Shin Sekai Yori

Shin Sekai Yori

So, this needs a topic. It's unique (Sci-Fi + Shintou) and one of the best first episodes I've seen

edited 1st Oct '12 7:17:36 AM by Hylarn

I can't say I like it, neither that I will watch it (I guess I will try at least next episode), but it seems to be fairly solid show with unconventional settings. Its a bit like Denno Coil or Serial Experiments Lain but in "fantasy".

The setting looks interesting and the quality is high. We already get hints of a problem and see a bit of the world they are building. Overall, there's nothing wrong from the little I've seen and it was good enough to convince me to keep watching for now.

Word of advice — check out the manga scans after the episode, as it shows a LOT of stuff that couldn't apparently been aired. Seriously.

It feels like Dennou Coil meets Another, at least so far. Can't say there's anything wrong with that, considering Dennou Coil was easily one of the (and, arguably, the) top series of the lest ten years and that Another was only held back by some late pacing issues.

Oh yeah, and that was one incredible song on the ED.

edited 30th Sep '12 12:35:53 AM by Savoie

It's a novel adaptation, afaik it was the manga itself that rather gratuitously added things that couldn't be aired.

Looks interesting enough. I guess Reiko won't be sticking around though...

edited 30th Sep '12 3:38:58 AM by lu127

Do we know if this will be one cour or two?

DVD/BD specs indicate 25 episodes.

Alright, added a few tropes to the page. Can someone get a YMMV tab (and possibly a Nightmare Fuel page) going? I just saw the first episode and, while I'm not entirely sure what's going on as of yet, I love the settings and the background and I can't wait to find out what's next. Something's telling me I'm gonna have to Bring My Brown Pants as the series progresses though...

Thanks guys.

Okay, still don't really get the rules, but as something fairly unique with seemingly decent world building I think I'll keep watching for a while.

I think that's quite possibly the first uniform which looks like a cross between a regular school uniform and a Miko outfit.

The first episode is very underwhelming.

True, this has the potential to either be incredibly boring or have a somewhat obtuse plot. For the moment I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt.

I'll wait maybe one more episode or two and then drop it if it doesn't improve. This season I want to make sure I'm not watching stuff I really don't like far beyond when I should have dropped the show.

edited 1st Oct '12 5:55:27 AM by UltimatelySubjective

I'd watch it just for the visuals and overall sense of atmosphere at this point, but it's obvious that it's heading somewhere.

I don't get how you can call a setup episode disappointing just because it doesn't dump you in the thick of the plot. Rather, I'd counter-claim that high-intensity openers are far more trite and double as a warning that the series is more interested in playing towards broad appeal and maintaining futile momentum than it is about delivering a rewarding and original viewing experience.

Note: That's not to say that broad appeal and energy are bad, but they're far inferior to a series that forsakes one or both to deliver something with artistic merit and a sense of investment on the part of its producers.

edited 1st Oct '12 3:18:59 PM by Savoie

Arguing with Entropy isn't worth it. Just ignore him

True, but every now and then I like to hear the sound of my own voice.

Alright, this is the series that promises to be the most messed up I've seen in a good while.

I'm totally not ready for this.

Anyone have any theories about the powers? Burning children's abilities in a fire and then replacing them with something else seems bad to me.

But then, they appear to still have powers so I wonder what the difference ultimately is.

Don't forget the papers the powers get sealed in bleeding. There has to be something up with that. ...well, I guess it could be Rule of Creepy.

I'm guessing that there's an element involved that we're not seeing, something that causes the abilities to veer out of control. This could be what we were seeing in the distant-past flashback sequence, which would indicate that there's a mental disturbance involved (that jives with the burning ritual, I noticed).

Just to lay out some pieces of the puzzle we definitely have: There's a cat demon thing that kills the children whose abilities are the weakest. It's existance is a bit of open secret among the adults. Or maybe the cat demon is a hallucination those low in ability have before they die, or something along those lines.

It was called the cat of impurity. Impurity in this case being a shintou concept that encompasses actual dirtiness, death, sin, and ungodliness

...My guess here is that the cat is simply visible to particularly impure people, who also have weak abilities, since the gravity is divine in origin and thus weakened by impurity. Or something

...Also, I suspect that some to all of the religious interpretation is wrong

My guess is something like government conspiracy, with all the religious stuff being a Magic Feather Power Limiter. And the cat is Released to Elsewhere for those that don't measure up.

I freaked out when Dvorak's "From the New World" was playing in the background. "Yes, the title totally is a Shout-Out, yes!"

That is all.