~Story~
The story of Shinsekai Yori is well developed and presented. It takes place in a village barred from the outside world in Japan, a millenia after the current civilization. Humanity is known to posses the power of psychokinesis, also known as the power of the "Gods" for coexisting, intelligent species in this underdeveloped world. The narrative follows the main protagonist Saki Watanabe and her close friends, who after obtaining their powers, attend to the Sage Academy to train it. Shinsekai's story starts subtle with exhibiting the daily life of the protagonists, but with mysteries such as abduction and disappearance of children by monstrous cats. Together with the mysteries that surround this village, the audience will begin to appreciate and understand how the world is shaped as the narrative progresses. It is nothing pleasant, in fact, it's dark and obscure.
As the story develops, the spectator observes Saki's growth from 12 to 26 years of age. Throughout the different incidents that happen in that period, the narrative portrays human nature well: paranoia, isolation, fear of the unknown, egoism, resentment and brain washing, which ultimately shows how humanity didn't evolve at all in the last millenia. Even with experimentation and psychokinesis, humans are still frail and weak. To narrate the story with a good pacing, time skips are introduced to focus on the important parts of the story. This leads to a lack of certain gradual character development I personally like to see.
Other strong point of Shinsekai Yori is how at every question/mystery that rises, the story hints at the solutions leaving the audience to ponder about it, while ultimately explaining it in detail later on. All is clarified with convincing and realistic facts, such as the coexisting species or different memory wipes the protagonist undergo. This enhances the overall experience and credibility of the story. Nevertheless, some things remained unexplained such the sudden homosexual attraction between the same gender or the origin of psychokinesis; this was however a small drawback.
~Characters~
The cast of characters are by no means big; this doesn't mean it's necessary. Some of the main characters are emotionally unstable, with sudden drastic changes in emotion: from being out of control to suddenly calm, or from crying to laughing. This is specially in Saki's case, though being considered strong willed and stable, she sways from one action/emotion to another. Throughout her growth she becomes more mature, but often acts childish later on. Nevertheless, some of her actions represent well the egoistic and doubtful nature humanity tends to have. As the protagonists interact and learn about the mysteries and their environment, the spectator can observe how they develop.
The supporting cast of Shinsekai Yori fulfilled their purpose very well. There is good variation and development of the coexisting species known as "Querats", the so-called "Karma Demons", as well as the other humans of the village who provide insight into the history and mysteries behind this new world. Distrust and paranoia is well presented through these.
~Animation and sound~
The animation fulfills it purpose, though it is rather lacking in some aspects. The different characters presented are simple in design, and at times were drawn rather lackluster. Other thing to note are that the facials expressions of the characters often didn't match with the emotional state of the characters, leading to a less enjoyable experience. The different species shown are creatively drawn, but again, maybe more detail would be favorable. Nevertheless, the different scenes and backgrounds are well displayed throughout the use of different colours and animation techniques which matches well with the story.
The voice actors certainly fulfilled their role well, though because of the faulty animation of the character's emotions, didn't fully reach their potential. The soundtracks used are very favourable and matches with the narrative of the story, used to further transmit the atmosphere of the anime and catch the spectators full attention.
~Enjoyment~
Shinsekai Yori was overall a fantastic journey representing a primitive and dystopian civilization with a wonderful story and representation of it, while leaving the spectator pondering about the current civilization and beliefs. I personally disliked the main character, which kept me from fully enjoying the anime. Though it has a slow start, the pacing improves to match the events that take place. I'd fully recommend Shinsekai Yori to anyone with an interest in the dystopian or mystery genre, or want an other perspective on the future of humanity, as done with titles such as Texhonolyze or Psycho-Pass.
Thank you for reading.
