Today I watched the third Psycho-Pass: Sinners of the System movie. While it was definitely an improvement over the second one, it still pales in comparison to the first film, which focused on Mika’s investigation of the sanctuary facility. This time, the focus is on Kougami, and it works as a narrative device to reintroduce him to the story in a natural way.
Kougami has been wandering through Southeast Asian countries following his revenge against Makishima. He helps where he can in an environment that is generally war-torn compared to Sibyl-controlled Japan. During his travels, he meets a young half-Japanese girl named Tenzing Wangchuck, who was a passenger on a bus attacked by bandits.
She is adamant about making Kougami her teacher because she wants to exact revenge on the bandits who killed her parents years ago. The parallels between her journey and Kougami’s quest against Makishima in the first season are easy to spot. While he agrees to be her teacher, Kogami only plans to teach her basic self-defense.
At the same time, Frederica Hanashiro, who was introduced in the previous movie, is traveling in the same country on a special mission for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This entangles Kougami in a major conspiracy surrounding the efforts of Guillermo Garcia, who is trying to establish peace through a UN-like system.
As is usual in this universe, things are not what they seem. It turns out Garcia was using bandits to justify his own existence and eliminate opposing parties that stood against his plan to become the central power of the region. To add to the trouble, these bandits were the same ones responsible for the death of Tenzing’s parents.
Kougami decide to take action and strike a deal with Frederica to help him in exchange to return to Japan. This leads to the typical chase sequences and battles, eventually resulting in the deaths of Garcia and his associates. Kougami is labeled as the perpetrator of Garcia's crimes to ensure that peace negotiations can continue, and he leaves the country to return to Japan with Frederica.
As a whole, this entry does not add much to the Sibyl System narrative. Instead, it shows what is happening elsewhere in the world. It creates the contrast that the author emphasized in previous seasons between the organized, civil, but dystopian society under the Sibyl System and the war-torn status of other nations.
Tenzing was an extremely endearing character, unlike any other we have seen in the series so far, likely due to her youth. I liked how she ultimately decided not to fire her gun at the goon, even though she probably would not have hit him anyway. Thankfully, the people who killed her parents are all gone.
I'm curious to see where Kougami's attention will go now, because while he's going to be back in Japan he doesn't have his original drive to fight Makishima anymore. Does he really have high enough stakes to push himself against the gigantic mechanisms that make the Sybil system work?
Now all that remains is to start Season 3 and finally see where the creators want to take the series. There is a lot of foreshadowing that the military is preparing something that may change the balance of power in Japan, and I am curious to see how society will evolve under the Sibyl System.
