Shinsekai yori(From the new world) is based on a novel by Yuusuke Kishi that centers on a utopian society in a dystopian future. The story explains how during a time period much like we are in now, a phenomenon occurs giving psychic abilities to 0.3 percent of the world population. This causes human society to breakdown as conflict and wars occur, leading to a period of dark ages for humanity as feudalism and oppressive rule is held by these psychokinesis users. The downfall of those society's brings us to the present day where scientific and peaceful psychokinesis users have reverted to a earlier state of technological prowess and created isolated village structures away from regular humans. In this village we are introduced to a group of adolescent psychokinesis users and focus on them uncovering and facing the different mysteries of their society and the larger world.

Shinsekai Yori takes hold of a collection of different genres throughout the show. In the earlier parts of the anime the prominent genres are supernatural,drama and psychological as Saki awakens her psychic-kinetic powers much to the relief of her parents and graduates to sage academy. There she joins her friends and the physic users of group 1 Shun, Satoru, Maria, Mamarou, and Reiko. In these first episodes there is an uneasiness and mystery in watching the group, as kids go missing and various rumors and suspicion circulate their lives. Reiko goes missing and is dismissed just as quickly from the group, there are tales of monstorous cats and karma demons. I personally really enjoyed the beginning episodes as even though it is slow paced the mystery and awe of learning about the world keeps it interesting. When the kids do discover the facts of how their society weeds out children their is a stark shift in the anime, it is no longer just a drama but also a mystery and thriller.

Shinsekai Yori uses time skips pretty effectively to keep the plot ongoing and the story fresh as after the period of childhood we are introduced to the group as teenagers. This part of the show really develops Saki as a character as she has to undergo losing the majority of her friends from childhood and becomes questioning the utopian society she has come to live in. Questions arise such as is killing children at the slightest form of danger a acceptable action to keep society safe and how can we really trust the system that determines who is a danger and who is not. The main gripe I mainly have of Shinsekai Yori which Saki and to an extent the antagonist Yakamaru defy is boring and bland characterization. Besides those two there is a lack of strong character writing for the main cast such as Shun, Mamarou and to a lesser extent Sakatou. It seems like the characters are mainly used to further the plot such as in Shun's death and in Marmarou's disappearance than really stand as their own characters. The disappearance and death of these characters hurt but mainly because we see how it affects Saki rather than the actual action.

The story undergoes another time skip kind of leaving some unresolved conflicts and questions as we enter Saki's adulthood. I have come to think favorably of this time skip because it enters the best part of the story but when watching it I was a bit perplexed how a significant portion of Saki's life is left untold and the conflict of her questioning the society was left rather unsaid. In this time skip the story becomes much less drama and enhances itself by adding elements of horror, thriller and action. During this period a queerrat society is becoming dominant and a war between humans and queerats occur. The characters are fighting for their lives and at many points it seems helpless as they are under prepared for the war. There is also a fiend that adds this horror element as the characters are consonantly being hunted or chased by the character unable to defeat the fiend. Saki finally starts to understand why they took so many precautions to stop children from turning into fiends as the terror that occurs is gut wrenching.

The final episodes of Shinsekai Yori are solemn the queerrats are stopped as Saki's kills the "fiend" but even at the sight of victory we aren't given comfort as the lingering sacrifices and loss are still in our memory. Yakamaru. Even after the war we see the society still has not changed how they develop children pk users and we are left to the thought of will this world ever change? Saki seems determined to make that change but much is left uncertain of how much she can actually change society to make it a better place to live. I really enjoyed this ending it left a bleak feeling in my head and mind because even though we see Saki married and achieved we know how dangerous and savage the world around them actually is and how much change is needed. Shinsekai Yori is a blend of different genres that succeeds in entrancing the viewer with its world building and ominous atmosphere. The rating for Shinsekai Yori is a high 8.