Reviews

NieA_7 is, surprisingly, a mixed bag. It isn't mediocre the whole way through, far from it, but instead it has stellar highs and irritating lows. To summarise: I found the human side of the story (ie Mayuko's) extremely compelling - if the entire show were simply devoted to that, I would be willing to recommend it much more readily. The alien side (Niea's), however, I have little praise for.

Mayuko is a deeply relatable character and navigates the common stressors of life with a certain elegance. I felt her story delivered lacklustre answers to her questions at times, such as what she wants to do with her life, or how to deal with student-derived poverty, which I actually consider a strength. These problems are commonly discussed because they have no definitive answer. Maybe you're approaching 30 and still have no savings, or sometimes you enter university or the workforce with an ambivalent heart whilst your peers may have had lifelong career goals that they are now pursuing. Dispassion is not a bad thing, and I'm glad NieA_7 doesn't seem to present it like it is, the mundane nature of life is quite enough. The bathhouse is shown to provide a valuable community service, and when its situation develops (no spoilers!), you have an investment in the standing of this business, care for its well-being, and those reliant upon it. I enjoyed Mayuko's story from start to finish, and on its own I would give it as high as an 8-9/10. On the other hand, all of Niea's scenes, and those involving aliens in general, are consistently just awful. None of the jokes land, and Chada's characterisation frequently enters racist territory. The hierarchy of the alien society is never expanded or commentated upon in any meaningful way, and I felt it presented it as a force of nature rather than anything socially constructed. I understand that it can seem that way on an individual scale, and Niea does at times appear to try and make peace with it, but again, there isn't any substance to it. I would give Niea's story a 2-3/10.

Is NieA_7 a bad anime? Not at all, there's gems of beautiful sentiment woven into it. Is it a good anime? Only just, Mayuko, Kotomi, Nenji, the Karitas, and perhaps Genzo do the heavy lifting, the rest are just dead weight. Be prepared to find the show boring at times, especially in comparison to ABe's other works (to me, it doesn't hold a candle to the magnificent Haibane Renmei), which was how I discovered it. 6/10.