‘PSYCHO-PASS: Providence’ Review: Providence Proves Why We Need More PSYCHO-PASS!

PSYCHO-PASS is a media franchise that started back in 2012 as an original anime series. Since then, three full anime seasons have been released, as well as four movies, along with numerous other non-video works (games, light novels, manga, etc.). The most recent installment in the franchise is the PSYCHO-PASS: Providence movie, which premiered on May 12, 2023, in Japan. Ahead of the Western release, which is set for July 14, 2023 (August 2 if you’re in the United Kingdom and Ireland), we’ve had the chance to see the movie, and this is what we think.

Unlike the first two movies (Psycho-Pass: The Movie and the compilation film Psycho-Pass: Sinners of the System), PSYCHO-PASS: Providence, like First Inspector, actually presents a crucial moment in the evolution of the series’ plot. Sure, you can argue that both Psycho-Pass: The Movie and Sinners of the System push the plot forward, but they were not directly connected to the anime; they were a sequel or a prequel, but they did not resolve any plot thread left unresolved in the anime.

First Inspector was actually the first movie that actually finished an anime season (it actually was a direct sequel and a conclusion of Season 3), and PSYCHO-PASS: Providence works much in the same way, as it finally fills the gap that was left between Sinners of the System and Season 3.

Now, as far as the plot is concerned, we won’t be giving out any spoilers here, but we are going to tell you what you already know. Namely, at the end of First Inspector, Akane Tsunemori is released from her imprisonment and becomes an advisor to Shizuka Homura, who was appointed as the new head of the Public Safety Bureau (PSB). She then calls her inspectors, Shindo and Ignatov, and decides to tell them about what happened two years prior.

This is the story of PSYCHO-PASS: Providence. The movie, interestingly enough, makes absolutely no connection to Season 3 or First Inspector, so the plot is presented in medias res – we are presented with the story directly, and we have to connect the dots as the plot evolves.

This won’t be too difficult for fans of the series, despite the fact that it’s been three years since First Inspector was released. A lot of new characters are introduced, but the movie does well in connecting the characters from PSYCHO-PASS: Providence to those we’ve seen in Season 3, although in a somewhat different form; still, this move is good from a character development point-of-view, as it shows how much these characters changed.

We’re primarily talking about Arata Shindo and Kei Mikhail Ignatov, as the original characters don’t really go through many changes. As the third season showed, Akane ending up in prison was not a major change, as the movie will reveal, but rather the thing that Akane would do to show her resolve and consistency as a character. Of course, we won’t be revealing the circumstances of his event.

The plot itself is structured similarly to the plot of the other movies in the series, especially Psycho-Pass: The Movie (whose plot is referenced in Providence on several occasions). The good thing about Psycho-Pass is that it is an original series, which means that everything we’ve seen in the series is canon, so there’s no debate as to whether a movie is part of the series or not – it always is.

So, the plot’s structure is quite similar – there’s a lot of action, some background detective work, and the focus is on Akane and Kogami. Of course, the other characters all get their chance to shine, but the focus is on the two main characters in the series. The plot is also related to the applicability of the Sybil System outside of mainland Japan, and there is a secret paramilitary group that might or might not be related to Japan’s government.

And while it is a formula that works, as far as Psycho-Pass is concerned, we have to say that this movie digs deeper into the philosophy of Psycho-Pass than Psycho-Pass: The Movie, with the ending of the movie being similarly subversive and innovative like the ending of the much-debated second season. In it, Kirito Kamui challenged the System to discuss the concept of collective criminality, and PSYCHO-PASS: Providence similarly challenges the System’s readiness to analyze whole societies and not just individuals.

This is how the idea of the Conflict Coefficient is effectively introduced to the series, but with the third season dealing with a separate case and Bifrost, whose existence is foreshadowed in the movie as well, this concept has yet to be analyzed effectively in the series.

Be that as it may, the plot of the series is quite intriguing, and even those who are not long-time fans of Psycho-Pass will be able to enjoy this action-packed and philosophically-intriguing movie, which adds value to the plot. For fans, it is a long-awaited answer to a question that has been bothering us for three years.

In terms of the characters, PSYCHO-PASS: Providence does a lot for many of them. Akane and Kogami are great once more, and this movie shows even more than some other works, perhaps, why we love it when the two of them are working together. It also added more value to the relationship between Kogami and Ginoza, a strained one from the very beginning, but now that both of them had Akane to protect, their relationship became even deeper.

We don’t see too much of the other members of Unit 1, save for Mika, who went surprisingly out of her way to help Akane in this movie, showing that despite all of her personal shortcomings, she is starting to realize that Akane is both important and right, which is a great thing for her development. The other members do get their screen time, but since we know their fates from Season 3, it is good that the writers did not force any major participation for them. They brilliantly filled their roles, and that’s how it was supposed to be.

What yours truly liked specifically is how this movie was, in a way, Saiga’s movie. Saiga is a brilliant character, and yours truly can admit that he is, alongside Akane and Kamui, his favorite character. It was a bummer not seeing him in Season 3, but the movie gave him some major screen time, and it was, in a way, Saiga’s movie.

The new characters were also quite intriguing. We finally got to see more of Atsushi Shindo, whose death was a major plot point in Season 3, and the movie does, as expected, explain everything related to Atsushi Shindo and his role in the series and we have to admit that it was executed brilliantly, especially in light of the series’ tendency to not portray its characters as purely black or white, but with a lot of shades of gray.

The same goes for the series’ villain, Tsugumasa Tonami, who was an intriguing figure that gave the series’ philosophy a completely new dimension. As for the villains of Psycho-Pass, fans have to realize that you only get one Shogo Makishima… in every way imaginable.

And the series did great not to simply copy Makishima, but to provide us, each and every time, with a new villain, a completely new concept that changes the System and allows it to evolve. Much like Kamui in Season two, Tsugumasa Tonami presents someone who the System cannot judge due to some of his capabilities, and the religious frenzy that surrounds this former military man is a concept that forces Sibyl to change once again, and that makes Akane question yet another aspect of the System’s functionality in light of the in-universe discussion about completely abolishing national laws and letting the System decide absolutely everything.

The technical aspects are, as usual, flawless, and Psycho-Pass set a high standard a long time ago, a standard which it adheres to in each installment. Series veteran Naoyoshi Shiotani did an amazing job in directing the movie – from the technical aspects to the pacing -and he was able to add a lot of emotional value to the movie, which isn’t always present in the world of Psycho-Pass. It is intriguing but not always emotional. Makoto Fukami and Tow Ubukata returned to write the screenplay for the movie, and they also did an amazing job there.

Yugo Kanno also returned to compose the soundtrack, and while he did give us some new tracks and variations of some old classics, he also allowed us to experience the memorable tracks that made Psycho-Pass so great.

Finally, we just want to discuss the movie’s philosophy a bit. Psycho-Pass is a series that featured a lot of great and new concepts when anime was concerned. Building on the philosophical complexity of both Neon Genesis Evangelion and serial experiments lain, Psycho-Pass showed us a cyberpunk world where society seemed to be happy, but had also, seemingly, given up its freedom to the enigmatic Sybil System, presented as the perfect alternative for a functional and content society. The Sybil System seemed to be superhuman.

It seemed to be completely rational, but when it was discovered that the Sybil System was actually – a group of human brains – the whole idea crumbled in the eyes of those who knew it.

This is when Akane, who was later revealed to be criminally asymptomatic, began challenging the System. Although she retained her belief that the System has its benefits, she was firmly against giving the System complete control over the people. Akane’s idealistic humanism has been a theme in each iteration of the series, and PSYCHO-PASS: Providence gave her a completely new dimension in light of the in-universe discussions regarding the System’s role in Japan and the world. Akane concluded that crime and criminality need to be discussed and that a society can evolve only if it does not judge its people using a simple scale.

The concept of humanity is complex, and it is multi-colored, which also means that it has to be treated like that. And in order to push the system forward, Akane did what she did in the end and because of her actions, she was both imprisoned and released by the same System that she is constantly challenging.

In the end, we can only conclude that PSYCHO-PASS: Providence is another great installment in the series. It fills the narrative gaps left by the previous installments. It has a great plot with a lot of emotional value, it adds to the character development of all the major actors in the series, and, what is most important, it adds another layer to the philosophical and psychological complexity of the series as a whole. PSYCHO-PASS: Providence did not reinvent the series, but just as the System continues to evolve, so does the series, and PSYCHO-PASS: Providence proves that.

In light of the increasing role of AI in our society, PSYCHO-PASS: Providence and its questions are exactly what we needed, as it provides a new perspective to a hot topic, especially in light of Akane’s thoughts on the matter. In the end, PSYCHO-PASS: Providence is a brilliant work, and it once again proves why we need more Psycho-Pass in the future and why the series keeps challenging us in the best way possible.

Score: 10/10