Shin Sekai Yori

Masterpieces come once in a blue moon. If you're lucky you'll get a handful in a given year. If not, you'll only get one. In fact, only one reached the latter this year, and that was Shin Sekai Yori. With an award-winning source material, Shin Sekai Yori was a series that came in with high expectations and still managed to exceed them. It was just that good, mixing ambition and a bit of controversy to form a captivating story that showcased the potential of anime as a storytelling medium. Powered by plot twists that often left viewers in shock and a great cast of characters that made you fear for their lives, this was a great example of superb content meeting perfect execution. To top things off, it did all of this with a limited budget– that's how risky its ideas were–making Shin Sekai Yori a series that really beat the odds in terms of being animated in the first place. It's just a pity it didn't have any commercial success, because this was exactly the kind of series anime needs more of.

I'll be honest, the first few episodes didn't exactly captivate me. Their purpose was to set the stage for the characters and their psychokinetic powers. DO NOT LET THIS KEEP YOU FROM FINISHING THE SHOW. Around episode 3 or 4 the main driving force of the show begins as the children are able to capture a mysterious creature which holds libraries worth of information about past and present events. What they discover leads them down a path filled with adventure, action, romance, horror, mystery, death, peril and ultimate understanding of what kind of world they truly live in.

What really makes this show shine is it's complete originality. I would be lying if I said I have seen anything like it before. The basic synopsis of the setting; Jump a thousand years forward after a devastating war destroyed much of the world following an evolutionary event which began giving people the power of telekinesis. The entire human race now has telekinesis, including the village in which the protagonist group lives. As the story progresses these five characters begin uncovering many dark secrets and mysteries that lie behind this seemly happy and peaceful village of theirs.

Aside from the show's originality, Shin Sekai Yori's strongest point is it's immersion and atmosphere. This atmosphere is complimented by a beautiful yet unsettling soundtrack and sometimes very peaceful art design. You feel completely sucked into the world, giving the sense of danger the characters feel and the uncertainty that lies around every corner. You can never be certain what will happen next, and I love that about this show. The anxiousness and fear that envelopes you is such a spectacular feat for the show's creators. You are given several characters to follow throughout the course of the story but are never given certainty that all of them, or any of them, will survive. Lets just say people die in this show... a lot of people.

Other then the beginning being a little slow moving at times, the negatives of this show are small but still noticeable. Out of the five main characters not all of them get enough time to develop since most of the screen time goes to the main main characters Saki and Satoru. At times the show can pace a little awkwardly as well, due to the story writers dedicating their time to the most important portions of the show and sometimes wanting to focus very heavily on certain scenes. If you are truly invested in Shin Sekai Yori however, this shouldn't bother you at all.

Shin Sekai Yori is a roller coaster ride through a mysterious and fascinating new world with very deep moral questions and though provoking themes. If you want an anime you can invest yourself in, then look no further!

To be honest, up until about the 20th or so episode I was still apprehensive about this show. It was interesting, but it didn't really grab me that much. However, after finishing this show I can say with certainty that only a creative genius could have come up with this story.

The music in this show was really good, but not amazing. I actually noticed it at times, and usually I don't ever notice the music when I watch a show, it just adds to whatever mood it is playing over. The animation I didn't really like, honestly. The backgrounds and stationary objects were obviously done by people who cared, but the actual people and creatures that moved around felt a little flat. That may be because of when it came out, but I don't really think so. There were a few episodes towards the beginning that had weirdly poor animation, but other than that it was mostly the same all the way through.

The story is by far this show's strongest point. There are some slow parts, there are some weird parts, but the culmination of all this after you've finished the show is where it really shines. Looking back, there aren't any plot holes or anything that doesn't make sense, and everything I can remember fits in with the story well, no matter how weird it is. At the start, everything is confusing and you have no idea what is going on, but the more you progress into the story the more things are explained and the more you find out. In my opinion, this way of giving people info about the world is really satisfying. The ending is also well done, as it is with every great story. It was a little weird watching them grow up at an irregular rate, but the coming of age style of storytelling does fit what is going on well.

It might be weird to mention this, but I don't want anyone turned off by this: there is a gay kiss in the show. First of all, there's nothing wrong with that and it does nothing to impact the integrity or ingenuity of the story, and second, there are also a few yuri kisses in there as well ;). That part of the story only really goes on for one episode, it's explained why it happened, and the mystery and interest comes back at the end of that episode.

Also something that might turn people off; this show is pretty dark and does not shy away from gore, death, or violence. It's not the darkest show in the world, but if you only watch moe shows (which is basically me, but I like other stuff too) or you are really young (10 or under) you might not want to watch it. Also, if like being told everything directly rather than actually thinking and being trusted to figure stuff out yourself, maybe don't watch it.

Overall, I think I would recommend this anime. It is a very unique show with an amazing story that is good if you want something different than your typical slice drama, comedy, or action anime.

From The New World is an amazing show. It is very thought provoking when it comes down to it. Everything is designed to make you think and see the world from the eyes of the well developed characters. The music and art style match the tone very well to help bring this show together as a masterpiece. My only complaint is that I want to see even more! I have watched through the show several times while sharing it with friends, and I am impressed all over each and every time. There is always more to see and understand in this show, and that is why I keep on coming back. I highly recommend this show to everyone, it is an experience you won't regret.

I gotta say this anime gave me such goosebumps that I hadn't felt in a long time. The story had a nice flow to it especially with it's intense horror scenes. It was even nice to see added romance into it as it kept the storyline going. The animation was well done including the English Dub actors.

Very satisfied that I got to see a decent horror anime for a change!