Category: From the New World

And with this episode, we come back to squealer. The Queerat with a surprising intelligence. This episode confirms it: he’s not exactly evil, but he is clearly trying to use the gods for his own gain here. I actually really like his character, and how he’s this guy who on one hand can’t be trusted, yet on the other hand is very useful.

But this episode came with another very interesting revelation here: the queerats are trying to copy human culture. Like, the culture the humans left behind when they started getting the cantus. This episode showed this even more, by showing exactly how much of these queerats there are in one colony (tens of thousands), and by throwing some traditional Japanese armour on them. It might very well be possible that Squealer also caught one of those snails, and if he did, the information he got out of it could prove to be very dangerous. Like, this episode was only the tip of the iceberg. Note that he talked about colonies he “merged with”. Something tells me that he just captured them by force.

Also, the queen story becomes more shocking again. It’s like this bizarre combination between an insect society and a human one. With ants for example the queen also never leaves the nest again, but this really takes it a step further when she’s forcefully kept alive, just to produce offspring. It’s a huge moral dilemma: she’s needed because she is the only one who produces children, but in the meantime she also attaks and kills everyone.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

You know, for a while I just kept wondering why Saki and the others were special. But yeah, there are more anime that just make their main cast special and stand out for no reason whatsoever other than that they happened to be at the right time at the right place. But this episode actually addresses that: the lead cast could have actually been just a bunch of obedient vegetables, if it wasn’t for the decision of the board of education to have them develop their own free will. Now it all makes sense: why they were the only ones who went to look for that slug creature.

I still can’t believe that Shun was killed off so early. This episode really made me suspect that he originally was meant to lead the village next, but then his powers went out of control. This episode also hints very heavily that we’re not going to Maria and Mamoru back. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a show pick off its supposed main characters so easily.

What I do wonder is why the decision was made to dispose of Mamoru? I mean, there were a few things going on in this episode that weren’t mentioned: the feelings of the board of execution. They probably got scared of Mamoru. My guess would be that giving him a mind of his own didn’t work out too well: he didn’t become independent and was rather weak, and they started to fear this and just disposed of him, since he was useless with a mind of his own. Now that that failed they tried to cover themselves up with their own authority.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

The first half of this episode had something that you hardly ever get to see in anime: tracking. It was fairly basic: following someone’s sled tracks in the snow, but what made it work was the mystery: Mamoru had some kind of reason to do this, and it wasn’t even sure whether he, with his weak cantus, would have survived.

The revelation of why he ran away… yeah. For some reason the adults found it appropriate to get rid of him. Even though at first sight there might not be something wrong with him. Next episode will probably delve more into that, and why he has to fear for his life and got those copycats after him (which were quite the intense scenes, by the way).

What I’m also quite worried about was that one queerat that this episode showed. This episode avoided the issue, but it WAS walking around in holy territory, which it probably is not supposed to do. I love how gray these guys are on the moral scale: they’re always helpful, and yet there is always something itching about fully trusting them.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

Holy crap… a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. This show definitely put that saying into a different perspective. I mean heck, this is just a horror series in disguise. The whole story about that one kid who went crazy actually nearly freaked me out, that’s how good it was. Very, very dark psychological horror.

But with this I also feel so sorry for the people who all had to solve this and clean up, being forced to put so many constraining rules on the village. This was the first time the series showed the story from their perspective. And also their fear of some other kid freaking out. And the thing is that this series has been slowly building up someone for that role: Mamoru.

What’s more, Saki is being forced in the role of a leader now. I can only imagine how different the second half of this series will be, when she is actually put into that position, and forced to make the same incredibly difficult decisions. This show is cruel. Very cruel.
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)

This was a bit of a build-up episode for From The New World. Nothing too shocking like last episode happened, but nevertheless it’s the kind of episode that takes a step back for us viewers to get to know the characters a bit better. For fleshing the cast out, this was a really good episode because we finally got to see some of the sides of the minor characters who haven’t been in the spotlights like what Saki has been.

Ryou also was this interesting addition to the cast, in which an entire person has been replaced in everyone’s memory. Where did that guy come from, I wonder? It in any case was a very nice way to make the characters paranoid, and I like how difficult tampering with your memory is in this series: the adults did their best to cover up the memories, but some things just can’t fit. It’s now also clear that certain key parts have been erased from their memories and this goes as far as being able to cover up an entire romance, but it’s very difficult to hide an entire freaking crater appearing from nowhere.

Also this episode used lots of flashbacks and dream sequences, which of course is pretty obvious when the main character is trying to recall things. It actually worked quite well to tie up the past ten episodes together.
Rating: 5/8 (Great)

Another Shigeyasu Yamauchi episode. The animation was less messy, but still: you could really see his influence. And holy hell what an episode it was!

Shigeyasu Yamauchi’s style loves the use of close-ups, and weird camera angles on small details and objects to create its atmosphere. On top of that, he often works together with Kenji Matsumoto for the background art, making this episode look utterly GORGEOUS and unique. In this episode his style worked particularly well because of its build-up: the climax of this episode came together wonderfully, and with such talented directors and artists working on it it only got even better.

I also believe that the use of CG in this episode was really good. You could see that it was used, but rather of it looking out of place, it was very creatively used: it either looked totally in place, or totally not (those pills). Either way this episode looked really experimental, and I love it when a TV-series does that. Experimental animation for the win!

So my theory of Shun was a bit wrong. However, the way in which he explained what happened to him was incredibly tense, and it showed how serious of a deal Cantis is. It’s so easy to go out of control, and that’s exactly what happened to Shun. The way in which those rat people believed that humans were their gods suddenly gets a totally different dimension when they were mostly likely created by them. The whole human society is tightly controlled, yet everyone is incredibly paranoid for the case that someone goes out of control again.
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)

So this definitely is a week of plot twists. The thing that this episode implied though definitely took the cake. They made Shun look like such an important character, central to the plot of this series. He grew up to be brilliant, so there seemed no doubt that he was supposed to be a very big player in the upcoming story arc. And then the creators actually did THAT with him.

So, he’s either dead, or an animal. Knowing this show, it will actually go through with it: Shun’s gone, or at least he’s an animal now that’s not going to return back. The intrigue is just getting better and better with this show.

The whole air of mystery around this series and the stuff that the adults try to hide from the children is awesome. The characters really seem on the verge of stepping into something huge, that can so easily ruin the lives of so many people that the children have to be kept constantly unknowing. This story of a bunch of curious children that happened to find out about the truth about all that. It can only go bad ways because those rules weren’t set up for nothing…
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

Okay. From the New World has surpassed itself yet again. I thought that as the start of a new arc would be quiet and moderately uneventful. However, the character development in this episode was already amazing, but what really impressed me were the things around it.

First of all, how this series expanded upon the setting. It was already hinted that the characters in this series would become sexually active, but the way in which they did it came with a bunch of big surprises. Most of all, how differently the society looks at homosexual relationships, to the point where all relationships are just between people of the same gender. And it’s not like straight romances are a complete taboo either: a few episodes ago we saw the beginnings of Saki and Satoru trying to mess with each other.

Also, the way in which these relationships were portrayed. Talk about different. Both in the small details (people looking at each other, subtle hints of people having huge crushes like buying the same necklace, trying to instill jealousy) to just cutting all the crap and just showing people, in a relationship, cuddling and playing with each other. Screw the awkward and forced fanservice you see everywhere. This was so much better.

And then there was the animation of this episode. As usual it did not shine though its consistency or fluidity, but there was this creativity in how the characers moved, and how they were drawn that really caught my attention. The way in which people moved their body, or changed their facial expressions was really imaginative. The creators were obviously on a tight budget this episode, and I’m quite impressed with how expressive they managed to make this episode look.
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)

This episode ends the first major part of this series. Where last week left us off with a very bleak cliff-hanger, this time was not as bleak as allied reinforcements arrived. Instead this episode was chock full of hints of how badly things can go wrong. Since we’re only at episode seven, there is plenty of time for the creators to live up to that.

What really struck me in this episode was how Saki and Satoru had to keep trying to look like gods: if they gave up or showed signs of weakness, they’d immediately lose their advantage in the battle, causing them to get killed off really easily. Then there was the threat of the Hornet colony, which really made a presence of being dangerous this episode. Squealer in particular was really good at only enlarging this feeling with his fidgety acting, on top of nearly betraying them once. Something tells me that we’re going to see more of him.

And then there was that scene in which all those larvae were captured. I mean, there have been many series about war and all, but I can’t recall one showing such a bleak picture, in which basically thousands of babies were taken hostage ON SCREEN, pretty much doomed for slavery for their entire lives. There have been enough series that implied this. But has it ever been shown so clearly?
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

Another great thing from From the new World is that it’s different with every episode. This was quite an eerie episode, in which Satoru fights off small armies of those Ground Spiders after getting his powers back.

I’m not quite sure how he got his powers back. I mean, I get that Saki used Satoru’s mantra to get his Cantis back, but I’m curious why Satoru didn’t do the same for Saki. After all, they were in a situation of life and death, which meant that even there, the thought of crossing this taboo didn’t occur to them.

This episode worked really well despite its problems though, in particular the change within Satoru was great as he plowed through these groups of Ground Spiders, actually enjoying himself. Only to run into this actual army at the end of the episode. Although I have to say that some of the 3D animation could have been blended a bit better. In particular the flying rocks and trees.
Rating: 5/8 (Great)