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“Shinsekai yori” also known as ”From the New World” is dark story set in a utopia, or maybe depending on what person you are, a dystopia. Many dark and horrible secrets are kept from the children in an attempt to integrate them into to the utopic world that they are born in. I have only seen two episodes so this review is based on those two episodes.

If I am not mistaken the story is narrated by the future main character, who the watcher through the anime very smoothly and well. The first two episodes the anime manages to be lighthearted and at first glance ... it might look like a “slice of life”, but there are some clear signs that the peace won’t last. These signs and symbolic stories, that can be related to propaganda, that appear are very smartly placed and through this achievement, the mood that the created is something on par with many other great animes. A flaw could be that telling the story of a dystopia through 12 year old kids probably isn’t the most fitting and realistic thing to do.

As for the art, I can’t give the same praise as for the story. Yes, it is good, but it isn’t the best. The only thing that I find good is the parts when the stories are being told and I do find the disproportional eyes sometimes disturbing, but otherwise there is nothing special about that.

The sound is just like the art, something that doesn’t stand out. The soundtrack is doing its job, creating the desired mood for the different scenes, but no tracks that is especially memorable or good enough to listen on the bus ride home.

The characters in the anime are just like the other things, well done but not supreme. There aren’t an enormous amount of characters to remember, and they don’t over complicate them. So far there are no unrealistic characters/personalities that wouldn’t exist in the real world. The main characters are though surprisingly mature and wise for their age, but otherwise they are easy to recognize, and they are all different from each other. They all seem to have a kind of deeper thoughts going on in their small heads, thinking about the world and the system, unlike most kids in their age.

This is a very story driven anime, and it will leave cliffhangers after many episodes, and if you are prepared of that this is an anime I would highly recommend to people to start to watch. After watching an episode it leaves a lot of questions in your head, not about the anime, but about the world itself. If it is good to create a twisted utopia or is it better to leave the world like it is right now?

Summary time:
Story 8/10 or possibly 9/10 the story seems promising and is very appealing to me
Art: 7/10 nothing special but still good
Sound: 7/10 nothing special, but succeeds to create desired mood for the anime
Characters: 7/10 again nothing special, realistic and deep to a certain degree
Enjoyment: 9/10 I personally really like dystopia/utopia stories like 1984 and The Giver
Overall so far (2 episodes seen): an easy 8/10

I want to apologize for my poor English and my lack of experience when it comes to reviewing anime (this is my second one), so if you have time please give me some kind of feedback.

I have only seen 3 episodes of K and btw this is my first review, so please stop read this if you find it annoying and really bad just stop, and if you mind, tell me why it is so bad so I can improve and not write crap again.

This anime seems to have a lot of potential, mainly due to its unique and amazing art, especially the opening. I could take a random screenshot from the opening and use it as desktop wallpaper without any problems, because it is so well made. Apart from the opening the actual episodes also has some really ... good art, moving people and an environment that actually could be a possible future Japan. The thing that I find most amazing is the small details, and finesses the different cool looking gadgets they have. The music I sometimes can find unfitting, and the beats in the background can sometimes be a bit disturbing, but those beats are usually well placed and the soundtrack is better average.

The place that the story is set in is a very realistic future of Japan, even though the place where they are in is an alternative world. From what I have seen so far, this story is about different fractions in a city, and their war, something that is interesting. The story has lots of potentials, and could easily bloom out, but I am afraid that it probably won’t, because this story seems a bit too complicated. After three episodes I find a lot of things especially characters confusing, because I still don’t have the slightest idea why they are there and what role they have. The humor is something that this anime does not lack. I find the main character amusing and sometimes hilarious, for example (small spoiler) a guy comes to murder him and the following day they end up eating breakfast together.

There seems to be tons of different characters, and if you see to your left under the information, there are only going to be 13 episodes. The character introductions so far has been average, and is nothing that really stands out, but it works out well. You can easily tell apart from most of the different characters, but because there are so many and it is a problem remembering all of them. There are two characters that are really similar to each other, and I think I have mistaken one with another a couple of times already. But otherwise each character seems to have a unique personality,appearance and ability.

Just like most anime this one seems to also have a “fan service” character, just like Inori form Guily Crown, but now the anime industry has taken one step further, and this character, who is called Neko (cat in Japanese). She goes around naked, is really random, and whose purpose in life is to please the young adult males. I find this really sad and irritating, because she doesn’t really fit in the picture of the story so far, and seriously people grow up. Is it really that fun to see naked women run around that has very little to do with the story? There is something called internet and people can just go there to google “naked women” if people are so desperate.

Even if this anime has some flaws and things that might ruin it in the future, I am willing to take the risk to be disappointed.

So summary time:
Art: 9/10 some really amazing art
Story: 7/10 because there will be flaws and there are some flaws
Soundtrack: 7/10 not the best but good
Characters: 7/10 find them well done, but too many and still have difficulties to tell some apart even after 3 episodes
Enjoyment factor: 8/10 some really good scene are present in this anime
Overall: 8/10 because this anime has lots of potentials to become a 9/10 but the possibility for it to drop down to 5/10 is not small because it is very story based, so each episode must be somewhat meaningful.