2019's Psycho-Pass 3 presented a status quo far different from what we expected from the anime up until then. Most of the main cast was absent, having joined Frederica at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and, more shocking still, the main character of the entire Psycho-Pass story, Akane, was not only gone from the team but imprisoned as well. Yet, rather than focus on how all this came to be, the series instead told the largely self-contained story of the Bifrost conspiracy—and the attempts of new inspectors Arata and Kei to solve the cases surrounding the deaths of their father and brother, respectively. Even by the end of Psycho-Pass 3: First Inspector, the mystery surrounding Akane's imprisonment and the dissolution of her team remained intact—which brings us to this film.

Set two months after the ending of Sinners of the System and nearly three years before Psycho-Pass 3, Psycho-Pass Providence is the missing piece of the puzzle that links the two stories together. Every hanging plot thread is tied up. Not only do we learn what happened to cause the shakeup at the CID, but we also see firsthand the deaths of Arata's father and Kei's brother.

Much of the film is centered around Arata's father, Atsushi. In Psycho-Pass 3, we learn that he is far from the righteous police officer he portrayed himself to be—not only in being a Bifrost inspector but also by being indirectly related to several of the cases seen in that series. In Psycho-Pass Providence, we see him constantly using his mentalist skills in ways that would shock his son. He is a master manipulator, willing to sacrifice anything in the pursuit of his goals. The question is, are his goals ultimately noble or self-centered?

But, of course, the film's focus is Akane and what led her to spend several years in prison without ever being formally tried for a crime. She is one of the few who knows what the Sibyl System truly is and the dark secrets behind its creation and evolution. Yet, instead of actively rebelling, she has chosen to act within the system and advocate for reform. After all, considering the state of the rest of the world, she has decided that it would be irresponsible to destroy Sibyl without having a replacement to safeguard the lives and happiness of ordinary citizens.

However, that doesn't mean she is happy with the status quo. Throughout the seasons, Akane has had to step up and oppose the Sibyl System's darker machinations. Each time, she has either appealed to the ideals behind its creation or exposed it to situations where it is forced to identify its faults and rectify them.

Psycho-Pass Providence is how she reaches her breaking point—and, surprisingly, it's not solely the Sibyl System's fault. Over the years, the general population has placed increasing trust in the system. Instead of solely judging threats to public safety, the Sibyl System now takes on tasks such as finding individuals the most suitable jobs based on their personalities and facilitating romantic matches. It has come to the point where those in power contemplate eliminating the traditional legal system—effectively relinquishing moral judgment to the system.

Of course, Akane knows the Sibyl System is far from perfect. There are still numerous blind spots to be exploited—and the Peacebreakers threat is only the latest example. However, their society is already a utopia to the vast majority of the population. And unlike Akane, they don't know how often these security holes have resulted in the deaths of innocents because they have been immediately covered up by the system itself—never to reach the public sphere in any meaningful way. What Akane needs is to show the people of Japan that the system is not perfect in a way that can't be swept under the rug—that there has to be not only a safety net to catch people who find loopholes in the system but also a way for the Sibyl System itself to be judged should things ever come to that. And given that she is still talked about in news broadcasts years later, you can see it worked out just as planned—even if she had to sacrifice her reputation and personal freedom to do it.

On the visual side of things, Psycho-Pass Providence lives up to the generally high standards of all that has come before in the series. The fights are fluid and expertly choreographed, and the cyberpunk world is expertly realized. This time, the art design gets to shine as well as we also get an in-depth look at a place often mentioned but never seen in Psycho-Pass 3: the foreigner isolation zone of Dejima where Kei and Arata spent much of their young lives. As for the music, while the background music doesn't stand out, it does its usual job of reinforcing the cyberpunk feel of the show while supporting the emotional beats as needed. The film is also bookended with a new Ling Tosite Sigure and Egoist song—which may be parred for the course at this point but is still a notable cherry on top of everything else.

All in all, Psycho-Pass Providence is a film with one goal: to tie up every plot thread left dangling at the end of Psycho-Pass 3. And in doing so, it even changes how you view Psycho-Pass 3 in retrospect. While the mystery is far from as deep or complex as those in past franchise iterations, the character moments and action set pieces more than makeup for it. But most importantly, this film is the logical conclusion to Akane's arc that began in the original Psycho-Pass. And while it may be bittersweet at best, it is not an ending devoid of hope. After all, some still care for Akane deeply and will follow her lead even if she is behind bars.