“Psycho-Pass 2” builds on the success of its first season with another compelling storyline and characters you actually can care about. On the technical side, the animation is still beautiful and the voice acting, both Japanese and English, is superb.
“Psycho-Pass 2”
(2014)
Genre(s): Anime, Sci-Fi, Action
FUNimation | TVMA – 275 min. – $64.98 | March 8, 2016
Date Published: 05/13/2016 | Author: The Movieman
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THE MOVIE – 4.5/5 |
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It’s been a little over a year since Inspector Akane Tsunemori (KANA HANAZAWA/KATE ODEY) chose to put her faith in the Sibyl System and keep its true nature a secret. Assigned to a new division with a few familiar faces, Akane and her team of Inspectors and Enforcers are charged with upholding the law in a society where just thinking of a crime is enough to get you locked away forever—or executed on the spot. Quick Hit Review: Probably considered one of the best anime series, perhaps second to “Ghost in the Shell” (the original series anyway) or “Cowboy Bebop”, “Psycho-Pass” has one of the more depth-filled storylines and characters and it’s an engaging show from the get-go. Now the second season continues on with the success of the first with a suspenseful plot and some interesting inner (and outer) conflict between characters. I can’t quite say it measures up to “Ghost” or “Cowboy” yet the animation style easily equals both and there is at least enough story to keep one’s attention from episodes 1 to 11. Also impressive is the voice acting. The original Japanese language is great but the English version, from FUNimation I believe, is also wonderful, each providing some superb passion behind each of these characters that you couldn’t go wrong either way. Whether or not you’re into anime, “Psycho-Pass” gets an easy recommendation from me as it offers a whole lot more than your standard series in the genre. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 2.5/5 |
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This 4-disc set (2 BDs, 2 DVDs) is housed in a HD Keep Case and comes with a nice slip cover. Episode Commentaries Also included are the Textless Opening and Closing Songs (TRT 3:04; HD) and the U.S. Trailer (1:37; HD). |
VIDEO – 4.5/5 |
| “Psycho-Pass” comes to Blu-ray in North America courtesy of FUNimation. The show is presented in its original 1.78 televised aspect ratio and given a 1080p high-definition transfer. As with most anime, the picture looks brilliant; colors are generally bright and during any darker shots or nighttime sequences, the black levels are nice and stark, showing no major instances of artifacts or aliasing. The only downside, and it is minor, there are some banding issues in some transition scenes but it’s nothing distracting. |
AUDIO – 4.25/5 |
| Both languages get a Dolby TrueHD soundtrack though the English version gets the semi-more robust 5.1 channels while Japanese is ‘only’ 2.0 but either way, these sound great with good depth for the dialogue levels and provide some extra boost with the more action-oriented sequences, though at times it can sound a tad flat, but I suspect that more has to do with the original sound design than the transfer. |
OVERALL – 4.0/5 |
| Overall, “Psycho-Pass 2” builds on the success of its first season with another compelling storyline and characters you actually can care about. On the technical side, the animation is still beautiful and the voice acting, both Japanese and English, is superb. The Blu-ray release offers great video/audio transfers and although limited, the commentary tracks, one video no less, present some value in the features department. |