I began watching Shinsekai Yori because of the frequent urging of my friend. I dropped it at 3 episodes (because it failed to instill any sort of interest in me as to the outcome of the plot), then picked it up again a few months later because I saw it recommended by a fairly large amount of people who claimed that it was a "classic" and "the best story ever". I felt that I should at least watch the entire 25 episodes before passing judgement on what was seemingly a masterpiece. I did not make it. At 18/25 episodes, the series has so far failed to impress me with any sort of shocking revelation, and I would rather not waste a further 2 hours of my life to watch the rest.
Edit: I have since watched the complete series.
Story [5/10]
Ah, the story. Where to begin with this. The story was quite creative. A dystopian society set in the future with psychokinesis users and subhuman creatures. Cool. However, I consider pacing to be vital to the enjoyment of the overall story, and boy I have a lot of shit to say about it. The pacing was, without a doubt, the most atrociously inconsistent I have encountered so far. I was sorely tempted numerous times to drop this anime at ep. 3, 11, and 16.
The first three minutes of the first episode were probably the highlight of my viewing experience. After that began an inconsistent downward spiral into mediocrity. There is a definite lack of subtlety in the way the anime presents the issues it wishes to discuss. It is forced at the viewer, as if the producers were trying to make us to feel a certain way. Terror, I suppose. Each emotion Saki experiences is overdramatic to the point of absurdity. Certain scenes are revealed, then seemingly discarded or forgotten, leaving the viewer to wonder about the point behind it, or whether it mattered at all. It seems that for each arc (I'm guessing one every timeskip), the protagonists seek the answer to the current arc's mystery:
Arc 1: Civilization
Arc 2: Fiends/Cantus
Arc 3: Queerats
This division would be perfectly fine if not for the way the answers were revealed. The arc drags its dead body slowly and painfully across the storyline for about 4-5 episodes before an all knowing person decides to bestow their wisdom upon them. Examples: false minoshiro, Shun, Head of Ethics, Squealer. It's done in such an obvious and convenient fashion that the few episodes before the end of an arc seem pointless. The producers' failure to create a decently cohesive adaptation of the manga makes the story seem like a dumb animal spasming erratically as it tries to reach the finish line. If you've ever tried to played Clop, this was what watching this anime felt like.
A particular episode I had qualms with was ep. 8. No, it was not because of the homosexuality. I was fine with that. Saki x Maria forever. The problem was with the abrupt development of these relationships as well as the adults' obliviousness to these 14-year olds' overly sexual acts. Added to that was the fact that the anime didn't even attempt to explain it.
Again, I must point out the terrible pacing of the story. I'd venture that the episodes before the last arc were completely unbearable to watch. Sure, things were revealed, but they were revealed in such a vague and disconnected way that it honestly didn't matter until the final arc.
Art [6/10]
The art was nice, with a few absolutely disgusting lapses here and there.
Sound [9/10]
The music was the one redeeming factor of this anime. It was the perfect tone for the solemn and tense mood that dominated the story.
Character [3/10]
The characters were bland and uninteresting, with the exception of perhaps Shun and Squealer. The main character, Saki, was extremely hard to sympathize with. Her overreaction to everything was forced and off-putting. She had moments of revelation and even more moments of terrible stupidity (again, for the convenience of the plot, I suppose). The necessity of some characters other than plot devices is rather dubious.
Overall, Shinsekai Yori is an anime that tries too hard to be something that it's not. The political drama and philosophical issues it tries to bring up are embarassingly and painfully forced. It tries to juggle four different topics at once. Throughout the series, it's hard to tell what it actually wants to focus on. Is it the development of the current utopia? Is it Fiends/Karma Demons and the effects of Cantus? Is it the political factions between Queerats? Is it the weirdly depicted racism towards Queerats?
I judged this anime quite harshly because in my mind, I'd already condemned it as an overrated series. Therefore, I would not recommend this anime to anyone coming in with high expectations.
