Summary: The group question the Evil Minoshiro, which reveals some of the secrets of this world to them. But before they can get the full story, there’s an unforeseen interruption.

Dragonzigg’s Thoughts: In previous writeups I’ve had issues with From the New World excelling in atmosphere but lacking in plot development. The first half of this episode almost seems a backlash against those criticisms – it’s basically ten solid minutes of exposition dump, and while the information revealed is interesting, it’s something of a pacing disaster.  I’m a big, big advocate of ‘show don’t tell’ storytelling and this is basically the antithesis of that – it’s the Minoshiro talking for ages interspersed with random flashbacks, much of which we’ve seen before. What’s frustrating is that a lot of this exposition is unnecessary. Those who have been paying close attention will already have worked out a great deal of the history and in fact it may have been more effective to leave it unsaid. The entire sequence seems to run counter to the slow, methodical buildup that the shwo has embraced up to this point.

With all that said, there’s still plenty of good stuff to chew over in this information. By far and away the most fascinating is the revelations about the makeup of Saki & co’s society, about how it’s strictly structured to remove deviant thinkers and genetically engineered to inhibit violence. Some of the pseudoscience is a little bit of a stretch, but the idea is so fascinating I’m prepared to let it slide. The show still doesn’t make it clear exactly what Fiends and Karma Demons actually are, but I have to believe that’s deliberate, and it’s not too hard to assume that they’re PK users gone wild and out of control, which would fit the Minoshiro’s assertion that they’ve been around since before the widespread emergence of psychics.

The second half of this episode though in some ways moves the plot on more than the first, with the emergence of the enigmatic Rijin. We don’t learn much about him other than he’s a priest of some sort, but he clearly knows the danger the Minoshiro poses and doesn’t hesitate to exterminate it on sight. In fact, Rijin shows all the signs of true zealotism, displaying little empathy for the children and showing fanatical zeal in his destruction of the queerats. He’s also by far and away the most powerful psychic we’ve yet seen, capable of unparalleled feats of destruction, although as the children note, the appear to place great strain on him, possibly due to the newly uncovered ‘Death Reflex’.

The other thing I wanted to note about this episode is how genuinely unsettling it is. The show so far has excelled at creating a tense and uneasy atmosphere, but there’s really some next level stuff on display here. The Minoshiro’s description of the pacifying sexuality of the Bonobos, intercut with images of Saki being hugged,  is creepy in exactly the right sort of way (and surprisingly accurate to boot). The scene where Rijin seals away the children’s powers is also very disturbing, with Saki’s tears and physical shock accentuating the feeling of theft and violation, and of adults wielding power over children in uncomfortable ways. There’s also Rijin’s decision to use the fragile Mamoru as a scout, clearly scaring him out of his mind and reducing him to a blubbering wreck by the end of the episode. Whoever this guy is, he’s not nice, and watching this episode was a compelling but not a fun experience.

This episode’s powerful moments ultimately do much to redeem its exceedingly clunky structure, but it’s still disappointing too see such a basic recap mechanic used, and hopefully this won’t become something that happens every few episodes.  I’m going to predict the children’s loss of their powers is not permanent – with all the talk from the Minoshiro it seems highly likely the sealing is some form of hypnotic or psychological self-supression, but that’s one that could go either way. With new mysteries uncovered (most prominently of course the identity of the lady in the Minoshiro’s dying moments) and our gang out from the safety of their sealed bubble of a world, the show only promises to get darker and more twisted. Regardless, it’s gripping, fascinating television.