STORY
The story is set a post-humanity world, wherein, unlike in most dystopian settings, humanity prevalence has slowly dwindled instead of the usual apocalyptic disaster. Although we are told almost nothing throughout the show about humanity's decline, it seems that a lot of time has passed, as the people alive now seem to living quite happily in an almost-1400s European style. However, following the fall of humanity a new species has beome the "dominant species" of the planet; the Yousei are 10cm high elf/gnome creatures who all look almost identical to eachother except for their hats. They breed at tremendous rates and have almost no mind of their own, but collectively are able to reach technological and industrial levels in days, where humans would take centuries.
Now I will return to my opening statement. This sentence sums up my views on what this show stands for, and how it displays what it wants in a unique and interesting manner. The world that it is set, is one of extreme surrealism, from the minimilistic design of the village and country, to the washed-over colour palette used. However this just accentuates that everything shown should be taken as a metaphor for something else, as it makes no sense at face value. This is apparent most of all in the yousei and there (lack of) physical restrictions. In probably my favourite arc of the show (ep9) the Yousei construct a thriving civilisation from nothing in a week, but it collapses back to nothing in another. In this episode more than any other, it is plain to see that the Yousei are symbolic of humanity accentuating our perks and flaws in regards to the nature of our "progression" and our inevitable mortality. As is shown again and again through the 12 episodes of the show, when the Yousei want to do something, and only if they really want to do it, they are able to progress ridiculously quickly to achieve their goal. However, their creations always fall just as fast as they rise.
However, that is just one episode, throughout each of the show's 1 or 2 episode arcs, a different fatal flaw of humanity is investigated: ranging from the fast-changing consumption of fads to the flaws of capitalism to the innate human desire for individualism. While the Yousei aren't technically humans, they express the overreaching traits of what defines being human through hyperbole and metaphorical circumstance.
Now the main character (non-canonically named "Watashi" as we are never told her actual name) is a unique character who, although acting generally as a neutral party for the viewer to see through, is not portrayed as solely that. She is very observant, meaning that the viewer doesn't miss out on anything important and her seems to keep her relationship with people distant, except for that of her assistant Joshu. For Joshu, he is a mute boy who works as Watashi's helper in her trying to communicate with the Yousei. Although his back story isn't really explained, he is fleshed out well as a mysterious character (he plays a much larger role in the LN).
PRODUCTION
Animated by ASTA, one of the many branches of AIC, the show boasts an animation style just as surreal as that of its story. As I have stated before, the washed out colours and water-colour backgrounds work well with the tone of the story. There isn't much actually 'animation' as such, due to the slow pace of the stories and lack of action scenes, but any that is apparant is done in a toned down, but by no means bad, quality. As for the studio, the only other things I have seen from ASTA are Bamboo Blade and Sora no Otoshimono, one being too different to comapare and the other being a trainwreck.
The OST is a rather soothing collection of calm orchestral pieces consisting of over 30 tracks, more than the average TV anime. Personal favourite is Meikyuu, giving a mysterious, slightly unsettling feeling. The OP is pretty famous, and rightly so. Being a bizarre upbeat catchy song by nano.RIPE, what could really go wrong. nano.RIPE is one of my favourite anime theme composers, with the Non Non Biyori OPs being personal favourites. In my opinion the ED is even better, sung by the legendary Oranges & Lemons, singers of Azumanga's OP and ED. Both themes are un-skippable and I often like to listen to them over again.
CONCLUSION
Something else confusing about this anime is the order which you should watch it in. Personally, I think that the show needs two watches to be fully understood, and so I recommend watching it in airing order first, followed by (pseudo)chronological [10 7 8 3 4 9 5 6 1 2 11 12]. I'm not certain for the reason for the show being aired out of order, but I would think it was something to do with setting the tone of the show as a mystery one, by the end of the first couple or so arcs not much will make sense, and even by the end it doesn't tell you explicitly what the fuck is going on (*read the LNs*), requiring you to actually think with your head and work shit out.
I think that the show could be viewed as a Japanese contempory to Alice in Wonderland or the tales of Narnia, but puts much more emphasis on the morale behind the story than those stories. In fact, I think one of the main reasons the story/world's continuity doesn't make any sense is that you aren't meant to take it at face value, but should start to wonder what it all means.
As a (biased) fan of this series I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in mystery stories or like things a bit more left-field. Talking of mysteries, eps 7+8 (Time Management) has a very welldone Groundhog Day scenario that kept me on the edge of my seat wanting to know more. Anyway, I rate it high and so should you.
META
Length- 1 cour / 12 eps / 5 hrs
Release- Summer 2012
Studio- AIC ASTA
Source- 2007 LN by Romeo Tanaka
