Creator Production I.G | ||
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Voiced by JapaneseTomokazu SekiEnglishRobert McCollum Similar Akane Tsunemori, Shougo Makishima, Nobuchika Ginoza, Shuusei Kagari, Yayoi Kunizuka | ||
Shinya Kogami (狡噛 慎也, Kōgami Shin'ya) is a character from the anime series Psycho-Pass. He is the 28-year-old main male protagonist and one of the Enforcers in Division One. In his job involving arresting criminals, Kogami becomes obsessed with murdering criminal mastermind Shogo Makishima responsible for the murder of one of his former allies to the point he starts doubting the status quo and starts ignoring orders from higher ups to avoid arresting the criminal alive. He has also appeared in the printed adaptations of the series including manga and novels. He is voiced in Japanese by Tomokazu Seki and in English by Robert McCollum.
Contents
Critical reception to Kogami's character has often been positive due to his traits and role in the series while his rivalry with Makishima has often been praised. He has also been well received by fans earning him the "Mister Noitamina" award in an official poll.
Appearances
Kogami is the protagonist of Psycho-Pass, working as an Enforcer under Inspector Akane Tsunemori's view. He is in charge of hunting down criminals even though Kogami himself is a potential criminal due to his high "Criminal Coefficient." It is eventually revealed that Kogami was an Inspector whose involvement in the Specimen Case caused his Crime Coefficient to rapidly increase to abnormal levels. While investigating the case, Mitsuru Sasayama, the Enforcer that worked under him, was on to the mastermind behind the case until he was killed in the same manner as the victims. Instead of seeking the needed therapy, Shinya became so focused on the case that he was demoted to Enforcer by the Sibyl System, restricting his freedom and limiting his movement to inside the Public Safety Bureau. Despite his violent actions, Kogami feels relaxed when Akane is assigned as his Inspector as he believes he will be a detective rather than a killer under her judgement.
As an Enforcer, Kogami takes extensive physical training so that his superiors will not have to kill criminals. Kogami and Akane manage to arrest Makishima but following his escape, Kogami is taken off the case due to the Sibyl not wishing Makishima dead. As a result, Kogami leaves Unit One to hunt down and kill Makishima alone. He ultimately succeeds and is not seen again by his comrades, although in the audio drama After Stories he contacts Akane about how he will stay away from society in order to avoid being detected.
Kogami also appears in the manga adaptation of the series Inspector Akane Tsunemori and is also the titular character of the upcoming Enforcer Shinya Kogami. He is also the protagonist of the prequel novel where he is still an Inspector and is shown working in the case where Sasayama dies. The novelization of the anime ends on a dark note as Kogami expects himself to be next person to die.
Creation and design
Kogami was created by the Production I.G. staff as the hero who would encounter Shogo Makishima across the series with their showndown being seen from Akane Tsunemori's point of view. His character was designed by manga artist Akira Amano. As the series was "anti-moe" the team decided to avoid having Akane remove her clothes during episodes and instead have Kogami do it. He is voiced in Japanese by Tomokazu Seki and in English by Robert McCollum.
Reception
Kogami has been well received by fans and reviewers. He won the "Mister Noitamina" award in an official poll involving characters that appeared in noitamina television series. In the Newtype anime awards, he was voted as sixth best male character. Critical reception to the character has been positive. Hiroko Yamamura commented that although it was obvious Kogami would be the series' protagonist it was interesting seeing him "at the wrong end of the barrel for the first episode" leading to possible interesting character dynamics. Richard Eisenbeis from Kotaku criticized him as an "static character" for lacking the development Akane Tsunemori showed across the series. Rebecca Silverman from Anime News Network commented that Kogami appeared to play "the role of brawn to her [Akane's]brain." She added that "Not that Kogami does not consider his actions – it is perhaps more accurate to say that he is not afraid to act on his thoughts, to work outside the system, while Akane prefers to change things from within." Jacob Hope Chapman from the same site praised the relationship he had with Akane as they "struggle for mutual understanding while refusing to compromise their ideals is satisfying."
The fights between Kogami and Shogo Makishima have generated well response with Bamboo Dong from Anime News Network appreciating the use of weaponry and stated the "armchair psychiatrist evaluations of each other seemed a little forced." Although Thomas Zoth from the Fandom Post found the first battle a little anticlimatic, he highly praised the two fighters' final "quite" duel due to the setting and the characters' interactions. While praising Kogami's role in the final episodes, Zoth still criticized "the idea that Kogami is so “in touch” with Makishima that he knows what strategy he will choose is a little hard to take."