Shin Sekai Yori - Episode 13 Discussion / Poll
 

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Hope they find Mamoru...

I hope they find him and can keep him from during into a karma demon or fiend, since that sounds like what was being hinted at last epi. Saki found Shun but by then it was too late.

If Mamoru dies.. It'll end up one without a pair.. unless it'll be a threeso**...

A bit of a weaker episode this time around. The first half of the episode was basically finding Mamoru which was just some small detective work. The second half we learn that Mamoru is indeed being pursued by a copycat. It's nice and all but a bit uneventful. Still, can't blame it too much because a slower episode was bound to happen.

Next episode looks interesting as Hiromi (Board of Education leader) will finally make her debut.

Episode 13 with subbed..

Technically not that much happened in the episode but it's still interesting since now we're presented with the mystery of why they really want to do that to Mamoru (but not Maria?) as well as what they're going to do next.

I've been thinking about the ED and how one of the first image you get is the house of cards collapsing. I had thought it might be a reference to the girl (wow I forgot her name too) that was erased really early on but maybe it's just referring to their "system" collapsing since it's untenable.

Maybe that just refers to Saki's group falling apart. Fist Reiko, then Shun, and now Mamoru is in danger.....

About the motive

I am half way through the episode but the one thing I noticed is the dots for eyes when the camera zooms out. It's silly looking :). I always wonder why they can't draw with a larger digital canvas and then shrink it down so those zoomed out shots wouldn't look so silly. I will edit for more comments.

Edit: I am not sure if Mamoru would survive outside of the barrier, but it seems the village wants to kill him. I feel bad for saying this but his future looks grim. Unless the group decides to go with him into the wilds. That would be pretty cool. Probably staying out of the queerat's way and kill them if they get near because I don't trust those creatures - or I am just a bad person.

Not Tomiko didn't say anything about quiet types, just that kids who go karma demon are usually the most kind-hearted. As for Mamoru and Reiko, I think they would become fiend. Remember that the karma demon comes from the subconscious mind, so it probably afflicts people who don't let their feelings show. Mamoru on the other hand is an open book, you can clearly see how stressed he is on his face. He shows his feelings, so I don't think he would go karma demon. In fact if Saki wasn't as resilient as Tomiko says she is, she probably would be dangerously close to become a karma demon herself imo,

Shun was a karma demon and that poor girl in Tomiko story was one too. They're no control of their powers. Shun was through subconscious and the girl was through genetics I recall.

Mamoru always seem to break down and that was a huge hint that he was becoming a fiend and regarding Reiko, poor her, if she wasn't a cast in this show, she would of been a generic big busted girl in a harem series :>

Hey, don't you think love will prevent one from becoming a karma demon or fiend..?

Don't confuse it with fantasy ( ain't this anime fantasy too?), I mean having a constant companion to be with you which kinda normalize your inner stress conflict etc... that results to becoming a karma demon or fiend...

No, they don't know if there's a genetic cause to it. In fact, they know almost nothing about why this kids becomes karma demons or fiends. They only know that karma demon are kids who lose control of their powers and become a danger to others against their will, and fiends are kids who snap and become ruthless murderers. But they don't know exactly why this happens.

I'm a little bit surprised that a kid can last as long as Mamoru did, and only now get marked for elimination.

I mean, the kids are what, 16 now? I wonder what made this society change their minds on Mamoru at this point (since he apparently was fine up until recently).

Maria opting to "hop and float, hop and float" while Saki and Satoru go with the ski approach is interesting. I like these little personal idiosyncrasies in how people use cantus. Maria doesn't appear to be capable of outright flight, though, so I wonder if that's a limitation on cantus powers in general.


I like the subtle ways that we see Saki being conflicted. Saki now knows more than her friends do. She knows that she may very well one day be a person overseeing this society. So is she still in a position to criticize the people currently overseeing it? You can tell that her thinking has changed a bit, hence why she doesn't know what to say to Mamoru's current plight, which in turn upsets Maria. I really like how this is all handled.

Choosing to have one of Saki's friends eliminated just as you're recruiting her to be the next head of the Ethics Committee... that's certainly pretty questionable timing. :heh: Unless the whole idea here is that this is a final test that Saki must "pass" - If someone close to her is deemed unfit for society, is Saki willing to accept that person being eliminated?


This episode dragged a bit more than most Shin Sekai Yori episodes (which is to say that it didn't fly by like most SSY episodes do), but it was still pretty good and interesting. I loved the wintery scenery in this episode, and I loved the emoting on the parts of both the characters and their seiyu. I felt that Saki, Maria, Satoru, and especially Mamoru were all pitch-perfect on their emotional expressiveness - Not overdone, but still reflecting the natural horror and trepidation of the situation.

As an old school gamer Maria bunny hopping amused me. I was also really surprised how much Maria was worried about Mamoru, I guess she really cares about him.

Anyway I thought some of the character design looked really weird, but there were worse in the past.

That's definitely one of the big questions that comes out of this episode, but the kids are 14, not 16.

I don't think it's a big question? :heh: Satoru's grandma explained it in the previous episode. Society basically doesn't recognize children as humans until they're 17, so they can be freely disposed of if need be. They keep training, testing and observing them, culling those who show potential symptoms of anything dangerous. I guess the leaders thought a period of 17 years is enough time for observation (especially since it includes the most problematic years) so if a child passes 17 without displaying any dangerous tendencies they're probably OK. Saki & Co. are 14 now, they still have 3 years to go.

Mamoru was marked for elimination because his overall instability reached a breaking point, or so they think, anyway. When he thought he was being stalked by a cat he panicked, and the panic triggered a destructive attack pretty much subconsciously. OK so it turned out he was really being stalked by a cat, but what if it was just a sudden bout of paranoia brought on by his previous experiences? What if he had hurt someone? The fact that his power activated on its own is bad enough.