, or for short, is a Japanese

light novel A is a type of Genre fiction, popular literature novel from Japan usually classified as young adult fiction, generally targeting Adolescence, teens to Young adult, twenties or older. The definition is very vague, and wide-ranging. The abbr ...

series written by Romeo Tanaka. The novels originally featured illustrations by Tōru Yamasaki for the first six volumes, but Yamasaki was replaced by Sunaho Tobe in 2011.

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of comics, magazines, light novels, dictionaries, literature, non-fiction, home media, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but ...

published 11 volumes from May 2007 to September 2016. Three

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

adaptations have been produced. An

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

adaptation produced by AIC A.S.T.A., directed by Seiji Kishi, and written by Makoto Uezu aired in Japan between July and September 2012.

Sentai Filmworks Sentai Filmworks, LLC (or simply Sentai) is an American entertainment company. Located in Houston, the company specializes in the dubbing and distribution of Japanese animation and Asian cinema. Its post-production arm is Sentai Studios. The ...

has licensed the anime in North America.

Plot

''Humanity Has Declined'' is set in a post-apocalyptic world where the human civilization has regressed and humanity keeps decreasing in numbers. The story follows an unnamed girl who acts as a mediator between humanity and the "fairies" who are small elf-like creatures attracted by sweets and happy things, but also have the habit to cause trouble to her with their powers in their endless search for amusement.

Characters

; : :Generally referred to as either or , the heroine is a sensible mediator between humankind and the fairies. She is one of the few humans left capable of creating sweets, which causes the fairies to naturally flock to her. Having observed the slow decline of humanity, her outlook on life is grim. ; : :The protagonist's grandfather, a researcher and firearm fanatic. Thanks to the fairies, he met with his granddaughter when he was 13 years old and a time paradox was created. ; : :A young boy in a Hawaiian shirt who almost never speaks and serves as the protagonist's assistant. ; : :They are mysterious beings with advanced technology that could be called magic. The fairies have permanent smiles on their faces and very literal, honest viewpoints on everything. Despite their cute appearance, they seem to have a total disregard for human safety. The presence of many fairies is supposed to increase one's fortunes, but they cause potentially fatal situations. They often request sweets from the protagonist in exchange for their assistance. ;Y : :An old classmate of the protagonist's whose job is to identify human artifacts. She discovers a yaoi doujinishi from our era, however, and then spends her time self-publishing

yaoi , also known by its abbreviation , is a genre of fictional media originating in Japan that depicts homoerotic relationships between male characters. It is typically created by women for a female audience, distinguishing it from the equivale ...

doujinshi , also romanized as ', is the Japanese term for self-published print works, such as magazines, manga, and novels. Part of a wider category of ''doujin'' (self-published) works, ''doujinshi'' are often derivative of existing works and created b ...

. ; : :A humanoid robot with cat ears. She makes sound effects whenever she acknowledges something of interest. Her original name is " Pioneer". ; : :Pion's partner, who she is searching for. His original name is " Voyager". ; : :The protagonist's classmate from her school days, who is disturbingly affectionate.

Media

Light novels

''Humanity Has Declined'' began as a

series written by Romeo Tanaka.

published 11 volumes between May 24, 2007, and September 16, 2016 under their Gagaga Bunko imprint; nine comprise the main story, while the other two are short story collections. For the first six volumes, the novels featured illustrations by Tōru Yamasaki, but he was replaced by Sunaho Tobe in 2011. Shogakukan republished the novels with Tobe's illustrations between November 18, 2011, and March 16, 2012.

Volumes

Manga

One chapter of a

adaptation, illustrated by Rei Neyuki, was published in

's ''

Monthly Ikki was a monthly manga magazine published by Shogakukan. It tended to specialize in Underground comix, underground or alternative manga, but it had its share of major hits as well. The magazine started in 2000 as a spin-off (media), spin-off to S ...

'' magazine on January 25, 2010; however, the manga went on an indefinite hiatus and was ultimately cancelled. Another manga, illustrated by Takuya Mitomi, titled , was serialized in the same magazine from November 25, 2011, to May 25, 2012. Its chapters were collected in a single volume, released on July 30, 2012. Mitomi also illustrated the four-panel

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

manga , was serialized in ''Monthly Ikki'' from June 25 to August 25, 2012. A manga illustrated by Terae Kichijō and titled was serialized in

Media Factory , formerly known as , was a Japanese publisher and brand company of Kadokawa Future Publishing. History The company was founded on December 1, 1986, and was a subsidiary of Recruit (Japanese company), Recruit Co., Ltd., based in Shibuya, Tokyo. ...

's ''

Monthly Comic Alive is a Japanese seinen manga magazine published by Media Factory. The first issue was released on June 27, 2006. Serialized titles *'' Absolute Duo'' *'' Alice or Alice'' (until 2015, part of the supplement magazine '' Comic Cune'') *'' Ano Ko ni ...

'' between January 27, 2012, and January 27, 2013. Three compiled volumes have been released.

Anime

television series adaptation produced by AIC A.S.T.A. and directed by Seiji Kishi aired in Japan between July 2 and September 17, 2012; it was also simulcast by

Crunchyroll Crunchyroll is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming service owned by Sony, Sony Group Corporation. The service primarily distributes fi ...

. The screenplay was written by Makoto Uezu, and the chief animation director Kyūta Sakai based the character design used in the anime on Sunaho Tobe's original concepts. Six bonus episodes were included on the Blu-ray Disc and DVD releases. The opening theme is by Nano Ripe and the ending theme is by

Masumi Itō (she also goes by the pseudonym ) is a Japanese singer and composer from Ibaraki prefecture in Japan. Itō has composed the soundtracks to many anime television shows and is part of the bands Oranges & Lemons and Heart of Air. Discography ...

has licensed the series for subtitled BD/DVD release in North America in December 2013.

Episodes

;Bonus episodes

References

External links

* * {{AIC TV series 2007 Japanese novels 2010 manga 2012 anime television series debuts 2012 manga Anime International Company Anime and manga based on light novels Comedy anime and manga Fantasy anime and manga Gagaga Bunko Light novels Media Factory manga Post-apocalyptic anime and manga Seinen manga Sentai Filmworks Sharp Point Press titles Shogakukan franchises Shogakukan manga Television shows written by Makoto Uezu Yonkoma