-1538 [Myanimelist]

「abystoma2Nov 16, 3:28 AM

Hi,

I seldom see people that disliked Shinsekai yori. Would you be in a mood to say what you didn't like about it?

Reply Conversation Delete Report

NeverLives | 3 seconds ago

Hi! I formed my thoughts in russian language and translated into English. Hopefully there are no inaccuracies in the sentences and the text is completely clear. If not, please tell me what is not clear. The lore of the novel is interesting and elaborate. But there is one convention: totalitarianism, which manifests itself in the control of the information flow, is completely unfounded from the point of view of the plot. In the finale, it turns out that stress can cause akki/gouma, but why they hid information before this discovery is unclear. The two initial and final storylines are loosely coupled. Acquaintance with bake-nezumi is only needed so that Saki has information about Squealer. In many cases, the plot is based on coincidences. I will give examples below. The weakened Rejin is attacked by "wild" bake-nezumi so that the main characters can later hide that they have learned the truth about the world. And of course they all, by coincidence, wrote down their mantras. In the future, there are more coincidences, the entire final arc is built on the fact that the main characters are just lucky. Even Saki notes it. It seemed that nothing could stop the Akki, but it turns out that there is a certain “Saiko-Buster” that survived 1000 years. Saki needs to get to the surface, and at this moment bats will fly out of the caves so that the scouting birds cannot find her. And when the plan with Saiko-Buster did not work, it turned out that akki perceives bake-nezumi as his own kind, so that the most faithful slave can sacrifice himself to make akki die. It was possible to do so at once, but it was necessary to stretch the last volume. And how could Akki confuse Satoru with Kiroumaru? Kiroumaru is much taller and more massive. And if this is due to the fact that it is dark there, then all this dressing was not necessary. This is not a complete list of coincidences and nonsense, I noted more as I read. Characters have their own personality, which is revealed through their "magical abilities", and in their actions. However, by themselves they are nothing. Saki, Satoru, Mamoru can be described in one word, but there is nothing to say about Maria. Kiroumaru is simply the most loyal slave who does not mind people exploiting his species, unless they decide to exterminate his colony. Squealer is the most interesting character, but he is an antagonist, and they spend less time on disclosing him. And in the end, I didn't like the moral side of the novelle. Kamisu-66 is a terrible society. I cannot understand why Saki is so selflessly defending the slave owners from the rebellious slaves, risking his own life. This despite the fact that she herself could be eliminated twice. But she don't understand why the bake-nezumi rebelled. I know that such a model of behavior was laid in her as a child, but Saki is immune to propaganda, besides, she knows the whole truth, including about the exploitation of bake-nezumi. And why the events of the final arc are shown from the perspective of people who torture, and kill bake-nezumi for daring to desire freedom and trying to take fair revenge for slaving? If the author considers the Kamisu-66 society to be right, then it is unforgivable. If not, then it was necessary to make the characters realize that they were wrong earlier. If the idea was to show the terrible essence of people with "magical power", then it was necessary to show it from the perspective of bake-nezumi, even if they were destined to suffer defeat for an unjust and terrible humanity. Or it was possible to show simply dystopian, but then the parties to the conflict should be presented to the reader in a neutral form. But in the end, through the efforts of the main characters, this tyrannical society is flourishing, and they themselves are raising a child in it. And it serves up like a "good ending". Therefore, the experience that history provides feels meaningless.」

Почему-то обновляя свою страницу, я не вижу ответ… он что, моделируется? Тогда надо бы написать об этом…

Понятно, оно у него на стене отображается. Ладно. Надеюсь, он не удалит.

「abystoma245 minutes ago

Wow, thank you for such a detailed reply.

The information control wasn't done before the appeance of the Fiends/Karma Demons. The False Minoshiro contains informations about them, which means that they occured before this library system was designed as harmful as started being hunted down.

I don't think coincidences are by default a bad thing. Too much of them might break a suspension of belief, but I wouldn't say Shinsekai yori goes that far. Almost every story relies of some sort of coincidence to get the characters into situations the story wants to tell. The plot twist with the fiend not actually being a fiend isn't a coincidence - it's a major plot point that was fairly foreshadowed. Even Kinoumaru's sacrifice was foreshadowed to some extent - he literally said that even if a plan would require his sacrifice he would do it if it works before the new plan was conceived. The "fiend" didn't necessarily confuse Kiroumaru with Satou - all that was needed was to made him confuse Kiroumaru for a human. The "fiend" doesn't actually know these people specifically or how many are there.

I definitely agree Squealer is the most interesting character, but I don't think he got little screen time. Just enough, I'd say. You don't really need extended backstory to understand his point of view and his character. Most of human characters outside of Saki aren't that prominent, but I wouldn't even consider the rest of the Group 1 other than her to be true main characters, but rather red herring supporting cast.

She is defending them because she is one of them. This is again one of the major plot points, that they've been brainwashed and manipulated so much they didn't even think slaughter of intelligent beings could be wrong and only slowly they start to realize they might have done something terrible. I think she understood the reason at the end of the novel at least to some extent. Why do you think she is immune to propaganda? She was shown to fall for it multiple times. Also, knowing facts and realizing the context are two different matters. Every adult in the society knows that the queerats are being exploited - they just don't see it as a problem. That again is one of the major points the novel is showing about the psychology of the characters.

The final arc actually reaveals Squealer's perspective, and it's my favourite part, as it masterfully transforms Squealer from villain to a righteous fighters in the readers' eyes. Few works can do character developement of this extent. The human society not realizing they were in the wrong is again one of the points for the psychological theme. More queerrat POV wasn't necessary, as the Squealers trial and the aftermath was enough to establish them as in the right - for the reader.

Is it really a good ending? I wouldn't say so. It's better than it could be, sure, as Saki is in the lead and she's the least brainwashed, but it's not a happy ending.