Shogo Makishima

Characterization

Shogo Makishima is the antagonist from Psycho-Pass whose rivalry against Shinya Kogami is seen from Akane Tsunemori's point of view. He prefers the company of old books to other people after he discovers that the words of the passionate dead are the only things that can make him feel human in a world of cold, purposeless convenience. He mourns the willful ignorance of a society that led to such a dystopian world. Makishima is commonly serene even during violent scenes as a result of lacking any sort of humanity. Series' writer Gen Urobuchi himself said that one of the series' central themes is "fear" as seen through Shogo Makishima's feeling of being out place. He believes Makishima could have found happiness had he been born in a normal world.

Appearances

Shogo Makishima is a humanist on the dark side who is obsessed with cruelty, savagery, and all the worst aspects of human nature. A born evangelist, he possesses both uncommon charisma and a true gift for narrative. It is shown that Makishima may be the mastermind behind the many cases the Public Safety Bureau are investigating, including the one that led Shinya Kogami to become demoted from Inspector to Enforcer. Despite his murderous intent, his Crime Coefficient levels have never reached dangerous levels, rendering him safe from the Dominator. He himself claims this is because his own mind and body does not consider him killing people and committing crimes to be "wrong", but rather considers it to be completely "normal," which means his Psycho-Pass does not detect any abnormal or illegal behavior to report to the Sibyl System.

Makishima attempts to destroy the Sybil System by distracting the Bureau forces from him using chaos in the streets, but he is arrested by Akane Tsunemori. However, Makishima's traits result in the Sibyl sparing his life to join them. Makishima escapes from them, still wishing to destroy them and disliking how they play as "gods". Afterwards, he tries to convince Shinya Kogami to join his cause while planning on bioterrorism in order to weaken Japan's economy and force the removal of the Sybil System. However, his plans are foiled by the Bureau forces and Makishima is killed by Kogami.

Outside the anime series, Makishima also appears in the novelization of the series which expand on his relationship with Choe Gu-sung. The novel prequel also features Makishima as the mastermind from the case Mitsuru Sasayama died and caused Kogami to become an Enforcer. He also appears in the manga adaptation Inspector Akane Tsunemori.

Reception

Shogo Makishima received positive response. Following his brief introduction Hiroko Yamamura from Japanator got a feeling related with the anime series Cowboy Bebop. There was praise owing to his orchestration of several crimes but criticism to his immunity to the system by Kotaku's Richard Einsbeis. For the second half, Kotaku kept giving praise to the character and the balance he made with Akane Tsunemori in entertaining the audience. Jacob Hope Chapman from ANN said Makishima was "the voice who speaks to our minds, to the self-assured sci-fi lovers who have "seen this all before" as well as "Urobuchi's act of rebellion against making "just another dystopia," and he's the key element that makes it a work of thoughtful art rather than wild entertainment." DVD Talk's Kyle Mills highly enjoyed his character as based on the impact of his actions as well as his serene personality which make him not appear as a criminal mastermind. In a more specific review, Thomas Zoth from the Fandom Post noted the cruelty Makishima impacted on Akane Tsunemori had a great delivery as it made the viewer feel "empty inside." During the series' second half, Kyle Mills kept calling him "A fantastic series villain."

His fights against Kogami were also the subject of praise; Bamboo Dong from Anime News Network appreciated the use of weaponry and stated the "armchair psychiatrist evaluations of each other seemed a little forced." For the finale, Dong commented on Makishima's thoughts as "the series was making a last ditch effort to humanize a villain that it had spent the entire time trying to portray as a social aberration." Zoth criticized the use of oats in Makishima's plan for being ridiculous but in the end he found they made for a great setting in the series' finale. In an official noitamina poll, he was voted as the best character voiced by Takahiro Sakurai and ranked second in the category "Mister Noitamina." Sakurai was also praised by Rebecca Silverman from Anime News Network for his role as Makishima as he makes a "creepily soothing tone."