Anime review: NieA Under 7 (2000)

This was the Anime of the Month club's light watch for this March, a welcome single cour lull between heavy "1 episode per day" double cours. Perfectly suited to the weather here and actually my own submission; as is the next one, the dice really favoured me!

When you know that this was made by the Lain staff for the same reason - as a break after completing their somber masterpiece - everything starts to make sense. Why the atmosphere is so vivid but the only thing that matters, in the end.

Because yes, the plot, characters, lore, etc… are only superficially and sporadically explored, to the point where they simply don't matter. What does is that all-pervading sentiment of nostalgia and longing for a slow, simpler and boring life (and I'm not talking about what TikTok influencers peddle), far from the failed sociological experiment known as "cities" where that kind of poverty would be hell. In fact, even if there's some romanticization at play, NieA Under 7 is a pretty convincing argument that said poverty is much more agreeable in that specific setting: a small and not very rich town in a high-trust society.

One real complaint emitted by multiple club members is that the eponymous NieA never really evolves beyond her annoying facade. She stays a selfish and noisy cat (she's even named nya…) for the entire show, not having any depth to offset that irritating persona.

In the end, this can be summarized as the Slowdive/Duster of anime, for better and for worse. I'd say 7.5/10, but the lack of purpose and anemic comedy make the end result a bit dull.