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Were you looking for another hilarious romcom about kids in school? Well, then you should leave. From the cover/poster picture, that's what this series had me thinking at first. But boy was I wrong, what I got was a dark, clever, and very suspensful anime. Towards the end of this series, the episodes started to feel like they were only 2 minutes long. I was wanting to give this a 9 out of 10 for a while, but I couldn't bring myself to it. Nothing was at all bad about Shin Sekai Yori.

Story:
Definitely the high point of the series. With most series nowadays, the story ... is pretty predictable, but with this one, I had absolutely no idea what was coming during several events, even when I tried to make an inference, most of the time, I was wrong. It was both original and intriguing. I was sucked into the story and kept wanting more. I swear that not a single line of dialogue was wasted, it felt like every line was related to something that would happen in the future. There were a few moments that I thought were a little... strange though. You'll know what I'm talking about if you've seen/are gonna watch this series.

Art/Animation:
There was just something about the art style that was different, I can't quite say what it is, maybe the characters? I'm not sure, it was quite unique though. One thing about the art that really got me was the backgrounds and settings. There was a noticeable amount of detail put into the backgrounds. I also really love the designs of the different creatures that were in the series. Animation wise, holy crap it was awesome! Words cannot describe it. The more "actiony" scenes were stunning to say the least. The animation during the ED never got old. I never felt the need to skip it.

Sound:
The OST was pretty amazing. Music wasn't always present, but when the time was right, adding the music in definitely made the scene have a much bigger impact. There were a few tracks that stood out more than the rest though, one particular one that stood out to me was when they first show the main characters of the series. There wasn't an OP, but that wasn't a problem. The ED however had a beautiful song with it. Again, I never wanted to skip it.

Characters:
At first, you could probably say that the characters were the stereotypical anime character cast. Shun: Cool headed leader. Satoru: Reckless, troublemaker. Maria: kind, main character's go-to friend. Mamoru: Whiny, scared kid. But soon enough, they all (well, most of them) develop into something else. I don't feel that the characters were static, especially not the main character: Saki. In most series, the main character usually isn't the favorite because of some flaws that show, but it wasn't the case for me in this series. As Saki developed, I liked her character more rather than less. Having the character development really shows how living in a community like that would affect them. I didn't have any complaints about the supporting cast either, they did their job as supporting characters.

By the end of the series, I felt like standing up and clapping. Again, I cannot give this series anything less than a 10/10. I would recommend this series to anyone who doesn't absolutely hate anime without a second thought. I suggest that you guys give Shin Sekai Yori a shot too.

"Love Live! School Idol Project", I have never fully watched any idol series before, so this one was my first, and I ended up enjoying it a lot. I've tried to watch IdolM@ster when it first aired, but I just couldn't get into it. I watched Love Live after it was finished airing. I honestly don't know why I decided to watch Love Live, but I'm so glad I did.

Story
There was a clear story, which was good. School is gonna get shut down if they don't get enough students, Honoka (main character) decides to become school idols to stop the school from closing. The story ... was simple, and I didn't have any problems with the pacing. Throughout the show, they include showing what the characters need to endure to become idols which include stamina, vocal, and dance training. I thought that this was a nice toutch to include and helped with character development quite well

Art/Animation
I liked the overall art style, which fit the mood of this series, it was bright and colorful. But the one thing that I didn't like was the CG's. Luckily, they were only used during the insert songs and in the opening. They didn't use CG's for the whole song either, it switched between several times, sometimes, the CG wasn't too noticeable, which is why I didn't mind it too much. The animation looked smooth and was very well executed. No complaints about animation. I loved the choreography during the songs, sometimes, I had to rewatch one of the performances twice. Once to focus on the song, and another to look at the choreography.

Sound/Music
Being an idol anime, I guess I kinda expected good music. I am glad to say that I was not disappointed. All of the songs were catchy, memorable and fit the situation very well. Even the background music stood out to me (in a good way). It always fit with the events that happened and set the tone of whats gonna happen. The opening song was amazing, I never skipped it, not a single time. The ending song was the same, never wanted to skip it.

Characters
Each character had a very different personality and were all likeable in their own way. There weren't any characters that I hated. I found that I could summarize the personalities of the characters in just a few words, which isn't necessarily bad. The characters had a very human like mindset in my opinion, which enhanced the drama scenes in the show.

Conclusion
I really liked this anime and am glad that I gave it a go. I have never fully watched an idol anime before this one. When I was watching, I was completely immersed in the show. I never felt bored or wanted to skip over a scene during the show. The music was amazing, I cannot stress that enough. If you haven't watched this, I highly recommend that you give it a shot.