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The latest work of the series, “Psycho-Pass 3: First Inspector” is set to go on sale as a Blu-ray & DVD in Jul. 15, 2020. In the meantime, the first part of a “3-week official interview”, where director Shiotani Naoyoshi talks about many topics such as the origin of the project, the two main characters featuring the film, the sound work, and the dubbing session, has arrived.

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Director Shiotani Naoyoshi

— PSYCHO-PASS 3 FIRST INSPECTOR (PP3FI) marks the conclusion of “PSYCHO-PASS 3 (PP3). The 3rd season of “PSYCHO-PASS” revolves around the two rookie inspectors, Shindo Arata and Kei Mikhail Ignatov. Please tell us where the idea of completely changing the main characters came from, along with the origins of this project.

Shiotani Naoyoshi (Shiotani): Around the time we were releasing “PSYCHO-PASS The Movie” (released in 2015), I had a conversation with the producers about what we should do next. “Isn't it time for the “PSYCHO-PASS” series to take a leap forward? The new series doesn't have to be centered on some officer from the Public Safety Bureau, it could tell the story of young rookie inspectors”, this kind of thoughts came up. I was confused at first, but then I realized it was the perfect timing to think about the new work by following that idea, so I decided to introduce a new protagonist for the 3rd season. By doing so, I thought that also the timeline should be different from the 1st and 2nd seasons. In addition, I proposed to the producers that I would like to create the trilogy “Psycho-Pass: Sinners of the System” (PPSS), which stands between the previous film and the next (3rd) season.

–That's the reason why the trilogy “PPSS” was made before “PP3”.

Shiotani: “PPSS” was also a test case for “PP3” in terms of production. For “PP3”, I tried to portray the human drama thoroughly with an hour-long episode each, to make it like a live-action overseas drama. “PPSS” was about 60 minutes each episode, but it was a hard challenge to make it instead of the usual 30 minute-episode of the TV anime series. We had to put a lot of stuff together in terms of story composition and development, and also the workload on the production floor was very heavy. We spent quite a bit of time on “PPSS”, but despite the difficulties we had, it worth doing all the work since we moved forward on two sides at the same time by also using its production as a test case for “PP3”.

–How did you want to portray Shindo Arata and Kei Mikhail Ignatov?

Shiotani: I wanted to make them an eccentric duo in many ways. I wanted Arata to look like a powerless man with poor fighting skills. He's is the shortest character in the “PP” series with 168 cm tall versus Kei who is 182 cm. The idea was also to create them as two contrastive figures, both externally and internally. Arata is very careless about his clothes since he always wears the same t-shirt in the garage where he sleeps. His hair is also ruffled, whether it's a natural perm or a sleeping habit, and he has the ability to focus on something while being blind to everything else. On the other hand, Kei comes from a different country where he was born, and for that, he's treated unfairly by the racists. He seems to be very calm, but in reality, he's the type of person who doesn't express his true feelings. Arata and Kei are connected by a past incident, and in “PP3” they support each other despite their differences.

–What about the sound work in “PP3”?

Shiotani: The staff in charge of the sound said to me, “Every episode is like a theatrical version” since the film was divided into three different themes: economy, politics, and religion. I think they were able to make a great job with the sound thanks to the three-structure and the 60 minutes format, despite the tight work schedule.

–About the recording session with Kaji Yuuki-san (voice of Shindo Arata) and Nakamura Yuuichi (voice of Kei Mikhail Ignatov), was there anything that impressed you?

Shiotani: I had to choose from over 50 people for the roles of Arata and Kei. As soon as we finished all the recordings, I was happy that I did the right choice about the cast. In the “PP” series, we don't let the actors know what they don't need to know (before recording). But this time, since the situation was pretty much complicated, I had to talk with Kaji-san about Arata's past. After the recording, I thought the two of them were the only able to play these characters. Kaji-san's performance of Arata gave me a deeper impression of the mysteriousness of the character, and when I saw the nuances of Nakamura-san's acting, I could feel the steadiness of Kei but at the same time his tendency to hide his true feelings. Everything was like I imagined it, it was perfect.

–How would you like fans to enjoy “PP3FI”?

Shiotani: I wanted to make “PP3FI” as a “live-action story in one place with a limited amount of time”. I wanted to show a lot of action, such as the fight between Arata, Kei and Azusawa Kouichi, who is able to commit crimes without getting his hands dirty, in the isolated, disconnected box of the “Raided Public Safety Bureau Building”, and the assault to the Public Safety Bureau building, where the security system is considered as the strongest and safest in the world. I also wanted to show how Arata's past was connected to Sibyl. The relationship between humans and machines is a common theme in the PP series, but also this time, I wanted to show how humans prevail over machines. Shizuka, a man with his own justice which is left untold, is depicted as well. I hope fans will enjoy this concluding chapter of “PP3”.

(C) Psycho-Pass Production Committee