Shin Sekai Yori - Episode 7

Such amusing faces

Luckily, there was a lot more good than bad in this episode. As a whole, the episode was enjoyable and the reunion of the five in the end was very heartwarming. Although it felt slightly rushed—mostly because of the constant scene changes—the end result was desirable so I chose to overlook that. One thing that did bug me was how despicable of a character Squealer is. Sure, he ended up helping Saki and Satoru, but who knows if this is yet another one of his cowardly betrayals. He also reminded me of the brown nosers in society—sucking up to people solely for their own benefit. Because of this, I have a feeling that he might have been involved in the cliffhanger at the end, possibly being the one who contacted the Ethics Committee and told them everything in return for a reward of some sort.

And then there's Kinōmaru. On the surface, he appears to be a highly-respected war general that is also fair and understanding, even going out of his way to risk his life for the sake of the five. Now, given all the doubt-provoking events as of late, one has got to question his intent. Is he truly doing this to help the group, or is there another reason for it. A more neutral guess would be that he's just listening to the orders of the Ethics Committee who might have wanted to ensure the arrival of the five so that they could take appropriate action against them. A more negative guess would be that Kinōmaru bargained with the committee, agreeing on compensation in exchange for the safe arrival of the group and information on them, specifically about their Juryoku. Whatever the case, things don't look too bright for our main characters.

The preview shows yet again another possible timeskip. But like with the last one, I'm skeptical about whether this is actually the case or that it's another animation derp. Hopefully, it's the latter since, given that teenagers and young adults generally have a more advanced thought process than children, the story might be kicked up a notch in terms of character interaction and psychological drama.