Title:
NieA under Seven Vol.2: Funky Water Blues |
Format:
Bilingual DVD
75 minutes |
Production:
Takuya Sato
yoshitoshi ABe
NieA Project
Pioneer
New Generation Pictures |
Comments:
The series begins to grow on you. |
Overall Rating:
 79% |
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Animefringe Reviews:
NieA under Seven Vol.2: Funky Water Blues
By Adam "OMEGA" Arnold
"Between your jobs and school, you're always busy. You'll never have time to find a boyfriend." - Chiaki
There is just something about Chiaki that I like. Maybe it's her conspiracy theorist mentality, or maybe it's her easygoing attitude. Whichever it is, she's definitely become my favorite of all the characters in NieA under 7. Still, she's only one of the many fringe characters that make up the bigger drama that begins to unfold in the second volume.
At first glance, the show seemed like nothing more than a slapstick comedy set in a struggling bathhouse that just so happened to have a bunch of weird aliens in it. Now the show has started to reveal some of the intimate details involving the mysterious crater, the ominous crashed UFO, and the antennas of the aliens, all the while showing more intimate details of the supporting cast.
Ok, if you haven't seen the first volume, you may be scratching your head trying to figure the series out. Don't worry, that feeling comes with the territory. Basically, Mayuko is a cram school student struggling to get by. She has two jobs, lives in a bath house, and has an alien living in her closet... in fact, the whole town is filled with obnoxious aliens who range from the perverted to the irritating.
As you may have guessed by now, NieA_7's heart is in it's characters. These characters help to propel the plot and bring about a unique "event of the week" episodic nature. This round of episodes begins with the laugh-out-loud Enohana bathhouse video game competition. In this quaint little tale, the overworked Kotomi gets an idea from NieA about how to boost business... by adding video games and hosting a competition to mark to the unveiling event. The only problem is that this plan backfires when only kids end up showing up. So, it's up to the staff to go up against a pack of video-drone kids. Hilarity ensues.
Episode 6 keeps up the pace as a rival bathhouse springs up overnight in the mysterious crater - and it's the Enohana bathhouse's duty to scope out the competition. Saying anything more about this riot of an episode would be to spoil it for you, and that... I cannot do.
There's a change of pace in episode 7 when we get to see Mayuko get invited by Chiaki to participate in a Go-Con along with some girls and guys. According to the footnotes in the extras section, a Go-Con is like a blind date where an even number of guys and gals get together in hopes of finding someone to pair off with. For me this was one of those painful episodes to watch because I know just how much pressure Mayuko is under in her life and the mental anguish she has to be enduring. The episode mainly serves as plot advancement and character development. It's one of those rare episodes which isn't really comedy-based, but is sure to strike a chord with viewers.
As with the first volume, the dub for NieA under Seven continues to be on the high end, with a number of convincing and downright sidesplitting performances. In this volume, Chiaki's voice actor, Zarah Little, really begins to shine because she seems to be getting the feel for the characters unique and caring nature. I also want to point out that Genzo's very reserved voice, that of Josh Phillips, is a lot livelier in this volume. That is a good thing, considering that Genzo plays a much bigger role in this batch of episodes. If there is one pit that this volume falls into, it is in the lip sync area. In the early portions of episodes 5 and 6 there are a number of lines that are slightly off. These out-of-sync lip movements become particularly distracting in a part where emergency meetings are taking place, because the animation is fairly stationary. The problems do correct themselves a few minutes into the episodes and aren't a problem as far as I can tell in the latter parts of the episodes or in episode 7.
On the DVD extra side of things, this volume is a pretty close match of the first volume's structure, but includes a non-credit ending this time around. Overall, another very enjoyable volume for all the otaku out there looking for something a bit more original in the sea of giant robot and comedy releases.
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