Sianeka

From the New World was an enjoyably unusual story.  Refreshingly different from a typical run-of-the-mill show, this story told of a world of the future where humans have advanced psychokinetic powers.

This show explores the consequences of having such abilities and dealing with those consequences.  It creates a world where some people have power and some do not; a world where it is imperative that those with power can maintain control.  If the power ever gets out of control, dangerous monsters appear that can destroy the entire society.

And thus a moral quandary is created:  how far can you go?  How much control over others is allowable and how much is too much? Does the end result truly justify the means used to obtain societal control?

Weighty thoughts for an anime show to ponder.  Which this show does with mixed results.

Five children are showcased; They are learning to use and control their abilities in order to take their places as adults alongside the other adults of their community.  We see the objectional means (methods such as hypnotism and mind control, slavery and even outright elimination) used for subjugating the members of the society and we learn the horrible consequences an out-of-control power can cause.

FTNW does a really good job juxtaposing the elements of freedom vs safety and presenting both sides such that there is no truly right nor truly wrong aspect to either side.  Both sides encompass both good and evil elements.

However, some glaring problems prevented me from enjoying this anime as much as I might have.  The animation quality is glaringly inconsistent; on one hand sometimes astonishingly beautiful and creative but at other times, jarringly rough and crude. This continuous bouncing level of animation quality was very distracting to me and greatly lessened the impact of the story.

The show also devolved too much into mysticism to explain things.  Understandably, mystical motives were ascribed to help the utilization of hypnotism and mind control in governing the individual's usage of power, but the story really bogged down and the pacing slowed to a crawl whenever a mystical exposition was being drawn out, notably during Shin's transformation arc.  This show's focus on realism and science made the mystical pseudo-philosophy sound too much like so much majical mumbo jumbo.  Not a fan.

Pacing was all over the place which can be expected since the show features many time skips, but overall tendency featured a slower paced story to draw out and explain the world's features.  Still, the erratic story advancement made for some definite yawn moments and other Huh? What just happened? moments.

The characters were also a weak point in my eyes.  None of them really gained enough personality or distinction to gain the relatability the audience needs to empathize with and cheer on and root for a character or sympathize with his/her setbacks.  None of the main characters truly stood out as unique and distinctive.  Each had a role to play out, and each served their purpose but lacked the personality to really garner our attention.  Sad to say, the most sympathetic character of all in the entire story may have been a Monster Rat!

I truly enjoyed the unique vision and really remarkably unique story presented in FTNW; I just wish it had been executed a bit better...

SECRET SANTA REVIEW