Shin Sekai Yori (From the New World) - Episode 6

With the twists and turns of Saki and Satoru's plight continuing, Shin Sekai Yori's tale takes a slightly psychedelic bent for a while as this sixth episode of the series begins.

Ultimately, all of this relates to another major rule that Saki had broken long before embarking on her group's current folly - that is, learning the manta another individual uses to activate their own power, which she effectively learns by tricking Satoru into giving it away.  Given the loss of their powers previously however, this proves to be a useful rule to have broken, as it allows Saki to return Satoru's powers to him to assist them in escaping from the almost literal hole that they've dug for themselves in their current predicament.

Having escaped from the depths of the underground, it's time for the pair to make good their escape... or is it?  With his powers restored, Satoru decides that attack is the best form of defence, and goes on a brutal offensive against effectively anyone who stands in his way.  Given that he's now fighting a one-man war on behalf of the Rat Monsters himself and Saki soon find themselves joining their ranks in an assault - one that only becomes harder and harder to contend with as we move towards the heart of enemy territory.  With Satoru's strength waning from the constant use of his powers, just how much longer can he spearhead the attack?

For the first few minutes of this week's episode, I was worried that Shin Sekai Yori was about to go off the rails entirely as it looked all set to descend into a confusing mess.  Thankfully however there was a method to its madness, and from that point forth the rest of the instalment was decidedly compelling as we watched Satoru using and abusing his powers without restraint (perhaps lending credence to the teachings of the youngsters to only use their abilities for good) while also getting a feeling for the state of no-holds barred warfare being engaged in by the worlds non-human participants.  This whole scenario also did an effective job of slowly but surely ratcheting up the tension as Satoru turned from one-man superweapon into a tired young boy with a powerless comrade who is being eyed ever more suspiciously by their "allies".  With the current scenario hanging from a thread once again,  it feels like there's a lot more to come from this series in the very near future, which is a real relief after it felt like it was making a large misstep in episode five.