Akane's world before she became the face of Sibyl's justice. This is where the system shows its teeth, before the girl learns to bite back. Masaoka walks into a military base where the rules stop applying the moment you cross the fence, chasing a drone strike that asks the only question the Psycho-Pass universe ever returns to: who decides what a threat is, and what happens when the people making that call are already compromised. The movie doesn't answer it. It just watches you realize there was never a good answer to begin with.

In 2112, the summer before Akane Tsunemori joins Division One of the Public Safety Bureau's Criminal Investigation Department, Teppei Sugo, a skilled pilot with the Defense Force's 15th Joint Task Force, takes part in a military operation in Okinawa. His final mission, the classified Operation Foot Stamp, turns badly for the ground troops. Sugo, flying the First Guardian drone, obeys orders against his own judgement and leaves his comrades behind, and many die, including his commanding officer Itsuki Otomo. Three months later an unmanned combat drone attacks the Ministry of Defense in Tokyo, and camera footage shows Otomo at the scene. Enforcer Tomomi Masaoka of Division One goes to Sugo's base to investigate, and Sugo, now under suspicion himself, works with the division to track down his former mentor. The film is a psychological sci-fi thriller told as a prequel.