Shinya Kogami

Lore & Background

Kogami was created by the Production I.G. staff. Writer Gen Urobuchi created the character to contrast Akane Tsunemori, Kogami's police supervisor, whose personality and ideology are opposed to Kogami's. He was designed by mangaka Akira Amano, who wanted to give the character a strong sense of individualism in contrast to the scenario of the series. According to Psycho-Pass director Naoyoshi Shiotani, Production I.G. staff developed Kogami's character as a stark opposite to his enemy and rival Shogo Makishima, with Akane Tsunemori as the audience surrogate between them.

Their first names indicate this opposition: Makishima's is Shogo (the time between midday and sunset), and Kogami's is Shinya (the time between midnight and sunrise). Writer Tow Ubukata, who supervised the second anime series, called Kogami a "wild" character, the Japanese characters for his last name referring to his traits of loneliness and strength. In the series' finale, Kogami disappears from society and is briefly seen in a boat reading the book In Search of Lost Time.

Kogami's personality was initially designed as aggressive but after several revisions, is depicted as a gentle, calm, taciturn man. Shiotani described Kogami as a "troublesome person" (when dealing with Makishima).

Reader's Guide

Shinya Kogami debuted in the 2012 anime series Psycho-Pass as a police officer in a cyberpunk dystopia. He becomes obsessed with murdering Shogo Makishima, a criminal mastermind responsible for the death of one of Kogami's former allies. Additional novels and manga explore Kogami's work as an Inspector years before the start of the television series. For Providence, Shiotani specifically wanted Akane Tsunemori to be the film's protagonist while Shinya Kogami would remain as her partner in a sense of a buddy cop.

The center of the story was the strong relationship between Akane and Kogami. While Fukami found the idea of a romance between these two as romantic, he aimed to go further. Instead they act more like comrades, fighting the same enemy. Ubukata said Tsunemori is artless as she does not possess a peculiar way of thinking about things and doesn't lose the courage to say things that ought to be a given as though they are a given.

This change led to similarities with Kogami. Shiotani wanted to rebuild Akane's and Kogami's relationship even if they belonged to a different organisation. Kogami's characterization was set up since the third Sinners of the System movie with the character searching for another chance at life after his revenge story from the first arc.

Critical Reception and Fan Legacy

Critical reception of Kogami has been positive due to his interactions with Akane Tsunemori, and his return in the 2015 film was praised after his absence from the second Psycho-Pass anime season with the third anime season providing his return along with further depth in characterization. Kogami has been well received by fans, winning the "Mister Noitamina" award and placing in Newtype popularity polls on several occasions. Kogami is voiced in Japanese by Tomokazu Seki and in English by Robert McCollum.

Thematic Role and Symbolism

Writer Gen Urobuchi created the character to contrast Akane Tsunemori, Kogami's police supervisor, whose personality and ideology are opposed to Kogami's. According to Psycho-Pass director Naoyoshi Shiotani, Production I.G. staff developed Kogami's character as a stark opposite to his enemy and rival Shogo Makishima, with Akane Tsunemori as the audience surrogate between them. Their first names indicate this opposition: Makishima's is Shogo (the time between midday and sunset), and Kogami's is Shinya (the time between midnight and sunrise).

The duo was further stated to resemble the lead characters from the Japanese police comedy-drama Bayside Shakedown, Sumire Onda and Shunsaku Aoshima. The concept of Tsunemori seeking out the renegade Kogami was influenced by the original video animation series Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team and the Western films Apocalypse Now and Saving Private Ryan. The non-romantic relationship between Tsunemori and Kogami emphasizes, instead, the trust they have in each other.

In an official pamphlet, staff members share their view of both the similarities and differences between Kogami and Makishima, much of it regarding Kogami's psychological growth. Fukami describes Kogami as the type of person who is happy to encounter those with bad intentions because "he just loves justice." Urobuchi, on the other hand, notes that Kogami lacks Makishima's panoramic vision and that he is "just a loser." The character of Kogami was conceptualized as progressive hero by Shiotani due to how different is his first personality in contrast to his traits from the first television series.