There's plenty of anime out there that are widely regarded as having gotten worse the longer they went on. But I struggle to think of an anime that's had a bigger and faster glow-down than Psycho-Pass. What began as a fascinating exploration into themes like the true nature and definition of law has devolved into a boring, almost incoherent mess. And testament to that is the latest entry in the series: a new movie called Psycho-Pass Providence.

This movie takes place just before the third season, despite having come out after it—a decision which, I think, was ill-advised. I get that one of the overarching stories of the third season is the tension surrounding Arata trying to learn more about his dad, but I, at least, found myself more distracted by the fact that something apparently happened to Akane, and the series didn't feel particularly interested in explaining what that was. I couldn't find it in myself to care much about Arata, because even by the end I felt like I barely knew him—Akane, on the other hand, has been the central protagonist up until now. This movie shows how intertwined their stories are, but the focus is still on Akane and what happened to her first and foremost. So although watching in release order would dictate watching the third season before this movie, I'd recommend anyone intent on watching Psycho-Pass go the other way around—to watch this before the third season. But then again, I guess in doing that it makes it sound like I'm recommending this movie (or the third season for that matter), so maybe I wouldn't do that after all.

If you've already seen the third season of Psycho-Pass (and I'm assuming most, if not all, of you reading this have—still, if you're not caught up, skip this and the next paragraph if you want to avoid spoilers for seasons 2 and 3), you know exactly what's going to happen to Akane by the end of the movie: she's no longer with Division 1, and her opinion on the Sibyl System seems to have shifted in some way. It's ridiculous that Akane is only now starting to question the Sibyl System in a way that's more substantial. And that it's only now happening begs the question: what straw finally broke the camel's back? Because by this point in the series, she's a seasoned inspector. She's seen what the Sibyl System is—and more importantly, isn't—capable of more than a few times by this point. That this case, which she seems more disconnected from relative to cases in previous seasons, was the one that seemed to change Akane the most just doesn't feel believable. In fact, it almost feels like a full-blown character assassination of Akane. And I only say “almost” because while it's absurd that this didn't happen sooner, at least this happened at all. Better late than never, but unfortunately this movie is so dull that not even this can hope to resuscitate it.

Akane's character writing in this movie is all the more frustrating considering how poorly the film handled the long-awaited reuniting of Akane and Kogami in Japan. You know, the thing that the series has more or less been building up toward since the first season ended. I hope you weren't hoping for much of that, because you won't leave happy. The two barely have any interactions together at all, let alone any that aren't solely about their ongoing case. And Ginoza barely appears in the movie; it would rather cede time to the ongoing case, which you could sort of call an action-packed political thriller. I say “sort of” mostly because it's so boring and dense—it's definitely action-packed, but there's nothing thrilling about it. It drags on and can often be hard to follow. It's the type of movie that both could've and should've left at least half an hour on the cutting room floor, or at least made better use of that time (say, more scenes involving Kogami being reunited with his old colleagues. Again, that thing that the entire series has spent several years building anticipation for).

The visuals are mostly okay as long as you don't look at them too closely. While the characters themselves look perfectly all right, this movie does that thing where it puts obviously-2D-characters on obviously-3D-backgrounds and it looks a bit jarring at times. Although admittedly, the dim lighting obscures this pretty well more often than not. And the soundtrack was hardly noticeable, save for the opening theme, which just isn't my cup of tea.

In case it wasn't obvious, one could charitably say that I didn't care for the movie itself. But this isn't just a review about the movie—it's a review about its limited edition Blu-ray release, which includes an art book and a few other little Psycho-Pass goodies. So let's pivot into talking about the limited edition Blu-ray. It gives you the option to watch this movie in both dub and sub, which is notable in this case since the third season never got a dub. Still, my preferred track is the sub. I say this for two reasons: firstly, as I've unfortunately come to expect from Crunchyroll, there's no closed captions for the dub track on this Blu-ray—let alone good, human-made ones. And secondly, because while Robert McCollum's Kogami, in particular, is great, the duo of Tomokazu Seki and Kana Hanazawa as Kogami and Akane respectively is such a powerhouse.

The closest thing to a bonus feature to be found on the Blu-ray itself is a recap of the series so far—something I'm unsure anyone will actually find useful. It's a solid recap, don't get me wrong. But if someone's at the point with Psycho-Pass where they're buying this Blu-ray, one imagines that they're more than likely at least mostly caught up. This movie doesn't make for a particularly good entry point to the world of Psycho-Pass (in fact, as far as potential entry-points go, I'd argue that this is one of the worst ones), yet for reasons that evade me, that seems like the idea that this recap was made around.

As for things off the disc, well, per the Crunchyroll Store page, people who buy this limited edition can also get a free acrylic standee or key-chain of a Psycho-Pass Providence character while supplies last, so that's fun—they look pretty cute, which is a bit surprising for a series with a tone as grim as Psycho-Pass's. Also, it's hard to not immediately notice that the packaging looks nice. Inside the box, in addition to the Blu-ray itself, there's an art book that includes interviews with director Naoyoshi Shiotani, character designer Naoyuki Onda, and art director Shūichi Kusamori. And people who like the film, especially, might find their insights into this movie more interesting. While I wouldn't call any of these interviews juicy must-reads, I did find it illuminating how wishy-washy Shiotani was in addressing details relating to this movie's thematic elements. Watching it made me unsure if anyone working on this film knew what (if anything) they wanted it to say, and reading this interview has only reinforced that guess.

This is a fine release—okay as-is, but still with some easy room for improvement—of a terrible movie. I wish there were more extra features on the Blu-ray itself, and I especially wish Crunchyroll would embrace the accessibility and convenience that closed captions can bring. There's obvious room for improvements. Still, art books—especially with interviews—are always a fun extra item to include in special editions like this.