In an interview, EE-sama stated that he considered “Shinsekai Yori” to be the best anime of the year (2013). After watching it myself, I really did have to ask: “Why would you consider Shinsekai Yori the best anime this year?” I can agree that the themes, such as slavery, propaganda/brain-washing, fear/control in society, and group mentality are well-developed. Specifically, the use of the Goblin Rats as a mysterious but logical slave race and the analogy of bonobos for the current human society definitely emphasize how seemingly utopian dystopian it is.
However, many of the major characters, including the main character Saki Watanabe, Satoru Asahina, Maria Akizuki, and Mamoru Itou are unbelievably incompetent (even for 14 year olds) while Shun Aonuma has minimal involvement in the larger story, nearly ruining the otherwise brilliant series. Shun is almost irrelevant because he "disappears" halfway through series. Furthermore, he only reappears to fulfill a feared, but almost mythical, existence. Even worse are the reactions of the other characters to his disappearance. Yes, locking away a dangerous being at the expense of that individual's life is very sad but ultimately, there is no other solution. The necessity for such drastic action is further confirmed by the subjugation of the Queens in the Goblin Rat colonies. Although, the protagonists feel morally wrong, being raised in a utopian world without evil has left them unable to take any meaningful action.
In order to explain why Maria fails as a character, we first have to see why Mamoru fails as a character, since they exist more or less as a pair. Mamoru, being less competent in psychokinesis than the rest of the class, has poor self-esteem and tends to break down. This leads to him acting rather quiet and shy. Apparently, being quiet and shy is a possible symptom of being a “fiend”—someone who has the potential to destroy the city. The city leaders’ wariness of Mamoru causes his emotions to spike. Although he was already coping through friendship with Satoru, Shun, and Maria, the leaders’ fear of him increased his own anxiety to breaking point. In this case, it is not entirely the character at fault since it does tie in the theme of fear. However, the speed at which his mental state declines is not only unrealistic, but extremely pathetic. For example, when they learn of the past from the “fake-devil” creature, Mamoru cries that he doesn’t “want to listen to such scary things anymore”. The information provided by the “fake-devil” was merely facts, or could even be taken as a story. Stories of war and death were not presented with the intent to instigate neither fear nor doubt, yet he seemed as if it shook the foundation of his belief. Such a reaction may be acceptable had the past been explicitly said to be peaceful, but at this point, no mention of the world’s history had been revealed to the characters or to the viewers. Thus, they had no previous beliefs about the formation of their society. Unlike the others, who may have had trouble believing the “fake-devil’s” words to be true, the presentation of new information is enough to trigger a mental breakdown in Mamoru. His weakness in character is his major weakness as a character.
Maria’s weakness as a character is her severely lack of motivation or initiative for any action besides protecting Mamoru. Furthermore, besides her overprotectiveness, she has no other outstanding traits. Her decisions seem to be based only in consideration of what Mamoru wants, which is often to hide away and run from fears and problems. Although she is more expressive and adamant than Mamoru, because of her limited motivations, she is equivalent to Mamoru in the context of driving the story forward. Her reluctance to hurt Mamoru in any way, even if it will help him grow, severely inhibits the curiosity of the group to further their knowledge about their society. She stifles Shun’s, Saki’s, and Satoru’s curiosity by allowing Mamoru’s pitiful state to prematurely stop their conversation with the “fake-devil”. Her devotion to Mamoru is respectable, but not it forces everyone to become wilfully ignorant of the knowledge the “fake-devil” had to offer.
Satoru is not dislikable, but rather unbelievable. He seemingly changes from a lying, loud, obnoxious sore-loser to an extremely cool-headed and capable fighter. The anime offers no explanation for this change except perhaps puberty, although his character becomes much less irritating.
Lastly, we have Saki. Saki is the worst character, as her inaction allows tension to build and terrible events to occur even though they are easily preventable with her powers. She is exposed to numerous hints of the true state of the city and the world, but does not give potential hints any second though and chooses to ignore it. Her parents reveal the gruesome fact of children being killed by saying that she was the last and that they did not want to lose another [child]. However, she fails to understand the implications. Furthermore, she hears all of the information from the “fake-devil”, yet she takes no actions even though her questions to the “fake-devil” show that she has understood the real history of humanity. She is warned by her father that there would be uprisings from the Goblin Rats, but is continuously tricked by Squealer. The audience can clearly see that Squealer is merely using them as a means to gain more power for his colony, but Saki is entirely unable to deduce his motives even with prior warning. She is also the only main character who is explicitly told of the existence of the Karma Demon and the Fiends. Despite her vast amount of knowledge, relative to other characters, she can only repeatedly say “that’s horrible”. It is true that these events often involved death and suffering, but she cannot or does not extrapolate her knowledge to the present situation. She has many times more knowledge than any other of the major characters, yet she seems often incapable of action or even thought. She also always stops short of any conclusion, correct or otherwise, leaving both her thoughts unfinished and her problems unresolved. For example, during their second encounter with Squealer, it was Satoru that recognized the possibility of the Goblin Rats starting a revolution, while Saki almost reaches the same conclusion but instead denies it on the basis of “that would be terrible”. She remains incompetent until the conclusion of the series when war has already broken out and a fiend is massacring the townsfolk, after which, she finally decides to take meaningful action in stopping the fiend.
However, it is important to note that the characters were raised in a dystopian environment, without any idea of evil or injustices. The “ugly” side of society is kept hidden out of fear and paranoia surrounding the “karma demons” and the “fiends”. From this new perspective, Saki’s inaction can be explained by her ignorance of evil and the inhumane. Mamoru’s breaking point may not be low, but rather the tension caused by the fear and paranoia of being killed is extremely high. It is difficult to fully sympathize with the characters and so the viewer feels substantial frustration at the apparent ineptness of the major characters, which although fits the setting, makes the experience much less enjoyable.
