Anime and Manga Discussion

I'll start with what I didn't like, then this review can end on a high note. Also, for lack of a better name I'm gonna call Maria and Mamoru's child the 'fiendish-girl' from now on.

Group 1
Mamoru I have mixed feelings about. I actually think he was one of the more relatable characters in the show, but he was very extreme and overreacted a lot, which made him a bit dislikeable. At least he had some character - and he didn't change across the time periods. Mamoru is probably the character out of Group 1 I actually thought was done well all the way through the show.

Reiko was a nice character, but was killed off early. I didn't really have a problem with this, though, she served her purpose and that was good.
Shun felt good as a character - don't get me wrong, I found kid!Shun completely unrelatable and a bit of a reckless prat, but when it went into teenage years I liked him more, and his character change felt like he was growing up.
Satoru, on the other hand, I can't say the same about. Kid!Satoru was really good. I loved his story telling, fooling around, being an arsehole but still a bit of a scaredy-cat when it really came down to it. That is the making of a character - lots of traits that fit together and make an imperfect balance. This is what annoyed me so much when it went into teenage years, though, and eventually into adult years, since he changed so much from before without so much as an explanation. It was jarring, and not to mention that the new traits he had were boring (non-existent is probably a better word). He just ended up filling the perfect boy shoes that Shun left when he went all angsty and died.

Saki and Maria, on the other hand, were truly terrible. Unrelatable for one, since they were so cliche (Saki is the generic chosen one, Maria is the generic lover-protector), depthless and overall very cringe-worthy whenever they did or said anything. And this applies to all of their different ages. They just felt awkward to watch, and while perhaps forgivable for a couple of side characters - for two of the main characters (with one of them being the protagonist!) it is not good at all.

Episodes 1-10
Generally, they were just slow-paced, dull and didn't hold my interest very well, and while watching them I just felt as though I was completely lost and there seemed to be no sense of direction in the story. Perhaps that's what the authors were going for? I don't know, I just prefer a bit of linearity in my story. Some sort of goal, rather than just 'people are progressing through life'.
A couple of potential exceptions to this was the false minoshiro in episode 4, and Squealer and Kiroumaru's introduction. In the end, though, I feel like the minoshiro revealed a bit too much information too early - predicting the queerats being genetically modified humans was far too easy. (another prediction problem I had was with Tomiko talking about the fiends, and the narrator's words "If Maria hadn't been born, perhaps so many people would have lived". This led me to believe for about 8 or 9 episodes that Maria was going to turn into a fiend. When they started talking about things like Maria is alive, and since Tomiko seemed like someone who couldn't be trusted, in addition to that the fiendish-girl looked like Maria it really jarred me when I finally came to terms with that it wasn't her. Perhaps I just put too much faith in my prediction, but everything seemed to be pointing in that direction - if they didn't want me to think it was Maria then they shouldn't have given so many pointers IMO)

Art and Music
A minor issue, but they were just plain bad xD. Art was flat, and the music didn't fit the atmosphere half the time. At least, the From the New World extract as the curfew alarm was a very nice touch, but it would have been so much more symbolic if the show wasn't called From the New World :V

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Onto the good stuff. If we counted only the bad stuff, I think I would have given the show a 5 or 6 out of 10. Luckily the good stuff made up for it, but if the bad stuff was not so bad, it could easily have been an 8 or 9.

Everyone not in Group 1
I thought that those who weren't in Group 1 were actually done really well. I didn't feel like there was anyone like Saki and Maria who were painful to watch. There were some characters without depth - but it wasn't necessary for them to have depth. There were some characters with way more depth than they needed, such as Saki's parents, or Subaru (yes, the dog), and this was a very good thing. Characters in particular that I liked were Kiroumaru, Tomiko and Shisei - but the Board of Education was good too, as was Tomiko's aide/secretary (I can't remember his name - shows how much I like him xD. He was good, though).
Inui was a bit of a disappointment. Mainly because I felt he came out of nowhere and was suddenly an important character, had he been introduced properly I'd like him more. Overall, the secondary characters of the series were good, though.

Squealer
I know I already talked about the secondary characters, but Squealer deserves explaining in more detail. He's quite simply the star of the show. Sly, scheming, evil, and righteous, but he isn't static in his traits either. He changes over time, in accordance with how the events of the series pan out. However, his change only builds on his character; in the end he remains the same as he had always been from the beginning, and all this I think is the making of a good antagonist.
None of this makes him an excellent character, though. I just explained why he was a good antagonist, but what he really is, is a brilliant anti-hero. He reminds me a lot of Magneto (another great character), since actually, you can sympathise with his cause. You may not necessarily agree with his methods but his ideals have a lot of valid reasons and you find yourself agreeing with the goals he strived to achieve in some sense. And ultimately, when he is sealed to his fate for his wrong-doings, you can't help but feel that it is the greatest injustice in the whole show (and that's saying quite a lot). Nothing he did deserves the punishment he received - and I'll admit it was the only point in the show to garner an emotional reaction from me, I really felt sorry for him and a bit sick when I saw his punishment. What did he do that was heroic, though? Well, it was not his original intention, but he ended up spurring on the civilisation to improve their ways somewhat, and also served as an incredible vehicle to you as the viewer in delivering messages about nationalism, tribalism and segregation; as well as reinforcing the message about genetic ethics. I honestly think that Squealer alone makes up for the weakness of Group 1, and will probably be one of my favourite characters from any show, game, movie etc. for a very long time.

Ethics
For a show that dithered around doing nothing for 2/5 of its duration, it fit in a surprising amount of thought-provoking topics, and did them well too. While they didn't challenge my perceptions of the world in the same way it might do to other people watching the show (or Group 1 in episode 4, in fact, their overreaction was a testimony to how much their world was crushed upon hearing the minoshiro's words), they at least presented the ideas in an interesting environment. The range of issues explored was another good thing. From biological weapons to genetic engineering, to human and animal rights; I thought they were shown in such a way that makes you think but doesn't give you a truly conclusive answer to (even if a position is hinted at), which is good since it allows you to make your own mind up about it. My only gripe with them was that the protagonists were clearly given a modern Western liberal outlook on the world (it was hand-waved as them being 'human', rather than brainwashed, although I don't buy it) which definitely gave a somewhat biased stance. Kiroumaru and Squealer at least presented two other opposing views to the protagonists on a number of issues which helps give balance.

//rant over

Once I got into it, I enjoyed the show. Not a favourite by any means, but I can at least walk away with Squealer safely as one of my top favourite characters.