Where the fuck do I even begin?
I bet most people were tricked into thinking this is a cute anime about 12-year olds. As if. A utopia that turns out to be a dystopia compared to which 1984 and Brave New World are children's tales. Creepiness overload. Like, really? It's kind of ok once you get past 12. Maybe 19 too. Talk about horror... Also fangirls hoping to see lots of shounen-ai/yuri were pretty let down as well. General moral of the story: humans are wicked and cruel beasts even with genetic intervention, careful conditioning and education. History shall repeat itself. Nothing new here.
[SPOILERS]
MORETalking about plot I guess it was a pretty interesting exploration of human's nature. And a very disturbing one. But as with most Japanese sci-fi plots to complicated so you feel really dumb until the end. I really don't feel like going further into it. I honestly wish there was more focus on the character development and the relationship between characters which was very lacking. See Saki/Shun.
Let's move on to characters. Overall I can't say I like Saki that much. I'm not sure why. Maybe it was her selfishness and the way she took Satoru for granted. It pissed me off how she kept saying she can't lose him because he's the only one left and she can't afford it. It was so selfish. She also took Maria for granted and I really don't get how come she had sex with both Maria and Satoru but didn't have balls to hook up with Shun, the one she really wanted. Also I can understand her desire to seek out the truth very well. But in her quest she kept overlooking some important things such as other people. In that respect I guess I like Maria more. I was frankly pissed off by Saki's final attempt to justify Squera. The fuck, sister? He killed your closest friend and made her child into a monster.
While I do think that the studio gave Maria too much screen time, even with the closing sequence and stuff, I quite liked her. I think the things she said were very reasonable and the way she chose to stay with Mamoru was very brave and selfless. Yet I kept expecting something wicked from her, since it was said because of her many shall perish. I could hardly believe she and Mamoru died though, it just didn't seem to make sense.
Favourite character: Satoru. For some reason I expected myself to like Shun. I dunno why. Guess because Satoru is introduced as a naughty kid and Shun is the quiet smart one. But basically Satoru had me at episode 5 where he acted like a real man protecting Saki. He's really smart and brave and caring and grows to be really hot too.
Obviously I was pleased by the episode 8, it was a welcome development but in the end this romance went sour by the end of the episode so it only made me sad. Sure I still shipped Saki and Satoru, it seemed more than natural. I can't believe they had sex at fucking 12 and then remained just friends until the last 2 minutes of the show which is 20+ years. Like, what the fuck? In the end no matter how I look at for Saki Satoru still appears to be only second best to Shun.
All in all way too many things about the show left unanswered. Even though there is a happy end by all means after all the nightmarish stuff that happened it almost look unrealistically sweet. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the Earth just exploded by the end of it. Not that I complain.
The tropes page is also good:
tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/YMMV/FromTheNewW...
Of course some selected screens:
Note to self: I think in the future it is better to be very fucking cautious about the anime I choose to watch. Thanks a lot, Shou, for messing me up.
Hell, looks like I will need a rehabilitation period. Today I watched a documentary about puppies and listened to KAT-TUN.
