Reviews

Shinsekai Yori is one of the most intelligent anime I've ever watched. The dialogue, the plot and characterization are all top notch. None of the main characters feel like flat cardboard cutouts. An example is how the main characters often debate about the motives of other characters, trying to predict what the next actions of other characters may be, and the right way to act so as to achieve their objective. Characters such as Satoru, Inui and Kiroumaru for example are very strategic in their thinking and almost everything they say and do is entirely rational. The plot is very good, logical and consistent. The plot is not particularly convoluted like in some detective stories, which is a good thing as it makes the story more easily checked - there are no loose ends that I could find, everything is neatly tied up by the time the anime finishes.

Actually the main reason I watched this anime is because of the violent scenes involving psychokinesis. These are regrettably few and short. I would have preferred more and longer violent scenes. This is one of the few shortcomings of the series in my opinion, is that it shied away too much from violence and gore. Also the music isn't very good, like, I wouldn't listen to them outside of the anime. But the voice acting is okay. Saki can get annoying but then again she is probably the most emotional character in the series, if you ignore her and focus on the other characters you'll find the anime very enjoyable. And at the end of the story she becomes a conduit for Shun anyway, so at least she does something useful. There is some feudal allegories that may or may not be relevant in the modern world, depending on which perspective you look at things. Satoru says at the end that monster rats are not humans may or may not have significance depending on whether if you think that all homo sapiens are truly human or not. Mamoru and Maria having dun goof'd was probably the "darkest" part of the anime, plot wise, but really it could have be much worse, considering some things people have done in real life.

All in all an excellent anime that I would recommend for anyone who likes an intelligent plot, intelligent rational characters, or violence (although there are only about 10 seconds of violence throughout the whole series added together, these scenes are admittedly pretty gratifying).