# Psycho-Pass (サイコパス)
**Psycho-Pass** (サイコパス) is a Japanese science-fiction police anime series that premiered on October 11, 2012, in [Fuji Television](https://www.edgepedia.org/fuji-television)'s late-night "noitamina" block, set in a future Japan where a vast surveillance network called the Sibyl System quantifies every citizen's mental state and judges people by a numerical "crime coefficient" before any crime is committed.[1](https://www.production-ig.co.jp/works/psycho-pass) • [2](https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/kantoh/2025/38/2025_19/_pdf/-char/ja) The first season ran 22 episodes of 30 minutes each and was produced by [Production I.G](https://www.edgepedia.org/production-i-g).[3](https://www.fujicreative.co.jp/forBuyers/animation/psycho-pass/) It grew into a franchise of sequels, films, and games that continued past the series' tenth anniversary.[4](https://psycho-pass.com//story/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Format | Original TV anime (no manga or novel source), first aired October 11, 2012 on Fuji TV "noitamina"; 22 episodes × 30 minutes[1](https://www.production-ig.co.jp/works/psycho-pass) • [3](https://www.fujicreative.co.jp/forBuyers/animation/psycho-pass/) |
| Core staff | Chief director Katsuyuki Motohiro; director Naoyoshi Shiotani; story concept and scripts Gen Urobuchi (Nitroplus); character concept Akira Amano; music Yugo Kanno; animation by Production I.G[5](https://www.fujitv.co.jp/b_hp/psycho-pass/) |
| Setting | Japan in 2112 under the Sibyl System; a person's measured value is colloquially called a "Psycho-Pass," and a crime coefficient above a threshold marks the person a "latent criminal" subject to enforcement by the Public Safety Bureau[2](https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/kantoh/2025/38/2025_19/_pdf/-char/ja) |
| In-universe chronology | Sibyl System established 2061 and implemented 2071; the 2015 film is set in 2116, when Japan begins exporting the system abroad[6](https://psycho-pass.com/archive/story/) |
| Franchise | Season 2 (2014); theatrical film (2015); Sinners of the System trilogy and Season 3 (2019); *First Inspector* film (2020); *Providence* film (2023, 120 minutes)[7](https://www.cinematoday.jp/movie/T0027812/review) |
| Main cast | Kana Hanazawa as Akane Tsunemori; Tomokazu Seki as Shinya Kogami; Takahiro Sakurai as Shogo Makishima[5](https://www.fujitv.co.jp/b_hp/psycho-pass/) |
| Reception | Season 1 holds a 4.3/5 average from 30,062 user reviews on Filmarks; IGN named it one of the best anime of the decade[8](https://filmarks.com/animes/5/7) |
## Premise and setting
The story takes place in a near-future Japan where AI technology makes human personality traits and psychological states measurable. The Sibyl System, a vast monitoring and welfare network, records and manages these values continuously. The measured value itself is what people call a "Psycho-Pass," and the number relating to crime is the "crime coefficient." When a person's coefficient exceeds a set threshold, that person is designated a latent criminal and becomes a target of enforcement by the Public Safety Bureau, the agency to which the protagonist [Akane Tsunemori](https://www.edgepedia.org/akane-tsunemori) belongs.[2](https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/kantoh/2025/38/2025_19/_pdf/-char/ja)
Enforcement dispenses with trials. Public Safety officers carry a weapon called the Dominator, which reads a person's Psycho-Pass and delivers "immediate sentencing and immediate execution" according to the measured crime coefficient, so in this world there is, in principle, no courtroom process at all.[2](https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/kantoh/2025/38/2025_19/_pdf/-char/ja) Detectives work in paired teams: **Enforcers** are investigators who themselves carry high crime coefficients and can get close to the roots of crime, while **Inspectors** are elite officers with calm judgment who command and monitor the Enforcers, since the same traits that make an Enforcer effective carry the risk of turning him into a criminal.[5](https://www.fujitv.co.jp/b_hp/psycho-pass/)
The system reaches every area of life. It reads each person's aptitude and suggests a suitable occupation, and for some occupations it removes the choice entirely by declaring the person unfit. The in-universe chronology places the system's establishment in 2061, when measurement was extended beyond job placement into a "comprehensive lifetime welfare support system," followed by its formal implementation in 2071 after a decade of administrative restructuring. The same period brought energy self-sufficiency through methane hydrate development, food self-sufficiency through the genetically enhanced wheat called Hyperoats, and a completed isolationist policy.[6](https://psycho-pass.com/archive/story/)
## Production
The series was conceived as an original work with no preceding manga or novel. Fuji Creative's international catalog credits the project to "Katsuyuki Motohiro × Gen Urobuchi (Nitroplus) × Akira Amano × Production I.G": Motohiro, known for the live-action *Bayside Shakedown* police films, served as executive director; Urobuchi wrote the original story concept and screenplays; and manga artist Akira Amano created the character designs.[3](https://www.fujicreative.co.jp/forBuyers/animation/psycho-pass/) Naoyoshi Shiotani directed, with Yugo Kanno composing the music and Iwanami Yoshikazu as sound director.[5](https://www.fujitv.co.jp/b_hp/psycho-pass/)
The first season's opening theme was "abnormalize" by the rock band Ling tosite sigure, and its ending theme was "Namae no nai Kaibutsu" by EGOIST.[5](https://www.fujitv.co.jp/b_hp/psycho-pass/) Both acts returned for the 2023 film *Providence*, which used "Alexithymia Spare" as its theme song and "Tojisha" as its ending theme.[4](https://psycho-pass.com//story/)
## Sequels, films, and games
The franchise expanded steadily after the first season. A second television season aired in 2014, followed by a theatrical film released nationwide on January 9, 2015. In 2019 came the three-part *Sinners of the System* film series and the third television season; the compilation film *PSYCHO-PASS 3 FIRST INSPECTOR* received a theatrical release on March 27, 2020; and *劇場版 PSYCHO-PASS サイコパス PROVIDENCE* opened on May 12, 2023, with a 120-minute running time.[7](https://www.cinematoday.jp/movie/T0027812/review)
*Providence* is positioned as the series' tenth-anniversary culmination. It depicts the previously untold episode connecting *Sinners of the System Case.3* and the third television season, linking the Tsunemori and Kogami storyline with that of the season 3 leads Arata Shindo and Kei Mikhail Ignatov.[4](https://psycho-pass.com//story/) The 2015 theatrical film, set in 2116, follows Tsunemori to the foreign territory of SEAUn, where the Sibyl System has been exported for trial deployment for the first time.[6](https://psycho-pass.com/archive/story/)
The franchise also extends to games. The visual novel *Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness*, an original story supervised within the same setting, received a Metascore of 72 ("mixed or average") on [PlayStation 4](https://www.edgepedia.org/playstation-4) from 26 critic reviews, with critics praising its story as the strongest element.[9](https://www.metacritic.com/game/psycho-pass-mandatory-happiness/critic-reviews/)
## Themes and reception
Academic commentary has treated the series as a study of surveillance and governance. One analysis describes it as depicting the dialectic of security, liberation, and governance in a high-surveillance society, and notes its similarity to [Philip K. Dick](https://www.edgepedia.org/philip-k-dick)'s "The Minority Report" and [Steven Spielberg](https://www.edgepedia.org/steven-spielberg)'s film adaptation in its premise that crime can be prevented before it happens.[10](https://japan.thu.edu.tw/journal/wp-content/uploads/%E5%A4%9A%E5%85%83%E6%96%87%E5%8C%96%E4%BA%A4%E6%B5%81%E7%AC%AC16%E8%99%9F_11%E4%B8%AD%E6%9D%91%E9%BA%BB%E7%90%86.pdf) A 2025 sociology paper uses the series to frame contemporary discomfort with AI judgment, quoting the system's occupational and even matchmaking recommendations as the fictional extreme of algorithmic life-planning, and contrasts it with real-world instruments such as the EU AI Act, which directs that sensitive judgments not be delegated to AI.[2](https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/kantoh/2025/38/2025_19/_pdf/-char/ja)
Critical reception of the first season was strong. Audience scores agree: on the Japanese review site Filmarks, season 1 holds a 4.3 average out of 5 across 30,062 user reviews, with 61 percent of reviewers giving it in the 4.1 to 5.0 band.[8](https://filmarks.com/animes/5/7) Later entries divide opinion among fans; the 2023 film *Providence* was received by Japanese critics as dense and rewarding for long-term viewers while requiring substantial familiarity with the preceding series.[7](https://www.cinematoday.jp/movie/T0027812/review)
## References
1. [PSYCHO-PASS サイコパス, Production I.G works page](https://www.production-ig.co.jp/works/psycho-pass)
2. [Tanihara, Tsukasa (2025). 傷つかないAI、傷つく人間（1）, 年報社会学論集 38: 19–26](https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/kantoh/2025/38/2025_19/_pdf/-char/ja)
3. [Psycho-Pass, Fuji Creative Corporation animation catalog](https://www.fujicreative.co.jp/forBuyers/animation/psycho-pass/)
4. [INTRODUCTION｜アニメ『PSYCHO-PASS サイコパス』シリーズ公式サイト](https://psycho-pass.com//story/)
5. [PSYCHO-PASSサイコパス, Fuji Television program page](https://www.fujitv.co.jp/b_hp/psycho-pass/)
6. [STORY｜アニメ「PSYCHO-PASS サイコパス」 (archive)](https://psycho-pass.com/archive/story/)
7. [劇場版 PSYCHO-PASS サイコパス PROVIDENCE (2023)：映画短評, シネマトゥデイ](https://www.cinematoday.jp/movie/T0027812/review)
8. [PSYCHO-PASS サイコパス, Filmarksアニメ](https://filmarks.com/animes/5/7)
9. [Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/game/psycho-pass-mandatory-happiness/critic-reviews/)
10. [中村麻理 (2023). アニメ『PSYCHO-PASS』における監視社会の描写, 多元文化交流 16](https://japan.thu.edu.tw/journal/wp-content/uploads/%E5%A4%9A%E5%85%83%E6%96%87%E5%8C%96%E4%BA%A4%E6%B5%81%E7%AC%AC16%E8%99%9F_11%E4%B8%AD%E6%9D%91%E9%BA%BB%E7%90%86.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Anime and manga › Anime series, episodes, and franchises › Anime television series, 2010s*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license