Niea Under 7: Volume 3

Introduction

Fansubs are bad, fansubs are evil, fansubs are the plaything of the devil, and the common belief is that whenever someone watches one, somewhere a puppy dies. Except that were it not for fansubs, I would never have bought these discs. The trouble for anime fans is that there's not a lot of it on television. We have to rely on reviews like this, and favourable word of mouth to get an idea of where our next fix is coming from. Sometimes that isn't enough. You really do have to try before you buy. I'm a fan of Yoshitoshi ABe's anime work certainly, but with NieA under 7 unavailable in the UK, and out of print everywhere else, looking up the DVDs would be an expensive proposition. Not being made of money, I decided to sell my soul and watch some online fansubs instead. Except that after watching them I became more determined than ever to possess the discs. If everyone thought like that, would studios still whinge about online piracy? It's just a little food for thought…


NieA under 7 is about… well not much really. It's the future, somewhere down the line in the 21st Century, but the world looks much as it does today, except that aliens are among us. Some years previously, a mothership came crashing to earth, and its inhabitants soon found homes living and working among humans. The aliens look pretty human, except for pointed ears and antennae on top of their heads. And no one on Earth is really bothered or excited by it all, at least not after all this time. Life goes on pretty much as normal, especially for Mayuko Chigasaki, a hard up student barely able to put herself through cram school. She lives in a small room in the Enohana bathhouse, a place that her family once owned, but is now owned by landlady Kotomi Hiyama. Her unwanted roommate is the alien girl NieA who lives in her closet, and whose lack of antenna marks her down on the lowest rung of alien society, an under 7. She constantly infuriates the hard working Mayuko with her freewheeling, and freeloading attitude to life, as well as the constant drain on her meagre fridge. And life goes on…

Three more episodes of NieA under 7 follow.


8. Melancholy and Cast Off Summer Bath
NieA falls out of bed. That's not a good thing when you sleep on the roof. But Mayuko doesn't seem to care. In fact she's started to ignore NieA. Her insecurities are taking a toll, with her non-attendance at the Go-Con weighing on her, and she's regretting having yelled at NieA, but doesn't quite know how to apologise to her. She decides to cook up a feast for the freeloading alien, or as close to a feast as her budget allows, but NieA is at another Alien Meeting at Chada's convenience store, looking forward to a free curry tasting.


9. Close Encounter and After the Rain Bath
NieA realises that Mayuko is out of sorts, and decides to help her get back to her usual self. She's obviously lacking nutrition, so NieA goes on a junk hunt, to earn enough to buy some decent food. But the only good junk is in a prohibited, fenced off area. Meanwhile Mayuko's nutrition seems to be taken care of, when Genzo shows up with some more rice. As for her being out of sorts… Talking to Genzo reminds her of her childhood, and of her father. She'd forgotten that she used to write stories, something that Genzo remembers with fondness. In the middle of the junkyard, the miasma suddenly clears, and NieA sees the mothership more clearly than ever. A single word echoes in her head… 'Sayonara!'


10. Glow of the Firefly and Nocturne Bath
While NieA ponders just who is saying goodbye, Mayuko has rather more mundane concerns. Kotomi shows up at the bath on a day off from work, and she's oddly subdued and listless. The restaurant where Mayuko works part time is finally getting lively though, and she's called in to put in some extra hours. The owner's young daughter accompanies Mayuko when he asks her to go shopping for supplies, and for the hard-up student, the supermarket is like a trip to heaven. Meanwhile, NieA finally figures out what the voice in her head is saying, and she vanishes.

Picture

Age is certainly telling on this single layer disc, and while the transfer is clear and colourful, there is also a degree of rainbowing and cross-colouration that you just don't see on modern discs. Yoshitoshi ABe's character designs are quite naturally a major selling point in this show, and they are unique and memorable, while the world design certainly works wonders in establishing the show's weary, run-down mood. Enohana is a town in the grip of an economic downturn, and the way buildings aren't being taken care of, and the faded look of characters clothing is certainly indicative. NieA was one of the early anime shows that were accomplished wholly in the digital, there's nary an acetate cel to speak of here, and it does look a little primitive and unaccomplished to modern shows. Detail is lacking in the characters, especially when they are seen from a distance, and the issues with aliasing here have less to do with the DVD than they have to do with original animation techniques. The characters never really integrate with the backgrounds. It is a very colourful and cartoonish style, which takes a bit of getting used to, before it becomes invisible.

The disc is coded for Region 1 and Region 4, although due to a full stop masquerading as a hyphen, you may think Regions 2 & 3 are included as well. They're not.

Sound

You have a choice between DD 2.0 English and Japanese stereo, alongside a translated English subtitle track. You can tell the age of the disc by the absence of a separate signs only track (translated text is instead burnt into the image). The dialogue is clear, and a wonderfully whimsical acoustic soundtrack punctuates the episodes, with an emphasis on gentle guitars reflecting the ennui of life. Inevitably I opted for the original language track, which offered a pleasant enough viewing experience. I dipped my toe into the English dub, then leapt back, as if scalded. This an older dub, and it tells, with monotonous voice actors, and a distinct lack of acting transpiring. It's better left to one side.

Extras

This is also a disc from an era where extras were rare nuggets of gold, rather than taken for granted as they are today. In 2001 you probably would have been ecstatic to find animated menus and scene selection listed on the case. The animated menus in this case are really quite deftly accomplished and appreciated. You'll find 17 images in a line art gallery, 2 pages of footnotes offering a glossary of terms for the show, and a couple of Japanese DVD adverts.

Each episode ends with a live action bit from Dalgit, Chada's image consultant. A Sikh who can speak fluent Japanese constantly fascinates me, and Dalgit offers little bits of Indian trivia to Japanese audiences.

Conclusion

NieA under 7 is a hard title to review, which is odd, given how easy a show it is to watch, to relax with, and to just lose oneself in for twenty odd minutes at a time. It isn't that it's a show about nothing in particular, rather that the themes it explores and the story it wishes to convey are so subtly handled, and transient in substance, that trying to get to grips with the meaning of the show is like trying hold a soap bubble. Just when you think you've got something, your train of thought goes pop. It's why I've spent 71 pleasant minutes in the company of this wonderful show, but two hours banging my head trying to figure out what to write about it.


The absence of an obvious narrative is one reason; indeed even individual episodes come across more as character studies rather than solid stories. It's really about establishing and tweaking a mood, exploring the feelings of the main characters. The themes of poverty, discrimination and alienation are all secondary to that. There is also a duality of tone, with often zany comedy interspersed with melancholic languor. It's the aliens who are, for want of a better word, the more cartoonish of the characters, doing bizarre things, and visually quite grand. NieA for example often follows the rules of cartoon physics and even has accompanying Looney Tunes sound effects. The humans on the other hand are more… human. They are more subdued, realistic and emotionally rounded. Mayuko is quite drab in appearance, and in these episodes especially she goes through moments of depression. The thing is, with aliens and humans on screen, it often feels like a case of mix and match.


Which may serve to give the opinion that I don't like this show. Far from it of course, it's more my frustration at trying to find an appropriate angle to comment on it from. That said, this third volume feels weaker than the first two. Not much happens, but of course it's not really meant to. It's just that the spinning of wheels has another tone in this volume. The comedy is a little more understated and mellow, while there is greater focus on character melancholy and introspection. Of course, as a penultimate volume, it's what you would expect, a sort of holding of the breath, a pause for anticipation. There's no immediate comedy episode to grab you as in the previous volumes, this is more a moment to reflect.


I love NieA under 7, but I'd be hard pressed to tell you exactly why. I'm going to recommend this third volume of NieA under 7, but once again, I'll be stoned if I could explain it to you any better than I already have. Maybe for the final volume I will have sorted through my thoughts and constructed a more cogent argument. Until then, you'll have to be satisfied with my opinion that NieA under 7 is the perfect 'mood anime'. Get it while you can still find it.