“Psychiatric expertise, but also in a more general way criminal anthropology and the repetitive discourse of criminology, find one of their precise functions here: by solemnly inscribing offenses in the field of objects susceptible of scientific knowledge, they provide the mechanisms of legal punishment with a justifiable hold not only on other offenses, but on individuals; not only what they do, but also on what they are, will be, may be.”
— Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish

What do you get when someone spends far too much time reading discourse by Michel Foucault? Apparently, you get PSYCHO-PASS. Set, in the way of many an anime, in a sort of Neo-Tokyo, PSYCHO-PASS plays with the concept of what it means to be human, what it means to be a criminal, and what it means to be happy (and the answers aren't quite what you'd expect them to be). The story follows newly appointed MWPSB detective Akane Tsunemori and her colleagues (MWPSB's Divison 1) as they chase down criminals (and potential criminals), and slowly uncover the truth about the Sybil System, the proverbial glue that holds their so called utopian country together, in a world where people are constantly scanned in the interest of measuring their latent criminal potential.

If you're looking for an anime that will make you think about the world you live in (or what it means to be a free thinker), this is it. The characters are lovely, the world is suitably terrifying, and many of the lines are quotable as hell (not to mention all of the lovely book quotes scattered throughout the series).

The series is to be discussed below...
just remember:

I tried to watch this anime for several episodes, I don't know, I didn't like it at all. Perhaps my opinion is too biased, as I watched too many animes that looked alike that had better performance, or perhaps I got angry that they took the idea from the combination of two movies that had a way better performance than this anime - Judged dread and Minority report.

Anyway, there were several huge holes that I could not ignore in the anime, and I sensed that they were trying too hard to be overly dramatic - the timing was horrible and some characters behaved in some ways that were irrelevant to the situation. All I sensed was - too fake, this anime is trying too hard to be something that it's not.

While I can see the similarities between the movies mentioned in some respects, I wouldn't say that the anime was a complete rip of other things (it definitely had it's own ideas and flair mixed in there). Though, do keep in mind that many movies, animes, books, etc share similar plots, the difference between them often being the execution of that plot / of those plot points. I imagine you'd have had a better time of it if you'd actually bothered to finish the anime, as it tends to pick up about a quarter to half of the way through. However, from the first few episodes alone, I can see how you might have thought that it wasn't going anywhere interesting or original. The first half is more of an introduction to the world, its problems, and the people that populate it, which is necessary for the understanding of the main plot once it is introduced in later episodes.

Personally, I've never been able to fault something for not 'looking as good' as other shows, though that's likely because I've seen a lot of anime with lovely animation and crap plot and character development. In fact, that is often the case (or so I've noticed). That beings said, I rather enjoyed the fact that they took a while to build the story and its various supporting elements rather than simply dumping everything in our laps all at once and saying 'here, deal with it,' even if the pacing might be considered 'too slow' for some.

As for the characters and their reactions, much of their stories are revealed later on, and all begins to make sense once you have those additional pieces. The way they react is often tied to the past experiences that shaped them. Though, again, I can understand your line of thinking, as it doesn't sound like the show interested you enough for you to get to that point. At any rate, think of it as a show with increasing returns, the more time you invest in it, the better it gets.

If you say that it's one of those animes that takes time to get into, but it is still worth the effort, then perhaps i'll try it out again... Today I have less patience with such animes, I usually try out the first 5-6 episodes and then decide if it's good enough for me or not to continue.
Also, well... It's pretty shallow, but I didn't like the way that those characters were drawn. XD They looked annoying too me. Especially the girl...

/shrugs
I tend to forgive art as someone who can't draw worth a damned. I'm not watching shows for the art anyhow (though I'll admit that it took me a while to get used to Akane's design - dem eyes!).

I don't think someone will watch a show only for it's art, unless it's Hentai I guess, lol. XD

The question then becomes, are they watching it for the art or what the art is doing... xD

hehe

Oh man, dat face. xD