Summary: Shun has vanished and the remaining children decide to investigate, with Saki and Satoru heading to his hometown while Mamoru and Maria poke about the school.

Dragonzigg’s Thoughts: After last week’s dramatic status quo shift, this week seems to be more about plot development, and actually kickstarting a story again. From the New World has been characterised by a sort of weird, see-sawing rhythm where large amounts of plot happen very quickly and then the story slows again, no doubt a product of its novel based origins. it’s made for unconventional pacing thus far but I am becoming a little wearied of the unorthodox story structure, so let’s hope they can settle into a comfortable pace relatively soon.

As it is, this episode is filled with revelations that don’t necessarily link up to form a coherent whole yet, and therefore have less impact than they might. We can only guess at this point, but it looks as if far from just dragging Shun off, the mysterious overseers instead decided on a scorched earth policy and simply razed his entire village to the ground. Elements such as the frosty ground or the rather disturbing face stuck in a tree seem to me the remnants of psychic powers used in some particularly horrible ways, and the tree proves Shun’s house was the epicentre of the attack. Meanwhile, the discovery by Mamoru and Maria (is it just coincidence they paired those two? I think not) that the mysterious cats are in fact real and being unleashed to hunt Shun down suggest that he isn’t out for the count just yet.

It’s noticeable how as time goes by the children are caring less and less for the rituals and rules which are supposed to shape their world. For example, Saki and Satoru cross the ‘holy barrier’ without a second thought, and the entire gang are pretty much in open rebellion against the mysterious ‘Ethics Committee’ at this point. This begs the question – why haven’t they been eliminated yet? It remains to be seen, but the show very effectively evokes the feeling that the walls are closing in on the group and I totally expect them to be on the run before the season is out. This tension is well expressed in probably this episode’s best scene, the tense dinner between Saki and her parents. The droning small talk only serves to amp up the drama of the eventual confrontation, and it’s a nice reminder that as sterile as this society might seem, there’s still real people living in fear behind the facade. I’m not sure how significant the revelation that Saki had an older sister will be – it seems done mostly for the emotional punch – but it’s a strong moment nonetheless.

Though it lacked the unchecked weirdness of last week’s episode, this was arguably a much more significant one. Saki’s lock-and-load montage at the end suggests she means business on this quest to find Shun and I have to wonder if this is the arc in which we’ll see this cozy fake paradise broken open for good, and our group’s focus go from saving themselves to uncovering what’s rotten in this world. For now, a step up in pace is much appreciated.

Random Observations

• What’s with Saki’s ultra pimp pajamas?
• Saki clearly only just remembers having a sister. I wonder if her memory was suppressed in some way?
• If I had to describe the terrible beasts that have been unleashed in one word, it would probably be ‘dainty’. Look at those high heel feet!