The story resumes a bit after the end of the first season, but now Akane has matured and gained a greater understanding of how things work, in particular the Sibyl system. We're also introduced to a new colorful assortment of characters, most notably the shady yet noir-cool Sakuya Tougane, the essentially copy and paste of Makishima villain Kirito Kamui, and the ever-so-hated and quite irritating junior inspector Mika Shimotsuki.
If there's one thing that bugged me more than everything else, it would be just how similar this season was to the first. You might think that's a good thing, but when you have essentially the same villain with similar goals and methods, similar plot, and a similar ending, you'd feel a bit cheesed as well. Not that this was anime breaking or anything, but this coupled with a few other flaws that I"ll explain later make at least nothing it useful.
Art wise, Psycho-Pass 2 remains one of the best out there. A lot of people noticed some style changes from the first season that seem to work against this new season. This is mostly having to do with worse camera angels, less of a focus on detail, and a lighter color template. But honestly, these things will only bug you if you're the most nit picky of person. This season still has far better art and animation than most other animes out there.
As for sound, there is nothing really spectacular here, but there also wasn't much in the 1st season as well. The best tracks play in the most intense moments of the anime, but otherwise Psycho-Pass 2 is usually pretty quiet. What Psycho-Pass 2 does do incredible, along with the 1st season, is their sound effects. Whether that be the blasts from the Dominators or the cries of the judged, there is no dip in quality whatsoever in this aspect.
Characters. Oh boy. Another problem I had with the season. As I said earlier, we're introduced to a myriad of new characters, but this came at the cost of essentially ignoring the original characters for the entirety of this season --- Besides Akane of course. The biggest, and probably biggest problem most had with the show, was the complete and utter absence of Kogami. Though this wasn't a HUGE problem with me, as there were at least some dream cameos of him throughout, it's understandable why he wouldn't be in this season; What with how the 1st season ended and all. We're also getting a movie later on which will have Kogami back where he belongs.
As much as the new cast of characters seemed interesting (enough), I also would have liked some further development for the original characters like Yayoi and Ginoza. I barely understand why Ginoza was even considered a Main this season since he barely got any lines. The development and backstory we got for some of the new characters like Sakuya and Mika, however, was pretty impressive for just 11 episodes. Akane remained largely the same from start to finish, but she had already matured greatly from the first season anyway.
Delving a bit more into the story, there's just no way this season can compare to the first. Makishima was a great villain, and this new Kirito kid felt like a bad copy and paste of him. Makishima had a set goal, while at the end of Psycho-Pass 2, I'm not even sure what Kirito wanted exactly, besides questioning everyone "What Color?". The first season I found myself questioning many of my morals, and this season just left me wondering what goals a lot of the characters had. So although the story and presentation and Psycho-Pass 2 is a far cry from the first, Psycho-Pass 2 still manages to hold a more meaningful and captivating story than a lot of other top-name animes out there. It's by no means bad, but there is definitely a drop in quality.
Overall, Psycho-Pass 2 can't hold a candle to the first season, but it definitely holds a bright and powerful lantern to most other animes in the same genre. Ultimately, this felt like a filler arc for whatever else is to come in the Psycho-Pass series, but one of the best pseudo-filler arcs you'll ever see. If you're a Psycho-Pass fan, you have no good reason to not watch this. Will you be disappointed by it? Slightly, at least, but as long as you don't come in expecting a masterpiece above the first season, this should satisfy any and all Psycho-Pass fans.
