Niea_7 Complete TV Series [Blu-ray]

One of my favorite anime series was Serial Experiments Lain. Later, I heard that the creative team behind Lain made another series called Haibane Renmei. I had so much faith in the team that I bought the entire Haibane Renmei series cold, knowing absolutely nothing about the show. I hit the jackpot, Haibane Renmei quickly became another series that I loved and hold in high regard. On one of the Haibane DVDs was an interview with the creators, and they spoke of another series they'd previously done together. That series was NieA_7. With my faith in the team doubled, I bought the NieA box set without a second thought. Unfortunately however, the third time is not the charm.I don't know which series came first, but there's a very striking resemblence between NieA and a show called FLCL (or Fooly Cooly or Furi Kuri, depending on how much of a pompous anime elitist you are.) I think they were both released in Japan in 2000, so I doubt either one ripped off the other. But both series are about a young and awkward main character leading a dull existence in a quiet town, whilst co-habitating against their will with an annoying alien who causes them trouble. The lead character of NieA_7 is Mayuko, a girl going to cram school so she can pass her college entrance exams. She's demure, shy, and plagued with self-doubt; a common archetype most anime fans will recognize. NieA is the name of the alien who lives in Mayuko's closet. Her class designation is an "Under 7," which means she has no antennae on her head and is generally lower class and financially poor. Like FLCL's alien character Haruko, NieA is a 'kitsune', essentially a trickster-god character. But unlike Haruko, I find her nothing short of totally unlikeable. Take Ed from Cowboy Bebop and subtract any and all charm whatsoever. Her single minded obsession with food causes her to be an obnoxious, trouble-causing pest. On the surface, her role in the show is simply to irritate Mayuko. She never fails at this, and in turn Mayuko never fails to overreact, screaming at the top of her lungs and making hyper-stylized scary face faults. All of this is supposed to be funny. Personally, I've never enjoyed this cliche. They did too good of a job at making NieA an annoying character. She should annoy the characters in show, not me. I should find her amusing and fun to watch, but I don't. I just want her to go away. No appeal whatsoever. I think the fatal flaw in the formula is that NieA also has a self-righteous attitude and often tries to justify her irritating behavior. Imagine Bugs Bunny stopping in the middle of a cartoon to explain to Elmer Fudd, "Look bub, ~you're~ the one who's trying to kill ~me~. That's why I'm screwing with you. So relax! Sheesh!" Thankfully, I like most of the other characters, and the story rarely focuses on NieA. And while I don't find the NieA character to be funny, there's still a lot of good "intentionally lame"* humor in the show.I think part of this is my own personal problem. It's somewhat rare that I enjoy comedy anime. Some examples that I have enjoyed (or was at least able to sit through in their entirety) are His & Hers/Kare Kano, Love Hina, Chobits, and FLCL. But there have been far more that I couldn't stand and never finished: Slayers, Vandread, Nadesico, Excel Saga, to name just a few. As it stands now, I'm only halfway through NieA_7 and am open to the possibilty that like Trigun, there will be some kind of shift in the second half of the show and I'll fall in love with it. If not, I'll just watch FLCL again.* According to the liner notes, the team was consciously going for a 'lame' style of humor. 'Lame' is their word, not mine.EDIT June 3, 2005-I've finished the series. All in all, it wasn't a bad little show. NieA did indeed briefly calm the heck down and show a bit of heart. However, I stand by my 3 out 5 rating. NieA Under 7 is definitely what I'd call a postmodern anime. It seems to willfully eschew fundamental pillars of story telling such as plot, character arc, and resolution/closure. Instead, it's more of a stream of consciousness. The show itself can be entertaining and enjoyable to watch, especially if you like the bittersweet and wistful side of things. It often hovers around the themes of dealing with change and coping with loss, but never seems to really do anything with them. In the end (and I use the term loosely,) it's just "some stuff that happened." There are other postmodern anime series I would recommend before this one. For starters: Haibane Renmei and FLCL. If you've seen those already, I say go ahead and take a chance on this. You may enjoy it more than I, as is evidenced by the reviewers who came before me.

This is one of my favorite older anime's, but definitely not my favorite. For most people I've watched this with, and myself, the atmosphere takes about 2-3 episodes before you really start "feeling" it. From that point on you start to look forward to the different characters popping up and wondering what mayhem Niea is going to start next. Overall, while it's fun there's really not a lot of depth to any of the characters. Towards the end there's a few episodes with Niea that shows she's a bit more than her surface level appearance and that goes in conjuction with the main girl, who you learn has her own sort of dependencies on Niea (conflicting to what is stated obviously through the rest of the series). But, even though I don't find the series to be high brow, it's very enjoyable, lots of laughs, a few cute moments, and an overall experience in itself. I always make my friends watch it and I"m glad I have a copy of it on Blu Ray. It's the best looking version of it I've seen and will definitely replace my DVD copies.Oh and for extras, I was a little disappointed, but not surprised. There's only a few Japanese commercials for it. Not worth watching. Literally just a shot of the DVDs' hanging from a clothes line swaying in the wind.

I’ve been watching anime since ‘97 and I like a good mix of it. This is one of those anime for a relaxing day. It’s quit with a sprinkle of laughing outbursts per episode. If you like these kinds of anime, then this one is worth every penny. I love it.

One of my favorite animes growing up

simplistic story line and or plot, but yes, it was hilarious, laughed my behind off. Kinda relate to it though, except without the alien roommate part. lol. Animation is dated that's for sure, didn't age all that well.

Unique, quirky and full of a very special kind of heart. I can't recommend this one enough. It'll leave you with a lot of questions, but coming from the people who did hibane and laine I'd be sad if it didn't.