Niea Under 7: Volume 1

Introduction

It's one of those odd things, the observation that genius and productivity are often seen to be mutually exclusive. Not everyone is a Leonardo da Vinci (whose output in his life redefined the term prolific), and it's more often the case that said creative genius would invariably be struck by second album syndrome. But when inspiration is sparked, when genius delivers, everyone sits up and takes notice. Quite frankly, I'd take just one work of genius over a hundred pieces of mediocrity anytime. Yoshitoshi ABe is an anime genius. Ostensibly a character designer, when an anime with his name associated comes out, people have to be restrained from unseemly salivating. Yet in the past eleven years, there have only been four ABe anime series released, and only one of them a full-length run. After a lengthy break, he has only recently announced that he is getting back with his original Lain staff to create something new, Despera. It's aptly named, as anticipation among anime fans has started off with desperation, and will only get more intense as time passes.


If you want an anime discography of ABe works, it's short, sweet and easy to remember. The cyberpunk classic Serial Experiments Lain was released in 1998, followed in 2000 by NieA under 7. Then came the angelic Haibane Renmei in 2002, and finally the post-apocalyptic Texhnolyze in 2003. Each of these titles should be on your shelves. There is a snag though. UK fans have no problem in sourcing Lain, Haibane Renmei or Texhnolyze, as all have been released here by MVM. NieA under 7 hasn't. It's a US only release from Pioneer, which gives you an indication of how old it is. Pioneer became Geneon, and Geneon ceased distribution in 2007. The NieA under 7 discs were released in 2001, and are well and truly deleted. It's also a truism that mediocrity is lapped up, while genius has to be discovered. Your average anime emporium will run out of the flavour of the week before you can blink, but hidden gems will be gathering dust for years. NieA under 7 is still available to purchase brand new if you know where to look, and the odd copy does crop up second hand. If I'm right about the way the world works, now that I've imported the Region 1 discs, it will finally be released in the UK anyway.


Lain was a cyberpunk thriller owing much to William Gibson, Haibane Renmei was a soothing angelic mystery, Texhnolyze crossed nihilistic cyberpunk with a grimy underworld scenario focussing on societal decay, and 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…


The first four episodes are on volume 1, Poor Girl Blues

1. Alien and Launching UFO Bath
Mayuko is a hard up student, finding it difficult to make ends meet while working towards her education, and because of her straitened circumstances, is a little shy and withdrawn, except when she's berating her unlikely freeloading roommate NieA. She's hoping to get into cram school quietly, but hasn't counted on making a new friend, Chiaki Komatsu, who just happens to be an alien otaku. Chiaki is thrilled to learn that Mayuko actually lives with a real life alien, and insists on visiting the rundown bathhouse where they live, and from where the crashed mothership is still visible. Meanwhile NieA, when she isn't eating all of Mayuko's food, is building a UFO out of junk.


2. Alien and Violence Cosmic Bath
The Enohana bathhouse is in red, has been for months, and like the surrounding area is falling into disrepair (no thanks to exploding UFOs). The owner Kotomi demands action, demands extra from her employees, and from her tenants Mayuko and NieA. She needs a plan to make the bathhouse profitable again. Nenji Yoshioka, who works the boilers for the bathhouse has an idea. He's heard tell of a reservoir of strange alien oil in the nearby crater, and a bathhouse heated by locally harvested oil would be cheaper to run, as well as having a unique selling point. The crater is home to a community of aliens, all from a lower class, but still able to look down on NieA. NieA leads an expedition to retrieve some oil, but the crater's also home to some rather lively plants.


3. Alien and Radio Noise Bath
On the way to a paper round at 4:30 in the morning, is no time to be freaked out by an unexpected Indian. But that is what happens to Mayuko one morning when she comes face to face with Chada, an Indian with an unfeasibly large head. Thinking he's a pervert, she grabs NieA for protection, but it turns out that Chada is actually an alien with a fascination for the subcontinent that has opened a new convenience store in Enohana. The Indian Alien is there for NieA, to invite her to a neighbourhood alien meeting to promote alien human relations and work towards better integration for aliens in society. He's actually there to show off his new store, and have his new batch of curry bento taste-tested, which is what convinces slacker NieA to attend. The problem is that Karna will be there, a Chinese alien whose social climbing knows no bounds, and who always rubs NieA the wrong way. Meanwhile, something odd is happening to the radio.


4. Alien and a Beginner Waitress Bath
NieA pays a visit to a Chinese restaurant, and orders the works, eats her fill, and then leaves. Karna is a little surprised and plenty infuriated to be saddled with the bill. Meanwhile Mayuko tells Chiaki about how she's putting herself through school, although she does exaggerate slightly when she tells her of her job as a waitress at a European restaurant. She's actually a delivery girl, and the restaurant Karuchie isn't exactly a booming establishment in Enohana. She has more time on her hands to play console games with Chie, the responsible daughter of the irresponsible owner, than she has to actually earn money. Meanwhile Genzo, a boy from Mayuko's past has moved to Enohana, and he has a bag of rice to deliver. Then NieA bursts into the restaurant, hotly pursued by the irate Karna.

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 when compared 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, and 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 23 images in a line art gallery, 3 pages of footnotes offering a glossary of terms for the show, and the textless opening sequence.

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

I have read on the Internet (which instantly establishes it as fact), that NieA under 7 was meant to be a wind down after Serial Experiments Lain, and there is something to that. Lain was a complex show, offering philosophical musings on the nature of intelligence, of what it means to be human, and how we perceive reality. NieA under 7 is pretty much a sitcom, it's about the laughs, and the moment you hear the first Looney Tunes sound effect, you realise that you're not in Kansas anymore. There's an emphasis on zaniness, on gags, and on punchlines, and it looks like a show that was as much fun to make as it is to watch. What makes it appeal to me, is that it isn't one of those US sitcoms, with pretty characters and life affirming messages, this is more like a British sitcom, where it's more an examination of the dead end of human existence, with flawed characters in a hopeless environment, managing to eke some measure of satisfaction from their dreary existences. We have a big tradition of that in UK sitcom, with shows like Steptoe and Son, Last Of The Summer Wine, Rising Damp, and Red Dwarf all focusing on the ennui of existence, with characters that may or may not aspire to be more than they are, but always defeated by the world. There is a lot of humour in situations like that, but there is also poignancy as well, something that really resonates in NieA under 7.


Of course the biggest similarity is that NieA is a class comedy. It's set during a recession in a run down suburb of Tokyo. I guess that may make it more socially relevant than when it was made, but we haven't reached the same state as Enohana yet, with its rundown streets and lack of upkeep. The buildings are shabby and ill repaired, especially the Enohana bathhouse where Mayuko lives, and it appears that the arrival of the aliens coincided with a period of urban decay. It's a community that works hard to make ends meet, and the general feel is one of austerity and making do. Indeed Mayuko herself is pretty hard up, she always wears the same faded clothes, and usually in anime, where characters work to put themselves through education, they usually have more rewarding jobs than newspaper and restaurant delivery.


Mayuko's circumstances tell in the way she has withdrawn from society, she's shy and non-confrontational, as if she feels inferior to everyone else, and she generally keeps to herself when she goes to cram school. She's a little more open with her fellow residents in Enohana, who are mostly in the same straits as her, but the only one she has any confidence in confronting is NieA, simply because NieA is probably the only person who is lower on the social ladder than her. NieA is a thorn in her side and has been since she moved into her closet, and started mooching out of her fridge. It's obvious that Mayuko tolerates NieA simply because it's a release valve to have someone to yell at, to have someone to blame for her situation, and to have someone to feel superior to. What isn't obvious is whether there is any affection between the two, although you'd think there would be if they can live under the same roof.


If Mayuko's situation is a result of poverty and austerity, then NieA's is a more obvious class system. The aliens living on Earth earn their status on how much they contribute to society, and are given levels indicating that. It's a caste system of sorts, with everyone aspiring to be higher up on the ladder. Everyone except NieA that is, who as an under 7 is the lowest of the low, made even lower by her lack of an antenna. She has nothing to lose or gain, and it explains why she has such a freewheeling attitude, why she goes through life mooching off others, and dreaming high and mighty dreams of building her own UFOs. I suppose such a freewheeling spirit could also be inspirational for Mayuko, although again it will be an envy that she keeps well hidden. It's also easy to see how NieA can be so easily frustrated by the social climbing aspirations of people like Karna. It looks though that this social system is one instituted by humans to keep aliens in their place, rather than a natural aspect of their society.


That doesn't sound much like a comedy, but then it would be an odd ABe series if it didn't give any food for thought. It's just that this is the setting, the 'sit' before the 'com' so to speak, and it informs and underlies all the comedic tomfoolery that does take place. It's fun watching Mayuko being meek and soft-spoken when she's with the well-off Chiaki, and then totally losing her rag when NieA turns up. It's fun watching NieA's first attempt to launch a UFO, and the hunt for a new energy source for the bathhouse is hilarious. Chada, the Indian Alien, particularly tickles me and it's odd to hear Japanese spoken with an Indian accent. He has issues with Japanese, saying completely perverted things to Mayuko, and then taking notes of her reaction for future reference, although Karna is a little stereotypical an anime character for such a far out show.


NieA under 7 is a chill-out-zone of a show. It's very easy to just sit back, relax and take in its slice-of-life sitcom sensibility. There is depth to the show if you care to look, but it's just as much appreciated as mood wallpaper. There's something pleasant and easygoing about the characters, and it's a timely reminder that it's better to be happy than affluent. The characters in NieA may be hard up, and stuck in a dead end existence, but there's no denying their energy and joie-de-vivre. It's also a reminder complex narratives and fast paced plotlines aren't always necessary, and that it's possible to be just as entertained by a show where nothing much happens.