Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		4.0

From the New World: Collection 1 Blu-ray Movie Review

It's hard to go home when you're uncertain where home is.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 14, 2014

Here’s a crazy thought for anyone would-be M. Night Shyamalan who wants to come up with a devastating twist that no one will see coming: how about a film or television series that offers the viewer a Utopia that actually is a Utopia? Even Shyamalan himself fell back on the tired cliché of a supposedly sylvan paradise not being everything it seemed to be in his The Village, but he was hardly the first to posit hidden terrors in a supposedly “perfect” society. Anime, by comparison, has often exulted in outright dystopian futures, chaotic eras usually set in a post- Apocalyptic urban wilderness where governments run amok and at least some people are unwitting pawns in some kind of huge conspiracy that seeks to shield them from whatever reality is tucked away behind the veritable curtain. In a kind of interesting coincidence, just before I sat down to watch From the New World, I was chatting with my brother-in-law, an editor in Los Angeles’ film industry, about the trials and tribulations various people had had trying to bring Lois Lowry’s novel The Giver to the screen, and how once Jeff Bridges succeeded in his attempt, some profound changes still needed to be made to the source material in order to make it more easily comprehensible and accessible to the “average” film going audience. Perhaps The Giver would have had an easier time of it as an animated enterprise, for several of Lowry’s concepts are at least somewhat similar to some found in From the New World, not the least of which is a supposedly perfect future world where kids slowly become aware that all is not as it seems. Also as with The Giver, this putative Utopia has come at the expense of actual human progress. Perhaps because From the New World was itself sourced from a novel, Yusuke Kishi’s Shin Sekai Yori, the anime is a bit denser and maybe even more profound than the typical entry in this genre, or even this particular sub-genre. While there are certainly cliché ridden elements at hand in this opening set of episodes, From the New World actually does manage to approach this material with some unexpected twists and turns.

Even those without any particular interest in or knowledge of classical music will probably recognize one of the main themes from Czech composer Antonin Dvorak’s Ninth Symphony, a haunting melody which became the basis for the song “Going Home”. This plaintive tune is one of the most famous English Horn solos in the entire annals of classical music, and From the New World (which after all takes its title from the very soubriquet of Dvorak’s Ninth Symphony) utilizes it to almost subliminally create an air of longing and melancholy, long before the anime itself starts to unspool some of its secrets. (It’s interesting that quite a few relatively recent anime have dipped into the classical music repertoire to help aid a distinctive air to their presentations. I discussed a similar use of the Russian composer Alexander Borodin’s music in Appleseed XIII.)

From the New World repeatedly utilizes a visual conceit in the openings of several episodes where an overly grainy, at times quite blurry, representation of events in more or less contemporaneous time seems to hint at some kind of widespread calamity that may involve some kind of telekinesis. In fact the opening episode shows several people either exploding, or having at least their heads pop open to gory effect. The actual series is set some 1,000 years in the future, but there are still remarkably powered people, including the series’ coterie of youths, all of whom have special mind control proclivities. The main heroine of From the New World is Saki Watanabe, a young girl who as the series opens is being trained to use her telekinetic powers to control a flame, only to have the power snatched from her by what appears to be a Buddhist monk. The first episodes rather slowly detail some aspects of this future culture, where kids are kept isolated until spirits inform them that they’ve been accepted in a higher realm of sorts. Saki is thrilled that a spirit finally visits her, announcing her “evolution” and allowing her to reunite with a bunch of her childhood friends who have already moved on to the next level.

Saki’s male counterpart is a boy named Satoru Asahina, and once the two are reunited, it becomes clear that they have a connection despite the fact that they tend to bicker (often times playfully) with each other. Despite the apparent joy that Saki experiences having a group of friends surrounding her once again, there are intimations of something a bit nefarious happening in the background, specifically with some characters who seem to simply vanish. (Fans of The Giver may recognize yet another parallel in this particular plot point, and will probably guess what’s actually going on fairly quickly.)

When the group sets off into a forest on their way to summer camp, they suddenly have interactions with some bizarre mutant beasts, including some that the kids had been telling tales about in a kind of campfire “ghost story” moment. Slowly the group begins to realize that some of what they’ve been led to believe about their society is not true, and that there are some rather large conspiracies in play to keep the public pacified and everyone in their “proper” place.

This first volume of From the New World presents the series first thirteen episodes, and the show admittedly takes its time in setting up its characters and the back stories of them and the society at large. There’s also quite a bit of time (too much, it could be argued) given over to the kids’ training in their powers, and little slice of life moments as they learn to work together. But the mystery elements of the show are quite appealing and seem to be hinting at a well constructed and ultimately satisfying take on the “it’s not really Utopia” subgenre that appears to be here to stay.

From the New World: Collection 1 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

From the New World: Collection 1 is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Sentai Filmworks with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This A-1 Pictures enterprise has the typically lush look of this production house, with nicely realized backgrounds and some appealing character designs. Line detail is quite sharp and well detailed throughout this opening group of episodes, and colors are nicely saturated, if quite often on a kind of drab brown side of things. In fact the one complaint that some fans may have of this first set of episodes is how relentlessly dark they are—just about every episode has long sequences that take place in dimly lit rooms, or in the nighttime, two aspects that prevent the show from really popping visually. The series also exploits a kind of blown out contrast that includes a milky looking overlay quite a bit of the time, something that adds at least the perception of softness to certain shots. Some of the intentional visual effects are quite effective, however, including a distressed appearance (see screenshot 5) and the grainy, blurry look that opens several episodes (see screenshot 6).

From the New World: Collection 1 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

From the New World: Collection 1 features DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mixes in English and Japanese, both of which are virtually identical in terms of overall amplitude and effects balance, other than the obvious voice differences. Interestingly, this is one of a very few anime I can personally recall that does not have a traditional opening theme, instead tending to play the opening credits as action unfolds. Dialogue, music and effects are all presented cleanly and clearly, and while the series doesn't have any really bombastically active action sequences (at least so far), both tracks offer a nicely full midrange and present no problems which merit mention.

From the New World: Collection 1 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Japanese Promos (1080i; 1:36, 2:52 and 2:14)


• Clean Closing Animation (1080p; 1:31)

From the New World: Collection 1 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

From the New World traffics in some well worn ideas, but it manages to be surprisingly engaging, with some almost Miyazaki-esque touches as the kids begin to figure out that what they've been told for so long may not be the entire truth. In fact, the series really begins to feel like a folktale at several key moments, something that helps the show to rise above some admittedly cliché ridden foundational elements. Even with some stumbles in this opening set of episodes, From the New World is generally an extremely visually appealing show, and while it takes a while for some definite momentum to be established, by the end of this first volume, my hunch is most viewers will be wanting to know what's going to happen to Saki, Satoru and the other kids who are on a sort of magical quest to discover the truth. Recommended.