Shin Sekai Yori - Episode 11 Discussion / Poll
 

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Wow that was quite a fascinating episode. That's a very impressive follow-up to the slow paced emotional episode from last week. Quick, brutal and raising all sorts of questions.

Ugh.. I never imagined they would try to "replace" Shun like that. That's so horrendous, not just to Shun and the main party but also the guy and his former team. Seriously, poor guy. Has his entire life rewritten over something he presumably had no involvement with.

Although I didn't agree with the stoic expressions towards the end of last episode, I actually liked the art style itself. I did in the earlier episode with Satoru and Saki too. I hope there's some more episodes like those to come in the future, hopefully at equally interesting junctions. Because the normal art doesn't look as fabulous :heh:

All I want to know is whether Satoru got in on any of that kissing action between Saki and Maria, or if he just got stuck with a hug. :(

He clearly got to be the bone in the kebab, if you know what I mean:p

Now that I saw the episode again, I noticed a few things. Their reflections on the water is creepy. Filled with random pastel strokes instead of proper reflection.

And boy is that Ryou guy unlucky. Poor, poor guy.

Satoru's eyes really did look full of confusion in that scene.

So what's the deal with these "dreams" that Saki has? In the earlier episode, I figured it was just her memory of her sister returning to her but she dreams an almost surreal dream and engages in conversation with a dead person. Ugh.

I am getting the vibes that Satoru's granny is going to groom Saki into the next head of ethics or something. She certainly is emotionally and mentally strong, and kind too, and perhaps that explains how Saki is able to narrate all this on a latter date. I don't know if the said grooming will include grooming Satoru as her groom. It doesn't sound like Satoru was particularly aware of his granny or that the granny was particularly fond of him from what we have been shown. Can't really tell though. That said, they did "officially declare each other as lovers" this episode or something.

Ugh. I want to see the next episode.

Did not expect the memory loss. Very intriguing episode with tons of suspense. Well, whoever did the memory manipulation couldn't do much because Ryou is just so out of place.

I expected memory loss. But I didn't expect that they would go so far as to try and force some other guy as Shun. Because there'd be those inconsistencies in character that can't go unnoticed for one and for another, it'd be destroying the lives of an innocent and unrelated student, his group and his family. I guess the school or the government or whatever's running the system is even shadier than I had perceived it to be.

Sadly don't think so, because Saki likes Satoru but is not in love of him (she just wanted to get this Ryou guy out of the picture, poor bastard) and seems to me the only reason Maria choose Mamoru is because he is weak and can be easily coerced to be the third wheel so she can do the ecchi with Saki.

uuh.

My apologies. I shouldn't have used that idiom. It sees fair usage in English but I suppose it's still not at all obvious to most people from the west.

Bone in the Kebab means being an unwanted distraction between two people. You don't want bone in your Kebab. Kebabs are just lumps of meat cooked with spices and to a crisp. Finding a bone in a Kebab is unexpected and because of the kind of meat used for Kebab, the bones you would find if they weren't removed wouldn't really be hard to miss and you can't just swallow them either.

I used the idiom as a double entendre to make a cruel joke about the action, or rather, the lack thereof, that Satoru got between the Kebab composed of the two girls ;_;

Btw, you're wrong about Saki not having a thing for Satoru. She feels protected around him and has some hots from him, not romantic interest as she did for Shun at this point (could very well change later on) but hots. She has also been very close friends with Satoru, and compared to Shun, Satoru's an open book so I bet she knows and understands him quite well. Hence why she described Satoru's position very sympathetically. The guy couldn't believe his eyes. That man Ryou wasn't the one he banged! And it's very much implied that Saki more or less was the one who suggested their "coalition" based on mutual love of person X.

...
 

I liked the old child Satoru better than the young adult version, it seems that he lost his flair and has become kinda wimpy(not as much as fucking mamoru at least) but he's lost his edge/smarts/resourcefulness that helped counterbalance Sakis emotional inspired actions. . .

It's like we lost our anchoring character, I mean it seems like we really dont even need satoru at this point, it kidna feels like hes just being dragged along by the story rather than a major player in it. . .

God I miss shun:heh:

that unnecessary yuri scene towards the end, made it seem like Satoru was the third wheel, and was being all KY about the shit. It was awkward and annoying. . .it felt like the director is commiting some kind of character assassination...

I think I'm gonna stop watching for a while, and just marathon this show in a few months, I always feel unsatisfied and annoyed after an episode (well from episode 5 and up... the first 4 were wtf awesome)

Wonderful developments. They went a long way in this episode (and in the gap before it). I guess Saki is fated to become a higher-up of some kind.

Mamoru is hard to take, but Satoru is just confused. More of the original him will return, I think. However, I was never much of a fan. Shun's the one. Will he ever return in any form?

I think Taneda Risa is doing an excellent job here. Saki just leaps off the screen for me. Makes sense that she could turn into Endou Aya, lol.

Endou Aya?

The adults probably made sure shun was dead before they decided to change everyone's memory around and put a huge ass lake where shun's "final battle" location should have been. lol.

Satoru shined during the rat goblin arc I just wish he would shine now too, but it seems that Saki/Shun is/was the only main character and Satoru is just "support staff"

I was expecting more of a fantastic children group dynamic vibe, not "saki and the 7 other characters" thing that's been going on here.

This is definitely not Fantastic Children, but I can see where you're coming from. So far it's always been Saki-centric. She's the narrator, and the star of each arc so far, and the perspective is always through her eyes.

And personally, I like Saki and think the story perspective is fine. I'm not really getting where all of the emotion over Shu or Satoru is coming from.

Well, I do think Satoru was portrayed as a bit too meek this episode than his characterization earlier suggested but as Kaoru Choujo mentioned, it can perhaps be attributed to his being emotionally unstable over the recent events.

I don't know if I agree with your assessment of Satoru in it's entirety but Satoru's character does seem to be the type that doesn't particularly impress at times for a fair bit but then turns flamboyant when it matters. I say we just wait and watch until time calls for a badass.

My interpretation of the Yuri scene was radically different from yours though. The show couldn't have expressed the emotions that were going through those three better than it did with that scene. It might make you uncomfortable to watch a male character play "third wheel" to a pair of girls but you are completely ignoring the premise the show has built over the past several episodes and the fact that Maria and Saki were in active relationship until just about that day. Besides, Satoru hugs them both and they're in essence, at least until now, together in it.

I can't wait to see Maria get loose as Saki prophesied all the way back in episode 4 though. Let's hope it will be as glorious as her narration claimed.

And I am with Solace here, I don't necessarily see anything wrong with being shown the story through Saki's perspective. I would love to get to see the perspective of other characters occasionally but those can be side materials or just brief stints. Arguably we got little bits of Satoru's perspective in some of the earlier episodes but I like Saki's narration thus far.

And yeah, Saki is totally slated to become one of the higher ups in the future. Possibly the next head of the ethics committee.

I hope I'm not the only one who breathes a sigh of relief after the return to form after every Yamauchi-directed episode. I appreciate his particular asthetic (and I loved Casshern Sins), but I don't think it's appropriate for this show at all.

That being said, I thought this episode was decent. The pacing was weird. It was almost as if they spent twenty minutes proverbially beating around the bush. Spending 24+ minutes on such a relatively simple plot element seemed a bit unnecessary, in my opinion.

At the risk of starting the physical relations conversation all over again . . . did any one else think the abrupt SakixMari(xShun?) interlude was a bit out-of-place? To me it felt shoe-horned in. I mean, unless I completely misread the scene, the emotions of everyone seemed fairly low-key. Sure, there were some raised voices and a bit of stress, but it wasn't anything that I felt needed to be let out. A quick peck on the cheek or a meaningful hug? Okay, that makes sense. A French kiss (and perhaps more as suggested by the camera panning out)? I think not :eyebrow:

Saki and Maria are still official 'lovers' at this point so there's nothing strange about them kissing whenever they feel like it. It was a bit awkward that they did it in front of Satoru but it's not like they have the same sense of embarrassment that we do.

Funny how my reactions were more or less on the opposite end of the spectrum for all of these points.

I didn't particularly agree with some of the stills from last episode but I missed the glorious art as soon as this episode started :(

I found the pacing to be very brutal and quick. They didn't beat around the bush at all imo. Saki figured out that Ryou wasn't Shun very very quick, made all the more impressive when you consider that the memories of everyone involved had been tampered extensively, and was brutally honest to the guy as well. Then they immediately go around confirming their suspicions rather than trying to dodge the issue. After that they get pulled immediately into new development with new characters. I don't see how that's slow but you're different from me and that's a good thing I guess :heh:

As for that scene, I don't see what's so out-of-place about it. The girls were in a relationship until that day. They've also been conditioned, genetically and socially, to relieve stress through intimacy. There definitely was a lot of stress built up to lead to that scene, what with Saki's harrowing nightmares of being haunted by memories of this person X she knew was an irreplaceable friend but doesn't even remember the face of and with Maria pleading for protection for Mamoru and admitting her own weaknesses. And Satoru joins in with a hug. It doesn't even have to be seen sexually, actually, it's probably better to not see it sexually. You don't have to fall back to bonobo genes every time. Just the strength of mutual feelings is enough really.

@Kazu-kun, I was under the impression that that day, with Saki and Satoru nominating each other for their duty pair, Saki and Maria's relationship ended and at least "officially", Saki and Shun have declared love? I wouldn't find it weird for Saki and Maria to remain lovers for quite some while more but what does the "official declaration of love" between Saki and Satoru; Maria and Mamoru mean to their relationships as it is now?

I don't see why it would be awkward for them to kiss in front of Satoru when they've grown up together and when they're clearly comfortable enough to harass the shit out of him in the scene right after either. Even from my perspective, and without accounting for the fact that they are essentially a different species in a different culture and time, I found nothing wrong with that scene.

Well Saki is fine, but Satoru has taken a back seat, hell even Mamoru has more impact than Satoru has been having since the goblin arc. . .

Also. . . something that's been bothering me for a while. . .

The first four episodes of this show were REALLY fu**ing awesome, Like wow, I haven't seen a first four like that since. . .gurren Laggan (probably other but that's all I can think of off the top of my head) so my expectations were like hell yeah this stuff is going to get awesome. . .only for me to feel disapointed after nearly each ep, like the each episode is missing something. . .(which is why im taking a break for a month or two to marathon it later so that I feel satisfied when watching it) it could be what rosa said about it feels like they were doing 23 minutes of nothing, beating something we already know (they messed with their memories and trying to find out) and 30 seconds of something actually happening(meeting with the ethics comittee) then credits. . .-.-

and about the superflous yuri, yeah maybe they are in a different world, but regardless if my first reaction was to roll my eyes, then they did the whole wolrd building immersion thing wrong. I would have been just fine to have them all just hug, we get that there's a Saki x Maria thing going on. . .I think it bothers me because during the goblin arc, saki was all like "oh no I'm gonna moralfag over the whole bonobo thing, but now its ok to bonobo it up just because" kinda thing is pretty damn inconsistent, hell even shun didn't get a kiss from saki and Saki's love for shun (and vice versa) would have warrented SOMETHING other than holding hands on a freakin' boat.

because of all that. . .which was accented by nothing really actually happening. . .the whole make out thing was just out of place, and felt like the director was pandering "hey I know guys like girl on girl so lets put some *fanservicemakeoutaction* to excite the guys that watch the show"

That actually broke my immersion in the episode pretty hard, and that's bad.

I thought the kissing was just part of the usual stress relief reflex. Bonobos and all that. Just shows another part of their conditioning.

Like the memory control. That was unexpected. Trying to replace Shun completely? We'll see how the Ethics Committee handles them bucking the mind control.

It seems like the others had their memories tampered with.
Seems like Saki is the only one that remembers.
So they planted Ryou instead of Shun.
Now even the others figured it out as well.
The ethics committee paying them a visit is not good.

C’mon guys, we already past this Bonobo thing. We already know the basics, and the situation supports the yuri make-out in this eps. So, we shouldn’t have a problem with scene like this anymore.

As for my impression on the episode, I agree with Rosa that they spent just a bit too much confirming what we already know. Although they could’ve cut something, it’s still good to give our MCs some screentime to dive more into their psyche. I also have no problem with Saki being our primary MC & narrator. The animation here is pretty good too (fluid movements and no derpy faces). As much as I like Yamauchi’s animation, the one we get in this eps suits the mood more.

You just want him to have a threesome with them, don’t you? :p