Yes, two guys kiss in one episode. It is sad that many people dropped this show only because of a 10 second scene. If you are homophobic, don't even start reading here and go try to be a better person. Curious is how "two girls kissing" is ok... oh you people. Now that we are done here, let's go:
Story 9/10
Shinsekai Yori takes place 1000 years in the future, where the society returned to a more rural state, and religions like Buddhism and Shintoism are once again predominant. But what makes this world so special is the fact that everyone now has telekinesis power, called Cantus, and how everything works around this ability, specially how to control it. There are children disappearing, demons, supernatural killer cats, a strange new humanoid race, Mantras… and this is only the beginning of the mysteries.
The best part of Shinsekai Yori is the world where the story takes place, since it is all surrounded with a dark mystery, where most people are unaware of the secrets of their society. With the eyes of the group of five children, we also start to uncover the true nature of the place they live in. But here is the first problem of this show: Despite it was sold as a Horror and Psychological show, it barely has any of this elements. Drama and thriller are the predominant genres here, and they are really competent in these aspects, working with the tragic consequences of the children's discoveries in the show. Also, by the time you reach around episode 18 there won't be anymore mysteries to be revealed, except for a last and awesome revelation in the last episode.
Enjoyment 8/10
So... if Shinsekai Yori isn't all about mysteries, what else it has to offer? Well, there is another intelligent race living in this world, and they are called Queerats. They are like animals with some humanoid characteristics, that live in tribes in the forest and all their acts are monitored by the humans. And here lies two extremes aspects of Shinsekai Yori:
- Best: The final arc. It is full of action, drama, violence, tension and everything you would expect for. Even better, the final revelation of this anime brings us a good chance to reflect upon everything that happened and we can even try to bring it to our reality.
- Worst: Pacing. Pace is a huge problem in this show, specially when the protagonists are interacting with the Queerats. While we are all looking for the mysteries and thrilling scenes, we have to spend a bunch of episodes watching the kids running in the forest and talking with Queerats. To makes things worse, in the beginning you can't tell if these episodes are relevant or not, until you arrive at the final arc. If they were able to develop the mysteries and the Queerats problems together, definitely we would have a better result in the end.
Art 8/10; Sound 9/10
The sound is really competent, it is able to create the mood of melancholy, tension, and brings a kind of "epic ancestral religious" music over the show. The art is really beautiful, and the absence of colorful places and clothes makes everything even more melancholic and sad. But the quality of the animation is unstable, and we can notice many episodes with a lack of quality (and many of them are in the Queerat parts).
Characters 8/10
The characters are ok, they fulfill their roles, but I couldn't develop a stronger link with any of them. Saki is a strong female lead, while Satoru and Shun are the most intelligent ones in the difficult situations. Mamoru is the fragile one, while Maria is more cheerful. There are some other minor characters, but most of them shows up only to die 1 episode later. The Queerats Kiroumaru and Squealer are probably the most interesting characters, since that they are the ones who are the cause of the final conflict, and we understand their point only a few minutes before the ending of the show.
Overall: 8/10
Shinsekai Yori is a really enjoyable show. It brings an interesting world surrounded of mysteries, that are uncovered little by little, and which their consequences bring a good drama for the plot. It has some problems with the instability of the animation quality and pacing, which causes some let downs while watching it. The secondary plot, which turns out to be the main plot in the future, surrounding the tribes of Queerats is a huge problem that turns out in a good and interesting conclusion, that you are able to enjoy if you put in your mind that this show is not only about mysteries.
