If the premise of this series seems vaguely familiar to you, you have probably read or seen The Minority Report by Phillip K Dick. Having said that, this series takes the original concepts and runs to places with them that even PKD didn't go. Extremely well-thought out ideas abound about the future of the web, everyday hologram use, future criminal behavior, intelligent weapons and the ultimate uses of wearable tech are both ever-present and scattered everywhere in this series like easter eggs, and if you are interested in the direction our interactions with politics, technology, surveillance and the internet are going, this is required viewing.
The characters do stick, by and large, to traditional Japanese animation conventions, but I found that in this particular series they were more in line with Western expectations for a crime drama and were fascinating and believable once you adjust to the usual subtitle issues. This anime could be remade tomorrow as a western TV show or film and I believe it would do well (even after we censored the crap out of it); this is very accessible, emotional, and beautiful film making. The problems they face are solved in believable ways and that alone is extraordinary for an anime series. The violence is very adult and I would not let a child or even a weak stomached adult watch this. It's simply far too bloody and the situations are both adult and emotionally difficult. Throw in the serious questions this series poses about human behavior, the government's place in shaping it and government oversight, and it's a tough brew to process all at once.
Much of what this series has to say are things we really need to be thinking about right now: The effect of violence on both victims and the police who choose to protect them, the undue focus and prejudice of the police, press and society on minorities and the poor, and the ability of corporations and the wealthy to ignore or shield themselves from the law and the massive injustices that this ultimately causes are all issues touched on by this VERY adult series.
As far as anime goes, this is a 10. As entertainment in general it is an easy 9.
The characters do stick, by and large, to traditional Japanese animation conventions, but I found that in this particular series they were more in line with Western expectations for a crime drama and were fascinating and believable once you adjust to the usual subtitle issues. This anime could be remade tomorrow as a western TV show or film and I believe it would do well (even after we censored the crap out of it); this is very accessible, emotional, and beautiful film making. The problems they face are solved in believable ways and that alone is extraordinary for an anime series. The violence is very adult and I would not let a child or even a weak stomached adult watch this. It's simply far too bloody and the situations are both adult and emotionally difficult. Throw in the serious questions this series poses about human behavior, the government's place in shaping it and government oversight, and it's a tough brew to process all at once.
Much of what this series has to say are things we really need to be thinking about right now: The effect of violence on both victims and the police who choose to protect them, the undue focus and prejudice of the police, press and society on minorities and the poor, and the ability of corporations and the wealthy to ignore or shield themselves from the law and the massive injustices that this ultimately causes are all issues touched on by this VERY adult series.
As far as anime goes, this is a 10. As entertainment in general it is an easy 9.