This anime, is the most interesting out of all I've ever watched. The author takes a really idealistic environment trying to show a realistic meaning. It made me think a lot about it. Basically this anime indirectly focus on philosophy and values of our existence.
Character development was done very well but most end up dying right as it is fully developed which isn't negative but the characters that die do have an important role later especially Shun. I'll end it short since if I continue 90% of this review will be of each individual character lol.
The first 3/4 story reminds me of a book called "The Giver" where the MC thinks she's living in a Utopia but many things she encounters will make her doubt the society she lives in. The last quarter of the story involves how 2 intellectual societies clashes and who has the right to remain dominant. This made me thought if we ever met an alien or if one species somehow mutated to an intellectual one, who would have the right to be dominant. The obvious (cliche) answer would be, we would negotiate and eventually live together, but this answer is also the most idealistic one that probably might not happen for a very long time.
I felt sorry for the Queerats, not because they were once human but because the things they did were not wrong, it was a simple revolution that humans done before as well (especially French and American revolution) to throw out the monarchy for democracy. Yakomura did deserve to die but 90% of his purpose was correct just the 10% he wanted to become the superior of the Queerats. It was a good thing the anime ended with giving justice to the Queerats but most of the colonies are dead anyways.
Now how the anime was paced was interesting too. I felt that it went very slow but the speed makes sense for a 24 episode anime. Even with so many stuff happening, way more than Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, it felt like it was a 64 episode anime. Basically it is weird that I thought it went slow when it makes more sense that I would say it went fast because too much things happen at the same time. I think this is what perfect pacing feels like. It's been a really long time since I 've watched an anime with good pacing.
Finally, the message of the author to modern time. The suspicion of the Cantus' society would be similar to our suspicion of our government and that we are way too skeptic. Cantus' society was actually doing the right thing to keep a Utopia even though they had to control everyone's memories. The lost of freedom for perfect protection hmm seems like it is definately a real world modern problem. The second message is in Humans & Queerats. I believe the author is trying to say something about our racism. I find racism fights way too cliche so I don't want to talk about it here since I bet there is absolutely nothing new about racism right now. But another message might also be "who has the right to be dominant in the ecosystem". That question is interesting but it doesn't matter until we find some alien or a species having something close to human intelligence. In the end, that means the author has his/her own theories and questions but don't dare to give an answers.
The flaws in this anime was how it confuses the audience by skipping some important parts and using those parts as flashbacks. It would also be a lot better if they show how did Saki led the village. The tainted cats are still alive and still being used. But did Saki stopped the program to control the village's mind and memories? The thing I was looking the most foward how that society can be changed to become a more of a true Utopia rather than the current. But that was never shown sadly. Once again that means the author does not know how an Utopia would work, but it's natural not to know lol.
