A village amongst a group of villages, controlled by some of the last humans in Japan. Following years of warfare amongst humans – between normal humans and special humans who have magical powers called Cantus - has led to a unique societal restructuring. Against this backdrop is From the New World. The violence of old is implied to be nuclear in nature, leading to a drastic decrease in the global human population. Therefore, this show represents a perceived post-nuclear world: at the hand of humanity’s desire for improved weaponry would the world be irreparably harmed. Thus, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the destruction of the Fukushima power plant are implied in this new world in which sits the village. A group of Cantus wielders live in this village, aiming to maintain societal stability following the years of turbulence. To this end, the children are brainwashed into blindly accepting societal values, favoring stability over individuality. This society in many ways reflects traditional Japanese culture in that harmony is held up so highly, seemingly reinforced by the nuclear threat.
Favoring
a subtle response, the village elders identify children who could pose a
problem and mark them for extermination, which is carried out by the engineered
Tainted Cats[1].
The Board of Education in the village is the task force in charge of this
effort. Obviously, these efforts enhance stability somehow. However, these
policies are guided by very specific fears[2]. One
possibility is a Karmic Demon, describing a person who leaks Cantus
unconsciously[3]
– this state is itself akin to nuclear materials releasing radiation. These
so-called Karmic Demons, however, can at least be defeated relatively easily by
the stable Cantus users.
However,
one even more terrifying possibility threatens this society: the existence of a
Fiend who attacks other humans. Because in this society humans cannot directly
use Cantus to fight humans[4], the
ability to do so represents a fissure in that which binds them together. Therefore,
the Fiend is far too difficult to defeat: it can kill humans but cannot be
itself killed by Cantus. The Fiend is capable of shattering such a society
built around stability as a result. In that sense, this phenomenon represents a
very Japanese fear of being destroyed from within, as reflected by their
emphasis on harmony. It ties into the similar depictions in Akira and Elfen Lied – naturally, From
the New World similarly employs gore and violence to depict the sheer power
of superhumans when allowed to roam unrestrained. The remainder of this essay
will focus on the Fiend (prominent in eps 18-25 or so of the show) as she
relates to Japanese culture and mass murder.
Figure 1. Distant view of the Fiend. (Presumably) human corpses are being levitated due to the Fiend's powers.
Saki and Satoru, two characters who grew up in the village, are among the remaining defenders left to fight the humanoid Monster Rats[5]. After years of oppression by the humans, the Monster Rats under the leadership of Yakomaru[6] are revolting. The humans quickly abandon their childishly simple hubris as their casualties mount, crushing the supposedly safe society that the Cantus users had built. Because the Monster Rats are themselves not strong, they surely have an ace. With rising tensions, Saki and Satoru travel to the abandoned hospital, now a place of grime and darkness; on their way, they discover humans wrapped up and strung from the ceiling.
Talking to one of the few remaining patient survivors reveals that “she” is on the loose. Making their way out, Saki and Satoru barely escape “her” through a tense act of deception as they drifted down in the river in a canoe. So close they hear a fierce banshee shriek – it is the Fiend, capable of unnerving the sturdiest warrior – and feel the disruption of society as a physical existence. Saki, as they try to keep apace, thinks back on the Board of Education’s policies: as a child she had resented them but now she saw why they were in place. The worst fears of this society are being realized through the Fiend’s path of destruction.
As
if driving home this point, upon their return to the village, the village tower
is split into large chunks and the most powerful human, the leader, is killed
by the Fiend violently, despite his best efforts to slay her with a barrage of
stones. After slaying him “she” breathes heavily, only slightly deterred. In
this moment, she truly is the Monster Rat “Messiah,” a being who perfectly represents
the nuclear superhuman.
Nameless
– she is either “her” or “Messiah” or “The Fiend.” Never a true name or
something to present her humanity. As I call her, she is always “The Fiend.”
Thus, she is cast as not human, similar to the superhumans in Akira and Elfen Lied[7].
However, she is indisputably a pre-adolescent/adolescent human girl, born to
human parents. (She was raised by Monster Rats, though, after being orphaned at
a young age.) There is a degree of
cognitive dissonance that can only be resolved with this logic: she is
considered subhuman in a human form, which matches eerily well with theories on
systematic oppression. This link is indirect – after all, in this case the
Fiend is technically the oppressor and murdered. However, her falling out of
the norm itself, removed of her hand in violence, results in her
dehumanization. As stated earlier, being known as a murderer creates additional
adverse effects.
Known for her ability to make vocalizations other than shrieked yells, the Fiend is thus cast inhuman – if anything she bears resemblance to how an autistic child is seen. Thus, she fits the social model of disability rather well - the Fiend is seen as having the inability to talk or have human emotions, which means that she is viewed as a monster to slay rather than a human to understand. In the show, Satoru gets angry and worried whenever Saki questions if “she” is really a Fiend, suggesting how ingrained this idea is. Society values a normed approach to expression of emotions, which places the Fiend starkly outside of it. Therefore, the characters’ perception that she is not human allows for painting her as both a murderer with no value for life and as someone who disrespects humanity – however, a murderer belonging to a normed state is seen as more human, generally. Therefore, the only solution to dealing with the Fiend is to outright destroy her in a ballistic effort, reminiscent of the United States’ attempts to bring the Japanese nation to its knees during WWII. The masses slain by her add their corpses to this argument. These depictions create an image of someone who become no longer human and was able to destroy societal stability. For this reason, the latter half of the show is drenched with a claustrophobic and tense atmosphere, displaying strong horror influences: The Fiend is a beast.
Known for her ability to make vocalizations other than shrieked yells, the Fiend is thus cast inhuman – if anything she bears resemblance to how an autistic child is seen. Thus, she fits the social model of disability rather well - the Fiend is seen as having the inability to talk or have human emotions, which means that she is viewed as a monster to slay rather than a human to understand. In the show, Satoru gets angry and worried whenever Saki questions if “she” is really a Fiend, suggesting how ingrained this idea is. Society values a normed approach to expression of emotions, which places the Fiend starkly outside of it. Therefore, the characters’ perception that she is not human allows for painting her as both a murderer with no value for life and as someone who disrespects humanity – however, a murderer belonging to a normed state is seen as more human, generally. Therefore, the only solution to dealing with the Fiend is to outright destroy her in a ballistic effort, reminiscent of the United States’ attempts to bring the Japanese nation to its knees during WWII. The masses slain by her add their corpses to this argument. These depictions create an image of someone who become no longer human and was able to destroy societal stability. For this reason, the latter half of the show is drenched with a claustrophobic and tense atmosphere, displaying strong horror influences: The Fiend is a beast.
Seeking
to kill the Fiend, Saki and Satoru head to the lethal wasteland of Tokyo in
pursuit of the bactericidal weapon called the Psychobuster – they were followed
by Yakomaru and his prized pupil the Fiend, setting the stage for a showdown.
The Psychobuster, however, is strongly reminiscent of biological warfare – it
is akin to the sarin gas attack – and therefore is not a weapon that can be
used lightly.
Figure 4. Depiction of the Psychobuster weapon and its cover (unsheathed).
The weapon must be used on a foe deemed beyond humanity, which raises morality questions about its usage. Seeing the Fiend, Satoru dispatched the Psychobuster to the concern of Saki. However, Saki, who realized that the Fiend is indeed truly a human, stops the poison gas emitted with a burst of flames; this act protects all three of them. This act reaffirms the Fiend’s humanity and acts against punishing a murderer with a cruel and gruesome death: one does not dispatch a human with a slow and painful death unless that person’s humanity is deemed lessened. Typically this happens when a murderer is perceived to fall outside of normed social identities – a non-normed figure like the Fiend is more likely to be considered an inhuman monster and therefore target for an inhumane death.
The weapon must be used on a foe deemed beyond humanity, which raises morality questions about its usage. Seeing the Fiend, Satoru dispatched the Psychobuster to the concern of Saki. However, Saki, who realized that the Fiend is indeed truly a human, stops the poison gas emitted with a burst of flames; this act protects all three of them. This act reaffirms the Fiend’s humanity and acts against punishing a murderer with a cruel and gruesome death: one does not dispatch a human with a slow and painful death unless that person’s humanity is deemed lessened. Typically this happens when a murderer is perceived to fall outside of normed social identities – a non-normed figure like the Fiend is more likely to be considered an inhuman monster and therefore target for an inhumane death.
After
a drawn out battle, the Fiend is defeated in a clever manner. Kiroumaru[8], a
Monster Rat aiding Saki and Satoru, feigns being a human and allows the Fiend
to mortally wound him; then he reveals himself to be a Monster Rat, to the
horror of the Fiend. (The Fiend’s death feedback applies only to Monster Rats
and not humans because she was raised by the former. She does not, as a result,
see humans as “human.”)
Figure 7. The Fiend screaming in pain and subsequently clutching her chest as she begins to die. Moments later, she collapses as a corpse.
Clutching her chest while gasping in agony, she collapses onto the ground. This final scene reveals that, though she acts very different from the normed state and killed many people, she is human. Through this sequence, the murderer is not simply a being who has a thirst for blood but someone who was influenced into this role: this suggests that the destruction is altogether more horrific, which is why the murderer is usually cast as inhuman. The show, through offering her a comparatively peaceful and arguably more human death, suggests that even mass killers have to be offered humanity, even in their punishment. Society, however, tends to become focused on the persecution of attacks on its stability rather than on concerning itself over a fair punishment. In many respects, how society deals with murder should thus be considered.
Figure 5. Depiction of Kiroumaru from the back after he is both mortally wounded by the Fiend and has removed his bandages, revealing that he is a Monster Rat. Now the Fiend realizes that she has killed a fellow Monster Rat and begins to feel death feedback.
 |
| Figure 6. The Fiend's shock and apprehension upon feeling the death feedback and seeing Kiroumaru collapse. |
Clutching her chest while gasping in agony, she collapses onto the ground. This final scene reveals that, though she acts very different from the normed state and killed many people, she is human. Through this sequence, the murderer is not simply a being who has a thirst for blood but someone who was influenced into this role: this suggests that the destruction is altogether more horrific, which is why the murderer is usually cast as inhuman. The show, through offering her a comparatively peaceful and arguably more human death, suggests that even mass killers have to be offered humanity, even in their punishment. Society, however, tends to become focused on the persecution of attacks on its stability rather than on concerning itself over a fair punishment. In many respects, how society deals with murder should thus be considered.
Figure 8. Yakomaru standing next to the corpse of his pupil the Fiend. As of this point, he has accepted utter defeat.
Throughout
much of From the New World, the Fiend
is seen through her grunting and other non-verbal vocalizations, casting her as
beastly. The viewer witnesses many scenes of absolute carnage at her hands. However,
as the killings continue, the Fiend becomes more and more human through Saki’s
eyes. And, ultimately, as she collapses onto the ground, she is fully revealed
to be human in her ability to feel and react, revealing that the initial
depictions of the Fiend as monstrous are simplistic. In these final moments, “she”
is revealed to be far beyond simply a cruel murderer. One could argue that she
was groomed for a role where she would eventually be a sacrifice by Yakomaru
and that she was doomed from the start. In this sense, the Fiend was
transformed from a living being into a tool to be used, reflecting
dehumanization. Thus, she represents a fascinating but lachrymose view of mass
murder as complex and not simply a barbaric act.
References
Shinsekai Yori. Dir. Masashi Ishihama Perf. Kana Hanazawa and Risa Taneda. A-1 Pictures, 2012-2013. Anime.
[1] In this respect, the show still
features some elements such as genetic engineering that are currently being
used.
[2] These fears can be directed
towards fears regarding the effects of radiation and sources of radiation (i.e.
atomic bombs).
[3] Stable Cantus users can stop the
leakage of Cantus so most people do not enter this state.
[4] Stable Cantus users have a death
feedback – using Cantus on other Cantus users results in death through an
influenced physiological pattern.
[5] The Monster Rats are a race that
looks like a mixture between humans and mole rats; they are considered inferior
to the Cantus users and were used as slaves prior to the revolt. This revolt is
one of the major plot developments in the latter half of the show.
[6] He claims himself as a
revolutionary leader of the Monster Rats to overthrow the humans.
[7] These characters are designated
by number and are rarely called by their given names.
[8] This character has particular
plot significance for a variety of reasons but he plays a major role in
defeating the Fiend.
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This post is part three of three.
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This post is part three of three.
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