of nuclear radiation (which was tough, but lucky compared to others who survived). But for the rest of us, there are explosions and fires and deaths from radiation overdose. Third, in the face of war, all men are tiny. There are no absolute beneficiaries. But sadly, war is inevitable based on the insatiable desire of human beings.

The film tries to spread hope through the eyes of children, such as the re-sprouting wheat and the woman who feeds Tomoko. I really like the anti-war point of view in this movie. Many of the unscientific things that happen to Gen: such as surviving a nuclear blast, and not dying like the soldier after being affected by nuclear radiation (after bald hair), suggest hope. These unscientific things are two-sided. On the one hand, Gen's presence represents hope. On the other hand, are there so many miracles in real life? I don't think so. This war reminds me of the Russia-Ukraine war. I hope it will end soon, from the perspective of humanity.

Overall, 8/10.

[vickys-death-note]

Barefoot Gen

[Take a good look around, little one. Look closely, you see? This is the war that killed your father. Remember it.]

Barefoot Gen was a lot darker than I expected from the very childish animation. It starts off with the Nakaoka family and the hardships they had been facing during World War II. They were a family of 5, going on 6, living off of scraps and rations. During all of this, they were also living in fear of a bombing from the U.S. The alarms were constantly going off and they had to hide in bunkers, nothing ever happened. However, one day the alarms didn’t go off on the day of an actual attack. This scene was extremely hard to sit through. The way everyone just slowly disintegrated and blew up left my jaw dropped. The seemingly innocent vibe of the art style managed to capture the gruesomeness perfectly and leaves the audience in shock. Seeing the baby and the dog burn was hard enough but then we had to see Shinji, Eiko, and the father burn to death in front of Gen and the mother. This movie really showcases the importance of family and the struggle of the loss of loved ones. This movie emphasizes the problems of war and how it affects everyday civilians. As we all know, war is an awful thing with detrimental effects on everyone around. I really admire how strong Gen was able to stay throughout the film because I don’t think many others would’ve had the strength to carry on as he did.

The film also shows that war has everlasting side effects. Thousands of people who miraculously survived the bombing were soon to meet death with all of the injuries they had. Seeing the maggots crawling around INSIDE their skin really sent shivers down my spine. Despite surviving the attack, these people, ended up dying from injuries, infections, or illnesses like leukemia.

This movie ends on a hopeful note, with Ryuta, Gen, and his mother looking toward a better future. Even after all of the traumatic experiences each one of them had to face, they have learned to heal and create a better life for themselves. I liked this movie more than I anticipated and would easily recommend it to anyone!

[vickys-death-note]

Yea if he wanted to make an actual difference, then all of this money could've been put directly into making the world a better place, instead of leaving it in the hands of 12 people. However, I feel like this really reflects current society, where just a small handful of political powers are the ones making the huge decisions that affect all of society. Maybe there will be some point later on when we find out the true motive as to why these people received the 10 billion yen. Or it could all just actually be a game for all we know.

Eden of the East (Eps. 1,3,4,5)

The world of Eden of the East is an exciting world where the system of government is very different from the other animes we have watched so far. Most of the other animes that we've watched had governments that surveyed every inhabitant of their city or village, while this anime only monitored twelve citizens, who they referred to as the "Selecao." They are given ten billion yen each to make Japan better by spending that money however they see fit. But there's a twist if one spends all the 10 billion yen or deems one is not appropriate to be Savior, one of the 12 Selecao who is secretly a Supporter can kill that Selecao. They use the concept of Noblesse Oblige-which means that the rich have a right to help the less fortunate- to justify giving 12 individuals 10 billion yen. The Selecao are controlled by "Mr. Outside," as he's the one that chose them. He is portrayed as a prominent corporate leader controlling everything but is too lazy to do what he wishes, so he gives his money away for others to accomplish what he wants.

I do agree with the idea of giving money to a small concentration of citizens in a country to help save that country, but they are some flaws to that idea. As we can see in the anime, some Selecao just uses their money for themselves and lavish in the glory of having all that money at hand while not using it for the purpose "Mr. Outside" wish for. That's not to say that others don't use it for good like Selecao 5 did with building a hospital for the elderly and providing them with work.

I am looking forward to seeing how the other Selecaos are using their money and to finding out who the Supporter is amongst them.

[vickys-death-note]

Eden of the East (1-5)

[This is... the center of the world?]

For starters, this is a really nice change of pace from the last two anime we have watched! Sure it can still have its dark subjects, but I really like how funny it can be at many times. I love Akira and Saki's relationship so far and I'm 100% rooting for them.

Akira has lost all his memories and was stuck with a Jarvis-level phone and about 8 billion yen. Saki is a college senior who has been traveling and is in the middle of trying to score a job. Akira is trying to figure out how and why he has all this money, and he soon figures out it's to "create a better world". Those who have received this task can all agree that this is not enough money to make any real change in this world. Akira recognizes that in order for something to actually be done, the money would have to be given to someone who is already in a position of power.

Saki is a college senior who has been traveling and is in the middle of trying to score a job. During her visit to New York City, she decides to ditch the group at the end and go to what she calls "the center of the world", The White House. This struck me as pretty odd as to how the home of the president would be considered as the center of the world.

Both of these events made me see a message behind the anime so far. Everything in this world revolves around political power. The leaders of the world are the ones that control every little aspect of peace or war, which affects the rest of the world. When these powers are abused, they can lead to awful outcomes, like Careless Monday. Hopefully, we will get to see this topic expanded on later in the anime!

[vickys-death-note]

I completely agree! I was so confused by the anime that I didn't even make the connection to wild child. Since Squealer was the one that took this child in and raised them as such, the fiend had no other option but to obey its somewhat parental figure. If the fiend had been raised by someone else, like Saki, they clearly wouldn't have come out as the weapon they had become.

Shin Sekai Yori (ep 15, 21, 24-25)

★★★☆☆

This may be a shorter analysis, because I'm not going to lie, I'm lowkey still confused by this anime. But I want to focus on this idea of the "wild child" because I think Fiend almost embodies it. The "wild child" raises this question of why can someone so young commit violent crimes. What is going through their mind to lead them to act like this? A common blame is the parents who raised them. In the case of Fiend, they were in fact raised as a weapon. The monster rats had a plan of eliminating human civilization and Fiend was going to help them accomplish this. Humans are supposed to have this death feedback which could kill them if they made an attempt to hurt another human. Because Messiah believes he is a monster rat, he is unaffected by this death feedback and therefore he's almost invincible when killing other humans. While there are many other reasons I child could grow to become violent, and some may be unknown, Fiend is a good example of violence being taught.

[vickys-death-note]

Shin Sekai Yori (From the New World) [Part 2]

[We have to change our way of thinking, if we really want to change the future]

Overall a very interesting and thought-provoking anime! I went back and read the summaries of all the episodes I skipped and it actually made somewhat sense!

First things first, in episode 15 there was some messed up takeover of power. In the colony, the queen was overthrown by Squealer. However, this new form of government is built on the premise that they have to overtake other places in order to expand. The name Robber Fly just puts emphasis that they have to go around robbing the freedom of others for their own personal growth and benefit.

In episode 21, it touches on the topic of identity and discrimination, which are two very prevalent topics in the real world. The child of Maria and Mamoru had been brought up as a queerat. To me, this brought up the idea that it is really easy to manipulate and take advantage of someone into whatever you need them to be. Given that it was such a young child, it easily followed Squeler's order as long as he provides them with biological necessities. This brings up the idea in this world about what defines whether or not you're human. Just because something looks different from us means they are below us? I see where Squealer is coming from, but the way they went about it was extreme, much like Makishima in Psycho-Pass.

In the end, Saki and Satoru get married and she has come to accept everything that has happened. Saki represents hope. Despite everything that she had gone through, she was able to push forward and hope for a better society in the future.

Overall, a lot of these twists were foreshadowed from the beginning which makes it even crazier. Hopefully, in the future, I can come back to this anime and give it a proper watch because I genuinely enjoyed the few episodes I had to watch.

[vickys-death-note]

Agreed! Even though I'm extremely confused, it just makes me want to keep watching even more. The first two episodes just had a nonstop eerieness to them which left me wondering what could possibly be happening in this society. I really like the connection to education you made. It's another case of society trying to create a utopian world but there are many ethical drawbacks.

Shin Sekai Yori "From the New World" (SUB) — Episodes 1, 2 ,4, 12

Words cannot describe how confused yet fascinated I am with the events that have transpired over these few episodes in Shin Sekai Yori. The setting of the anime attempts to give a sort of peaceful aura to how its society and buildings are structured, and yet there is great tension and an underlying ominousness that pervades throughout the world in which the children inhabit.

The first episode leads us grasping for answers as we see regular school children on a seemingly normal day—which was shown in a very ominous fashion with its use of colors and sounds that mimicked a fever dream—suddenly exhibit dark expressions and grossly intense powers with people dying everywhere around them. This is what I inference to be the start of the rise of those with psychokinesis (or PK) during this “ancient” era of civilization around the year 2011.

Following these scenes immediately after is what would be considered the future to us but the “present” time of the setting of the anime. In this world and in this time, the people were freely using their powers and are seemingly being educated to harness it. The institutions of these places are given names that exhibit connotations of peace and harmony in their flourishing world, which is highly juxtaposed to the first scenes to which we were introduced at the start of the anime.

However, there is still an eerie perversion to everything in this society, despite what the names of their institutions suggest. The rumors (and the eventual proof of the reality of such rumors) of children disappearing, of wild beasts and spirits and macabre entities that strike fear into people, religious cults that control the human spirit, a holy boundary line, and clandestine adults. I cannot say that I fully understand what is going on but I am eager to find out more about this place.

What I can say for now is that this does heavily bring out some ideas from the provided text: Wild Child. The premise of the text is mostly based upon the rise of the image of the "wild child" in Japanese society in the late 1900s near the turn of the century. The idea that kids were turning strange and that the culture of the Japanese child psyche is being perverted—especially after the killings by a Junior High student known by the moniker "Shōnen A". This eerily draws up the images of the first scenes of the anime with children going berserk and the number of murderous crimes they committed.

However, in this society in which such things are prevented, it draws me back to the reality of the modern age in which education is utilized by society to domesticate children in such a way that they are useful and proactive citizens in society—much like what the institutions of the anime are trying to do with the PK-wielding children. Whether it be through the structure of public education or through organized religion, children are to be educated and guided in such a way that they are molded into citizens of our society.

[vickys-death-note]

Shin Sekai Yori (From the New World) [Part 1]

[A chain always breaks at the weakest link.]

Honestly, I am mad confused. This post is mainly going to focus on the first two episodes since I was just completely lost by the time I had to skip to episode 12.

Going into this anime blindly, by the animation, it seemed like a sweet slice of life that would focus on the power of growth and friendship like "A Place Further Than the Universe" but boy was I wrong. Right off the bat, there's just a crazy amount of gore with students being killed in awful ways. However, the first three minutes of episode 1 have got to be some of the most beautiful and intricate animations I've ever seen. The eerieness yet calmness of these first few minutes immediately got me hooked onto the show.

Saki is the odd one out in her group since she was the last one to move up to Sage Academy. When the conversation of the Copycat is brought up, I immediately assumed it is some joke that is passed around by the students to scare the others. However, seeing Saki's memory with the Copycat was definitely disturbing. This seems to have to do with something about altering memories which is the basis of the system in place.

So obviously a bunch of stuff went down before episode 12, but I noticed that there is something called the "Personality Index" which is a number that measures one's traits and how stable they are. This immediately reminded me of "Psycho-Pass" with the crime coefficient. With just this connection, I can get a feel of what I had missed in the episodes I had skipped. This seems to be a society that crazy heavily monitors everyone's activity, and if it isn't up to standard then you kick the bucket or something.

Hopefully, I will read the summaries on what I missed in order to get a better understanding of this very intriguing and thought-provoking anime. I would love to go back and actually watch the episodes I skipped.

[vickys-death-note]

I love the water analogy, it perfectly encapsulates what has happened in this society! It was really crazy to see just how downhill everything went the moment people realized how to bypass the crime coefficient. It shows that the more you restrain something, the worst it could be when let loose. Having so much freedom granted to you instantly is definitely strange and these people didn't know how to properly react to this new free will.

Psycho-pass Episodes 14-17

Psycho-pass episodes 14-17 tell the story of the chaos of the crowd when the Sibyl system loses its proper prosecutorial and deterrent power, which expresses a deeper connection to panopticism. When the policing of society is completely dependent on deterrence alone as well as a system, when the authority of this system is broken, it is difficult for people to maintain order quickly. Therefore, the collapse of social order is diffuse, just like a drop of water to the surface will set off wave after wave. Even if those who go to destroy the social order at first are only those with helmets, gradually ordinary people, under such oppression, start to resist and gradually overreact. This is the deterrent power that exists in panopticism, when you don't know if someone is supervising you, it creates a kind of self-control; but when you clearly recognize the disappearance of supervision, you lose control. Fortunately, Police and the government got the situation under control in time. Because people had been controlled for so long, they had lost the ability to think freely and returned to their daily routines.

Finally, these episodes also answered my doubts of the Sibyl system. The Sibyl system is not a ruthless and unbiased AI that to help human aimless, it is composed of hundreds of criminally asymptomatic humans' brains. Then, there are a sense of capitalism and colonialism exist. These humans' brains make the decision of the Sibyl system that almost control people's everyday life, when people never thought the controllers of Sibyl system are just same human as everyone else. Also, I believe the idea of Sibyl system comes from the Brain in a vat. Those brains who controlled Sibyl system still believe them as real human, even more advanced than ordinary human. Meanwhile, many of the brains that became Sibyl system were once serious criminals. This is so scary. Criminals are silently controlling normal people. But to put it another way, in the chaotic world of Psycho-pass, all country is full of chaos and crime except Japan. Is it better to live in ignorance than to live in dangerous everywhere? I don't know the answer. As one of the few characters in Psycho-pass who retains her own thoughts and morals, I am looking forward to Akane's reaction when she knows the truth controllers of the Sibyl system.

[vickys-death-note]

Psycho-Pass (cont.)

[Just like a rat, I live by sneaking and hiding and you're a disposable hunting dog who has a collar put on.]

Damn, RIP T_T

Didn't think this show could get much darker, but it did! It was definitely painful to watch a woman get bashed to death for a minute. The way that everyone was just standing there just emphasizes how much everyone is used to the Sibyl System. They all stood there like a bunch of deer in headlights because never would they think something so awful could happen right in front of them. This event really stood out to me because it shows how this system has basically erased people's ideas of ethics or morality and basically replaced it with a number that determines good or bad. These people had become so accustomed to their "perfect" society that they have forgotten how to think for themselves. They expect this system to protect them which has recently done everything but that, due to Makishima's actions. Seeing other characters, like Akane facing this same struggle in episode 16. just goes to show how messed up this system has made everyone's ideals.

However, some of Makishima's ideas make sense. He wants others to see just how flawed the Sibyl System is. Sure, the way he goes about it is extreme, but also it is the only way for others to see his vision. He doesn't support this system that discourages free will. This show shows that often most of the choices we make each day are already decided for us before we even get to think about it. Makishima is a really smart character that is playing the necessary evil in this society.

It sucks having to skip so many episodes since this is such an intriguing anime. I read episode summaries for context but it wasn't the same </3 In the future, I plan to go back and rewatch it for sure! Once again rip to the star of the show Kagari.