From the New World

Overview

From the New World is a coming-of-age story that takes place in a future society in which everyone has psychic abilities. While psychic abilities seem like they would be a good thing, it took, and still takes, a lot of effort to keep everything from breaking down into chaos.

When the first people started gaining psychic abilities, there were many who used them to do harm to others. In the end, only those with psychic abilities remain and they are living in small, separated communities around the world with strict rules in place to ensure these horrors never happen again.

It is in this world that five children are growing up and they must quickly learn the rules of the society in which they were born. In this world, not everything is as it seems on the surface.

This anime is split into three different parts, each separated by a time skip. In the first part, the main characters are children, in the second they are teenagers, and in the final part, they are adults. In each part, we learn more about the world in which these characters live as they decide whether or not this is a society they want to be a part of.

There are also some episodes that have a slightly altered art style. When I first watched this it was a bit confusing because suddenly the characters looked older or different in some way, but then by the next episode, they were back to how they were supposed to look. I think this series would be better with a more uniform art style throughout so the time skips are more clearly defined.

Characters

Saki Watanabe is the protagonist of the series. She developed her psychic abilities later than the rest of her classmates and so has to work hard to catch up with the rest of the students at the psychic school. Despite not being exceptional in her use of her psychic abilities, she is one of the strongest of the children mentally.

Satoru Asahina is one of Saki’s classmates and her close friend. He’s generally carefree and energetic, but as he grows up he becomes more responsible. Satoru has fairly strong psychic abilities, but his real strength is his ability to strategize.

Maria Akizuki is Saki’s best friend. She stands out due to her red hair. While her classmates see her as a strong individual, she sees herself as a coward. This mental instability makes her a sort of foil character to Saki.

Shun Aonuma is the prodigy of the group. He’s smart and has exceptional psychic abilities. However, due to his abilities, he is watched more closely than the other students by the adults of the society which puts pressure on him to continuously get stronger.

Mamoru Itou is the final member of the group. He’s basically the opposite of Shun and Saki in that he’s both mentally weak and he’s the least talented when it comes to psychic abilities. Mamoru is a follower, not a leader.

Conclusion

I liked From the New World and gave it a 7/10. However, as I mentioned in the overview, I think it would be better if the art style didn’t change for some episodes, but was kept consistent instead.

One thing I thought this anime did well was world-building. We learn a lot about the world in which the characters live in the first arc when they are children which causes our view of the world to be through the eyes of children. In the later arcs, we continue to learn new things about the world through the eyes of the characters as they get older and finally understand some of the things they didn’t when they were kids.

There is also a lot going on behind the scenes of this world despite the whole anime basically taking place in one grouping of small villages.