Not sure how I missed this but was really fascinating.
What an incredible sci-fi concept. The anime really starts off well but slow in order to build tension and character development. You know something is terribly wrong and get a glimpse that something sinister is going on. The use of time arcs is well done. Makes this story seem a lot longer than it really was. Thoroughly enjoyed the world building. Lots of details and quirky ideas from a post-apocalyptic society.
My biggest beef is that in the last arc all logic goes right out of the window. The show becomes so frustratingly inconsistent and unrealistic according to the world they've spent time building. It's as if the writers just spent 75% of their effort creating this really fascinating world, then realized they had 6 episodes left and said, screw it.... we have to hurry up and finish it. Nothing makes sense anymore . Characters completely act against their nature as previously written. Logic of the cantu itself stops making sense. And i'm not asking for every little detail to be perfectly consistent. This is a 180 deg shift.
Many examples but a couple are how are these people dying? Can't they protect themselves? This actually culminates with Shesi (the strongest Cantu user) doing just that, protecting himself with his Godlike powers to slow Fiend down. Then all of a sudden, Shesi's writhing in the air somehow disabled by .... reasons. No explanation other than a single sentence about Cantu Leakage, which has never been talked about before in this context. All the other people can't throw up walls or hide... they just succumb to fear and die in a panic. This is so abnormal and retarded, but it moves the plot forward. That there is this superhuman FIEND that cannot be stopped. Poor writing.
Another just mind numbing example is how these PK users selectively lose their abilities when the plot needs it. The final tunnel/river scene.... Can't use that river, current is too strong... we'll need to split up and get a submarine. WHAT???? 30 seconds earlier they were moving giant slabs of rocks thru the air and later flying the submarine.... Or when they first enter the caves.... slime and bat crap on the floor and our hero just forgets that she could sweep it all away in a path. No she has to be freaked out. This happens absolutely thru the last 5 episodes over and over and over again. Again, it feels that a whole new writing team came in that had just gotten some quick overview but hadn't read/watched the first 2/3s of the story and were under some really unrealistic rush to finish.
The ending was predictable but not in a good way for me. The real bad guy of the story is the PK users clearly. They were the real villains but didn't realize it. You could see it especially in Tomiko the 275yr old leader. She knew everything and yet wanted to ruthlessly punish the very people her contemporaries had created out of normal humans. Makes Hitler look like a sunday school teacher. It all ends with our hero starting a family and hoping for some change, but obviously can't happen. No lessons learned and no redemption. The powerful suffered a bit thru arrogance, but it will continue.
So, all in all it had the potential to really be a great story but for whatever reason the end got really lazy or sloppy and kinda ruined it all. I feel cheated.