PSYCHO-PASS: PROVIDENCE According to Japanese Twitter (Updated)

PSYCHO-PASS: Providence is the latest instalment of the Psycho-Pass franchise — a dystopian cyberpunk crime drama with a philosophical bent set in near-future Japan. Though it follows the 2020 release of Psycho-Pass: First Inspector (FI), chronologically, Psycho-Pass: Providence (PPP) falls two months after the events of Psycho-Pass: Sinners of the System Case.3 (SS) and two years prior to the start of Psycho-Pass 3 (PP3). According to Director Shiotani Naoyoshi (SN), the film represents a “return to the series’ roots” and features nearly all of the surviving cast to date, so expect a lot of callbacks and call-forwards. Newcomers to the series will probably still enjoy themselves but only understand about half of what’s happening. You have been warned.

At the time that we’re publishing this, we’re a little less than two weeks away from the film’s North American release on 14 July (with limited advance showings on 11 & 13). The film has been out in Japan, however, since 12 May 2023, with a special advance showing on 29 April. Unfortunately, we’re not currently in Japan to see it, but fortunately, we do speak Japanese.

What follows, then, is everything we know about PSYCHO-PASS: Providence without actually having seen it. All of the information below is accurate to the best of our investigative and deductive abilities, but please understand that there are some scenes where we’re unsure of the exact sequencing, and certain key bits of information concerning the overall plot that we’re unclear at what point are actually revealed. We’ve done our best to present these in what we think is the most logical order, but we won’t know for sure until 13 July.

UPDATE: Now that we’ve actually seen the film, we’ve sorted things into the proper order and filled in a lot of the blanks. Consider this an overview of PROVIDENCE with added info from interviews with the writers and director, PP novelisations, and amusing fan commentary. It may be worth a read for the bonus content even if you have seen the film. Especially if you’ve got some lingering questions.

We’ve divvied things up a bit differently this time. Azeria () was responsible for gathering information posted by fans on Twitter, comparing that against staff interviews and official promotional materials, and sequencing/synthesizing the information into an overall plot structure in the form of bullets. Eulie () was in charge of translating tweets and official materials, tracking down and translating quotes, bulleting, editing/formatting, and overhauling the post once we’d actually seen it for ourselves. Our version of divide and conquer.

Disclaimer: All fan comments are, of course, subjective and not necessarily 100% accurate. We’ve included them here either because they were funny, insightful, or both. They can be a bit rambling/unclear in places so we’ve added some punctuation for clarity, but for the most part the original voice has been preserved. Tweets by Director Shiotani are included with the bullets we’re *guessing* they apply to. Fan tweets are included below each segment — toggle the arrow on the right to view them.

Needless to say, spoilers abound.

PSYCHO-PASS: Providence hits foreign cinemas for an advanced showing on 11 July (DUB)/13 July (SUB) 2023.

_{Directed by: Shiotani Naoyoshi | Screenplay by: Fukami Makoto & Ubukata Tou | Story by: Ubukata Tou | Studio: Production I.G.}

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Scene: Under Attack

• We open on a snowy, stormy night, January 2118 (2 months post-SS Case.3), as a voice narrates: “Just as god’s love is without limit, so too is his wrath without limit. My brethren, bring down the iron hammer upon the evils of this world.”
  • SN: In the transport ship scene at the beginning, I wanted to depict a scene in which destruction occurs perforce by the power of god, which humans cannot exhibit, so I made it a storm. I was listening to music from Verdi’s “Requiem” the whole time I worked on it. (Film Pamphlet Director Interview)
• A team of armed mercenaries board a transport ship off the coast of Kanagawa, Japan and set about killing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) Suppressing Action Department (SAD) agents on board. 
• Among them is Kai Mikhaylov, a Russian agent with a large burn scar on the left half of his face. The team are lead by fellow mercenary Bokamoso Murray, who sports distinctive red dreadlocks.
  • Kai Mikhaylov (VA: Kase Yasuyuki): A member of the “Peacebreakers.” In order to obtain the Stronskaya Document, he launches an attack on the ship Milcia is on. 
  • Bokamoso Murray (VA: Shirokuma Hiroshi): A combatant affiliated with the “Peacebreakers.” He operates in tandem with Kai Mikhaylov; beginning with the assault on the Grootslang, he works to seize the Stronskaya Document. 
• For the record, the Grootslang (the ship’s name) is a mythical giant snake rumoured to dwell deep in a cave in the Richtersveld, South Africa. It’s said that anyone who encounters it will meet with misfortune. Well then.

• Indoors on the same ship, we find Dr Milcia Stronskaya, who has been invited to Tokyo from Russia to participate in an important political conference. 
  • Milcia Stronskaya (VA: Tsuda Shōko): A researcher and global authority on behavioural economics and statistics. She establishes the basic theory simulation referred to as the “Stronskaya Document.”
• Realising the ship is under attack, she hurriedly sends a communication to someone, apologising under her breath as she does so.
• Dr Stronskaya pulls out a gun just as a helmeted mercenary bursts into her cabin and shoots him dead. You can tell from how she handles the gun that she’s competent.
• Kai charges in next, dodging her shots and pinning her down.
• Kai calls her “professor,” at which she startles, and tells her, “There’s nowhere left to run.”

Scene: Backup Arrives

• Meanwhile, an SAD plane arrives in the vicinity, having lost contact with the SAD protection squad on board the ship. SAD supervisor Hanashiro Frederica sends in Kogami Shinya — our series deuteragonist — to ascertain the situation and (hopefully) safeguard the professor.
  • Hanashiro Frederica (VA: Honda Takako): Head of MOFA’s Overseas Coordination Bureau Suppressing Action Department (SAD). Age 33. At the SAD, which was established in order to countervail high-risk international criminal activity, she pursues the “Peacebreakers.”
  • Kōgami Shinya (VA: Seki Tomokazu): Special Investigator, Suppressing Action Department, Overseas Coordination Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Age 33. He was living a nomadic life abroad acting as a mercenary but was recruited by Frederica and returned to Japan; currently, he’s pursuing international incidents. He prides himself on his advanced combat techniques and honed physique.
• Kogami makes an insane jump from an aircraft amidst massive waves and enemy fire. He’s wearing a wingsuit with a heads-up display built into the faceplate. He is not wearing a bulletproof vest.
  • I’ve seen him described alternately as Batman, Captain America, and a flying squirrel here lol
  • SN: What colour suits a man who flies... Thinking about it.

Scene: Plan B

• In Dr Stronskaya’s cabin, Kai stands to one side as Bokamoso crouches, examining the professor’s body (She’s been shot in the chest).
• “You killed her?” Bokamoso asks him. Kai claims she was lying in wait for him.
• Bokamoso observes, “You screwed up, eh, Kai?” for which the other man apologises. You can tell from the way they speak to each other that Bokamoso is higher up the chain of command.
• Bokamoso says it can’t be helped; they’re switching to Plan B.
• We hear the sound of a knife as the scene cuts away.

Scene: Dead on Arrival

• Kogami lands on the ship’s rigging/railing(?), detaching his parachute and wingsuit in one go.
• In jeans and a jacket, armed with his old revolver (um???) he makes his way past dead SAD agents’ bodies into the ship.

• Meanwhile, Kai and Bokamoso prepare to leave the cabin, the latter with an orange cooler slung over his shoulder (Where’d he get that? I thought this was Plan B?).
• Kai warns that backup has arrived and Bokamoso radios all units to withdraw. He’ll buy them time.

• Kogami makes it to Dr Stronskaya’s cabin, but of course, he’s too late. Her body lies abandoned on the floor and — gruesomely — her head is missing. Guess we know what they’ve got in that cooler.

Scene: The Talking Dead

• On deck, Kai and the Peacebreakers board an aircraft and prepare to take off. Kai’s got the cooler slung over his shoulder as the doors close.
• Kogami emerges from within, gun at the ready, but before he can fire a shot he gets tackled to the deck by a reanimated SAD agent. The man’s mouth doesn’t move but we hear a voice quoting what appears to be a passage from a religious text (More on that later).
• An explosion goes off elsewhere on the ship, setting off a chain reaction. Kogami breaks free of his attacker and escapes the conflagration by jumping into the ocean.
• Frederica radios him, asking for an update on the situation.
• Backlit by the flames and treading water, Kogami — vexed but composed as usual — says that he’s sorry; they’ve been had.

<<Opening Credits>>

OP: 「アレキシサイミアスペア」 (alexithymiaspare)　〜　凛として時雨 (Ling tosite sigure)

• We cut to the opening credits, set to Ling tosite sigure’s “Alexthymiaspare.” The group also contributed to the soundtracks for PP1, PP2, and PP: The Movie (M1), so this is another way in which the film “returns to its roots.”
  • For anyone wondering, the band’s name is pronounced “rin toshite shigure,” this is just how they’ve elected to Romanise it.
• The credits are then followed by a brief shot of the Sibyl System accompanied by the following text:
  
  《"The Sibyl System," a vast surveillance network that assigns numeric values to and governs human beings’ mental states. Detectives who carry "Dominators" — guns that measure "crime coefficients" — pursue "latent criminals" before they commit crimes.》

n.b. The above cut doesn’t appear in the foreign release version of the film. Instead we get a slightly expanded overview in white plaintext on a black background.

Scene: Playing Politics

• The next morning, our series protagonist, Tsunemori Akane — now Chief Inspector of the CID — attends a meeting of senior bureaucrats to discuss the proposed abolishment of the Ministry of Justice and the old system of law.
  • Tsunemori Akane (VA: Hanazawa Kana): Chief Inspector of the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Public Safety Bureau. Age 25. She commands the Public Safety Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Department. She possesses an incontrovertible sense of justice and a stalwart mentality that makes it difficult for her Hue to cloud; she makes an appeal for maintaining the law under the Sibyl System.  
• The official name of the conference, which is being held at Nona Tower (i.e. the Ministry of Welfare’s HQ), is “Review Meeting on the Topic of the Overseas Expansion of Industry as it Pertains to the Sibyl System.”
• Shindo Atsushi — father to PP3 protagonist Shindo Arata — is also in attendance, alongside officials from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
  • Shindō Atsushi (VA: Sugō Takayuki): Director-General of the Statistics Department, Minister’s Secretariat,  Ministry of Health and Welfare. One of the elite who started his career as an Inspector [at the CID] and entered the MHW. He’s involved in the exportation of the Sibyl System, immigration policy, etc.
• Akane is the only woman and by far the youngest person present, but she doesn’t hesitate to say her piece. When it’s her turn to speak, she opens by saying, “‘Under the Sibyl System, the law is unnecessary.’ Is that truly the case?”
• Akane is basically the sole voice of dissent, whilst Atsushi assumes a more neutral position. 
• She argues that abolishing the law would include invalidating international law.
  • This poses a problem since Japan has recently started to welcome refugees and engage more with the outside world (e.g. the exportation of the Sibyl System to SEAUn in M1).
• Everyone else present seems to think that SEAUn is a perfect example of why international law isn’t necessary, either. Since Sibyl’s ability to restore order has now been acknowledge internationally, the law isn’t necessary in or outside of Japan. If that seems like a faulty argument to you...you’re not alone.
• Akane proposes that, regardless, this isn’t a matter to be decided behind closed doors at Nona Tower. It should be put to a vote and the people should be allowed to decide for themselves.
• Someone chimes in that the people have already voted to accept Sibyl, which is basically the same thing (more sophistry).
• Akane gets accused of deprecating the very bureau she works for, but she clarifies that what she’s wary of is Japan’s current mode of exploiting neighbouring nations and expanding a “predatory economy.” Naturally, this criticism doesn’t go over well.
• During the meeting, Atsushi receives a text message, which he checks covertly before stashing his device in an inner pocket of his suit jacket.
• Finally, he steps in to smooth ruffled feathers, saying that he at least agrees with Akane on the point that a “Japan first” mentality is precipitous. The way he phrases himself makes it difficult for anyone to outright disagree with him (Also, he’s considerably more senior than Akane and has age and experience on his side).
• Atsushi says that a guest was supposed to join them for this conference, but she couldn’t make it. Three guesses who.
• Just then, Akane receives a red alert on her device (lit. “portable terminal”) and excuses herself to take a call from fellow CID Inspector Shimotsuki Mika.
  • Shimotsuki Mika (VA: Sakura Ayane): Inspector, Division 1, Criminal Investigation Department, Public Safety Bureau, Ministry of Health and Welfare. Age 21. The youngest Inspector ever inducted. At the time, she took a negative stance towards Akane’s way of thinking, but the two have a good working relationship now. She’s competitive but possesses both presence of mind and rational judgement.

• Mika informs Akane that the Coast Guard alerted the CID to a foreign ship — multiple casualties on board, no survivors — and tells her it’s no time to be playing politician. Akane promises to head straight to the harbour.
  • According to a news article Arata reads in PP3, over 50 SAD agents were killed in this incident.
  • How the SAD managed to recruit over 50 agents when the CID is constantly understaffed with about 20 is a mystery.
• Atsushi steps out into the hall, having adjourned the meeting. When he asks if there’s been an incident and Akane mentions the foreign ship, Atsushi immediately guesses it’s the Grootslang, surprising Akane.

• Director Shiotani tweeted a quote by Rousseau that I saw someone identify as having been in reference to this scene. It’s not clear to me though whether a character quotes it aloud or if Shiotani just meant it as an overarching theme:
  • SN: “Keep this truth ever before you—Ignorance never did any one any harm, error alone is fatal, and we do not lose our way through ignorance but through self-confidence.” by.Rousseau
    • from Rousseau’s Emile (On Education), Book III
  • SN: “Real knowledge is knowing the extent of one’s ignorance.”〈matcha emoji〉
    • from Confucius’ Analects II, Political Philosophy

Scene: Akane & Atsushi Talk in the Car

• In the car on the way to the harbour, Atsushi tells Akane that the guest who was supposed to attend their meeting was aboard the Grootslang and briefly explains the professor’s professional background.
• He also tells her about the Document: “The Stronskaya Document. Using it, one can predict how Sibyl will affect the world.”
  • Just to be clear, though it’s referred to as a “document,” the Stronskaya Document is better understood to be a computer program/simulation.
• Apparently, the Document accurately predicted the outcome of Sibyl’s exportation to SEAUn (M1). Akane isn’t thrilled to hear this, which Atsushi says he understands.
• They talk about Atsushi’s involvement in the admission of asylum seekers to Japan and the difficulties they present to the Sibyl System. Since the refugees have spent time in conflict zones, their crime coefficients would have to be judged differently than those of Japanese citizens — something Sibyl isn’t equipped to do in the absence of the law. Thus, “re-opening” Japan is only possible so long as the law exists.
• Atsushi also fears that if they abolish the law Japan will no longer be able to interface with the rest of the world. As other nations recover, Japan will eventually get left behind.
• When Akane asks him how he managed to convince people to approve the acceptance of refugees when the proposition was initially met with great resistance, Atsushi replies wryly, “For a start, I took care not to be shunned by the people around me the way you are.” This causes Akane to make a face.
• Atsushi says that she’s been a CID Inspector for too long and encourages her to aim higher. He has high hopes for her; how could he not? She openly harbours doubts about the Sibyl System and yet her Hue is spectacularly clear.
• Akane says that she acknowledges the System’s value. It’s just that she believes in something more.

• Animate Times Interview:
  Ubukata: [Akane] is extremely artless, isn’t she. She doesn’t possess a peculiar way of thinking about things and doesn’t lose the courage to say things that ought to be a given as though they are a given. In a way, she’s someone who completely can’t read the room, but in that regard she could be said to resemble Kogami, I suppose.
  Akane instinctively knows that an entity like Sibyl is necessary but that becoming entirely dependent upon it is dangerous. Since, whether it be a system or a human being, as soon as you consign everything to it, a dictator is born.
  Fukami: Right.
  Ubukata: Akane is in possession of an exceedingly sound mind, one that says, “Sibyl is necessary to society, but it’s essential that [someone] prepare a backstop for it.” She isn’t of the opinion that, “Because Sibyl is uncanny and can’t ethically be forgiven I should destroy it.”
  Fukami: “Even if it means deviating from what’s ethical, he who gains, wins” is a vibe Akane won’t forgive. Depicting an ethically sound character like her straight-on is all the more important given the state of the world today, I think.

Scene: At the Harbour

• At the harbour, the Division 1 Enforcers — Ginoza Nobuchika, Kunizuka Yayoi, Sugou Teppei, and Hinakawa Sho — disembark from the Grootslang whilst a team of SAD agents board.
  • Ginoza Nobuchika (VA: Nojima Kenji): Enforcer, Division 1, Criminal Investigation Department, Public Safety Bureau, Ministry of Health and Welfare. Age 33. He supports Akane and Division 1 with the experience and broad-mindedness he possesses as a former Inspector. He and Kogami were classmates since their school days, but he’s currently unable to forgive Kogami, who exacted vengeance and escaped overseas. 
  • Kunidzuka Yayoi (VA: Itō Shizuka): Enforcer, Division 1, Criminal Investigation Department, Public Safety Bureau, Ministry of Health and Welfare. Age 27. She’s a dependable veteran who conducts herself with cool composure at crime scenes. She’s often rotated into a support role due to her [facility with] network devices and works well in combination with analyst Shion. 
  • Sugou Teppei (VA: Tōchi Hiroki): Enforcer, Division 1, Criminal Investigation Department, Public Safety Bureau, Ministry of Health and Welfare. Age 27.  He’s a former pilot with the National Defence Forces’ drone squadron and is an expert marksman.
  • Hinakawa Shō (VA: Sakurai Takahiro): Enforcer, Division 1, Criminal Investigation Department, Public Safety Bureau, Ministry of Health and Welfare. Age 23. He makes use of the knowledge he gained as a former hologram designer and drug trafficker to aid in investigations. He’s often tasked with backing up the team along with analyst Shion.

• Meanwhile, Mika has encountered Frederica at the scene and, as usual, isn’t happy to see her. Dialling up her bad attitude, she informs Frederica that domestic cases lie within the CID’s purview so MOFA can go home.
• When Frederica says she just wants to get through this peaceably, Mika barks, “I’m not listening!” Yup, she’s in top form.
• Frederica’s boss, Yabuki Shogo, is present as well and all three turn to look as Akane and Atsushi arrive on the scene.
  • Yabuki Shōgo (VA: Hashi Takaya): Bureau Chief of MOFA’s Oversees Coordination Bureau. Hanashiro, who heads the SAD, is his subordinate and, as both he and Shindo Atsushi were heavily involved in the formation of “Peacebreaker,” he prioritises the annihilation of the Peacebreakers — which were born of his own organisation — above all else. He wears a high-tech hearing aid.
• Frederica greets Akane respectfully, saying it’s been a while since they’ve spoken. (The two are acquainted as of SS Case.2.)
• Yabuki briefly introduces himself and asks Akane to cede the investigation to the SAD. He can’t disclose the particulars, but the Grootslang is related to an important MOFA matter.
• Atsushi calls up a hologram of Public Safety Bureau (PSB) Bureau Chief Kasei Joshu, who tells them to hand the case over and withdraw, settling the matter.
  • Kasei Jōshū (VA: Sakakibara Yoshiko): Bureau Chief, Public Safety Bureau, Ministry of Health and Welfare. She’s actually an artificial body whose purpose is to allow the individual brains which constitute the Sibyl System to take turns operating independently. She orders Division 1 to conduct a joint investigation with MOFA’s SAD, who are pursuing the Peacebreakers. 

• Atsushi and Yabuki step aside to have a private (and cryptic) conversation.
• Atsushi asks if Yabuki obtained “it,” to which Yabuki replies, “Yeah, we’re having trouble with the hand-off.”
• Again, without making the subject of his sentence explicit, Atsushi says, “We made [someone] dive in too deep without a lifeline.” (n.b. “Dive” here is used in the sense of “infiltrate.”)
• Yabuki says they’re short on time. So long as things have been set in motion, they can’t afford to pull the plug.

• Meanwhile, the Division 1 Enforcers have joined Akane and Mika on the quay and report on their findings: the bodies of multiple combatants along with the professor’s body, sans her head. Sugou has lifted a gun registered to the SAD and Hinakawa has pulled the data off Dr Stronskaya’s laptop.
• Mika deduces that an SAD op went sideways, loudly calling Frederica and Yabuki posers and declaring the whole thing smells fishy — in fact, she says, it reeks like garbage. Oh, you.
• Just as she’s saying all this, Atsushi comes up behind her and taps her on the shoulder, causing Mika to jump in surprise. When he points out that both the people she’s badmouthing are in the vicinity (and that Yabuki wears a high-powered hearing aid), Mika slinks behind Ginoza to hide. (lol)
• Akane surmises that Atsushi was aware of the professor’s demise and asks why he and MOFA covertly invited her to Japan. Atsushi replies that if he told her, it wouldn’t qualify as “top-secret.” I’m starting to see how he operates.
• From the data Hinakawa extracted, it comes to light that the last communication Dr Stronskaya sent before she was killed was to Saiga Jouji, making him a person of interest.
  • Saiga Jōji (VA: Yamaji Kazuhiro): A former university professor who specialises in clinical psychology. Age 54. In the past, he conducted a special lecture series on criminal psychology for the PSB’s detectives. He’s also acted as pro tem analyst [for the CID], but he’s currently voluntarily detained at an isolation facility.

• Those familiar with the series will know that Saiga-sensei happens to be a long-time mentor and collaborator of Akane’s. She sits in the patrol car to call him.
• He answers, commenting that it’s rare for her to call him out of the blue. Before she can explain, Atsushi comes over and knocks on the window, interrupting their conversation.
• It turns out Atsushi knows Saiga-sensei as well — he was Saiga’s senpai in university and was responsible for helping him to become a lecturer for the CID — and he cuts in to exchange a few words with the other man. 
• Saiga-sensei’s reaction to hearing his voice is so lukewarm, Atsushi has to prompt him to word himself more respectfully (i.e. to accord him the respect due a senpai), which Saiga-sensei does.
• Atsushi asks how the isolation facility is and Saiga-sensei responds that it’s not bad, but the whole exchange is stilted.
• When Saiga-sensei asks what it is they’re calling about, Atsushi mentions the Stronskaya Document. True to form, Saiga-sensei doesn’t have to be told to deduce that the professor is no more.
• Atsushi asks if he can visit the Tokorozawa Correction & Care Centre where Saiga-sensei is being held under voluntary arrest to meet with him, but Saiga-sensei says he only wants to talk to Akane about what he knows regarding the Stronskaya Document. 
• With a sigh, Atsushi concedes.

Scene: Tokorozawa Correction & Care Centre

• In his room/cell, Saiga-sensei makes them both coffee and he and Akane sit and talk. 
• Akane asks him how he knew the professor, and Saiga-sensei explains that he once contributed domestic data analysis to the research she was conducting.
• Saiga-sensei reveals that the communication he received from Dr Stronskaya wasn’t the Document itself but a message saying that she left the Document in a P.O. box in Dejima and that only he can retrieve it.
• Akane asks Saiga-sensei to accompany her to Dejima, to which he readily agrees.
• He asks her how she’s handling her recent promotion and Akane admits her head feels like it’s about to explode. I appreciated this exchange, since it seems he’s about the only person she can admit something like this to now.
• Saiga-sensei says philosophically that people tend to unconsciously seek out comfort and, in doing so, eventually stagnate, calling himself a good example of this. Akane immediately insists that isn’t the case. The two are obviously great fans and supporters of one another.
• Saiga-sensei asks how deeply involved Atsushi is in this case and Akane explains he’s the one who invited Dr Stronskaya to Japan.
• Saiga tells her that Atsushi was his upperclassman in uni and was the one who invited him to give a lecture series to the CID’s detectives. He says he always had the awareness that he was being used.
• Reading between the lines, Akane guesses he fears that she, too, will be used by Atsushi.
• Saiga-sensei confirms this, saying, “He may intend to have you collect the chestnuts from the fire.” This is an idiom meaning “to take a risk, even knowing it won’t serve you” or “to dare to deal with a problem or assume a position of responsibility, knowing the danger.”
• When Akane says they’ll just be retrieving the Document, Saiga-sensei tells her there’s a chance that doing so might lead to complaints about MOFA and the Japanese government — and by extension, the Sibyl System — since the Document contains dangerous material that could expose Japan’s (unsavoury) activities abroad (e.g. The takeover of SEAUn). This is why she was the only one he could talk to about it, since he trusts her to do the right thing.

Scene: Frederica & Kogami report to the PSB

• Akane escorts Saiga-sensei to the PSB where the two meet with Bureau Chief Kasei. Mika, Frederica, and Yabuki are also present.
• It’s decided that the SAD and CID Division 1 will conduct a joint investigation of the Stronskaya Document/Peacebreaker case, since MOFA have jurisdiction but Saiga-sensei is only willing to cooperate with Akane given the nature of the Document.
• Frederica asserts that MOFA have power of command, which Akane agrees to so long as they’re willing to share information.
• Frederica has a line in the trailers that comes up here: “Ministry of Foreign Affairs Survey Department, Field Survey Unit; commonly known as ‘Peacebreaker.’” In other words, the Peacebreakers were originally formed by MOFA. The unit were officially disbanded, but the operatives went rogue and became mercenaries overseas rather than return to Japan.
  • Director Shiotani said the name is pretty literal, that they’re a group that “breaks the peace.” That makes more sense if you think of them as a group of mercenaries and less sense when you consider they were formed by MOFA.
• Mika: “You’re saying the dog they were raising bit them on the hand?”
• Yabuki also has a line in the trailers which appears in this scene: “Now that they’ve appeared in Japan, this is our best chance to bring them down.” (Taking down the Peacebreakers is his main objective and the driving force behind his actions throughout the film.) To accomplish this, MOFA have recruited more people.
• Kasei says obliquely that The PSB will not re-domesticate a hunting dog that’s slipped its leash once before but “he” is likely the right person to take on a pack of wolves. (So, we’re continuing with the canid analogies for Kogami — then again, his surname is composed of the kanji for “cunning” (狡) and “bite” (噛) so, clearly, it’s part of his character conception.)

• Meanwhile, Kogami heads straight to the Division 1 office by himself. The gall of this man haha
• When Ginoza sees him, he explodes in anger, grabbing Kogami by the lapels and forcing him all the way back until they slam into the interior-facing windows. 
  • SN: Akane sees a kabe-don.
• Ginoza rails at Kogami, “I thought I told you never to show yourself in front of us again?!” (see M1).
• Kogami responds evenly, “Gino, why don’t we take things case by case?” at which Ginoza yells, “Don’t screw around!”*
  *n.b. What he literally says here is, “Don’t fool around, you!” but the tone and register are a lot angrier, along the lines of, “You’ve gotta be f*ing kidding me!”
• The Division 1 members who joined the PSB after Kogami fled the country look on in surprise at Ginoza’s outburst, whilst those who know and have worked with both men watch with more complicated expressions.
• Sugou runs over to attempt to pull the two apart, which is how Akane finds them when she arrives with Frederica and Mika.
• Akane freezes when she catches sight of Kogami through the glass as she approaches, her expression going blank.
• Ginoza stops yelling when he sees her, possibly concerned with trying to gauge her reaction.
• Kogami greets her casually, if awkwardly, saying, “Long time no see, Inspector (kanshikan).”
• Not only does Akane not respond to his greeting, she doesn’t say anything to Kogami at all.
  • SN: Speechless.
• Frederica: “No need for an introduction, right?” (lol)

• 10th Memorial Note Interview:
  Fukami: When the director first told me, “I think in PSYCHO-PASS Sinners of the System Case.3 In the Realm Beyond, I’ll return Kogami to Japan” my first thought was, Ginoza’s going to be pissed (laughs).
  Shiotani:That’s where your mind went (laughs) !?
  Ubukata: Ginoza turned into more of a heroine than Akane, didn’t he (laughs). Since he’s saying loads of things that Akane might normally say (if she was a traditional heroine).
• Film Pamphlet Director Interview:
  Shiotani: If, in the previous instalment, [Ginoza] told him, “Don’t come near (Akane) again” and parted with his friend for [what he thought would be] the last time in this lifetime, and then [that friend] just suddenly appeared out of the blue, well then, yeah, he’d be furious (laughs). And what’s more, being able to say “Can’t we go case-by-case?” in front of [Ginoza] who’s seriously angry, in a sense, it’s like an ability to use a special cheat that only Kogami can pull off, isn’t it (laughs). It’s not like it calms the situation down any, but the fact that he can naturally just say stuff without paying any mind is a charm of Kogami’s that’s worth mentioning, I think.