Three reasons Humanity Has Declined deserves your attention:

• Wit. In a medium where appreciation of irony often seems at a premium, Humanity Has Declined stands head and shoulders above with its bracingly open satire. In the course of just twelve episodes, the show sets its sardonic sights on consumerism, manga culture, corporate hierarchy, government, religion, and more. This is not an anime that pulls its punches.

• Whimsy. You might think using three-inch-tall, permanently smiling fantasy creatures as a primary plot driver is strange enough, but that’s by no means the limit of Romeo Tanaka’s imagination. Try skinned chickens falling like manna from the heavens as the Ave Maria echoes in the background. Try a sentimental homecoming between two anthropomorphized space probes. Try the rise and fall of entire fairy civilizations in twenty minutes. I could go on.

• Stellar voice acting. Humanity Has Declined wouldn’t be half the show it is without Mai Nakahara, who knows exactly how to sell the protagonist’s deadpan humor. The rest of the cast is nothing to scoff at, either. Miyuki Sawashiro turns in an almost predictably excellent performance as Y, while the various fairy voices serve as a perfect mix of saccharine innocence and morbid darkness.

9/10. This is show of the year material.

Our poor protagonist’s sole confidant performs the ritual dance of its Roomba ancestors. Humanity Has Declined episode 11.

An anonymous correspondent writes:

Humanity Has Declined

STARDATE 33756.18, SOL SYSTEM: The predominant lifeforms seem to be easily mollified with saccharides and mindless entertainment. They should be an easy target for invasion and enslavement.

Oh, and there are these creepy things with permanent smiles too, but they’re maybe three inches tall. What threat could they possibly pose?

Observations from episode 9 of Humanity Has Declined:

1. This was, hands down, the single best episode of anything so far this season, an exponent of what makes this show so great: the fairies’ absurd mix of cheer and darkness, our protagonist’s deadpan responses, and on-point satirical hits that just kept on coming. It’s a shame this appears to be a self-contained episode, because I could have easily seen it extending into a second. Come on, girl – you could have at least declared war on a neighboring island or something!

2. The fairies are leaders after my own image:

   Protagonist: If you had your own nation, what would you do?

   Fairy A: Taxation.

   Fairy B: Oppression.

   Fairy C: Suppression.

   Fairy D: Persecution!

I think this arc just inoculated me against long buildups to bad puns.