Psycho-Pass: Season 1 – The Ultimate Recap (Pt.1)

How do you see freedom, society, and individuality? Not many anime has come up with a brilliant freedom vs. free will storyline. But Psycho-Pass is an exception. Aired in 2012, Psycho-Pass to this day remains an undefeated winner of the system vs. individual anime genre.

It is one of the rare anime that presents a captivating and grim plot about the conflict between individuality and society. It skillfully portrays the themes of liberty, community, and self-determination. With the recent release of Psycho-Pass Providence, we decided to provide the ultimate recap of Psycho-Pass season 1 for anime newbies.

Psycho-Pass Season 1, Quick Summary

The story is set in Japan in the year 2112, where an established system called Sibyl maintains a stable society. Sibyl manages all aspects of life, including assigning citizens to specific job fields based on aptitude tests. It also has the ability to analyze every resident’s mental state and predict who is at risk of committing a crime.

After finishing her exams, Akane Tsunemori has become an Inspector, a specialized police officer whose job is to capture latent criminals and prevent crimes. Some of these criminals are not imprisoned but are instead recruited as Enforcers to assist the police in understanding the mindset of other criminals.

Although warned not to get too close to these Enforcers, Akane ignores the advice and vows to work with them to maintain peace and protect the people of her city. As Akane collaborates with Shinya Kougami, she realizes that the Sibyl System’s judgments are not flawless like her colleagues think.

This discovery shakes her understanding of things she thought were absolute. Now, Akane struggles with defining the meaning of justice and questions if it’s possible to maintain justice with a system that may already be compromised.

Episode 1: Crime Coefficient

The first episode starts with Akane Tsunemori being hired as new Inspector for the Public Safety Bureau. On her first day, she gets assigned to a hostage situation under Nobuchika Ginoza. A citizen named Nobuo Okura gets detected by a Psycho-Pass scanner as likely to commit a crime.

Okura then kidnaps Chika Shimazu and starts abusing her. During this mission, Enforcer Tomomi Masaoka teaches Tsunemori the nature of police work in Japan in the modern age, the use of the Dominator, and the relationship dynamics of Enforcers and Inspectors.

Enforcer Shusei Kagari locates Okura, but the Paralyzer feature of the Dominator fails to work on Okura due to the effects of the stimulants he had taken. Okura manages to flee only to get killed by Shinya Kogami. The team discovers that the hostage’s Crime Coefficient has reached an unacceptable level.

Kogami attempts to execute her, but Tsunemori stops him by paralyzing him with her Dominator. She then successfully calms the hostage. This empathetic behavior leads to a reduction in the hostage’s CCL. The Enforcers then procced to arrest the abused woman instead of eliminating her.

Episode 2: Those Capable

Shinya Kogami, on the other hand, remains hospitalized. Both Akane and Tomomi start their regular workday to neutralize a threat at a shopping mall. Tsunemori then gets into a revealing conversation with Enforcer Shusei Kagari.

She gets to know about Shinya’s situation and how he is a complete freak. After this she visits Kogami, who reassures her that she made the right decision during the hostage situation.

Episode 3: Rearing Conventions

The Hachioji drone plant reports another dismembering incident to the team. This case involves a victim named Daisuke Shioyama. Division 01 gets summoned to investigate the case. Meanwhile Inspector Nobuchika Ginoza and Enforcer Tomomi Masaoka gets into a heated argument.

Akane Tsunemori witnesses it and gets shocked with the whole scenario. Soon Tsunemori inquires with Ginoza about the disagreement. Ginoza then reveals his hate towards enforcers. He also criticizes Akane for treating Enforcers as equals, rather than subordinates.

Division 1 suspects that Kuraudo Goda, the plant manager, may not be telling the truth about the dismemberment incident. They come to this conclusion after knowing a bullying incident at the plant. Since they don’t have the Sibyl to identify the culprit, the Enforcers come up with a daring plan that scares Tsunemori, but the plan ultimately goes well against Goda.

Episode 4: Nobody Knows Your Mask

In this episode, a man named “Talisman” gets murdered and his killer takes over his popular online avatar. Division 01 tries to find the culprit and Akane uses an avatar “Spooky Boogie” to infiltrate a CommuField gathering.

However, the plan doesn’t work out as planned. The murderer, who is working with Shogo Makishima, ends up killing the owner of “Spooky Boogie”. Later he takes over her avatar and proceeds with heinous plans.

Episode 5: Nobody Knows Your Face

In episode 5, Ginoza and his team track the murderer to a hideout. Only to discover that it is rigged with bombs. Shinya analyzes Akane’s chats with Spooky Boogie along with the guest data for the idols’ communities.

During his analyzation to identify the killer, who uses the name Talisman, he discovers he is actually named Masatake Mido. During this time, Mido receives a warning from Gu-sung Choe to not disappoint Shogo Makishima.

Tomomi, Tsunemori, and Kogami injure the suspect badly before the suspect uses his avatars for protection. However, the avatars turn on the suspect when Makishima commands them. The group then manages to arrest the suspect.

Later on, Ginoza explains to Tsunemori why he lacks compassion for Enforcers. How he used to work with Kogami as partners when Kogami was still an Inspector. He reveals that after The Specimen Case, Kogami’s CC increased. This forced him to part his ways from Kogami and Shinya was demoted to being an Enforcer.

Episode 6: Return of the Lunatic Prince

Nobuchika and his team comes to a conclusion that a mastermind could have influenced two recent suspects to commit murders. The mastermind might have provided suspects with the means and motivation to commit such crimes.

Shinya notes unsettling similarities between these cases and The Specimen Case. Which triggers his memories of how his colleague, Mitsuru Sasayama was brutuly murdered. Akane talks to Shusei Kagari and Shion Karanomori to gather more information about Kogami.

Meanwhile, at Oso Academy, Rikako Oryo, commits a murder. Being a mysterious art club president, the killer lures an unwary victim and turns her corpse into “art”. It later gets revealed that Shogo Makishima is behind it all.

Episode 7: The Language of the Chinese Orchid

In episode 7, Nobuchika removes Shinya from the case and asks Akane to keep an eye on him. The leader makes such changes only after he discovers the connection between the recent murders and The Specimen Case.

Tsunemori and Kogami discuss Sasayama’s murder, and Kogami presents his sole piece of evidence: a fuzzy picture of Shogo Makishima. In a meeting with Toyohisa Senguji, Makishima discloses the “cause” of Roichi Oryo’s demise.

Rikako Oryo, Roichi’s daughter, joins forces with Gu-sung Choe to perpetrate additional crimes. They then abduct Kagami Kawarazaki who is concerned about Yoshika Okubo’s whereabouts.

Episode 8: And Then, Silence

Kogami’s profiling skills lead him to conclude that the recent murders in Oso Academy does not match with The Specimen Case. The new murders lack the originality and point social commentary that characterized the previous killings.

Both Kogami and Akane identify one of the students as the culprit. They then track down Rikako Oryo. Unfortunately, Oryo manages to escape with the help of a teacher who stops Kogami from apprehending her.

The Enforcers continue their search for Oryo, uncovering her secret routes and hiding places. Although Oryo manages to flee once again. The enforcers later get to see her new “art”.

Episode 9: Fruit of Paradise

To find Shogo, Shinya brings Akane to see his ex-teacher, Joji Saiga. Saiga then agrees to teach her criminal profiling. But Ginoza starts an argument. Later, Tomomi Masaoka explains Ginoza’s behavior by sharing his past with her. Meanwhile, Makishima talks about humanity and philosophy with Toyohisa Senguji.

Episode 10: Methuselah’s Game

Shogo and Toyohisa arrange a trap to capture Shinya. They use Yuki Funahara, a friend of Akane Tsunemori, as their bait. Kogami finds Funahara in a train car but loses connection with Akane. On the other hand, Makishima watches from above as they try to escape Senguji.

Nobuchika Ginoza criticizes Tsunemori for letting Kogami go alone, but Tomomi Masaoka reprimands him for how he treats her. During this hunt, Makishima manipulates the situation to help Kogami create a functional transponder. As a result, Kogami manages to establish communication with the group outside and they go in to rescue him.

Bottom Line

The second part of this recap covers the next ten episodes (11-20) from the first season of Pyscho-Pass. Make sure to follow through to catch up with the full story.

In the meantime, we have also recapped the latest season of Attack on Titan and reviewed the new anime series Dead Mount Death Play. For more awesome anime content like this, check out other articles on our site covering similar topics.