| “ | Everyone is alone. Everyone is empty. People have no longer any need of others. You can always find a substitute for any talent. Any relationship can be replaced. That's the world I grew tired of… And yet, for some reason... I can't even imagine someone else besides you killing me… Say, what do you think, Kogami? After all this is done, will you be able to find a replacement for me? | ” |
— Shogo Makishima in his final conversation with Shinya Kogami in Perfect World | ||
Shogo Makishima is a criminally asymptomatic individual whose primary goal is to liberate Japanese society from the Sibyl System, as he believes that it's turning its citizens into non-thinking followers, instead of independent thinking human beings.
Appearance
Makishima is a tall young man with long white hair and amber-colored eyes. He wears a variety of outfits, ranging from a yellow and black jacket with gray trousers to a green pullover with a white shirt beneath. Despite the fact that he possesses a callous nature, his facial expressions depict a variety of emotions. He is physically agile and strong — a skilled fighter, as demonstrated during his first fight with Shinya Kogami who he defeats with just a few blows.[2]
Personality
Makishima is a humanist on the dark side: someone hopelessly in love with cruelty, savagery and all the worst aspects of human nature with no qualms about witnessing or causing others' suffering. He has the ability to manipulate people to do his bidding, possessing both uncommon charisma and a true gift for persuasive speech. He has no compunction about dealing death to those who either stand in his way or those of whom he's grown tired, either with his own hands or through subordinates.[3][4] He enjoys reading dystopian literature[5] and Shakespeare,[6] as well as having a thorough knowledge of the Christian Bible.[7] He is often seen reading and even quoting texts from these works on occasion. The thing that truly separates Makishima from the rest of humanity, however, is the fact that despite his diabolical intentions and actions, his Psycho-Pass remains unsullied.[8][2]
Makishima personally states that he wants to see "the splendor of people's souls" and outwardly disdains humanity's way of living, considering humans worthless due to their dependence on the Sibyl System.[8] He aims to alert people to their false ways and to force them to examine their motives and to determine the direction of their lives based on their own will.
The unhappiness Makishima faced in his childhood most likely changed him.
This adamant belief extends to the point where he is willing to die by the hands of someone "who has the will to kill".[8]
According to Kogami, Makishima likely suffered hardships in the early stages of his life and because of that fact, his Hue and Psycho-Pass remained pure. Kogami also claims that being "unrecognized" by Sibyl left Makishima feeling like a non-entity, which may have started him down the path of criminality in his single-minded goal of taking down the Sibyl System.[9] When Kogami confronts Makishima, it is shown that Makishima believes that isolation made him stronger. [10]
History
At some time in his life Makishima discovers that he can control his Psycho-Pass at will, while no one else can. It may be speculated that the alienation resulting from his feeling "different" than others and, in a way, rejected as a regular human being by Sibyl, who was unable to recognize him, torments him to the point that he loses his mind and feels compelled to destroy the Sibyl System.[9]
In 2102, Makishima meets Toyohisa Senguji.[11]
In 2109, Makishima meets a teacher named Toma who, like Makishima, is able to control his Psycho-Pass. It's hinted that Makishima abets Toma in the killings that he commits, thus making him just as responsible for those deaths as Toma.[12]
Relationships
Shinya Kogami
Kogami's detective skills and his ability to deduce that Toma had help in creating his sculptures fascinates Makishima and, as Senguji once put it, it makes Makishima happy simply mentioning his name.[13] He and Kogami understand one other and both are solely focused on the other. Makishima admits that he is displeased with Kogami's attachment to the Sibyl System and is willing to kill him as a result.
Gu-sung Choe
Makishima's disturbance to what he saw in the video recording.
Makishima is shown to be very close and highly trusting of Gu-sung, despite their differences – Makishima likes books while Gu-sung likes technology. Makishima thinks of Gu-sung as a "genius"[5] and is vaguely disturbed upon witnessing his death at the hands of Toma. Out of all of his pawns or subordinates, Makishima seems to like Gu-sung the most, and never places the man's life on the line intentionally. When Makishima watches the video record on Gu-sung's phone, he is surprised and even a bit disturbed when he learns how he died and who killed him.[14]
Kozaburo Toma
Like Makishima, Toma is also criminally asymptomatic.[12] Makishima helps Toma commit his grotesque serial killings in the Specimen Case, and even captures and tortures Mitsuru Sasayama who is then later plasticized by Toma and displayed under a holographic projection.[11] When Toma is taken in by the MWPSB, Makishima feels it is very unfortunate but when he sees his chance to escape, there is no hesitation in killing him and crashing the aircraft in which they are located.[14]
Trivia
- His birth date is speculated to be October 14, 2085, making him 27 years old.
- Makishima and Kogami are the same height.
- Makishima is a light sleeper and sleeps, on average, three hours per day.
- Makishima's fighting style is Pencak Silat.
- His favorite food is tomatoes, his least favorite is meat and eggs.
- His hobby is reading.
- He is adept at track and field, swimming, and martial arts.
- Makishima's motto is "To live is not merely to breathe; it is to act" which is a quote by Rousseau. (The full quote is: "To live is not merely to breathe; it is to act; it is to make use of our organs, senses, faculties - of all those parts of ourselves which give us the feeling of existence.")
- His favorite saying is "Throw away your books and rally in the streets".
- Makishima's favorite thing in his room is his beloved razor.
- His strength is the art of persuasive speech and his weakness is simple work.
- His favorite authors are Friedrich Nietzsche, Michel Foucault, William Shakespeare, George Orwell, Jules Verne, Arthur Conan Doyle, Jonathan Swift, Philip K. Dick, Marquis de Sade, Kenzaburou Oe, Junichirou Tanizaki, Shuuji Terayama and much more.
- His favorite books are George Orwell's 1984[15] and Foucault's Surveiller et punir: Naissance de la Prison (English title: Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison) because they help him sort out which aspects of the Sibyl System dissatisfy him.
- The first novel Makishima ever read is Sherlock Holmes.
- He reads one book per day when there isn't a movement of associated crimes.
- Makishima also owns manga by Osamu Tezuka and Fujio Fujiko, especially Fujiko's.
- He has the lowest Psycho-Pass of all appearing characters and the cleanest Hue.[8][2]
- Under the alias Yukimori Shibata, Makishima is an art teacher at Oso Academy.[4]
- Sasayama is the only person who manages to track him down before getting killed. The blurry photo of Makishima, which had been left in his Dominator's terminal, is the only evidence that points to Makishima as the murder suspect.[16]
- Kogami hallucinates seeing him in the gekijo-ban.
- He has the same seiyuu as Sho Hinakawa.
- Makishima bears a physical resemblance to Mukuro Rokudo and to some of the traits of Byakuran from Katekyo Hitman REBORN!, a manga/anime which shares the same character designer as Psycho-Pass.
Gallery
References
- ↑ Gekijo-ban Psycho-Pass pamphlet ‒ Relationships Chart
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 The Gates of Judgment
- ↑ Nobody Knows Your Face
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 And Then, Silence
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 The Town Where Sulfur Falls
- ↑ Return of the Lunatic Prince
- ↑ Blood-Stained Reward
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Saint's Supper
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Transparent Shadow
- ↑ Perfect World
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Psycho-Pass: The Novel
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Invitation from the Abyss
- ↑ Fruit of Paradise
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Heart of Iron
- ↑ Nobody Knows Your Mask
- ↑ The Language of the Chinese Orchid