Violence / Gore: Most of the violence stem from people abusing their psychokinesis against other people/beings, mostly to tear them apart or incinerate them. Generally the violence scenes cut away from the act and then show an aftermath shot, which usually entails blood splatter. The first episode starts off with such a scene, so one could watch that and get a good idea of how the violence is depicted in this series. The "blood aftermath splatter" count is quite high and some injuries/attacks are shown in more detail. Monster rats fight amongst themselves, both on a formal war and a more primitive animal level.

Nudity / Sexual Content: The kids learn that their society utilises, to a degree, behaviour displayed by the Bonobo chimpanzee in which sex is used as stress relief and conflict resolution. When faced with such an option however, two characters decide to go against their instincts. Part of incorporating Bonobo behaviour is that young adolescents are encouraged to have same sex relationships and heterosexual relationships are not allowed until adulthood. This is most prominent in episode 8, with kissing, French kissing and fondling between same sex couples. There’s brief, undetailed nudity in the second ED. The monster rat queens have three pairs of breasts that are uncovered, but they are more akin to a cow’s udder than a human breast. For further reading, TheSubtleDoctor has an interesting article, “On the Use of Sex in the Dystopian Society of Shinsekai Yori” on his blog here: http://rayoutblog.wordpress.com/2013/05/03/on-the-use-of-sex-in-the-dystopian-society-of-shinsekai-yori/

Theological themes: The monster rats see and refer to the humans as gods. There are several ceremonies and rituals linked to the use and control of psychokinesis, but it’s unclear if these are specifically meant to be spiritual.

Negative Themes: This series is dark in general and while I've tried to set out the content as straight forward as I can, some of it can be more disturbing than when plainly stated because of the foreboding and suspenseful atmosphere. Some of the visuals are downright surreal. Monster rats are seen and treated as little better than animals.