Niea Under 7: Volume 2

Introduction

Annoyingly, NieA under 7 is the sole Yoshitoshi ABe series yet to be released in the UK, and you'll have to import. 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.


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 ensue.

5. Alien and Dried Up Amusements Bath
The bathhouse is slipping deeper and deeper into the red, but when NieA brings in her new junk acquisitions, Kotomi gets an idea. Old arcade games will save the bathhouse, and return the concept of community and communication to Japanese society. The Arcade Game Competition in the Enohana Bathhouse will attract new customers, with the promise of grand prizes. Except that grand prizes cost money, so it falls to the bathhouse employees to show their arcade game skills.


6. Alien and Rival Hot Springs Bath
The heat is stifling, air conditioning is a distant dream, and Yoshioka has bad news. The Enohana Bathhouse has a rival. Someone's opened up a new bathhouse inside the crater, right on their doorstep, creating competition at a time where Kotomi can ill afford it. Her blood is raised, she needs to check out the competition, but their faces are too well known, which is when Chiaki shows up looking to buy a UFO from NieA. She can go in undercover to check out the women's bath, while Mayuko's childhood friend Genzo is co-opted to go into the men's facilities. Meanwhile, NieA and Mayuko will scout around the outside of the new building. Weird looking herbs they put in these baths nowadays!


7. Mothership, Go-Con & Cloudy Skies Bath
NieA's up on the roof, building UFOs again, and adding to the leaks. She's trying to listen to some music on Mayuko's battered radio, and battering it further doesn't help. It does elicit an odd transmission though, drawing NieA's attention to the distant crashed alien mothership. Mayuko's got her own problems, hard at work at the restaurant; she gets a visit from Chiaki. Chiaki's noticed that Mayuko is currently without boyfriend, and suggest attending a Go-Con to remedy the situation. It's basically an arranged date, where a bunch of girls get together with a bunch of guys, in the hope that some of them will click. But Mayuko's uncertain about the whole thing…

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 20 images in a line art gallery, 2 pages of footnotes offering a glossary of terms for the show, and the textless closing 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

If the first volume was more about introducing the characters, setting the stage, and playing it mostly for laughs, this second volume shifts slightly from that, with the episodes here beginning to take on something of a reflective and melancholic air. The laughs are still there, but there is a wistfulness about the characters that comes across, and as you would expect from a Yoshitoshi ABe production, there is more to NieA under 7 than just a comedy anime show. Of course with the show set in a rundown suburb during an economic downturn bordering an a full recession, you can't get away from a certain dark edginess, and it certainly makes it relevant today more so than when it was first released.


We start off with the show still very much playing it for laughs, especially in the first episode, although you can see something of a theme developing, with the hard up bathhouse struggling to keep itself afloat, and the employees and owner Kotomi all feverishly brainstorming to come up with any idea that may draw in new custom. Previously it was the new fuel source from the alien crater, which is referenced with disdain at the start of the first episode on this disc, where instead the idea is to open an amusement arcade and have a competition to draw in the new customers. Fortunately, retro is the in thing; otherwise the machines rescued from a defunct arcade probably wouldn't have interested anyone. Of course Kotomi's problem is going a step too far, and where a few arcade machines may have pulled in a few new customers, she decides to go for the lot, by holding the contest, then realising that it would cost too much to pay out the prizes, and having to rig it. If only her loyal employees were skilled games-players. It's funny seeing the insights into these characters, especially the look at Yoshioka's inner life, which contrasts with his mild-mannered geniality. NieA and Mayuko go into the game as a team, which lasts as long as they can get through without squabbling, while the punchline has to be one of my favourites for a comedy.


It's the return of the Indian Alien Chada next, who has opened up a rival bathhouse in the crater. It's another comedy episode on the face of it, but the stifling hot heatwave it's set in, and the more immediate threat on Mayuko's home gives it a slightly darker edge. Of course the gags come thick and fast, especially with Chada's inability to grasp human sensibilities, and always coming across to Mayuko as some sort of pervert. His method of dealing with commercial espionage is to flash his bare arse at it, and with Mayuko on the receiving end, it's impossible not to at least chuckle at this episode. The punchline is a little obvious, but half the joy is in the anticipation of the eventual outcome.


It's the final episode on this disc that shows the most drastic difference in tone, although as always at the start of these episodes, the implication is that the story could go either way. NieA is the first to get introspective, when an odd radio transmission draws her attention to the crashed alien mothership, visible from the roof of the bathhouse. It's as if she is physically drawn to it, and the effect on her tempers her usual infuriating ebullience. Mayuko on the other hand is abruptly reminded of her poverty, when Chiaki decides that she is in need of a boyfriend. Mayuko's reminded of how long it has been since she had the time for something akin to fun, and a look at her wardrobe indicates just how ill prepared she is to socialise. NieA finds her in this state of reluctance, and starts blathering on about the mothership, and it's no surprise that Mayuko snaps a lot earlier than she would normally. It sows a tension between the two roommates that will inevitably have an effect later on in the series.


NieA under 7 isn't your usual anime show, despite the odd cliché and stereotype. It somehow manages to be simultaneously energetic and restful, entertaining and relaxing, and like the best such shows, it can be enjoyed at face value without putting the brain in gear, while also having enough bubbling under the surface to make you think. This second volume is as worth hunting down as the first.