Title: Humanity Has Declined: Complete Collection

Director: Seiji Kishi

Studio: AIC

U. S. Distributor: Sentai Filmworks / Section 23

U. S. Release Date: Dec. 24th, 2013

Format: DVD / 12 Episodes / 300 minutes

Genre: Sci Fi, Comedy, Fantasy

Age Rating: TV 14

Overall Personal Rating: B

Synopsis: 

For years, declining birth rates have forced what’s left of the human race to cede more and more territory to other beings who have appeared to take advantage of the emptying ecological niche. Now, only a handful of humans remain among the remnants of civilization and Earth is dominated by faeries – tiny, ten-inch tall creatures of surprising intelligence.

But humanity’s importance isn’t over quite yet, as young Watashi learns as she makes the decision to return to her hometown and assume her grandfather’s position as an arbitrator between the races. Unfortunately, the job isn’t going to be anywhere near as simple as she expected, and it’s going to take wisdom far beyond her years to achieve her most important mission. It’s not about how often you fall and fail, it’s about how often you get back up and try again, and the human race still has a lot left to accomplish.

Commentary:

Humanity Has Declined is the newest entry into the U. S. releases of strange and somewhat incomprehensable anime. It starts out rather innocent and unassuming, but it doesn’t take long before it take a turn to the weird and wild side. One other notable is that the lead character’s name is not revealed. Watashi stands for “I” and sometimes she is referred to as Ms. Sweets by the Fairies, but we do not know what her true name is and in many ways it is refreshing because it is not important to the series.

The animation styling sets up a happy light image that beguiles the viewer into thinking that the series is relatively inviting. It doesn’t take long before we are treated to a talking loaf of bread that tears itself apart and invites the humans to eat it. The edge to this scene is that there is a red liquid that squirts out giving the appearance of a violent end to the loaf of bread. This is not the only instance of a overtly strange scene and the seres becomes rather absurd from time to time.

The voice acting also gives the viewer the impression that this is a series aimed at the younger viewer and this too becomes rather disturbing from time to time. Even though this series is only subtitled it does not detract from its bizarre nature and in fact it helps maintain the mystique. The voice actors do a fine job of helping all of these slightly odd characters come to life and with their light approach to the characters helps the series keep the viewer off balance. The soundtrack is nothing to get too excited about, but I did think the closing song was above average and the lyrics manage to capture the odd nature of Humanity Has Declined.

Overall Grade: B

There is a lot about this Humanity Has Declined that should have propelled it to the top of the charts, but it has its flaws that keep in the middle of the pack. Even though I found the series fun and entertaining there were too many flat points were the story seemed to fall apart. This weakness may have been intentional in order to make to over the top strangeness even more extravagant, but in the end it just brings the series down. I really appreciated the fact that the names of the characters was secondary and the most personal name we get is Grandfather the rest are all based on description or nicknames. This stands out as not just a tool of the writer but a genuine effort to make the story stand on its own. The one thing I wished for was more of of an exploration into who the Fairies are and what has brought humanity to this point, but all in all it is still a lot of fun and for those who are fans of the strange anime this one is for you. Go for it I think you will be very pleased.