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)
It kind of weirds me out that people still don’t understand the reason behind Mamoru’s disposal. What part of “a chain is only as strong as its weakest link” is so difficult to understand? ^^;; Have people already forgotten about episode 12?
Haven’t see this ep yet but I remember back an episode or two before Shun was killed that (older)Saki was narrating and said that when the leader came to their room and spoke to Shun that everyone was expecting it to be a big, momentous meeting where he would take him as his apprentice. So you’re probably right there, sounds like they just don’t have a way to screen and see whose going to become an orge or karmaic demon, otherwise they would have prevented that and Shun would be on track to be the leader.
It was not the village reader but the cantus leader who met shun. IMO Saki is supposed to become the village leader from the start and I think the cantus leader doesn’t exist probably it is part of the mechanism to kill of karma-demons.
Shinsekai was excellent as usual.
One of my biggest complaints has always been how these kids could just walk past the holy barriers without any kind of conditioning stopping them. Nice to finally have that settled.
This series is doing an excellent job of explaining all the little details for why everything has happened the way it has happened.
Regarding Shun, I don’t feel that his death is a definite thing. I believe he really did try to kill himself, but I have a feeling that he wasn’t successful. He had mentioned that his body was unconsciously working to keep himself alive, even when he took the poisoned drugs. I won’t be surprised if Shun shows up again one day, and possibly as a real force to be reckoned with.
And as for Mamoru, it seems clear that the village fears he may become a fiend due to 1) his fretful personality, and 2) his relatively poor control over his power. The fact he has successfully run away from the village only confirms that he’s dangerous (in the eyes of the board of education, at least). If he’s capable of that, he’s capable of losing it one day as well. In all reality I find it rather unlikely he ever would have become a fiend if he had just been left alone, but the fact he’s in the “experiment team” and is connected with the likes of Shun, Saki, the girl who was killed at the start of the series, the false minoshiro, and so on–well, all these points have to add up against him.
Thanks for saving me the time explaining why the sentence to kill Mamoru was carried out by the committee of Education.
this series does explain all the question psgels asks, he just doesnt watch sub which I still cant understand even if he thinks he knows japanese.
psgels knows Japanese? Anyway, this is a show that should probably be marathoned because the one week intervals are usually enough for many viewers to forget the finer details of the previous episode.
To be honest, I am watching all of this in subs. I’m just not not paying attention sometimes or just ot good at explaining everything.
I enjoyed the various explanations. Well, getting rid of Mamoru is kind of obvious like the others said so I won’t say much more. Good episode though 🙂
People are ignoring Mamoru’s impact on Maria and vice versus. While the Board of E is clearly blinded to that relationship, Tomiko is clearly not. Their relationship, and how it pans out, is what is going to drive the plot forward and determine the ending (which I expect will be incredibly tragic).
Ah, there was something that caught my attention in this episode, if Tomiko is immortal (or at least can renew her cells over and over giving her a very long life-span) why is training Saki to be the village elder/leader … is she going somewhere or is she bored with her current role and wants to be free from it so she will step down and hand it over to Saki .. or maybe there is something else she has in her mind .. i wonder if they will follow up on that point later on.
I might also add that’s im’ really enjoying the developing mentor/student relation between Saki and Tomiko, specially considering the difficult role Saki will have to take and how Tomiko manages to soften the impact of shocks/surprises she delivers to Saki as part of her training .. Tomiko is really becoming one of my fav characters in the show.
I think Tomiko is probably tired of doing the job, I wouldn’t blame her.
I won’t count Maria out yet…
After all, back in episode 2, the adult Saki did mention that “if Maria haven’t been born, many people could have been spared.”
Lifted that part from the sub and to me it seems that she’s gonna go berserk & go on a killing spree after Mamoru dies/loses control?
Also, i think the reason Tomiko is grooming Saki is because she had gotten tired of her role & the blood on her hands. Also, she doesn’t know when her time will run out, so it’s better to have a successor waiting in the wing just in case she unexpectedly dies.
I suppose that makes sense, good points regarding Tomiko.
The board of education gave me the creeps. I hope they all die when Maria’s rampage happens.
Has anyone seen episode 15?
The winter is coming…
good episode.. definitely building up to something!