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Apr 24, 2022 3:08 PM
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Jul 2019
432
Ppl both simultaneously overwank and overhate this anime at the same time, lol

Apr 30, 2022 3:32 PM
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Jan 2020
2956
Wow, what a dick move on Saki's part. For all her selfishness of wanting to save Satoru she was real fucking quick to throw Kiroumaru away. That is legitimately disappointing to me. Every other plan that involved sacrificing someone else, a human, she rejected adamantly. What happened to the girl who was lifting the Queerat out of the river?

Then, she had the audacity to ask Squealer why he would rebel, and his reason echoed Kiroumaru's. It's nearly laughable that she'd get upset about it too, considering she literally just sacrificed a Queerat for the sake of Humanity. She embodies their reasoning and fear. Somehow she went from a compassionate character to a selfish one by the end of this series. Despite all her bravado she seems to be nestled right into the very society she swore to rebel against.

On the other hand; I can't bother to sympathize with Squealer, he pretty much got what he deserved. Even if his actions were justified, at the end of the day he didn't bother to try and make amends with the next generation of humans. He treated Saki and her friends like they were responsible for their ancestor's actions. If he didn't present himself as an ally to Saki and her friends, I would probably feel more bad about his situation. But it feels more like he's betraying people who were open to treating him differently because of his own prejudices.

I mean, both sides were wrong. They could've benefited from some more open communication. Saki seemed like she could've been that channel, but here we are, at the end, kind of just going through the motions and not changing much of anything about the system. It almost seems like Saki even goes so far as to give up there at the end, writing a letter and leaving it in the hands of someone else in the distant future.

As a whole the series was quite good, but a lot of this last episode made me dislike Saki. Which, in a way, is impressive as she was the only character I cared about this entire time.
"...Is your mother worried? Would you like us to assign someone to worry your mother?"
May 1, 2022 10:33 PM
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May 2022
36
CzeroC said:
After 3rd watch, I'd have to say that while Squealer's revolt was more or less understandable given what his "species" had gone through, in the end, it's just men repeating the same mistakes again.

... ...

That's not to defend the Cantus user's side either, what they did to pre-Queerat race was equally fucked as human beings but this is just a fantasy story so I guess it's pretty interesting to see a story going this far to expose the potentially most negative side of human and such, on top of sending a message that "conflict" will always be there to accompany living things no matter how hard you try to deflect it.



For me, this was part of the psychological horror of the story, the twist at the end when Saki (and only she alone was wise enough or compassionate enough) realises the monstrousness of her own society, a "we have met the enemy, and he is us" moment.

But I would like to think that the ending is hopeful - saki / ε…ˆ means "future" in Japanese after all (mirai / ζœͺζ₯ too, but saki is the native word, mirai is the Sino-Japanese loan), and the final scene is of her, pregnant, writing to future humans, "from the new world" (literally the last spoken line, and maybe a reference to Aldous Huxley's horrific Brave New World). I think she tries to document the horrors of her own society so that future generations will learn from it.

I also think, however, that Kishi (the author) is actually cynical too - this is his vision of a post-apocalyptic future Japan after all and it is a horrific one - so I don't think he has faith in human nature. But, what else can we do other than try, right? And so we struggle on, doing our best, making difficult choices, etc.
Jun 15, 2022 3:24 PM
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Aug 2019
74
Such a great ending. Felt everything closed so nicely. Still my head has been wandering constantly, if Tomiko was capable of altering her own telomeres (part of her DNA) to make herself unable to die from old, couldn't she just alter also her own DNA to unable her death feedback?

At the end of the day she's capable of altering her DNA, so she could have done something like that to instantly kill fiends without repercussion. Or that's what I thought it could be a possible ressolution of the series, while also making Tomiko capable of dealing with future fiends. Or I skipped smth or maybe I'm too smart for the series, that's why I'm giving a 8,5/10 ---> 9 in MAL
Jun 26, 2022 7:05 AM
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Aug 2012
926
whatr a deep serious serious I've finished, yet I was left with so much open things to think over...thank you!
Jul 2, 2022 4:25 PM
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Dec 2020
41
I've been struggling through 17 episodes, and everything goes real in ep 18. After watch it until ep 25, i understand why this show is praised. Sadly, i think there are still a lots of things that remain unexplained. There are also some unnecessary things that make lot of peoples out there surrender and dropped this show too early.
Jul 3, 2022 10:03 PM
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Mar 2021
14
So… if Shun’s consciousness lives eternally in Saki’s heart, does this mean he’s third-wheeling the whole entire time!!
Jul 12, 2022 1:17 AM
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May 2021
2769
Wow this final arc was the best one of this series and I see why this has so high ratings. The unpredictability from the start to end. and dam didn't expected those rats to be former humans with no power. I give this *10/10* , glad to see Saki and Satoru ended up
Sep 4, 2022 11:36 AM
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Apr 2022
1
Not found any interesting, but i think someone might find
Nov 4, 2022 5:57 AM
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Aug 2018
50
this anime just overated i give it 6 that's the max it deserves
Nov 7, 2022 6:39 PM

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Jan 2011
9949
i wonder, are they still killing their kids up to age 17 if they fail at Sage academy? i assume not since Saki is in charge now an also due to some dialogue hinting at changes in the society as well as the tainted cats no longer being kept hidden, man they really forgot about poor Reiko

when i looked at my list i wondered, why i didnt gave SSY a 10? its on par with my other favs like Now and Then, Here and There or maybe Tsumiki no Ie but after a rewatch i see that it does annoy how poorly amimated some episodes were, partycularly ones like 6, 8 an a few others an then there was the psychobuster plotline which i never liked, still this remains as one of the most memorable anime ive seen 9/10

i know this wont happen but id be up for a full story about the fall of the ancient civilization, episode 4 was not enough for me
silversaintNov 7, 2022 6:49 PM
Nov 7, 2022 11:04 PM
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Jul 2018
562339
silversaint said:
i wonder, are they still killing their kids up to age 17 if they fail at Sage academy? i assume not since Saki is in charge now an also due to some dialogue hinting at changes in the society as well as the tainted cats no longer being kept hidden, man they really forgot about poor Reiko

when i looked at my list i wondered, why i didnt gave SSY a 10? its on par with my other favs like Now and Then, Here and There or maybe Tsumiki no Ie but after a rewatch i see that it does annoy how poorly amimated some episodes were, partycularly ones like 6, 8 an a few others an then there was the psychobuster plotline which i never liked, still this remains as one of the most memorable anime ive seen 9/10

i know this wont happen but id be up for a full story about the fall of the ancient civilization, episode 4 was not enough for me


>i know this wont happen but id be up for a full story about the fall of the ancient civilization

It actually did happen, from what I remember it is discontinued and I don't know it will ever be finished but look up Shin Sekai Zero-Nen, "The New World: Year Zero"
Dec 19, 2022 12:42 AM
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Mar 2013
22
Did they seriously change the gender of the fiend at the very end of the series lmao...

Final episode was the best episode of this series. It was a good twist with tje rat people actually being humans
Feb 6, 2023 3:25 AM

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Feb 2013
606
Pacing at times was poor but great overall
8/10
Feb 22, 2023 2:55 AM

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Aug 2014
4010
From The New World (Shin Sekai Yori) might be still the best horror anime to this day that im writing this comment.

from the spooky town, spooky mystery, spooky background music, and that final arc. Maybe the only good horror anime up to date.

Only negative is that I just didnt see any point to introduce a Karma Demon. The anime should have just focus on the Ogre and not the Karma Demon. And I wasnt a big fan of the final 3 episodes of they going across the country and being in caves.

Another thing that bothered me is in the second arc: so the government saw that some of the Rats were building factories with weapons from the past from information they gathered.....AND THE GOVERNMENT DIDNT FIND THIS SUSPICIOUS!!!!???????

But a great anime. A true slow-burner. But never boring or dull, and to that I credit the spookiness of all.
oooo3333Mar 1, 2023 2:00 AM
Mar 25, 2023 9:03 PM
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Apr 2022
34
BlufaceBaby said:
yea this show is a 2 pack of ass
I agree it was a complete mess. Started off strong - a group of innocent and curious kids slowly discovering the dark secrets of their society, with some really cool anecdotes introducing the history of PL, karma demons etc. I thought it would be a really stimulating psychological / mystery anime but it became a poorly written battle shounen with so much focus on those ugly ass, cruddy designed queerats. New themes every episode with more and more potholes, inconsistent animation / design.
_Arc4n1_ said:
Ppl both simultaneously overwank and overhate this anime at the same time, lol
Really disappointing as the show had so much potential.
Apr 8, 2023 8:28 PM
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Dec 2020
366
Shinsekai Yori is like a one-shot, experiments with quite a lot of themes but excels in just few.
It has a problem with pacing but I think the deeper problem lies within it's framework, strictly speaking about the story it's amazing but the way it's presented is at times bad.

But on the good side of it, I think Saki is a great protagonist and all the characters are distinct and well-defined. Squealer is a fucking phenomenal antagonist(Yes, he did nothing wrong). On a purely psychological/philosophical aspect, Shinsekai Yori is quite good.

I can rant about how it does things wrongs, but I'll probably praise this series for it's takes on different things. One such thing on the top of my head is the "Psychobuster" which I thought would be deus ex machina for Shinsekai, but it wasn't, for which I was quite relieved instead it developed Saki's character.
All in all a great series. 8/10 for me
Apr 14, 2023 3:25 AM
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Apr 2022
75
Show Rate Meter Guide  - (5 Great _ 4 Good _ 3 Fine _ 2 Not Good _ 1 Bad).(dismal are sometimes needed)
[Story] - 5 
[Art/Animation] - 4
[Sound/Music] - 4
[M-Character] - 5
[S-Character] - 4
[Enjoyment] - 5
[Overall] - 5
Wow I cant believe how much this show impacted me, This is one to remember for the age's. I felt uneasy a few times with some of the eps and depress with others. The overall story was a very sad one, the society the people build for themselves with power and other's with out powers is just pure sick. I was about to past on this anime because of the art style of the show, the art style looks cute. But it a lot gore and violence with a few sexual moments with the cast growing up through the show. This is going to be, One of the top anime shows I have seen this year!!! just WOW. This anime is one that I will never forget about after seeing it for the first time ever.                
CcCharlesApr 22, 2023 2:38 AM
Apr 14, 2023 6:52 AM

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Feb 2014
1254
Okay, wow. I feel sad about Kiroumaru's — as well as Maria and Mamoru's child's death. Then they have to drop that bomb about the queerats. 😭 This final episode really had me feeling sorry for Squealer too.
Apr 24, 2023 12:00 PM
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Apr 2023
20
One shot in one day, change my vision of the manga... Beatifull, strong, sad and hard (at the beginning and in the end).
Apr 28, 2023 2:35 PM

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Mar 2013
411
So the whole plotwist was something obvious to anyone since episode 1 when Saki saved the rat ? still liked how deep it ended.
Jul 9, 2023 5:56 AM

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Jul 2015
9999
Rip Kiroumaru, truly one of the most badass characters. Honestly bit stupid to have allowed Squealer to carry out his revolt despite years ago knowing he's suspicious but still you can't truly hate him as he was just standing up for his 'kind'. Aside from that quite the fascinating anime with its unique plot on this dystopian dark world of psychokinesis people and mutants.

Nov 13, 2023 1:48 AM
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May 2021
3
A bit weird, overall. The rythm was somehow irregular, and maybe my mind was not ready for this but maybe I expected more.
Dec 27, 2023 11:59 PM

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Mar 2018
128
Kiroumaru died a noble death, he was him.
hello hello
Mar 2, 2024 8:13 AM
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Jan 2021
180
A great series! Finally, Saki and Satoru ended up together, but I expected a bit more romantic build-up between them. Even up to the final episode, it seems she still loves Shun more than Satoru. Anyway, at least Saki and Satoru are a happy couple now. Also, just as I thought, Monster Rats are mutated humans after all.

My personal rating: 8.5/10
Sep 3, 2024 10:05 PM
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Feb 2014
26
The Shinsekai yori anime has finished and it ended very well.
I can only cry in my heart, because this anime is really very good. This anime teaches us that justice, love, compassion must really exist in humans, otherwise we will become the terrible devils in this anime. This anime teaches that humans have unlimited potential and must be directed well otherwise they will become terrible monsters. There are many things that can be learned from this anime, because anime tells many things that are very deep and meaningful. Hopefully Japan will continue to make anime or adaptations like this in the future.
Sep 23, 2024 3:55 AM
Level 6 esper

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May 2021
1121
One of the best storytelling ever.
10/10
“Do what feels right in your heart. You will be criticized either way.” (Eleanor Roosevelt)
Nov 9, 2024 6:16 AM
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Apr 2023
12
Oh man. That was some amazing storytelling.
Even though I vaguely knew where this story might go eventually since episode 3/4 and the encounter with the false minoshiro, it was still rewarding to see all the pieces of the puzzle come together.

You could write a lot about different characters from the story but it's apparent they are written very well - like Squeeler. You can't fully either agree or disagree with his point of view because of the underlying nature of both humans and queerats.

Anyway - if you have doubts about this anime, you will be confused very much in the first 2 episodes and most of the 3rd. But after watching the whole show I am eager to watch it again right away just to understand all the hints and pieces that are thrown here and there.

For anyone wondering: in short, it's a story of what lead to this world being the way it is now.

Oh, one more thing. The music is AMAZING and adds so much to the atmopsphere!
Nov 25, 2024 12:08 AM

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Dec 2023
11
I don't get it. I mean, I do; humans have always been/will always be hostile towards and feel threatened by an "other", but god what a slog to get through. For risking the world to save Satoru and not face any more bloodshed, Saki sure was quick to let Kiroumaru get annihilated to prove a theory.

She also gets to live a pretty charmed life after having squashed, essentially, a civil rights movement. I'm not even of the mind that fiction always has to punish the "villain" (whatever form they may take), but... Man. This absolutely wasn't helped by Saki being one of the least compelling protagonists I'd ever bore witness to by that point either.

And you know what else grinds my gears? Frequent, long exposition dumps delivered by a character that is... simply sitting... in a room... doing nothing... but talking... forever. Fuck me, what an absolute misuse of an audiovisual medium. Ugh.

And Satoru saying towards the end, "ArE tHEy eVen ReALlY HuMan AnYMOre??" Like, yeah, I thought that was the entire point? So what fucking message am I even meant to take away? "If they don't have any identifiable physical traits then treat them like dirt. Oh, until you realize that they're intelligent. Then they're cool. Still treat them like lesser though, on account of the aforementioned differing physical traits. Oh, wait, turns out they're just like us. Too bad we killed them all. I guess it's on us to tell their story." Yeah, history is written by the victors, but they don't often speak glowingly of their opponents in text books now do they? This show's cheeks.
Dec 17, 2024 10:04 AM
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Sep 2024
1
Workers From the New World, Unite: A Queerat Communist Revolution

"The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles." No other show I've seen embodies this line quite so well as Shinsekai Yori. Although many posters readily identify the revolutionary aspects of the show in the queerat storyline, few read specifically anti-capitalist themes into it. But I think that understanding the queerat revolution as a communist revolution is the most coherent way to understand how the series' A Plot (related to Saki's coming of age) and B Plot (related to queerat political development) fit together.

I won't spend much time discussing the specifics of Squealer's revolution. That topic has already been repeatedly discussed. Suffice it to say, Squealer did nothing wrong. That said, although Squealer's revolution would make sense against any form of systemic oppression, I think it's worth elaborating why an anti-capitalist reading is especially fruitful and helps unite the two storylines.

Cantus is capital and the humans who wield it are the capitalist elite. Indeed, this epoch "has simplified class antagonisms. Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other"--those with PK, and those without. Cantus is used to kill thousands of queerats on a whim. When Squealer describes life in one queerat tribe conquered by another, he in fact describes queerat life under capitalism: "We would work as slaves until we die. We would be treated like scum while we live, and our corpses would be left in the hills to fertilize the earth."

As if the human's immediate exploitation of the queerats wasn't enough, the holy barrier redirects leaked Cantus outside of the community. In other words, suffering that is the byproduct of capitalism--its various unintentional, negative externalities--is exported and forced upon the queerats, so that the humans don't have to deal with it. Like global warming, although leaked Cantus "won't ravage the world overnight," it might over time, but as long as humans aren't directly or immediately affected by it, they don't care. Indeed, this is what allows them to maintain their idyllic life. It is only if the effects of leaked Cantus amass in the community, i.e. if humans are forced to see the consequences of their actions, that something might change; the holy barriers (and propaganda) prevent that from happening.

This capitalism is a global force; it knows no boundaries or allegiances to any but itself. When the queerats go to war with one another, they must first apply to do so with their capitalist overlords, who are not aligned with any particular state or faction, only their own interests. More than that, global capitalism is concerned only with reproducing its own structure, not in protecting the power of any specific family or individual. We can see this in the operation of the villages themselves. Children are killed or protected solely based on whether they meet the criteria necessary to maintain the system, regardless of family relations. So, on the one hand, although Saki's father is town mayor and her mother head librarian, they cannot use their positions of power or influence to prevent the killing of Saki's sister. On the other, Saki is identified as the future head of the Ethics Committee specifically because her personality is so stable--she remains firmly within the grips of capitalist ideology no matter how traumatic the events around her. We find in Saki's Cantus specialization (fixing a broken vase), then, the role she will play in perpetuating capitalist power. Like Tomiko, she is practicing a method that will preserve her structure for hundreds of years. She also takes a stable form that is susceptible to breakage (capitalism via internal rupture) and reconstructs it over and over again.

To be clear, "the villages are twisted" as well. Its citizens are regularly subjected to hypnosis, propaganda, and memory manipulation, speak nothing of the children regularly killed and the countless queerats enslaved or crushed like insects. But this only highlights the necessity of Squealer's revolution. Humans would rather preserve this cruel system than treat the queerats as equals. Especially revealing is that human children aren't allowed to interact with queerats, because it's unknown how queerats will react to a human without Cantus. In other words, (PK) humans have never interacted with someone they did not have power over, and can only imagine a violent resolution to such an encounter--better to kill queerats indiscriminately than risk anything to find out whether peace is possible.

In response, one might argue that the PK humans are merely doing what is necessary for the species to survive (like the blowdogs). This would be mistaken. First, nothing suggests that PK humans are a different species from non-PK humans; transforming non-PK humans into queerats merely ensured that power survived, not the human species. Nor can it really be about individual survival, since as discussed above, the village system doesn't care about that either. Finally, even if all the horrors of the village were necessary to keep PK under control, still none of that would necessitate how humans mistreat the queerats. (The show doesn't address whether the ancient scientists could have removed PK from the human genome entirely, but even if they could, this last reason suggests PK humans wouldn't have accepted such a solution anyway.)

For all these reasons, when Satoru tells a captured revolutionary that Squealer "doesn't value the lives of you soldiers at all," his words ring hollow. No one values the lives of queerats less than humans. In such a world, "the lives of individuals are meaningless before the greater cause--the liberation of our entire species from your tyranny." Indeed, the final battle with the Messiah reveals the fundamental ethical position of the queerats and humans: Despite the aggression inhibition, Saki is happy to sacrifice a queerat (instead of Satoru) to kill another human, if that other human threatens the system. Conversely, the Messiah cannot forgive herself even the accident of killing another queerat, even if that queerat is a class traitor, and even if she was tricked into doing so.

In the end, capitalism wins. Although Saki hopes that the society her child will grow up in will be much better, there's nothing to indicate that will be the case. Humans have learned nothing: they still breed queerats (oppress others), and they still breed tainted cats (oppress themselves). The final words of the show read: "The power of imagination is what changes everything." Those words aren't meant for Saki--of all the characters in the show, she seems the least capable of imagining something new. They're meant for Squealer, even Kiroumaru, and ultimately for us.

Other random thoughts:

  • It's no coincidence that the queerat revolution happens after they finally establish factories (i.e., industrialize).
  • Emotional excess among humans is prohibited unless it is channelled into (non-reproductive) sexual desire.
  • Squealer looks ugly because the story is told from the perspective of the humans. This is also the reason the class traitor Kiroumaru looks so noble.
  • Capitalism is not a meritocracy. Whether a human thrives depends entirely on whether they are born with PK. Even if they are, they may still be killed if they do not meet the village's cookie-cutter social requirements. Saki is chosen to lead the Ethics Committee not because of any particular skill or talent (much less cultivated skill or talent), but simply because of her strong predisposition to support the status quo.
  • The villages must kill non-PK human children because the aggression inhibition kills by turning the psychic mind against itself. Thus, non-PK humans could potentially kill PK humans without killing themselves. What power really fears is the loss of power.
  • The Messiah's face tattoos are reminiscent of the face tattoos of the revolutionary in the opening of Episode 3. Despite Squealer's pessimism, maybe this means there's hope for another revolution in the future.

TL;DR: To better understand Shinsekai Yori, watch the Manifestoon.
TheROFLChickenDec 17, 2024 10:11 AM
Dec 17, 2024 4:15 PM
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Jul 2021
157
underrated a bit imo. probably because of sao which split the resources the team had hence the quality in some episodes. probably deserves its mal score. the story does make you think and excels at what it does right especially in the latter episodes.
Dec 23, 2024 9:51 PM

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Oct 2023
551
Reply to _Arc4n1_
Ppl both simultaneously overwank and overhate this anime at the same time, lol
I thought it was a bit on the mediocre side.
Jan 11, 5:45 AM
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Dec 2013
5941
Welp, finally finished Shinsekai Yori after 9 years and 11 months of watching it.
Jan 15, 7:05 AM
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Jan 2021
1
It is a work that brings forth profound ethical reflections about the society in which we live. Furthermore, depending on the viewer's perspective, it reveals allegories of the relationship between creator gods and their frail creations, with the surprising twist that these creations possess intelligence equal to their creators—and that these gods can be challenged. It is a piece that has left me deeply impressed and thoroughly satisfied.
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