Shinsekai yori

In the year 2011, a small percentage of humans began manifesting psychokinetic abilities known as "Cantus." Over a millennium later, in the small town of Kamisu 66, Saki Watanabe is the last of her friends to awaken her powers and join the Sage Academy, a school for psychics like her. Although everyone at the institution has Cantus, they are not all equal; shortly after Saki enrolls, one of her classmates who is regarded as being weaker than the others suddenly disappears.

Walking home one day with her friends—the determined Maria Akizuki, the intelligent Shun Aonuma, the observant Satoru Asahina, and the timid Mamoru Itou—she comes across two unfamiliar creatures known as "Monster Rats." These beings resemble moles and worship those with Cantus as gods. As a result, when Saki uses her abilities to save one from trouble, she is met with exceptional gratitude.

Now unsure about the Monster Rats' place in society, Saki and her friends find out about another disappearance. As time passes, they slowly look for answers to the mysteries that surround them and begin to realize that this seemingly "perfect" new world masks humanity's dark past.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Watanabe, Saki Main

Endou, Aya Japanese

Akizuki, Maria Main

Hanazawa, Kana Japanese

Aonuma, Shun Main

Toudou, Mai Japanese

Asahina, Satoru Main

Kaji, Yuuki Japanese

Itou, Mamoru Main

Kudou, Haruka Japanese

Squealer Supporting

Namikawa, Daisuke Japanese

Kiroumaru Supporting

Hirata, Hiroaki Japanese

Asahina, Tomiko Supporting

Sakakibara, Yoshiko Japanese

Kaburagi, Shisei Supporting

Hoshino, Takanori Japanese

Akki Supporting

Uechi, Aki Japanese

Ochikoshi, Tomonori Producer

Kinoshita, Tetsuya Producer

Kaji, Atsushi Producer

Hosokawa, Osamu Producer

Reviews

Feb 22, 2025

JJMFREAP

Recommended

I find it difficult to put into words what Shinsekai Yori actually is. The feelings it evokes are complex, but what I can tell you for certain is that this is something that you need to experience! This is just one of those stories that will move your heart and get you thinking, leaving you a changed man in the end. It might be hard to grasp what to expect when looking at it on the surface level, but believe me, Shinsekai Yori is definitely worth it!

You can see how it has been branded with many genres and I think all of them are quite ... apt. However, suspense horror is probably the most accurate descriptor. Don't get it twisted, this isn't some supernatural tale about ghosts and monsters haunting the innocent, it's something far deeper and far more real than that. Shinsekai Yori explores a world where humans have acquired immense psionic powers and the effect that this has on a society. How do you tame this power? How do you live knowing that any other person could be a walking weapon of mass destruction? What if the person goes mad? There's a lot more to it, but I want to avoid detailed spoilers. The best word I can think of to describe the feeling of the anime is "unease". At any moment, you can't shake this feeling that something is wrong, that something horrible is about to happen and often this turns out to be true. But the source of that misfortune is something you cannot predict and that keeps you on edge from beginning to end. You don't know who or what you can trust and this tension just keep building all throughout.

The horror however is just the backdrop for the real story, because at its core, Shinsekai Yori is a societal commentary, a musing on human nature. The thin line dividing good and evil, making sacrifices for the greater good, the responsibility that comes with power, societal casts, the role of love in the bigger picture, etc. In many ways - the strive towards utopia, the pleasure driven society, the distinction between civil and savage - it draws parallel to Aldous Huxley's iconic novel Brave New World. Given the similar titles, I think this comparison is quite intentional and the inspiration quite obvious. In line with a lot of recent things I've been reading, I've been getting acquainted with the idea of the "anti-utopia". The way I understand it, a utopia is an ideal society where interpersonal issues have been resolved and we focus on the greater good, a pure dystopia is one where you can tell at a glance that the world is fucked and nobody is trying to hide it, but an anti-utopia is a flavour of dystopia, where things are well and truly fucked, but the powers that be and their followers are trying to convince you and themselves, that they in fact live in a perfect society and that all of the horribleness around you is just necessary sacrifices for the good of all. Shinsekai Yori definitely fits that last description and the questions it explores through its universe are deeply engaging and very poignant.

Criticizing the details will be a bit tricky, but I'll do my best here. I firmly believe Shinsekai Yori is one of the most finely crafted stories I've seen in anime. The only downside is that it's presented in a bit of an odd way that some may find confusing. Multiple timeskips, multiple perspectives, plenty of heavy symbolism and stories told out of order are just some examples. It's one of those series where you really have to flex your brain folds and pay proper attention. Every moment matters and minute details revealed in one episode might become of huge importance ten or more episodes later. While the anime takes the effort to remind you of important things, it's still vital to keep your eyes peeled for these tiny details that build the greater narrative. This isn't Haruhi Suzumiya where it was made by a schizo on shrooms, the narrative absolutely makes sense but you need to be vigilant to piece it all together.

The story itself was, in my opinion, amazing! I loved how the line between good and evil was razor thin. The characters were all believable, realistic and engaging, having fantastic and believable relationships with each other that all had tremendous depth to them. The micro of their interpersonal stories mixed with the macro of the tension of the greater world beautifully and all the elements tied together into the central themes awesomely! They also all feel like real people, often making brash, emotionally-charged poor decisions, but guess what, we all do that, so it all makes sense for who they are as people. Being that this is based on a novel and there's lots of heavy worldbuilding, the series is very dialogue heavy, but this was handled very well and it never felt annoying or clunky. Every conversation was filled with tension, emotion and intrigue that made it engaging.

On the technical side, the anime was quite well executed. Overall the animation was of very high quality, everything looked really beautiful and the characters were lively and expressive. The music and sound design were also really well executed, adding a lot of tension and great atmosphere to every moment. The fact that the anime also technically doesn't have an opening made it feel that much more eerie and immersive. The voice acting was superb, fitting all characters really well and handling the age differences masterfully too. There are some criticisms though. Firstly, the pacing, especially at the beginning, was also a bit slow, while also feeling like we jumped into big plot events a bit too suddenly. Regardless after the first third, things really pick up and it's all gas from there. As a lot of people have mentioned, the animation is a bit inconsistent. Most of the time it's good, but it does get stiffer or the artstyle might shift a bit in weird ways, for no apparent reason. It's not some dealbreaker, but it is worth noting. Lastly for the visuals, while I thought they were great and I actually applaud them for avoiding conventions and having a horror story take place almost entirely in broad daylight, I still think that the bubbly colours and somewhat generic anime style were not the best fit for this kind of story. I get that it's also part of the subversion of expectation by having these cute characters in such a dark narrative, I still feel like a more realistic and grounded Monster-esque visual style would've been a better fit. I get that this is from 2012 and we didn't have the animation we have today then, but I still have to mention this.

Right, I think I rambled on long enough. If you felt that the descriptors were a bit vague, I apologize, but I did my best to not give away any plot details as I think that will just spoil the experience for you. I hope I managed to convey that this is a thoroughly engaging story that you need to experience and one that will get you thinking about a lot of stuff afterwards. Shinsekai Yori is a knife through the heart in the best way possible. A lot of stories try to be dark and/or philosophical and a lot fall on their face, becoming cringey, boring, pandering or confusing. This is none of those things. This is a dark setting done right and its commentary on human nature, society and morality are woven masterfully with a deep, emotional drama between believable characters, showcasing their believable development as they grow up. It's a twisted and macabre story that feels bleak and dreadful, but there's a strong glimmer of hope through it all that culminates beautifully in the end. Once you experience this tale, I guarantee you won't be able to stop thinking about it for days and its implications will live with you for the rest of your life. So don't be shy, jump into the New World!

P.S. To my good friend who recommended this to me, a sincerest thank you! You know who you are. I get it now, I see why you enjoy this so much and why you didn't say anything about the story itself, you just insisted we check it out. And it took me a lot less time than the other guy to get to it and then finish it! Ha!

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by JJMFREAP (64)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Jul 15, 2024

0004_1

Mixed Feelings

Art - 6/10 Some clear Dips in Visual quality during the season, the character designs look pretty good but the inconsistent animation and lack of innovation lead to a 6.

Characters - 7/10 There is alot of characters, Soo many that names are hard to remember even though i finished this a few days ago, and alot of the characters are just there for one certain thing to happen, Saki is pretty cool!

Story - 6/10 The ending was very satisfying and the last 5 episodes were by far the best of the show, but the middle drags soo much just for an expected but good twist ... at the end. From episode 3 - 18 it is really really boring and repetitive.

OST/Sound Design - 8/10 Just for the first ending, I think the first ending is genuinely amazing so im definitely bias towards it! but the rest of the sound is pretty good.

Overall - 6/10 Way too inconsistent and confusing, and the whole concept of the people acting as monkeys doesnt make sense to me at all.... (iykyk) Ending saves the story.!

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by 0004_1 (60)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Mar 9, 2025

Mythhead

Not Recommended

Shinsekai Yori, also known as Shinsekai Yaoi and/or Shinsekai Yuri, is a series that can honestly be described in one word, and that word is boring. It’s a series that’s only redeemable in one aspect only and that is its worldbuilding. If that is the only thing you seek, then there is certainly some enjoyment to be found. However, the series mostly suffers when it tries to get its ideas across. Shinsekai Yori can’t really be described as a story, because the methods used to convey it are executed so terribly that the entire series honestly resembles a very boring documentary. In an attempt to ... combat this, the story attempts to make its rather boring storytelling more entertaining by adding in both cheap shock factor and homoerotic romance, all of which involve really uninteresting characters. Shinsekai Yori tries to be a slow burn but it simply fails because it takes all of the fun out of storytelling.

The only strength of this series is the concept of its worldbuilding. Its a strength that expresses itself as more of an “idea” rather than the quality of it itself because the execution is so mundane and boring to the point where it complicates the process of confirming whether the setting makes logical sense or not. Notably, the story routinely doesn’t follow the storytelling technique of “show, don’t tell.” There is so much the story wants to tell the viewer, many of which relies on unnecessary details in a “don’t blink or else you’ll miss it” kind of fashion that it makes the viewer question if the worldbuilding is that great in the first place. Frustratingly, the story allocates long stretches of time towards spoonfeeding the viewer with information. This can be seen by multiple episodes where an unspecified number of kids would simply stand in one spot and listen to someone who doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things lore dump. To make it convenient for the story, only the correct amount of information will be told to the viewer so the “mystery” aspect of the story doesn’t instantly end. Rather than actually fleshing the world out by dotting itself with its lore here and there, it’s expressed in the most boring way possible. Its method of storytelling takes away from all of the potential mystery and suspense the series could’ve had. Thus, whether the worldbuilding was good or bad, it doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things when compared to the execution of it alone.

Shinsekai Yori’s story in a nutshell:
Arc 1: Brave New World but ran by an incompetent Buddhist academy + exposition dump
Arc 2: “Cantus is dangerous” + lore dump
Arc 3: Queerat racism/discrimination from the perspective British colonial surveyor in the 1880’s.
IMO: Act 1 > Act 3 > Act 2

Additionally, the series also has a habit of constantly reminding the viewer about events that already happened. Notably, the glowing robot dog loves to rehash the same line about bonobos fucking each other to calm down. Holy shit, bonobos fuck each other to calm down, we get it. This would’ve been fine it were explained twice perhaps, but the series itself makes multiple times references to bonobos which is really grating. Additionally, the loredumper thing feels the need to explain every little action the characters do, even the more mundane action of the characters’ implied sex. It ties back into the worldbuilding itself, which relies on being easily forgettable because it’s but not fleshed out in a unique way. Mainly, the story lacks a sense of cohesion because it mostly throws concepts at the viewer and hopes they stick. It takes Shinsekai Yori six episodes for something to either not be either a setup or a lore dump. Even then, the first ¾ of the story is really boring and unsuspenseful (this doesn’t make it a slow burn by the way, this is just wasting the viewer’s time), mostly because it follows a constant pattern of:
>Nothing happening
>Everything happening all at once (usually just someone monologuing a boring ass lore dump)
>Nothing happening (again)
>Reminding the viewers of what has already happened previously
>Nothing happening (again)

The characters themselves aren’t even characters, they’re just pawns of the plot. The story fails to provide any reason for the viewer to care about them as individuals. Excluding Saki, the rest of the characters fulfill the sole purpose of moving the story along, only to be discarded later. Saki is the only character I ended up remembering at the end because she was the only character who couldn’t entirely be described as a pawn. Though, her only personality is that she is nice... and occasionally sad when she is involved with of the series’ lore dumps. The characters within the main group are practically indistinguishable from each other, and their similar character designs don't help at all. At first, there was one kid who was mean to one of the other characters (I think it was Satoru and Saki). However, this was simply transient and he quickly assimilated into the hive mind. Despite the characters starting out as children (who are known to develop), they don’t mature in any way whatsoever despite the characters’ motivations to explore the outside world. The main character Saki is the most disappointing of the bunch because she’s still hinted at being brave but is still same whiny sensitive brat she was at twelve years old. The writing constantly hints at her being some “great leader” but the story don’t demonstrate (show, don’t tell) this at all. When pertaining to the third arc, she’s supposed to be portrayed as a kind soul in order to bait the viewers with the treatment of the queerats but there are actually very few instances where it’s shown that she is actually kind (niceness and kindness aren’t the same thing). Overall, the characters being bland soured a lot of the forced edginess and homoerotic makeout sessions, since the series loves to add a twinge of both.

As if the world didn’t already lack any meaningful substance, (with all of the world’s substance found in a select few and all), large parts of the world are painted in a gross drab gray color. While it is better and more refreshing than all of the bright lighting other anime tends to use, adding a bit of saturation here and there won’t hurt. The only hint of color in this series are reserved for both the beginning of the series and the yuri/yaoi scenes. Additionally, the character designs are creepy looking and uncanny, which makes the characters look lifeless. For example, when the glowing robot dog is lore dumping in the fourth episode, the group of kids would all have either a rodent-like death stare or that face old people make when they suffer from dementia.

The animation itself is pretty awful because it has a noticeable dip in quality after the fourth episode. It looks like the series was swapping out art directors with how inconsistent the quality of it is, which makes it seem like this series has been made with a really small budget. At times, the characters’ lips don’t match up with their dialogue, even during moments when the characters are shouting. Additionally, the series frequently uses awkward close up shots of the characters’ bodies that mostly focus on their limbs and lips. Regarding the lip animation, it resembles the style of a Muppet when the characters are excited given how wide their mouths are. The animation also uses a lot of shitty CGI when it comes to animating trees, arrows, and boulders during the battles with the queerats.

Shinsekai Yori simply lacks a compelling narrative. Most of the story's time spent on screen is dedicated to reciting its own lore to the viewer. The intention behind this being to create connections within the story, but even the writers seem to think that the viewer might fall asleep which is why the story repeats itself a lot. The story has thematic links to the real world that are more mentally stimulating than the loredumps. When pertaining to stimulation of the eyes, the audiovisuals are quite bad which makes it difficult to engage with the setting as a viewer. Additionally, the characters are also bland, which is possibly the worst aspect of the series because the story can be considered good if the viewer feels the need to engage with it. Overall, the story has a few decent concepts, it just suffers from a rather terrible execution.

The story demands so much from the viewer only to give them so little in return.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by Mythhead (23)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Psychological Swap

by Enivlens

50 Entries · 134 Restacks

Silence

by Enivlens

50 Entries · 122 Restacks

Great Worldbuilding

by Enivlens

48 Entries · 539 Restacks

North American Anime & Manga Releases for February

Here are the North American anime & manga releases for February Week 1: February 2 - 8 Anime Releases Blade Dance of the Elementalers Complete Collection DVD Bla...read more

Feb 1, 2016 4:37 PM by trebmeg | Discuss (16 comments)

North American Anime & Manga Releases for August

Here are the North American Anime & Manga releases for August 2014 Week 1: August 5th - 11th Anime Releases Cardcaptor Sakura Vol.1 Standard Edition DVD Cardcapt...read more

Aug 5, 2014 10:43 AM by Snow | Discuss (24 comments)

	Poll: Shinsekai yori Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Yumekichi11 - Sep 28, 2012	469 replies	by Mythhead »» Feb 21, 7:44 PM
	Poll: Shinsekai yori Episode 25 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Stark700 - Mar 22, 2013	1,333 replies	by Giovalian »» Jan 15, 7:05 AM
	Episode 8 Nani?! RjtheGreat14 - May 15, 2022	5 replies	by AoButa16 »» Dec 30, 2024 5:55 AM
	Poll: Shinsekai yori Episode 4 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Stark700 - Oct 19, 2012	366 replies	by AoButa16 »» Dec 29, 2024 10:52 AM
	Poll: Shinsekai yori Episode 8 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Stark700 - Nov 16, 2012	704 replies	by curvedtree »» Dec 28, 2024 1:39 PM

In Numbers: The Best Anime of the Decade

What's the #1 anime of the 2010s? Which year was the best? What studio had the most hits? We have the answers to all these questions and more!

by Shymander

654,791 views

10 Female Anime Characters You Don't Want to Mess With

Don't get in their way.

by MissSimplice

69,338 views

Collection