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When the world is your oyster, the most dangerous thing you can do is play it safe. For what was initially presented as a great anthology of unique and ambitious stories, all I can say after finishing the 9 episodes is that I'm slightly underwhelmed. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy the series – for the most part, I liked every episode – but when a world as expansive and free as the Star Wars universe is given to some of the best anime studios, I expect a little more creativity.

Before getting into the review, let me first provide my own ranking ... of each episode (from best to least best):

Episode 9 - 8.5
Episode 5 - 8
Episode 1 - 7
Episode 8 - 6.5
Episode 7 - 5.5
Episode 3 - 5
Episode 4 - 5
Episode 6 - 4
Episode 2 - 3

I know this list is a bit controversial (especially the placement of episodes 8 and 9), but if you'll read through my full review, hopefully, you'll understand why.

Story 5/10:
As a whole, the stories were fairly tame, but that's to be expected when you only have 10-20 minutes, so it's understandable why it's the most lacking. That said, there are countless numbers of short films that make do with the same restrictions in flying colours, so I'll be judging the series by equal standards.
Never once did I feel particularly moved by a story or its message, which is unfortunate, given that most of these episodes were, in fact, story-driven. Similarly, I felt that the lesser stories overstayed their welcome while the more interesting and provoking ones ended too soon.
Additionally, I was particularly disappointed by the lack of creativity with these stories. The episodes were always set in either a classic anime-style village or an isolated space. Once was a modern city-like setting used, and still, the city-setting itself was barely a factor in the actual plot of the story. I would have loved to see the diverse array of blade-runner type cosmopolitan cities, ancient ruins or civilizations, and the beauty of nature employed. When you're given a universe with an infinite array of aliens and creatures, I would hope to see a lot more than the generic human model.
Moreover, the opportunities for stories are boundless, and yet the ones actually used were fairly vanilla. Might as well call it 'every way to rebel against the empire - that anime'. Form a rebellion alliance? Of course! Become a wandering vigilante? Who wouldn't? Become a Jedi? Sounds familiar. Kill your sister to save her from killing herself? Yeah! Wait, what? Start a band? Hold on a second. Raise robot Astroboy? .......
As it becomes clear very early on, the writers of these episodes were all a little afraid of going outside the box. Why not try a bounty-hunter storyline? Or an interplanetary war? Or even an episode exploring the powers of the sith from the villain perspective? Instead, what it seems the studios instead chose relied on generic hero's journey arcs or anime-inspired tropes (why did the band trope have to bleed its way into Star Wars?).
In the end, I don't come to short stories expecting to experience amazing fleshed out character arcs and writing. But what I hope for at the very least is to see something new, something exciting, something that experiments with the unknown; instead, what I got was the vanilla ice cream of writing. Fine by all means, but not something you look forward to.

Art 8/10:
What else is there to expect from the top anime studios other than top tier animation? I was, and still am, in absolute awe at the sheer diversity of the art styles and cleanliness in the motion. There were episodes where the animation felt a lot more static, but at the same time, there were episodes where I was blown away by the setpieces. In all honesty, there's not much for me to add other than my thanks to all the hardworking animators who produced such beautiful animations.

Sound 7/10:
I enjoyed hearing the various interpretations of the music for the Star Wars universe. Some took the more samurai-ronin-esk approach, while others adopted the grand brass orchestral style of John Williams. In both, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Character 6/10:
Similarly to my argument in regards to the story, given the strict time limits of a short film, I didn't go in expecting any great character development. And, I was somewhat justified in my approach. No characters stood out with particularly unique qualities or great growth (with the exception of episodes 9 and 5). They weren't necessarily bland, but they also weren't necessarily exciting. No dialogue exchange seemed particularly profound – again, a missed opportunity, given the philosophical nature of the Jedi. Additionally, there were just some incomprehensible facepalm-like moments with character decision-making that are plain frustrating to a viewer. There are better ways to advance a plot than through stupid characters.

Enjoyment 6/10:
While there were a few moments of excitement, for the most part, this was a fairly passive watch. There are some episodes I would gladly rewatch, others I'd prefer to forget. Either way, I'd recommend watching the entire series. You never know what you might enjoy.

Overall 6/10

***THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS***

So Imma just go ahead and say a couple things right of the bat.
1. This is show has abhorrent pacing
2. The storyline is a mess and the plot contrivances are never-ending
3. The characters are incredibly inconsistent and incoherent

Holy shit. What can you say but god damn. Originally, I thought this anime was a 4 if not lower. Before episode 9, it was a show with an interesting concept, no doubt, but really poor execution. Abhorrent pacing, bland or annoying characters, a very basic story, and really nothing special. So bland and mind-numbing that it took me until episode 9, by the grace ... of a comment from the user ‘witches delight’, with the question: ‘ok, but who is Charlotte?’ for me to realise that the main character by the name of Tomori isn't even Charlotte. Amazing.
But then episode 9 happened. And all I can say is that it is absolutely the chef’s choice of a twist. Scrumptious. Delicious.
I think I spent that entire episode after the twist just smiling like an idiot.
I never understood why people enjoy watching movies like ‘the room’. I now understand.
This is my ‘the room’ and I love it.
Funniest show I’ve watched since Prison School.

Some additional unpopular opinions:
- I liked the second half of the anime a million times better than the first half
- I was kind of happy when Ayumi died (no I am not evil)
- Charlotte may very well be my new favourite anime

A couple random thoughts when watching the second half:
- This is the villain backstory for all-for-one
- I appreciate how this is the one anime that is actually realistic about these grandiose plans that the main characters make that are always so stupid. Glad it finally failed. Although rather spectacularly.
- That grey-haired girl who turned out not to be Charlotte said ‘I’ll be waiting for you….[after you have everyone’s super powers]’ so basically she wants to screw superman.
- My new favourite line, “It’s time for me to make like a dead person and peace out”'

If only the entire anime had just taken the premise of the second half of the show and put in some better writing, Charlotte may have actually been remembered as a truly great show. Instead, it is now my masterpiece.

In all seriousness, this show is terrible, but fun to watch.

Story 2/10
Art 6/10
Sound 5/10
Character 3/10
Enjoyment 8/10
Overall 3/10

I would refer to this show as 'sex jokes: the anime', but even that title would be too offensive to the idea of a joke. Quantity should never supersede quality. Unfortunately, it appears this show's writers missed the memo. I'll grant that, as a non-Japanese speaker, it seems at the very least that some 'good' jokes that can't be translated went over my head, but at this point, it may not have made a difference.

Story 4/10:
The basic storyline is about as cut-and-dried as any other. Stop me if you've heard this one before. A slice of life high school anime about a male protagonist - ... the only person with common sense of course - surrounded by a harem of girls (a tsundere, an obnoxiously nice girl, a nerd, an annoyingly high pitched little sister) who are forced together by some sudden and random event but quickly become close friends over the course of the school year. Basically, the vanilla ice cream of anime.
Of course, however, there is the twist! That being that every five seconds, a character makes some unnecessary and unprovoked sex joke.
At first, the jokes are cute. They aren't necessarily belly-achers, but they're relatively amusing. Mostly it's nose exhales, but every now and then you may even let out an under-the-breath chuckle. By episode 2, you're just asking for it all to end.
Here's a little taste of what the jokes may sound like (btw I literally just clicked a random episode and went to a random timestamp because that's how often and pattern-like the jokes are):
*Someone spills tea on other girl's phone
Girl: Oh no... it's okay. This phone is waterproof. That's why it stays fine even if you put it 'inside'.

......

So, like me, you may be wondering: where is the joke? Indeed, 'putting it inside' is certainly a sexual innuendo. Congratulations, the show mentioned something sexual. But... where is the punchline? Where is the clever writing? That's the thing. It doesn't exist. Almost every joke is simply a throwaway line about some sex-related thing.

Art 6/10:
The animators tried their best to build off of what little material they were given. There was nothing particularly outstanding, but the art certainly complimented the jokes as best they could.

Sound 6/10:
Again, nothing particularly good or bad. It felt fitting for the context of the show.

Character 3/10:
The two best characters of the show, Tsuda and Suzu, were the only two not constantly making sex jokes. Who would have guessed. Even then, every character could pretty much be boiled down to one or two personality/physical traits that defined their character throughout the entirety of the run time. Aria, that one girl who constantly talks about masturbation. Suzu, the girl that is very short and very smart. Hata, the girl who is a perv that sells questionable photos of others and inexplicably misrepresents others in the school newspaper. Mitsuba, that judo girl. The predatory female teacher. The list goes on.
Ironically, the best parts of the show came when characters weren't attempting unfunny sex jokes but actually just earnestly and genuinely interacting with each other. Unfortunately, these interactions are far too sparse and infrequent to invoke any emotional impact.

Enjoyment 3/10:
I tallied the number of times I laughed during the show. Four times. That also ended after episode 4.

Overall 4/10:
If you don't understand Japanese, don't even bother. Even if you do, I still wouldn't get my hopes up. This is a show that thinks itself clever but ultimately boils down to the eastern equivalent of 'that's what she said' jokes. Funny. Until it's repeated about 100 times.

Let me preface this review by saying that this isn't meant to slander the show or prevent anyone from watching it, contrary to what my score says. In fact, I think you should weigh what I say in this review equally with what someone who rates this show as one of the best they've ever seen says. However, if you end up having the same initial experience as I did with the show, don't hold out for a large payoff in the end. That wishful thinking is what led me to spend 8 hours of my life watching something that, in the end, I barely ... enjoyed at all. So, if you find yourself agonizing over the first couple episodes as I did, just stop there, you likely won't enjoy any more of it. With that said, let's get into the review:

*Non-spoiler review*

Story 2/10:
Before I get into the bad, let's start with the good. Shinsekai Yori has some beautiful moments in it that are seriously well done and genuinely emotionally moving. Along with that, the story constantly hints at complex themes and narratives. Unfortunately, the beautiful moments make up less than 1% of the show's runtime, and the complex themes and narratives are never actually explored, just hinted at. It should be noted the story does actually finally answer one of the overarching themes by the last episode, however, it's a bit of a stretch. Basically, the whole show, the main characters keep rejecting this nuanced question that the antagonist brings up (the main characters essentially just keep saying "no, that's wrong" without giving it any more thought). But in the final episode, some evidence comes up that completely changes their mind. I have a couple of issues with this. Firstly, it's completely inorganic. This complex question is just answered with a simple "oh I guess we were wrong", rather than actually answering it with any sort of depth. Secondly, the author's solution to the problem didn't even answer the real question. For those who have watched the anime and are wondering what I'm talking about *spoiler-mark (move to the next paragraph if you don't want to see spoilers)*. The complex theme I'm referring to is the question of whether it is morally right to subject semi-intelligent beings to servitude, and if it is not just right, but if it was squealer's moral obligation to his people to revolt against his queen and humans to free his people. Essentially the anime answers this by saying, "oh actually queerats are humans, and it's not ok to make humans slaves". The problem is the question regards any form of intelligent life, not just subject to humans.
Moving on, the main problems I had with the story were its pacing issues, plot contrivances, unnecessary stories, and lack of crucial pieces of information. Firstly, the anime is abhorrently paced. At the beginning of the anime, over five minutes of an episode is spent on watching a game where rocks clash into each other. The nature of telekinetic power makes it so that there's not even people making flashy moves, just a bunch of kids scrunching up their faces at each other. On the other hand, the anime will completely flash by extremely tense moments. In one scene, the characters were in a chase. This could have been used as an extremely gratifying action sequence, with smart camera angles, powerful music, and fluid animation, that really puts the viewer into the scene. Rather than that, there is a blackout, and the episode comes back with the characters having completely escaped the earlier scene with no explanation whatsoever. Secondly, the plot contrivances in this anime are absolutely rampant. The reasoning for certain character's deaths, the entire functioning of the society, even the main premise in itself, all has major plotholes that, if any character in the anime just took one second to think out would end up solving every problem of this show. The part about unnecessary stories kind of ties in with the poor pacing of the show, so I'll leave it as something that wastes your time as a viewer and isn't relevant to the overarching story. Finally, the show leaves out crucial pieces of information that would have made this show much less painful to watch. Saying that the show is a 'mystery' show is not an excuse for the lack of exposition or background information, which would have made leaps and bounds in making the setting more believable. Rather, the show holds all this back until the final episodes, where it throws everything onto you as if to force some sherlock holmes 'aha' moment. Unfortunately, this fails because sherlock holmes moments only work when there has been a groundwork of valid hints that could lead one to a satisfactory conclusion, which this shows fails to do. As a result, the vomit of information at the end just becomes yet another convenient contrivance to advance the plot.

Art 4/10:
The style is incredibly inconsistent. Sometimes there are beautiful setpieces, other times the animation was so static I felt like I was watching a keyword presentation. The character designs are incredibly uninspired, although I wasn't expecting much from A-1. It should be noted that the art style gets really interesting when exploring the situation revolving around Shun in mid-season. Unfortunately, this doesn't carry on.

Sound 6/10:
Nothing much to be said. It's fitting for the setting that's presented, but nothing ever leaps out as groundbreaking. There are also some moments were I found the music a little jarring, but that's it.

Character 3/10:
The main character Saki suffers from Sakura-syndrome. She is bland, acts incoherently, and doesn't have much to add to any situation. That being said, I didn't hate her, nor did I particularly dislike any of the other main cast members. To be honest, the best characters of this series were either removed too early or were semi-background characters (Kiroumaru and Squealer. Although Squealer was a real pain in the ass at the beginning) who, if given more screentime, would easily have taken the show.

Enjoyment 2/10:
I had to force myself to finish this show.

Overall 2/10