We were just talking in the shoutbox about episode ratings, and what they mean when I hand them out. I’ve been blogging a lot of episodes over the years, so my standard are pretty high with this: an episode has to be pretty freaking good to warrant a rating above 6/8. And here Shin Sekai Yori pulled it off, with what was without a doubt the best episode of the season. Holy crap.
People wondered why I didn’t rate the latest Jojo episode as high. The thing with that episode was that it was a pretty standard episode that was really well delivered. It was really entertaining, and it deserves points for that, but it did not amaze me. This episode in comparison completely shocked me. It’s here where the series finally reveals what kind of plan the queerats have had since the beginning of the series. And holy crap is it sad! And holy crap they go far here!
Shin Sekai Yori is for children? Hah. This episode showed what amazing villains the queerats are. This episode made brilliant use of how we previously saw the queerats as a simple folk with simple rituals when they start using those rituals on humans. It was slightly shocking when they did it with fellow queerats, but abducting human children in order to let them grow into fiends in order to take over the world and escape the oppression of the humans. Holy crap man!
Rating: 7/8 (Fantastic)
Agreed. The episode was mindblowing, especially the notion of breeding fiends. Also, the way Squealer was developed through the entire show deserves serious props. It’s been a while since I’ve seen such a good villain.
I just wonder how the child/children don’t attack the queerats as well…feels somewhat weird since through the whole series everyone have been fearing karma demons etc…unless this child is just a normal power user that hasn’t been teached the same others have been…still it seems weird. :S
these kids aren’t ‘fiends’ as we’ve seen Tomiko describe. It is a human child that was raised as a queerrat. It has none of the hypnosis to create death feedback or project it’s cantus leakage outside of holy barrier. It is simply another member of the queerat colony following orders. Like was said in earlier in the series, Squealer is the first queerrat IN HISTORY to go against the queen of the hive. Members of the hive simply follow orders from above even if it is suicidal.
The humans see it as a fiend, but it is not a normal human that ‘snapped’ and began killing. It is more like a Queerat with Cantus.
Death feedback is a genetic modification. Conditioning only makes the symptoms harsher and its activation faster. But the mechanism is based on recognition of aggression against a fellow human so if the fiend doesn’t recognize his targets as someone of his own kind, the trigger for death feedback won’t be pulled.
…which is why I wonder if it will be Kiroumaru who’ll save the day in the end.
Kiroumaru, please.
Now that you’ve suggested that, I really want that to happen. ;-;
Kiroumaru is so cool looking too kya
Ii was kinda hoping this on would crash and bur. I already have enough things to watch but damn it – can’t resist. I guess I’ll check out Blast of Tempest too.
Squealers plan is pretty smart…except for one thing. Sure it’s a great idea to raise weapons to even the odds when fighting gods but there is still the issue of controlling those weapons. I mean what do you do when all the gods are gone and you got an army of uncontrollable and unbeatable fiends just waiting to start a few massacres? It’s a bit like nuking the planet so you can rule it. It’s just going to backfire.
I think the real irony is that the queerats are fighting to liberate themselves from god rule. Thing is once they do that they will then be under dictatorship queerat rule. Not exactly an upgrade.
What do you do with the weapons once you’ve won? You kill them in their sleep! I’m sure that’s how he did away with Maria and ‘boy who no one really cares about’.
Well, I believe when Maria and Mamoru were killed, it was very soon after Maria had given birth. Maria was weak due to it, and Mamoru was… well Mamoru.
My guess is that once/if the queerats /do/ liberate themselves and rule the world, the army of “fiends” will become self-aware, notice how inferior their non-cantus queerat brethren are, and make another shin sekai.
It’s a loop-de-loop.
My guess is that squealer would plan that no two of his ‘weapons’ should ever be together. The main reason would be to ensure they never develop an image of themselves as human.
Beside that, after having completely destroyed humanity, along with all human culture they can’t exactly revert to being humans!
But that’s just it. Those weapons are not uncontrollable. They obey the hierarchy just like any other soldier.
If they were that simple to control then humans wouldn’t be so afraid of them.
They’re that simple to control because they’re not actually fiends. They are just humans raised as queerats who think they are queerats.
People are afraid of fiends. Those children aren’t actually fiends. They are just human raised as querats, with none of the limitations that human cantus users have.
“Shin Sekai Yori is for children? Hah.”
Was that ever in question? It’s a late night anime based on an adult novel. Not really sure why people would think it is for children.
I think that sentence may have been in reference to the first comment in the post for episode 20 (or19) saying that the individual felt it could pass as a show aimed at kids. It was already argued that is clearly not.
*that it is cleary not.
The atmosphere for this series has been intense from the beginning and it is well done. It consumes you something I have not felt maybe since Elfen Lied or Serial Experiments Lain.
Wait is also amazing to me is even with the ridiculous amount of foreshadowing and hints dropped within the series it still has kept me on the edge of my seat.
Yeah, for me this one was riveting form the first frame.
So far my only problem with the series is its lack of character development. Outside of saki, there really aren’t too many characters that have a presence. Even satoru disappears from the lime light every now and then.
Oh man, choose some other name ‘-‘
I’m quite amazed at the turn the series has taken. I’d been busy for the past few weeks so I caught up with the past 5 episodes all in one sitting today and the impact of having done so is astonishing.
Firstly, we have the fact that Mamoru and Maria are dead. I seriously thought that they would survive a lot longer. The main question I have is when did they die? The bones that Yakomaru brought back to the village were established, beyond doubt, to be the bones of the two. But then, when did Maria get pregnant and have the child?
Secondly, the Fiend. I knew we would encounter a Fiend before the end of the series but I assumed that it would be either Mamoru or Maria. It now seems that the queerats have managed to produce a Fiend from their (Maria & Mamoru’s) offspring. How did they accomplish this and how can they be certain that they could produce Fiends from the babies they abducted?
Next, in the preview to the next episode, we see Kiroumaru being held in chains and Saki asking that they release him. Also, we see someone carrying a False Minoshiro (perhaps the one that the Queerats were getting all their knowledge from).
Overall, I can’t say I’m cheering for either side. The Queerats are seeking their freedom and dignity as sentient beings that the humans have denied them. Seeking to overthrow oppression is a worthy cause but with vermin like Yakomaru at the helm, I can’t help but think that the Queerats won’t be better off in the end.
Also, who was the person in that trippy dream that Saki had a couple episodes back, while she and Satoru were still searching for Maria and Mamoru?
I think I’m going to have to read the original novel of From the New World as I feel there is a lot of information being left out due to the nature of this adaptation.
I think that one in Saki’s dream was Shun. It’s saddening that he still pops out in her dreams, yet she can’t remember him…
Well…there are a lot of sad things in this series than in Psycho-PASS so… >.<
The Queerats haven’t produced fiends. What they have done is raise a human child as a queerat (probably not allowing mirrors .. etc) and so now the human thinks it is a queerat. That is why it can kill humans as it’s self image is not human. If you remember back to the monk in the forest, his death feedback triggered due to an image of a female formed in the sky.
Hmm, I guess that makes sense. I hope we get the definite answer before the series ends.
Weren’t everyone put under hypnosis at a young age, at the village so they couldn’t attack other humans?
And I don’t even want to think about what kind of condition Maria or Satoru would be if they had been kept alive if you think what was done to the Queen. >:/ Ugh…