Forum - View topicREVIEW: From the New World GN 1 & 2
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Galap
Moderator
 Posts: 2354 |
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The anime is one of my favorite things ever, and to me the best thing to come out in the last 5 years or so.
I generally don't read manga, since for me the main draw of anime is that it's animated rather than that it's Japanese or anything. From the manga I've read, the fact that nothing moves and that the stories just don't seem to be as good to me (in a quick count, only one of my top 10 anime is based on a manga, and even that one deviated significantly from it), I'm just not generally interested in this. Nevertheless, given how much I liked the anime, I really wanted to see other versions of this story, so I bought the first volume. It's... interesting in the different directions it takes from the anime. I'm not one of those people to complain about "Yo this wasn't like that in the anime. It's not faithful. This is BAD!". Rather, I actually want different adaptations/versions of things to diverge from each other, because I want them to have their own identity and reason for existence. If the adaptation doesn't change anything, then what's the point? Like I said I wanted to see a different version of this story, and some of the new directions were interesting, like how they use their power to make food (and yeah, magick is a pretty awkward translation of it. I prefer the anime's "power", but even that isn't the greatest. It's one of those cases where we don't really have a good word for the concept), and Shisei riding a dragon made of cards. However, lot of other elements were really awkwardly handled. The main problem I had was that the intelligence was cut down by a large amount. One of the keys to this story is that the characters are more intelligent in every way than their equivalents in our time by a wide margin. Also, gone are the in depth scientific and philosophical discourses. I think this might be a limitation of the medium, since you can't have a lot of text, and can't have that many actions either. The world and characterization wasn't nearly as good either: a lot of things that happened felt very 'anime' or very 'manga' in this case I guess, rather than the characters and events feeling rich, real, and nuanced. Another thing was the sexuality. I have no problem with it inherently, especially since sexuality is a very important part of this story. I didn't like the execution here at all. It fell to the dumb otaku anime/manga style of depicting sexuality ("yo look at that girl's ass. I'm going to grab your boobs! look at my curvaceous genitals.") In the anime, it was much better. The sex acts were tactile in a way that I was really down with. The characters touched each other very tenderly and realistically, and from their facial expressions, sounds, and body language, you could really feel what they felt as they touched each other. It was very realistic: the way things happened in the anime were exactly like it really is when people engage in these activities. Also, in the manga, the way they think about it is completely off. In their society, where sexuality works completely differently and has no stigmas attached to it, would Saki really say, "Who's the naughty girl now?" (or something to that effect) as she initiates with Maria? Would Maria really call Saki "pervy"? no. Those are idiosincracies (which as an aside I personally don't care for) with sexuality in our society. They are endemic to our world and originate from our society's puritanical bullshit. They really just wouldn't think about it that way. All in all, I guess this goes to show that a true masterpiece sits at the confluence of a lot of factors. The anime was really at the nexus of excellence. The manga: not so. I wouldn't call it bad by any means: the story concept is still very intriguing and compelling, but the execution here was lackluster. I'm still holding out and hoping that the novel will be translated and released. I really want to see that version of this story. Last edited by Galap on Fri Feb 14, 2014 6:56 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Mohawk52
 Posts: 8202 Location: England, UK |
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DmonHiro
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I read this. I remember how it lured me in with the pretty sexy girls, and then BAM!!!!!!! Right in the guts with the dark story and graphic.... things. Fits in with the anime, if you ask me. Also explains a few things left out of the anime
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configspace
Posts: 3717 |
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I've been reading a lot of SF before getting into manga and well, I hadn't plan on getting this.. but now Vertical has another customer here too just from the art 
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suprememoonempress
 Posts: 91 Location: Georgia |
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I thought this was going to be a cute little story and then bam . All those scenes that scarred me for life
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Stall_19
 Posts: 78 |
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I checked this out after finishing the anime and actually had to recheck the cover to make sure I wasn't reading Shin Sekai Yuri, the hentai parody of the story. Horrible, horrible direction to go in with what is a fascinating story. I don't mind changes to a story but I can plainly see that they didn't have the best of intentions when they making this.
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Oneeyedjacks
 Posts: 307 |
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Graphic underage lesbian sex scenes, I might add. |
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tuxedocat
 Posts: 2183 |
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Pass.
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Rosalena
 Posts: 44 Location: United States |
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Wait. That's supposed to be Saki and Marie? Really?
I . . . didn't recognize them at all. That's not good. Thank you for the excellent semi-review provided, Galap. Your fifth paragraph has convinced me that those who enjoyed the anime might want to steer clear of this particular release. |
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razisgosu
Posts: 657 |
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And they are glorious. |
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jojothepunisher
 Posts: 799 |
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Man, I know I was completely drawn in to the ecchi.
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norinori1
Posts: 8 |
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Shinsekai Yori is one oft the most underrated series with such an amazing setting, really unique characters and plot. I am just sad that this beauty does not get the recognition it deserves both in Japan and here.
It isn't flawless but it does so many things right, such as good and reasonable character development, implementing lots,lots of neat ideas and thankfully end this series in a great way. The manga might not be as good as the Anime or the novel but is still a pretty cool bonus for fans. Surely, it is a shame that Sentai licensed this as this show does deserve a much better release (like Aniplex USA) but it was to be expected. Whatever, I am content with the Japanese BDs. |
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Juno016
 Posts: 2429 |
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To be fair, they aren't "underage" in their world, and early sexual interest is considered a good things. And we're not talking exploitative sexualization being the reason for this element in this sci-fi. It's extremely important to recognizing the feelings of the characters and what the values of culture mean now compared to what they may mean at any point in the future. I've read the novel and seen the anime. The novel was nothing short of immersive and I couldn't put it down until I was done. The anime didn't handle a few themes the same way the novel did, but nonetheless, it was very well-executed and the animation was beautiful. Then I decided to read the first volume of the manga while I was waiting for a friend in the bookstore. The manga IS NOT AS HORRENDOUS AS IT LOOKS. It carried some elements from the novel better than the anime, yet had its own particularly special moments (I dislike "dirty talk" when it comes to executing sex scenes, but this one gave me a particularly unique take on the way these people might treat love and sex in their world compared to the novel or anime). Still, the art was practically as the review said it is--a little too sexualized in passing and that distracted me while reading. This wasn't regarding any themes or story elements and it didn't add to the characters at all. It was an aesthetic, and for such a well-illustrated manga, it was a bit too jarring for someone like me to enjoy, let alone take the sex scenes as seriously as I felt they should've been read. |
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gedata
 Posts: 617 |
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this is basically the same as the anime right? Except lewder right? sold
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Echo_City
Posts: 1236 |
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The art on the image for this article does not look like the art of the anime.
If the manga uses more mature looking characters then why did the anime seem to use quasi-loli-looking moeblobs? When I read the part in this review that talks about "sexualization" of the girls and Sapphic scenes I pictured the aforementioned quasi-lolis from the anime and I had to fight back the urge to vomit. Did the infuriating Otaku Oligarchy screw me over by effecting an art change to pander to their raging lolicon? |
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