I'm sorry.
Ah yes, this classic scene. It's just like they always say:
If "sorry" was enough, then we wouldn't need the police, would we?
And after all that fuss, you let Talisman, the very man you were after, slip through your fingers.
I never should have cooperated with the police in the first place.
But there's no doubt that Talisman has gotten caught up in some sort of crime.
You helped us because you felt you couldn't just ignore that, right?
Give me a break!
I'm Spooky Boogie, the anarchist!
Under no circumstances will I ever act as your agent again.
But...
Bad news for your friendship?
Well, she was just someone who used to be in my class.
I don't even know who she is, really.
You recorded that chat, right?
What?
Yeah, of course.
My head is full of things
that I can never tell anybody of
In this perfect world
I roam, a lost being
The impossible is holding sway over me
All I know of the world is what I can see
Is that enough to find its faults?
Artificial, artificial
Hey, how can they stay so sane?
This is their artificial world
In this beautiful world
there is something
that obscures all light for me
My heart tries to make sense of it
and finds no answer
Secret kills for you
Secret image for you
Don't show me a dark future
with this gaudy land
Show me a way to fade
05: Nobody Knows Your Face
Talisman Saloon is packed with guests, as usual.
Today is another busy day for the ghost of Hayama Kimihiko, as he dispenses advice without a care.
Not only is he not running or hiding,
he's even been talking about what happened in Club Exoset.
More to the point, just what is his game here?
Was his goal to make it look like Hayama Kimihiko was still alive?
Then there's no way he'd leave Hayama's bank account untouched
and his apartment empty for two months, right?
I wonder if his goal really was simply to gain control of Hayama's Avatar.
I could see someone who commits crimes for kicks doing that, but...
Would someone like that kill?
Gino, don't try to understand the minds of criminals.
You'll be taken in.
Was that warning directed at me or yourself, Kougami?
Hey...
Even if this guy's just doing it for kicks, he's no fool.
He anticipated that he'd fall under suspicion.
There's no way he could have cracked the Holo-Cosplay in the hall unless he'd prepared beforehand.
If he thinks he can play us like fools, we'll have to teach him a lesson.
Karanomori, trace Talisman's access routes.
We'll find out who he is and capture him this time for sure.
Don't get too worked up, Gino.
He's clearly very confident in his ability to hide his tracks.
That's why he's still hanging around the social networks as if nothing happened.
But what's the point in us sitting around doing nothing?
There might be another way to get a lead on him.
There's one more thing that I want to look into.
That's fine. Suit yourself.
I'm still going to trace his access routes.
I don't really get stuff like Avatars and virtual worlds.
I mean after all, it's our bodies that actually breathe, sweat, and eat, right?
Masaoka, I think people like you are an endangered species.
Isn't using the net just like using knives for cooking or using paper to write things down?
It's not intrisically good or bad.
It's just there, so we accept it and use it.
You're good at explaining things, aren't you? Like a teacher.
Really?
Have you heard of Rousseau?
Um... You mean the philosopher?
Yeah. And his work "A Discourse on Inequality."
Hold on a second, please. I'll look it up.
You don't need to.
It's all stored right here.
Let's say there are two hunters in a forest.
Should they hunt for rabbits separately?
Or...
Should they work together and go after bigger prey?
Which do you think is the better option?
The latter, of course.
That's a basic rule of game theory.
You work together to catch bigger prey.
That's right. Humans are social by nature.
Languages, letters, currencies, telephones...
All the communication tools that exist in the world are there in order to strengthen social nature.
Do you think the net has the same effect, missy?
Yes... I think it does.
I see... That sounds kinda interesting.
Shall I give you a bit of assistance?
What?
It wouldn't be a bad idea to get one of the Public Safety Bureau's rising stars in my debt, right?
I see... That sounds kinda interesting.
Shall I give you a bit of assistance?
If "sorry" was enough, then we wouldn't need the police, would we?
I never should have cooperated with the police in the first place.
That's it.
Huh? What are you talking about?
I never should have cooperated with the police in the first place.
Her choice of words is different.
Earlier, she used "Public Safety Bureau". Now, "police."
You don't think it's just a coincidence?
Then let's check all the logs available.
Public Safety
Public Safety Bureau
Just as I thought.
Spooky Boogie rarely used the word "police" in the past.
The one you talked to this morning is a different person.
The person we're after now is a murderer who kills people and takes control of their Avatars.
Our trace showed that the culprit was operating the Talisman Avatar from here.
This apartment.
Electromagnetic Shield in Operation
Unable to Perform Interior Scan
Door breach.
Huh?
Oh shit!
If you're calling me, I'm guessing it's bad news.
Sorry about that. Some hunting dogs got caught in the trap.
About time.
I can get you as many replacement proxy servers as you require, but do you still plan to continue with this?
Of course. It is my duty.
Well, you are Makishima's favorite.
Please don't screw up. Seriously.
How did you guys get out without even a scratch?
Hey, don't glare at us like that.
Maybe somebody here's been misbehaving lately.
What is it?
We've got another victim.
It's Spooky Boogie.
We did a search on people who were in Inspector Tsunemori's class
and narrowed it down to those who had affiliate income.
Sugawara Shouko, twenty years old.
The murder took place in her home and was carried out exactly like Hayama's.
We found pieces of her body in the sewer and yet her Avatar is still wandering about on the net.
The estimated time of death is before dawn.
She must've gotten killed after last night's raid on Exoset.
Let's go back to the office and rework our strategy with Karanomori.
If this keeps up, we'll be playing right into his hands.
Dammit!
Because of me...
she got dragged into this.
Missy...
It was my fault.
It's all because of me.
Did you view Spooky Boogie...
Sugawara Shouko... as a decoy?
No...
Did you force her to cooperate?
No...
Did you leak information on her to the enemy?
No...
Then how is this your fault?
But...
She actually got...
Yeah. If we had caught the culprit last night,
Sugawara Shouko wouldn't have had to die.
The responsibility for that lies with all of us.
For now, just think about fulfilling your responsibilities.
Let's catch this guy.
In short, that's the only thing we can do to allow the victims to rest in peace.
I found another weird case.
Melancholia's Rainy Blue.
It belongs to an eighty-two year old man,
but his grandson begged him to let him use his name and info.
And then, his grandson died in an accident half a year ago.
Tokitou Yuichi. He was fourteen years old.
But his Avatar, Melancholia, is still active even after his death.
His grandfather doesn't even know how to access social networks.
In fact, he thought the affiliate income was his pension.
Rainy Blue is a big community, too.
More and more ghost Avatars keep cropping up...
Is it even possible to operate several different Avatars at the same time?
It's not uncommon for heavy users, right?
Yes.
The unusual part is the acting abilities of this culprit.
Not only do these hijacked Avatars manage to avoid suspicion,
they're more popular than when their real owners operated them.
How is it that among tens of thousands of users, nobody noticed they were fake?
Because it's not a matter of real or fake.
These Avatars are idols on the net. In other words, icons.
Icons cannot exist solely through their own will.
Neither Hayama nor Sugawara built their reputations on their own.
They were able to become Talisman and Spooky Boogie because their fans
idolized them based on their own distorted perceptions.
The true feelings and natures of these idols are not the same as the ideals their characters represent.
So it's not surprising that a fan could do a better job
than the real owners of playing the idol fans expect to see.
Are you saying that the culprit is one of their fans?
Melancholia, Talisman, and Spooky Boogie.
He knows those three characters very well, to the point of being able to imitate them perfectly.
The real culprit is someone whose level of activity matches that enthusiasm.
And how can we find this person?
Just how many people do you think would be fans of all three Avatars?
We can use certain criteria to narrow things down.
First, Talisman.
Let's take the top one hundred fans among the regulars in his CommuField
and draw a graph of their time spent there per day,
predominantly around the estimated time of Hayama Kimihiko's death.
Looks like the time his guests spent there went down overall.
That's around when Talisman's reputation went into decline.
But after that day, two months ago, it started to recover.
At that point, Hayama was killed and Talisman was hijacked by an unknown party.
And yet, there are some regulars who stopped coming to Talisman Saloon at that point.
This pattern on the graph is the key.
When Tokitou Yuichi, who operated Melancholia, died half a year ago,
and when Sugawara Shouko, Spooky Boogie, died the day before yesterday,
there should be a user who showed the same pattern.
I see. That's the culprit's own Avatar.
That's right.
Once the culprit had hijacked the victims' Avatars,
he no longer had to visit their CommuFields as a guest.
Well? Does anyone fit these criteria?
There's only one person who does.
Mido Masatake, twenty-seven years old.
He works at a virtual sports management company.
His last Psycho-Pass Hue Check was run four years ago at an annual checkup.
And he hasn't even run into any street scanners since then?
Each day, he'd take routes that would allow him to avoid street scanners.
That means he's got something to hide, huh?
Trace his access records.
Way ahead of you.
His last access was just a few minutes ago from a budget hotel in Roppongi, Minato ward.
His home address is...
located in Motoazabu, also in Minato ward.
Inspector Tsunemori, go investigate this hotel room with Kougami and Masaoka.
Okay!
I'll go to Motoazubu to investigate his home with Kagari and Kunizuka.
He's a dangerous character, skilled at cracking and explosives alike.
Don't let your guard down.
What's that for?
Strong alcohol is the best thing for handling illegal Holograms.
That's a trick you can take advantage of after you turn twenty.
Public Safety Bureau! Mido Masatake,
please present your Psycho-Pass immediately!
Please come out!
What's going on?
Forget cracking Holo-Cosplay! He can even crack interior Holo!
Ko!
Wh-What do we do?
Ko!
Crime Cofficient is 335.
Enforcement mode is Lethal Eliminator.
A pain-inhibiting drug, huh?
He won't get far with those injuries.
Let's leave the rest to Ginoza and the others.
Welcome back, Mido!
Welcome back!
Yeah...
I'm home.
I'm okay.
You guys are eternal.
You were released from the chains of a physical body and polished by collective intelligence.
You're the souls most close to Plato's "idea".
No one can look down on you.
I won't let anyone destroy your nobility.
I will...
I will protect it at any cost.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mido.
Once I was guided by you.
And now, together with you, I will guide people and the world.
You are eternal.
But...
Couldn't you have done a better job, Mido?
Wait a sec. What on earth...
There's something that I've been searching for. Something I want to know.
I've done whatever it takes to get closer to that goal.
Say, have you read Terayama Shuuji?
Huh? T-Terayama?
You should read his play, "Saraba, eiga yo."
It seems like everyone is an agent for someone.
And what's more, those agents have their Avatars communicate in place of them.
Are you... Makishima?
You have a thorough knowledge of various Avatars and are able to imitate them perfectly.
You can become anyone, so I was very interested in what your personality was like.
That is why I lent you my people and my assistance.
S-Stop it!
Give them back to me!
Don't speak with their voices!
But...
I see this play is drawing to a close.
Now that we've arrived at the final act,
instead of borrowing the ideas of others, why don't you come up with an idea of your own to close the curtain?
You bastard... What are you...
You can play any character, and yet in the end it turned out that you yourself are nobody.
Your core personality is null. It's empty.
You don't have a face of your own.
That's how you could wear any mask at all over your smooth, featureless face and have it fit perfectly.
Shut up! Stop it!
It's time to say goodbye, Mido Masatake.
The hunting dogs, those harbingers of death, have arrived.
Enforcement mode is Lethal Eliminator.
Aim carefully and eliminate the target.
Clear.
No one else is here... right?
Then who on earth was he talking to?
You did quite well this time.
In the end, it was Kougami who identified the culprit.
I can't believe he was able to understand how the culprit thought and predict his behavior so accurately.
That's what Enforcers do.
They can understand criminals precisely because they have the same psychological tendency as them.
But...
Kougami comforted me... and encouraged me.
Even if he's a latent criminal,
it's hard to think that he has the same mind as a homicidal maniac like Mido.
You're an Inspector. All you have to do is fulfill your duty as one.
Draw a line between yourself and the Enforcers.
Is that an ironclad rule for this job?
No. It's my own rule of thumb.
Huh?
I once lost a partner who made a mistake.
I couldn't stop him.
I don't want you to make the same mistake.
This is a file from the Personnel Department.
Destroy it when you're done reading.
Shinya Kougami. Enforcer. Male.
Twenty-eight years old. Former Inspector.
Huh?
While investigating an unsolved case, Public Safety Bureau Special Case 102,
his Crime Coefficient rapidly increased.
He prioritized the investigation over his own therapy.
His Crime Coefficient exceeded the regulation limit and he was demoted to Enforcer.
It seems all fairy tales are dead
In a hospital ward of brick stones
my voice is too coarse to sing
Outside in the foggy haze
a red moon glows
Look at me
Do not avert your gaze
Behind black bars
I was born
I wish there were a punishment for evil
Always I need you
Now, grant us justice
before chaos takes us all
Pay the price of fate and let us go together,
nameless beasts
This is a world where the mental state and personal tendencies of humans can be quantified. While all sorts of inclinations are recorded and policed, these measured numbers used to judge people's souls are commonly called "Psycho-Pass".
This story is a work of fiction. The names of all individuals and organizations that appear in this show are fictitious and any similarity to those in existence in the real world is purely coincidental.