is a Japanese novel by Yusuke Kishi. It was originally published in January 2008 by Kodansha. It follows Saki who lives quietly in a beautiful and calm village and has just acquired her power at the age of twelve. She then goes to the academy to learn how to master it with other young people her age, including her friends Maria, Shun, Satoru and Mamoru. But during an outing, the five of them will learn things they never should have known.
The story received a manga adaptation in Kodansha's manga magazine Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine, which was serialized between May 2012 and June 2014, and an anime television series adaptation by A-1 Pictures, which aired in Japan between October 2012 and March 2013. In North America, the manga has been licensed by Vertical (itself an imprint of Kodansha USA) and the anime is licensed by Sentai Filmworks.
In 2008, From the New World won the Grand Prize of the 29th Nihon SF Taisho Award.
Synopsis
Setting
In AD 3013, 1,000 years after the modern era, 0.3 percent of the population developed psychic abilities called "Canto." Soon after these powers manifest themselves, many begin using Canto for violence and crime, and the conscious and unconscious use of these powers altered the wildlife and the environment. This led to a breakdown of modern society and a world war which devastated the human population and caused the fall of modern society. This was followed by oppressive and feudalistic regimes, but these too dissolved in chaos due to the violence of the psychic humans. Eventually, the psychic-endowed humans established a stable society by controlling their powers using genetic modification and social conditioning. They made themselves incapable of violence against other humans by implementing Attack Inhibition and creating Death Feedback which would be activated if a psychic human kills another, causing the murderer's organs to shut down and die almost instantly. The villages also used genetically designed animals for various purposes. The mole-like Queerats resemble humanity, are able to speak human language and live in a complex eusocial society ruled by queens. The feline Impure Cats are used to kill children at risk of developing one of the two dangerous disorders: the , who are unable to control their powers, and the , who can suppress the Attack Inhibition and Death Feedback and use their special powers against humans.
Plot
Part I
Shin Sekai Yori follows the life of Saki Watanabe, a girl from the town of Kamisu 66. In this era, all humans possess powerful psychic abilities and live an idyllic life in agrarian villages. Despite her parents' fears that she may not awaken her powers, Saki gains her special powers at the age of twelve and joins her friends—Satoru Asahina, Maria Akizuki, Mamoru Itou, Shun Aonuma, and Reiko Amano—in Sage Academy, a special school for psychics. However, the children are unaware that the village government is monitoring and evaluating students through the education system. Based on these evaluations, certain students are removed from society because of reasons such as poor performance (such as with Reiko) or for cheating. The memories of the removed students are erased from the community; Saki and her remaining friends have no memory of Reiko and other students. During an unsupervised camping field trip, Saki and her friends capture a False Minoshiro, a mythical animal revealed to be an ancient library robot. The False Minoshiro explains the violent truth of how the current era came about and what their special powers truly are.
While interrogating the False Minoshiro, Saki and her friends are found by the monk Rijin. He destroys the False Minoshiro and seemingly seals away the children's special powers for associating with a demon. On the way back to be judged at the village, Rijin is killed by a rogue Queerat tribe while Saki and Satoru are separated from their friends. They are captured by the rogue Queerat colony. Using objects found during their trip, Saki and Satoru are able to escape from their prison. During their escape, they meet a Queerat, Squealer, of the Robber Fly colony who rescues them from their pursuers. Saki and Satoru help Squealer and his colony to defeat the rogue Queerats, later with assistance from General Kiroumaru and his Giant Hornet colony, a colony with an especially close relationship to humans. After regrouping with their friends with the help of Squealer and General Kiroumaru, Saki restores their powers, using the same hypnotic methods the village uses to control children, before returning to the village under the belief that the adults do not know of their transgressions.