Reviewed by: dj_xero

NieA_7 domestic poor animation Vol.1

Directed by: Takuya Sato

Released by: Pioneer (4 episodes, yay! 1,2,3,4)

Genre: Comedy/Drama

Extras: Line-art gallery, Non-Credit opening, Footnotes(to Japanese references, good stuff here)

Dub: try to never watch'em

For those of you not familiar with this series(and there are many who aren't), take a good look at the picture above. This is a very common look for the anime artist(my favorite) Yoshitoshi ABe, of Serial Experiments Lain fame. Let's not get carried away with any similarities to Lain however, this show is an off the wall, often corny, okay, well, more often than not, er, ever, corny as hell.

Let's start with the video quality. Very simple, bright pastels used in the characters, making each character seem a little more relaxed, and realistic. The backgroudns used are again very simplistic, earthtones, looking more like watercolors at times, the architexture is very detailed however, it almost seems as if they wanted to show every dirty corner and nook in each building. Everything looks right out of a story book, very innocent and non-threatening.(no reason to not like a series) Now on to the sound, the soundtrack consists of Ukeleles(?), and during some strange interludes with technology, some whacked out distorted techno like sounds. The opening theme, "Come On Over Here" by SION, sounds more like the Japanese version of Tom Waits, however sounds familiar to some tracks from the series Lain. I love the ending theme, it's just way too happy: "Venus to Chiisama Kamisama"(venus and a small god) by Tsuneho Imahori. The song just seems fitting at the end of every episode, very bright, up beat, and childish.

Under first impressions, even after 4 episodes, most viewers may still find themselves confused, and, well. not funnied by the funnies so graciously given to them by the series NieA_7. In the very recent past, an alien mother ship has crashlanded in backwoods Japan, outside of Tokyo. The aliens(only noticable by small radio attenae on their heads and pointy ears) assimilate themselves into everyday life in Japan. No one seems to really notice, or care about where they came from, their past culture, anything, life goes on as normal under these abnormal circumstances: This is what I find hilarious. The series takes place in relatively present times(no crazy techno-babble here), and mostly follows the lfie of Cram-School student Mayuko Chigasaki. She lives in this town(Enohana, outside "the Crater area") in an apartment located above thesmall Enohana Bathhouse. She is very poor, can hardly afford food, holds down 2 jobs(while working at the bathhouse partime), and is very easy to relate to, so immediately we fall in love her. NieA is an "underling" alien(no attenae), and squats in Mayu's room, eats her food, builds UFO's out of garbage on her roof, generally wreaks havoc at the bathouse and Mayuko's life.

This comical pair makes up alot of the comedy, however I still find that the importance of the show lies not in the individual character, but in every character, every setting, and how each reacts to one another. I believe this series is trying to teach us how to live together, get through hardships, and silly we can over react sometimes.

1. Alien and Launching UFO Bath
This first episode is like a really quick crash course in Mayu's and NieA's world. We are show how Mayuko lives day to day, how insane NieA acts, though compassionate. What is very interesting in this first episode is that we see a glimpse of Mayuko's past in a dream. The viewer does not get to see much about her past or her father (not unlike NieA), how short the scene is though, it feels good later on to know that she stills thinks of her father. Mayuko rushes to cram school, and makes a friend waiting outside the school: Chiaki Komatsu. Chiaki appears to quite wealthy, computer savvy, and ALIEN OBSESSED When she first meets NieA(who just so happened to follow Mayuko to school that day), she freaks, writes about it on her web page, and asks NieA to take her to see the Mothership from on top of Mayuko's roof at the Bathhouse. There NieA shows her an UFO she has built out of junk, Chiaki freaks, and comedy follows.

2. Alien and Violence Cosmic Bath
It is into episode 2 where we begin to learn more about he goings on at the Enohana Bathouse. Kotomi runs the bathhouse, very strong willed and proud of her bathhouse. Working along side of her is the older gentleman, Yoshioka, who obviously has been in love with Kotomi for quite a long time, but the romantic tension never seems to get in the way of the story, it's always just brushed off quickly. In this episode they decide to create new gimmicks for the bathhouse to create new customers, because the profits are so low. They decide to hike into the crater area to find a strange oil flowing from inside the crater. NieA shows them the way through the crater area(really just for the food that is being taken along., Mayuko is taken along as extra labor, and the oil and plantlife is not what it seems. They also run into a small alien village inside the crater, where we see cute little alien children, pummeling NieA with mud because she has no attanae. Funny, but it keeps us feeling sorry for NieA, and wondering what makes her so different fromt he others, or special.

3. Alien and Radio Noise Bath
Things begin to get a little strange in this episode, ya know, aside from the crazy aliens and man eating plants. This is the first episode with Chada. Chada is an alien dressed like an Indian with a HUGE head and turban. I still cannot understand his character (just opened a convinience store named "am11pm7") Chada holds an Alien Meeting in his new store on about how to improve alien social status, as some of the aliens are obsessed with it. We begin to learn more about their intergration into society, and how really unimportant it is. The aliens of Enohana are so lowly recognized by their own doing, not because of discrimination, again, comedy ensues.

4. Alien and a Beginner Waitress Bath
This episode we meet Karna again from episode 3, an alien "concerned with greater social status of the Enohana alens", and her squabbles ith NieA(NieA being the "under7" with no attanae, and Karna aspiring to be a social elite alien) Mayuko works through her hardships as she works hard at her new job as a waitress and deliverly lady for a european restaurant. We also meet Genzo, a strange looking guy from Mayu's hometown, who comes to visit her. He just came to drop off some rice for her, but we see some romantic tension, and again, it's brushed off and it doesn't really matter.

Rating: 8/10