A thousand years into the future, and the world is a pastoral idyll, with little sign of technology. People with telekinetic powers are common, and Saki, Satoru, Maria, Mamoru, and Shun are five children who are learning to control their emergent powers. But for all its surface peace and harmony, this world seems to harbour some dark secrets - secrets that Saki in particular seems likely to uncover... You get the clear feeling from very early in the episode that the world of From the New World is clearly not as idyllic as it seems, with the palpable relief of Saki's parents when her powers first manifest themselves being the first hint - and with more being dropped as the episode progresses, each more blunt and direct than the last. A dark fate awaits those who don't manifest powers to the satisfaction of the Education Committee - although what that fate is hasn't quite been spelt out yet. I'm willing to bet the tale of the Sacred Barrier and the Ogres that lie beyond it will have something to do with it, though. As opening episodes go, this one is on the slow side, spending its time building up atmosphere and a sense of real threat instead of really getting into the meat of the story - there isn't even that much time spent on character development yet, past Saki and her parents. But I'm not complaining - yet - as the atmosphere the show is building, combined with the beautiful world that the series is set in, draws you in and keeps you watching. THE GOOD: Compelling stuff, so far. I'm a sucker for shows with secrets to be revealed and where dark forces wait poised, and that certainly seems to be the case here. THE BAD: Pacing, introduces a lot of characters off the bat and then doesn't have the time to do much with them all. There's time to work on this, though. Good stuff so far, then, but there's still some work to be done to build on this promising start if the series is going to be able to really impress. From the New World is streamed by Crunchyroll..
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