The joys of pre-crime
So recently I've been catching up on an anime series which aired last fall called Psycho-Pass. It emphasizes how, although they touch on many of the same themes, the American and Japanese approaches to cyberpunk (loosely defined by me as near future-ish urban dystopia which prominently features cyber-enhancements, VR internet, androids, and/or sentient bio-constructs) are markedly different. American cyberpunk tends to emphasize the punk, with protagonists being criminals or others disaffected by The System. Meanwhile, Japanese cyberpunk protagonists are generally members of a government agency (usually law enforcement). In other words, rather than railing against The System, they are part of The System. Granted, The System is just about always presented as being rife with corruption or (in the case of Dominion Tank Police) just flat-out deranged. And of course there are exceptions (Robocop and Baldr EXE come to mind). But these generalizations hold up fairly well and can probably provide material for an essay for some media academic.
But back to Psycho-Pass. One way to describe it would be if you crossed Ghost in the Shell with Minority Report. In this case, a system has been developed wherein brain scans can measure a person's mental state to determine if one is a potential criminal. The series follows Akane Tsunemori, a rookie inspector in the PSBCID whose job is to bring in those who do not willingly report to therapy when their Crime Coefficient gets too high. Her first day on the job starts with a particularly ugly case which leaves her with doubts about the system's efficacy. However, the major thrust of the series concerns the investigation of a series of superficially unconnected murders with the common link of a Moriarty-like character who enables others to indulge in their worst impulses, all the while wafting through the system undetected.
But back to Psycho-Pass. One way to describe it would be if you crossed Ghost in the Shell with Minority Report. In this case, a system has been developed wherein brain scans can measure a person's mental state to determine if one is a potential criminal. The series follows Akane Tsunemori, a rookie inspector in the PSBCID whose job is to bring in those who do not willingly report to therapy when their Crime Coefficient gets too high. Her first day on the job starts with a particularly ugly case which leaves her with doubts about the system's efficacy. However, the major thrust of the series concerns the investigation of a series of superficially unconnected murders with the common link of a Moriarty-like character who enables others to indulge in their worst impulses, all the while wafting through the system undetected.