The broadcast of the latest episode of Psycho Pass Extended Edition has been cancelled due to its plot being similar to a recent murder case in Japan.
The series’ official Twitter account announced yesterday that the episode, which was supposed to be aired earlier this morning, “is not appropriate to air in the current situation, so we have moved up the 5th episode instead.”
なお、フジテレビオンデマンドとdアニメストアでの配信については、今回の第5話の繰上げ放送を受けて、第4話と第5話を同時に8月1日正午より配信致します。
— PSYCHO-PASSサイコパス 公式 (@psychopass_tv) July 30, 2014
Although the statement did not specify the incident which spurred the cancellation, it is clearly referring to the real-life case of a 15-year old girl in Sasaebo, Nagasaki Prefecture who was killed and dismembered by her classmate with a saw.
The 16-year-old suspect, whose name was not released due to her being a minor, confessed to the crime and was quoted by police as saying she “wanted to dissect a body.”
Episode 4 of Psycho Pass Extended Edition features the story of Rikako Oryo, a student at an all-girls school who dismembered, decapitated and mutilated two of her schoolmates into works of “art.”
The announcement says there are no plans of airing the said episode in the future, although it stopped short of saying whether it will still be included in the home video release of the series.
Meanwhile, the series’ North American anime distributor FUNimation Entertainment has decided to continue streaming episode 4 on its website and other streaming platforms, according to its statement on Facebook.
The company says that both episodes 5 and 6 will be streamed next week to catch up with the Japanese broadcast.
Psycho Pass Extended Edition is a new version of the crime-thriller anime Psycho Pass which was re-edited into 11 one-hour episodes and includes all-new scenes.
The first season of Psycho Pass first aired in October 2012 and is written by Gen Urobuchi, who is also known for his work in Fate/Zero and Puella Magi Madoka Magica. The second season will start this October.
In Southeast Asia, Psycho Pass premiered on the Pan-regional anime channel ANIPLUS HD premiered last March.
