7.7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
A millennium from now, in Japan, exists a utopia. The Protagonist, Saki Watanabe, lives in an idyllic village barred from the outside world. Her world is ruled by the people who possess the "gods' power" of psychokinesis. After finally obtaining her own powers, Saki enters the Zenjin Academy to train along with five other children: Satoru Asahina, Maria Akizuki, Mamoru Itou, Shun Aonuma, and Reiko Amano. Not all is as it seems, however. In this utopian village, strange rumors about a monstrous cat that abducts children circulate, and students are said to disappear from the academy. The world and its history are much darker than they appear and humanity is on the verge of collapse.
Starring: Risa Taneda, Yûki Kaji, Kana Hanazawa, Daisuke Namikawa, Hiroaki HirataAnime | 100% |
Foreign | 97% |
Romance | 18% |
Supernatural | 9% |
Sci-Fi | 7% |
Drama | 5% |
Horror | Insignificant |
Mystery | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Japanese: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
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.
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 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 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.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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