NieA Under 7

10/10– ABe just doesn’t miss. Such a beautiful show. There no awe-insuring animation, complex story beats, or plot twists. What Niea Under 7 has is sincerity and freedom to interpret its themes.. I’ve never seen a media with such a strong “vibe” to it. There’s a hopeful yet melancholy feel to every episode that is just so relaxing and healing to me. Most of the characters are kind, simple people (alien or not) that somehow kept me EXTREMELY interested in their lives. The writing feels personal and sincere, and the dub is AMAZING. The themes are also very underlining and don’t mess with the relaxing nature of the show. Racism, loneliness, grief, and nihilism are all here, and yet Niea Under 7 leaves the audience to draw upon the themes. It doesn’t hold your hand through tough subjects (like many modern shows). DAnd, of course, ABe’s influence is amazing and his art style is the best in anime. His signature oranges and browns make for beautiful art in every episode, and his themes of loneliness and self-esteem are just as good here as in his other works. A very underrated and healing show.

This felt like a very hard and deep inhale and long slow exhale. Shit just felt good. Dunno know what else to say. Its like putting your face over some rice cooker steam, or like, giving up cause you know you're fucked. Its like dat. I didnt know what to expect from the show cause the only thing that drew me in was the shows style. More specifically the font they used for the show's title. The art style and color of the show was what really drew me and made me stay. It looked and felt somber but towards the end the tone shifts cause of the story (by tone i mean feeling).Every hard to explain deatail I would always try to describe to people i know as to why I liked a "boring" show was in this. I don't know what genre this is but if anyone knows what this genre's name is (if it does have one) please tell. Like the first 4 eps of steins gate (closest thing to this). Do not hesitate to enlighten me (any recommendations plz). It's not even really slice of life as i got this feeling from shows that arent categorized as that. Maybe the word "boring" is a good word to summerize this "genre". But yeah... yez. Sayonara.

I can't believe it... A Yoshitoshi ABe series where I actually understood what the fruit was going on!? It's a Christmas miracle! This was very surprising after seeing his other works and having to look up episode descriptions on Wikipedia for every single episode. It almost feels like an anime version of Attack of the Friday Monsters, but with aliens. Just a simple comedy/slice of life that doesn't take up too much of your time or take itself too seriously. Nothing too grandiose, but it was just such a shock for me to actually understand this series in any capacity, let alone enjoy it! There are some... questionable decisions made throughout the show, however. Such as the opening theme being sung by the HEAVIEST chainsmoker I've ever heard. Or the show's OST consisting almost entirely out of stock jingles and sound effects I'm sure you've all heard a million times before (including the "Hi, I'm Paul!" jingle from Jimmy Neutron!?!? For some reason???) Oh, and uh.... some very, very, VERY poorly aged cultural representation..... that was unfortunate..... But ya. Other than that, it was a perfectly serviceable slice of life comedy. If you had told me this was from the same creator as Serial Experiments Lain, I never would've guessed! 6/10

I think a lot of the reviews for this show are a bit unfair, in my opinion. It's not groundbreaking, but it shouldn't really have to be, and I think that's the charm of it in a way. If you're a fan of ABe's other works, I imagine you will probably enjoy watching NieA_7. It's a slice of life with beautiful animation and a heartfelt story. I found myself smiling at the characters and their antics, laughing at the jokes, and felt it in my chest when the main character was distressed. This is the kind of show that definitely has a few unanswered questions, but by the end you feel as if none of them really matter. As for the racism allegations mentioned in many other reviews, being a bona fide Indian myself, I must admit that these reviews were part of what made me curious enough to watch this show. There are a few outdated jokes about smelly curry and perverted indian men, but nothing crazy or regular enough that it deterred me from the show itself or made me uncomfortable at any point. All in all, if you're a white person quick to be offended on someone else's behalf, be cautious. If you're a person of color, you've heard worse, and might even laugh a little at the absurdity of it all.

NieA Under 7 is a fun little anime which perfectly captures the side of summer as a hot, mundane season, exploring themes of poverty and identity, which I rate, perhaps somewhat ironically, under 7. It also opens with one of the most positively busted openings I've ever heard. Imagine if Tom Waits was Japanese, and there's your OP. However, for as fun and relatable as so much of the anime is, the reality is that it is deeply flawed in enough ways to keep it from being truly great. To begin, the story itself is very solid as a concept. Aliens come to Earth and get stranded here, and the Human governments end up assigning classifications to them all, most of them ending up as second-class citizens. They look humanoid save for their ears and antennas, and one of these aliens, a bubbly and mischievous girl named NieA, ends up living in the home of Mayuko, who herself lives and works in a bathouse her parents used to own. The two get into conflicts over everything, but they are playful by nature and deep down they care for each other. I enjoyed the subtle twist of making the presence of aliens so mundane, even the fact that the Mothership is a feature of the sky at all times is framed as simply normal. I also really enjoyed the fact that the story followed a simple, almost episodic rhythm, which made the show a relaxing watch and even more relatable. Though, given the run time, I almost feel like the deeper themes they wanted to work with weren't fully fleshed out, so some potential is definitely left on the table in regards to the story. The art was good throughout, and perfect for this type of show. The fact that it came out in spring of 2000 was palpable and made me nostalgic for the anime I watched when I was a kid. It shows not only in the animation style and visual gags, but also in the art direction itself. The design of the mothership, the antennas of the aliens, and the subtle details throughout the show itself like in wood textures, fields of grass, and food, speak to a care and dedication that let us know this show was special to the people who worked on it. Also, the faces of the characters are able to express a wide range of emotion, and this anime thusly avoids the dreaded "mask" as I call it. However, it's not perfect. The reuse of animations is frequent and obvious, and sometimes things which aren't the absolute main focus of attention suffer as a result, looking downright shoddy. The sound is much the same, with the music being a perfect fit for this show and again making me nostalgic for times gone by. It is folksy and amateurish while being pretty and calming at the same time. However, these songs are also reused quite often, though I don't mind this very much at all. The sounds of life are perfectly serviceable, though at points they really shine through and almost have an ASMR-like quality to them, especially the sounds of rain or fabric blowing in the wind. However, the immersion that those moments bring is positively shattered by the liberal use of Looney Tunes sound effects. I thought I was having a stroke when I heard them use the Scooby-Doo "running fast but going nowhere" sound effect, and they only really learn to reel that shit in around episode 7. The characters are perhaps my favorite part of the anime, however. I love the sheer humanity of it. Almost all of them feel like real, authentic people who I can believe exist and are living the lives they do in the show. Mayuko's interactions with NieA are genuine and have an almost sibling-like quality, and they're both exquisitely characterized, to the point where everything going on in their heads and hearts are almost felt by the viewer as well. This goes for the rest of the human cast as well. However, while most of the alien cast is also pretty good, there is one major failing in the case of Chada, an alien who sought to fashion himself after a stereotypical Indian, who even manages an "11/7" convenience store. Anyway, my problem with him isn't the race thing at all- my problem comes with the fact that he's meant to be comedic relief and he isn't funny. There was a way to really capitalize on his comedic potential, but they just never did. Whenever he shows up he just ends up disrupting the flow of the show, and interrupting whatever was happening in the story at that time to make a joke about curry or sexual harassment. But, he's not bad or frequent enough of a character to ruin the show, just kind of annoying. At the end of the day, I enjoyed watching this anime, and the good things like the nostalgia, unique story concept, and slice-of-life comedy outweigh the bad things like repetitive animation, incomplete story, and sometimes shoddy gag comedy.