Humanity has declined, is the english title to Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita. An anime that I myself, really enjoyed. It is also an anime that I think you should all check out, the concept is very interesting and is something “new” (Well, to me anyway).
I do not think it’ll disappoint!
Because of the constantly declining birth rates over many decades, human civilization is all but extinct. With only a few humans remaining, they survive in this post-apocalyptic world with what was left behind by the previous generations. Earth is now dominated by fairies, tiny creatures with extremely advanced technology, an obsession with candy, and a complete disregard for human safety.
A young girl who has just finished her studies returns to her hometown and is designated as an official United Nations arbitrator. Her duty is to serve as a link between mankind and fairies, reassuring each side that both races can live together peacefully. She imagines this task will be easy enough, but controlling the disasters created by the oblivious fairies in their pursuit of candy will require a lot more effort than she initially believes. – MyAnimeList
Story
Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita is set in a world where the decrease in birth rates have caused the population of humans to decrease giving rise to “new humans” known as fairies who possess technological advancements. We follow Watashi as an arbiter of sorts between the fairies and the humans as she tries to investigate the fairies and their behaviours which lead to some convoluted adventures.
The main thing to acknowledge about this title is the fact that this is a comedic satire that pokes fun at humanity, and by doing so it hits upon a bunch aspects from society in a silly yet dark way. Consumerism, religion, the manga industry, exceptionalism and much more are displayed in the anime through multiple 1-2 episode arcs that go back in time as the anime progress which in my opinion adds another layer of uniqueness with its reverse chronological ordering. The events are for the majority of the show absurd between shaved chickens running around headless to a piece of bread pulling a Hitler and killing itself. This anime is very eccentric, and I’m glad as hell that the anime utilizes its weirdness properly.
Characters
Watashi as a main lead female role is refreshing due to her detachment from the stereotypical anime archetypes. On the exterior, she appears to be pretty, but her cynical, manipulative and sarcastic attitude towards everything is a spellbinding character flaw that brings out some of the best jokes in the series. The way she goes about doing things like procuring information or messing around with the fairies or even just her facial reactions are all entertaining as hell to observe. Overall, Watashi as our pessimistic lead character is a blessing with nice as opposed to the standard norm.
The fairies are something else. Their deadpan faces, always smiling no matter if the topic is about persecution, obsessing over sweets, and their mischievous behaviour that rivals a child popping a hole in a strange balloon he found on the floor only to realize that his mother got pregnant a few weeks after he popped said balloon. Damn kids, can’t trust them.
The fairies are in short weird, they erect societies only to crush them, they react in absurd ways, and follow others blindly, but the petrifying part is the fairies are us. The fairies are an over exaggeration of human society, how we function, develop, digress, and think. The fairies though are dark and naive and are essentially human. They are hilarious to watch onscreen as Watashi interacts with them, and as they themselves communicate with each other.
Art
The art for the show looked very storybook for a lack of a better term. It appears to be pulled right from a kid’s storybook with vivid colours to cover the appealing backgrounds and objects that aren’t trying to achieve any sort of realism. Surprisingly, I have to commend this show for its use of lighting because it generates some hilarious moments when the dark humour is utilized in darker areas to juxtapose the seriousness with hilariousness. The character designs are all eccentric but they cooperate well with each other as a whole with Watashi having a fresh look and the fairies looking like tiny stoners.
Sound
In terms of sound, the soundtrack wasn’t all that special, let’s just face it, you’ll forget all about it in a matter of seconds. But do I really like the happy-go-lucky nature of the opening and the ending songs. The voice acting for Watashi and the fairies are top-notch and brings the characters to life whereas all the other characters’ voice actors do a decent job in their roles.
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2 responses to “Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita | Humanity has declined!”
This was a very strange show. It was enjoyable while I was watching it and some of the lines are extremely funny but a few months later and I’m struggling to remember all that much about it other than the creepy smiles of the fairies.
The fairies were my favourite parts on the show. There’s just something about them having such cute faces, but saying some really messed up stuff that connected with me.