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This is, hands down, the best anime I have ever watched.

I will try to give nothing away for this review, so I will talk about why its great without getting into what the story is really about. Since the anime is so well mapped out, and each episode ties in to the end -- there are no "fillers" and every moment in the show was well used from start to finish.

Why is this anime great?

First off, this anime reminded me of watching a very good book (or series of books), which is not surprising as that is exactly what it's based off of. ... Watching this anime made me think about half the reason I read books: The ability to really explore an idea, no matter how uncomfortable, to the ends. Reading, unlike most other media today, tend to explore the taboo and question convention without always picking sides, generally in subtle and not so subtle story arcs. I find that most movies and anime rely too heavily on visual or story-telling shock, and I lose my connection or the story lose its own morals. Frankly, movies and shows tend to be too morally black and white, but while anime tend to be more grayish it often times caves to convention and pick a side. This one is one of the few that actually managed to actually become more gray as the story continued.

Shin Sekai Yori does exactly that, and for the first time I found the art supported the story in every way -- subtle and not so subtly driving home points that would have been lost in a novel format. it did it without the fanfareand utilized a lot of modern ideas to connect current audiences with both the past and the future of this fantasy society. In essence, it asked the questions that literature tend to ask and it used music, art and animation to enhance each point it made. I'm a very visual person, so I felt exactly how cleverly they used this format more than some of my friends who were less so. However, the plot and direction, hands-down, has been agreed upon as being extremely well done.

It setup, what I like to call the modern idea of a Utopia -- not the one in Thomas More's time but in today's time. It then begins to deconstruct it to show how the surface difference only hide some of the basest, most natural and ugliest of human nature. Often times I thought the show was being heavy-handed in some parts, but only at the end did I realize how subtly they infused each scene to reinforce even the viewer's own prejudices. On top of which, several topics were thoroughly discussed, mostly around the nature of society itself.

In the end, I loved that I got duped by the heavy-handed overall message only to see the more subtle ones at the conclusion of the show.

The subject matters in this show is actually extremely mature and, many implications (on and off screen) are extremely dark, brutal and steeped in modern day psychological studies. The way they tackled these subject matters through the characters was truly admirable and I really have never seen its likes before. The questions the story asked with this medium was one of the best I have ever seen executed, especially concerning the central subject matter discussed. Shin Sekai Yori is not just one of the best anime I have ever had the privilege of finding and viewing, it had some of the best social commentaries I have ever seen being tackled by a modern show.

Also, it is highly suspenseful, horrifying, beautiful, and fascinating. You cannot go wrong with this anime. It really is a Masterpiece.

This story will stick with me for a long, long time, and I cannot enthuse about it enough.

No spoilers, but it's not a glowing review by any exaggeration of the imagination (if you are looking for affirmation about how great this anime is, this is probably not the lackluster thing you'd want to read.):

I was talking about this anime with some guy friends and we came to a satisfying conclusion that this anime really felt like a show aimed at guys using the cliched (and successful) girly genre of magical girls. After that, a lot of things made a lot more sense.

Let me start this off by saying that it definitely attempted to turn this genre on its head... But ... let's be frank: I was not attached to any of the characters and while I liked a lot of the concepts, even the character concepts, the inability for me to relate to or feel a connection with the characters made this drama not that enjoyable. I had to force myself to sit through some of it (and I was not prepared for that concerning such a short and acclaimed series) and while the last few episodes were much more engaging, it's balance was tipped too much in the direction of the cerebral and not enough in the direction of the emotional (at least, not for me). Looking back, I can't say I ever lost myself in the story. I'm not saying the characters were not likable or that the story was bad, nor even that you -- dear reader -- will not lose yourself in it. But, for me, I just could not cross the intellectual line from: "huh, that makes sense..." to: "wow, that hit right to the heart!" (which was what I was hoping for and expecting from all the rave reviews). I just could not relate to any of the crucial main characters (or even the secondary characters), no matter how much sense it made to relate to them, their situation or the idea of them.

I didn't feel pain at any tragedies (great or small). Not even a pang. (Call me heartless in this case if you want, but let me just say that this is extremely rare for me.)

My inability to empathize in this anime greatly decreased my ability to enjoy this story. What bewilders me is the fact that the ideas behind them should have made it easy for me to relate to and empathize with said characters. But the way this was done pretty much made me have very little sympathy for anyone and it wasn't even that I hated particular character(s), I just did not/could not care. To that I can only say that for me this is most likely caused by the execution. The pace that was chosen just didn't jive with or work for me.

Since it's so popular, I'm guessing you'll just have to make your own decision on this. The art was interesting but failed to help me connect and I never really thought "Wow! That really fit this anime!". As a drama, for me, where it really failed was it failed to make me care -- and that pretty much is the reason I watch dramas. This is why I have concluded that it's just "Fine/Fair". And frankly, after discussing this with some friends, I've come to realized I'm probably not the target audience which might explain why it's just not my cup of joe.

While I know a majority of the people enjoyed watching this and I acknowledge that in the end I don't find this genre particularly to my taste, I think an opposing review might be helpful.

I highly disliked this film.

It was around the beginning of my middling anime watching experience. I have watched a range of others before it - Sailormoon, Rurouni Kenshin, X-1999, Eva, Magic Knight Rayearth, etc. - and at the time I thought this would have been interesting change of pace, considering the rave reviews it got, online and off. However, when I watched it, it did not please me.

Okay, first ... things first. The art is very good for its time and realistic. I don't particularly enjoy this particular style but I do acknowledge it is done with skill and suit the subject matter. However, some scenes became all the more sickening, in a mental way, and made the film feel harsher to me as a viewer because of the style used. The music was alright, I took no pleasure in it but it added to the mood and was suspenseful when it was supposed to be and gripping when it needed it. The story was decent, except that it was highly convoluted and the subject matters it took on were difficult and did not allow me to enjoy any element of it.

The characters, to me, were not accessible and hard to sympathize with. Or you sympathize but it's just painful. Their actions and the actions of the general ppl in the story were constantly brutal, usually with blatant sexual violence, but it was fairly one-sided, leaving me with no room to describe the experience with "enjoy" or "like". I also did not like how loneliness became shameful and criminal, and seemed to be a theme that had no other dimension... maybe delusional... but nothing that just is. Everyone get lonely, I don't understand how EVERYONE becomes warped by this isolation. It's like the movie is crying out that isolation, from society and others, will always lead to the path of deviants. At least, this is the impression I get from it since the clearest recall I have of this all lead to some form of eventual criminal deeds. The story was also convoluted enough and the characters were shown in such a way that I only felt I was taking bad things from it because it only had bad things to give. I can see the darkness in society but it was almost like the world was devoid of any goodness and decency, or at least, it is so overshadowed by falsehood and madness that it can't be counted on to be real. When I think on this anime I only vividly remember the terrible sexual violence, the humiliation and fear of the main character and the villains. These are not things I want to take away from anything I watch but these are the ONLY things I feel I took away from this film, at least they overshadowed all else.

The main character only resounds with me at the ending act, but fails to connect me to her throughout the movie as a shining light and more as a constant victim that struggled... somewhere that doesn't feel like triumph and isn't exactly defeat. I don't enjoy watching an entire movie about someone who is defined by the entire show as a victim, and while some people may feel she overcame her obstacles, I did not feel that way at the end of it.

Was it a well done anime? Visually, yes. But did I enjoy it in any way, no. I can only think on this anime and say I really hated watching it. I don't mean it bored me, I mean I disliked the characters and were genuinely disgusted at points in the story, I did not enjoy the story in any way, and in the end, it just leaves a bad impression in my mind as a whole.

I would not watch or recommend this anime. It is a singular opinion, but I did not feel that the marriage of crime to surrealism in this case worked for me in anyway. And well I can stomach violence and human folly, this one was the entirely wrong mixture for me to like or even feel tolerably toward.

I gave it a 3, on the merit that it was well made but having seen it and processed it, I did not in any way enjoy the story it had to tell or the way it was told.