Shin Sekai Yori - Episode 8 Discussion / Poll

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Maria is just her good friend that she happens to "play tennis with"

This cracked me up.

But yeah, your theory sounds about right to me. Certainly what Saki and Shun feel for one another must be very confusing to them as it doesn't seem to be the norm.

[kuromitsu]

I haven't managed to watch the ep yet, but re: everyone having homosexual relationships... there's what Kaoru Chujo said, and also a much more practical reason, namely pregnancy. Apparently they don't have contraception in a thousand years in the future (which makes sense in some ways, but not in other ways, I mean humans already had rudimentary methods for contraception in ancient times), so encouraging kids to vent their sexual urges with members of the same sex makes sense, and given the whole "society of love" thing the resulting relationships are just a natural consequence. They may still be in love with people of the opposite gender (as Saki is in love with Shun) but it remains platonic -> no headache.

[NoemiChan]

Ehemm.. I'll still stick to c**doms and withdra**l

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

This cracked me up.
But yeah, your theory sounds about right to me. Certainly what Saki and Shun feel for one another must be very confusing to them as it doesn't seem to be the norm.

Laugh at the scientist who based new methods of population control from bonobos....

[Kakkou]

Originally Posted by GenjiChan

Laugh at the scientist who based new methods of population control from bonobos....

Bonobo gene isn't for population control. Needing to do population control is just a side result of that.

[Key Board]

wasn't it said that different sex couples are actually frowned upon unless you are an adult?

sound like a form of population control

I guess that's this world's version of sex-ed for teenagers

[Malkuth]

Originally Posted by Konja7

Well, there are some restrictions.

Intercourse between young people is forbidden (it is said in the novel). I guess it's for birth control.

Well, having unprotected sex doesn't usually result in pregnancy, but in any case, I guess 1000 years from now parents finally begin teaching their kids at the proper age again how to avoid accidents (i.e. the restriction you mentioned).

Originally Posted by neshru

Yeah, it would have been nice if the narrator at the beginning of the episode had explained exactly what was going on with everyone and why things work the way they do in that society. That way they could have even skipped a bunch of love scenes and gone back to the plot quicker.

I wish they could make a better use of the narrator in general. Just look at how uneven are the narrator's comments during the first 7 episodes.

ep.4

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

Now that I've watched this episode a couple more times, I have a completely different take on the animation. I think it was particularly good. Not the drawing, which was off-model sometimes, but the animation. There were a number of scenes with interesting movement, such as when Saki was running away down the hillside path. They seem to have decided, as Kaioshin_sama's observation that there were plenty of frames suggests, to spend time/money on movement rather than careful drawing. Worked for me.

When the key frames are off model, the in-between animators can do nothing to fix them. But I understand your point and I agree, movement was fluid. Direction and storytelling still suck, but at least they begun reusing the original setting, instead of some badly directed kiddy show.

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

As for the bonobos, I mean the students. I thought the situation was generally well presented. There was no real reason to be surprised, since we already knew their society was planned to be this way. The surprise was that our main characters all seemed to be in homosexual relationships, but that could be natural for younger people (if 14 is young), who might be more comfortable relating to their same sex, or at least to their closest childhood friend. In any case, I found the matter-of-fact presentation kind of liberating. The cartoon-gay Kai was a bit of a turn-off...as well as a turn-on, lol. I'm not sure if the relationships are being properly presented, since they seem to slip back and forth between purely physical and really romantic. I hope we learn more about how these people are relating.

They slammed all the results of unrepresented character development in a single episode... I can see how many are getting confused and surprised, the hints thus far were minor, the plot and character development neglected in favor of juvenile fantasy/sci-fi gimmicks... anyway, even this way, things got a lot better with this episode.

[NoemiChan]

Originally Posted by Key Board

wasn't it said that different sex couples are actually frowned upon unless you are an adult?

Now that reminds me, SaintessHeart will surely object to that...

[SeijiSensei]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

The surprise was that our main characters all seemed to be in homosexual relationships, but that could be natural for younger people (if 14 is young), who might be more comfortable relating to their same sex, or at least to their closest childhood friend.

I also thought that their age was a plausible reason for the prevalence of homosexual relationships. The argument that this is intended as a form of birth control seems silly to me. Certainly this society is advanced enough to have developed contraception. There's even the possibility for PK abortions or even self-induced PK abortions. If heterosexual relationships are discouraged, there has to be more to it than contraception. How much do we know about how reproduction works in this society? Is Saki the natural offspring of her parents?

The scenes about Shun and the egg are confusing. The teacher talks to him about visualizing the chick in the egg. Is there a chick in the egg? If so, how is this process of visualization supposed to apply to psychokinesis? Or maybe there is no chick but Shun is expected to use his PK power to somehow fertilize the egg and accelerate the growth process? Did Shun's "evil" side distort this process and create a mini-monster? Or maybe honcho guy did it to frame Shun? And why does the wall ripple?

I can only think of a couple of shows where the illustrators deviate from the character models as often as they have in this one. There was one image of Saki where I had to stare a bit to make sure it wasn't Maria. And what's with the costume design? Those outfits Shun and Satoru wore during the breakup scene were absurd. They remind me of some of the bad alien costuming that the original Star Trek displays.

Whose hand do you think Saki is holding in the ED when she awakens from her dream? The other hand is about the same size as Saki's, so I might have guessed it is Maria's, except for the ominous forebodings about her. The boys do not look too burly, so it could be one of them as well.

[NoemiChan]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

The argument that this is intended as a form of birth control seems silly to me. Certainly this society is advanced enough to have developed contraception. There's even the possibility for PK abortions or even self-induced PK abortions. If heterosexual relationships are discouraged, there has to be more to it than contraception.

The Science in the anime is kinda twisted with superstition and myths.... I can't classify it as Sci-fi but Mystery...

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

I
Whose hand do you think Saki is holding in the ED when she awakens from her dream? The other hand is about the same size as Saki's, so I might have guessed Maria, except for the ominous forebodings about her. The boys do not look too burly, so it could be one of them as well.

Considering the animation.. we can't say it isn't Shun's either...

Anyway, they want for such society continue to exist until the end? Will Shun and Saki allow it? Hope the next episode answers them nor at least give a hint...

[Kaoru Chujo]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

...The scenes about Shun and the egg are confusing. The teacher talks to him about visualizing the chick in the egg. Is there a chick in the egg? If so, how is this process of visualization supposed to apply to psychokinesis? Or maybe there is no chick but Shun is expected to use his PK power to somehow fertilize the egg and accelerate the growth process? Did Shun's "evil" side distort this process and create a mini-monster? Or maybe honcho guy did it to frame Shun? And why does the wall ripple...?

My impression was that Shun was supposed to fertilize the egg and grow the chick, but what he actually produced was a sort of monster. The honcho could sense that and the rippling was him powering up to see every detail. He was horrified (or intrigued) and later called for Shun to get special treatment. Shun's crooked little smile after he created the monster made me think he thinks he has evil in him. The preview suggests Shun later died, but perhaps we are being misled (or the kids are).

[NoemiChan]

Originally Posted by Malkuth

What feelings? From what I have watched in the anime, Shun just doesn't care about anyone that way, and was with Satoru because the later wanted to... same for Saki, he just "politely" returned the affection she has showed him. I don't see how and what can be interpreted as genuine romantic feelings towards either of them.

As for Saki, she is so into Satoru, that when she finds out that he is beyond her "league" runs to Maria... when in a pinch helped Satoru "relax"... she is not the person (like Satoru, but through a different process) does not develop any genuine romantic feelings for anyone

Do you mean that there is no romantic link between Shun and Saki?

Saki was about to confessed to Shun on the last minute of the episode.... Plus the necklace Shun gave to Saki is kinda symbolic of his feelings for her. And please don't forget the rage on episode 5....

Now that reminds me of Saki back on episode 5

Images

Episode 5 Scene

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[mangamuscle]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

The preview suggests Shun later died, but perhaps we are being misled (or the kids are).

I do not think either Jun or other kids have been killed, if they can manipulate genes with their minds my guess is that they turn those unsuitable into queerats (which cannot use PK).

[Malkuth]

Originally Posted by GenjiChan

Do you mean that there is no romantic link between Shun and Saki?

Saki was about to confessed to Shun on the last minute of the episode.... Plus the necklace Shun gave to Saki is kinda symbolic of his feelings for her. And please don't forget the rage on episode 5....

Now that reminds me of Saki back on episode 5

Images

Episode 5 Scene

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I mean that Saki wants desperately someone to support her and adore her, it was Satoru, now Maria, and the bottom line is that despite all her rumbles about Shun, she doesn't really do anything to make him hers. She acts as an inexperienced teenage girl in love with idea of love materialized in someone that she will never have (Shun), instead of exploring and understanding her own feelings... then again she is a teenage girl growing up through the novel... however some try to ignore it and focus on other material presented, completely ignoring the perspective of the narrator, like reading/watching some shounen anime.

Oh! and Shun definitely is not interested at all in her, or better not more than anyone else.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by Malkuth

Oh! and Shun definitely is not interested at all in her, or better not more than anyone else.

I think he's very much in love with her. Only, much like her, he doesn't know how to act on those feelings.

[Malkuth]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

I think he's very much in love with her. Only, much like her, he doesn't know how to act on those feelings.

I seriously doubt it, but we'll find out... I guess

[Elestia]

Pretty terrible episode plagued with pacing and animation issues. A lot of the problems stems from the sudden time skip and the new relations between the group. The episode was rushed and didn't leave enough time for the audience to get used to the new group dynamic, which I have say came out of nowhere. The sudden romantic relationship with Satoru and Shun felt contrived at best and forced at worse. I am not quite sure how the relationship came about as there was little to no foreshadowing compared to Shun and Saki.

I guess the problem is that a lot of the developments were hard to swallow and made very little sense. That, and it was completely plagued with budgeting issues in almost all the scenes. Then we have Shun who seemed to be losing his mind similar to the bloodlust Satoru had in the previous episode. However, this time Shun's problems seem more disturbed and sinister judging from the egg projection.

[NoemiChan]

Originally Posted by Malkuth

I mean that Saki wants desperately someone to support her and adore her, it was Satoru, now Maria, and the bottom line is that despite all her rumbles about Shun, she doesn't really do anything to make him hers.

Every girls wants to be adored by others especially but the one she really likes. She clinged to Maria because the norms says she must. I think she is beginning to slowly reveal more of her feeling to Shun now that he is going away far from her sight.... And I think next week will show that...

Originally Posted by Malkuth

Oh! and Shun definitely is not interested at all in her, or better not more than anyone else.

That I doubt... We can't say until the end tells us it is..

I think they both care for one another. It's just their friends (who claims to be their respective lovers) and society they live on that stops them from going all out...

[kk2extreme]

So they are expected to be homosexual in their teen years, seems like everyone is doing it?

Shun is going Darth Vader on us?

[neshru]

I think they are conditioned to be bisexual since they are born. For some reason, they seem to be expected to have an homosexual relationship at the age of 14.

[NoemiChan]

Originally Posted by neshru

I think they are conditioned to be bisexual since they are born. For some reason, they seem to be expected to have an homosexual relationship at the age of 14.

Probably the best reason for it...