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It’s party time again. Time for another round of The Versus Show. This time though, I’m not content with limit myself with shows with the same rating so I bend the rules a bit (Heck, even though I was the one who made that rule to begin with). After all, rest assured that my utmost intention is to pick a tight matchup for you guys here. This time it’s a match between Haibane Renmei (94/100) and From the New World (90/100).
While these two shows at first seem like a weird match, there are many elements that these two shows share more than meets the eyes here. While I always consider Haibane Renmei to be bright and From the New World to be dark, this is not always the case as well, as if you would remember the last few episodes of Haibane Renmei is as dark and twisted as any From the New World’s moments. Both world depicted in the two shows is a closed society that have walls, barriers that meant to protect our group of characters, but actually hints that these barriers are meant to shield those characters away from the rest of the world. Within that society, there are many rules that should not be broken. Both series follow the group of characters with “special abilities” and how they live in their world. They share many themes together as well: how to cope with the loss of a friend, the identity of themselves, the well define but always mysterious world they inhabit (and most famously they trust the audience enough to not spill out everything, instead letting us slowly realize that world by ourselves), the notion of God; religion and the living race. Now without any further ado, let’s run them down:
Habaine Renmei
Studio: Radix
Season: Fall 2002
Episodes: 13
Source: Other
MAL Rating: 8.08
All Rakka remembers before emerging from her cocoon is the sensation of falling. Confused, she is welcomed into this new world as one of the Haibane, a group of youth with small gray wings and bright halos. Together, they live in the Old Home on the outskirts of Grie, a quiet town where wingless, halo-less people live. (from MAL)
Psgel said in his original review:
“Haibane Renmei truly is one of the best slice-of-life series I have ever seen! It first takes four episodes of building up, introducing its unique setting and its characters, and then it waltzes the viewer down with one of the most amazing storylines, perfectly fitted for 13 episodes.
The thing is, that I’m having a lot of trouble finding anything bad to say about this series. Most series have obvious flaws, like dragging on too much, spending little time on their settings, making no sense, but Haibane seems to have done everything right. The only thing you should note is that you need to get through the first four episodes, which are nice to watch, but nowhere near as emotional as the rest of the series.”
Versus
From the New World
Studio: A-1 Pictures
Season: Fall 2012
Episodes: 25
Source: Novel
MAL Rating: 8.53
Following a sudden outbreak of psychokinesis in 0.1% of the population, a rapid transformation swept the world. The godlike ability to manipulate matter remotely turned many power wielders to violence, inciting a long period of upheaval. Finally, after a chaotic era shaped by the rise and fall of oppressive regimes, the psychic humans were able to achieve a fragile peace by isolating their society, creating a new world bound by complex rules. In the town of Kamisu 66, 12-year-old Saki Watanabe has just awakened to her powers and is relieved to rejoin her friends—the mischievous Satoru Asahina, the shy Mamoru Itou, the cheerful Maria Akizuki, and Shun Aonuma, a mysterious boy whom Saki admires—at Sage Academy, a special school for psychics. However, unease looms as Saki begins to question the fate of those unable to awaken to their powers, and the children begin to get involved with secretive matters such as the rumored Tainted Cats said to abduct children. (from MAL)
psgels wrote that:
“It’s hard to really talk about the story without spoiling, but let’s just say that you should not think that even though there are kids in this series, it’s kid-friendly. Shin Sekai Yori is DARK. It uses a lot of build-up to get to where it’s going, but when it’s there it makes one hell of an impact. It has created this unique setting for itself, and it takes a while to set everything up, but that also makes this series quite varied in its mood. The setting has got a lot of depth to it, and the creators actually managed to pull a ton of potential out of it.
It’s definitely not a show for everyone. Let alone the dark parts, this is a show for people who are looking for something experimental. A show that isn’t afraid to trip itself up over and over for its vision. And believe me: the vision that this series has is amazing.”
From the New World seems to have a slightly bit of advantage, being 25 episodes and just aired from the last few years. But our blog always has had a big veteran crowd and people who watched Habaine Renmei really do love it. So I think this is a tighter match than you would think.
Now to the result of the last poll, while Steins;Gate had always maintained a very comfy lead, the end result here is actually tight. As of this writing, there are 191 people who anticipated (I will keep the poll open for any late-comer, so if you missed it, don’t worry). Well 54.5% to 45.5% is not bad at all, huh?
As zeroyuki92 nicely summarize it: “This time I quite decisively pick Steins;Gate, though. Madoka quality overall is more balanced, and yeah S;G early part (and side arcs) is rather weak. However, the ultimate payoff of S;G is much more rewarding compared to Madoka.”
Shout out what you think on the comment section below, and we’re welcome to any suggestion as well. The last thing that I want to stress we’re here to provide a positive atmosphere as much as possible, so please respect other reader’s comments.
That’s all for now, HAPPY VOTING!
Now this is a movie! Most of you probably figured out by now that I’m on a movie spree, but most of the movies tend to be lots of style and not a lot of substance. While these are perfectly fine to watch, I’d rather watch a movie that’s good in every aspect. Unfortunately, these are quite hard to find, though Metropolis definitely belongs in that category.
For those of you who don’t know about Osamu Tezuka, 
Short Synopsis: Inside Tanda’s house, Barsa recovers, while the old woman we saw in the OP makes her appearance.
Good: As detailed as ever.
Bad: Just doesn’t live up to the previous episode, but what did you expect? ^^;
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7,5/10
After the huge events of the previous episode, this one takes a step back in the pacing, to make sure for Barsa to recover properly, while it also takes its time to introduce a couple of new characters. We finally see the king himself (at least, I think that’s him), and the first prince of the country as well. They weren’t what I expected them to be, and they didn’t really look that evil. If I had to guess, then the major antagonist will be the long-bearded priest.
Another new character is Torogaishi (at least, I think that’s her name. Please correct me if I’m wrong). She seems to be some kind of witch or magic user, who somehow ended up on the bad side of Seidoushi, as the warriors who come to kill her at the beginning of the episode demonstrate. She’s quite skilled; notice how she started collecting sand to make some kind of fake body once she noticed their presence. The dialogue was as difficult as usual, but I did pick up that she’s involved herself into finding the egg of the water spirit, and knows quite a lot about it.
Chaggumu, meanwhile, finally has the time to relax a bit, and just like Rita, he has to get accustomed to the habits of the common people. I do wonder what’ll be happening next to him. If I had to guess, then the following episodes will try to remove the egg from his body and turn him into a normal boy. Like Rita, he’ll also end up cutting his hair (see the OP and ED).]]> 
