''NieA 7''

NieA_7
NieA_7 DVD cover vol4
ニアアンダーセブン
(Nia Andā Sebun)
Manga
Written by Yoshitoshi ABe
Published by Kadokawa Shoten
English publisher
Demographic Shōnen
Imprint Kadokawa Comics Ace Extra
Magazine Monthly Ace Next
Original run October 1999 – January 2001
Volumes 2
Anime television series
NieA under 7 - domestic poor @nimation
Directed by Tomokazu Tokoro
Produced by Shojiro Abe
Yasuyuki Ueda
Written by Takuya Satō
Music by Yoshio Owa
Studio Triangle Staff
Licensed by
Original network WOWOW
English network
Original run April 26, 2000 – July 19, 2000
Episodes 13

NieA_7 (ニアアンダーセブン, Nia Andā Sebun), also known as NieA under 7, is a doujinshi manga series created by graphic designer Yoshitoshi ABe and later published by Kadokawa Shoten on their montly Shōnen magazine Monthly Ace Next from October 1999 to January 2001. The manga revolves around Mayuko, a poor, introverted student who lives above a Japanese bathhouse, and NieA, a freeloading, freewheeling alien who lives in her closet, who is considered an outcast by her own kind.

The manga is adapted into a 13-episode anime series by Triangle Staff and aired on WOWOW from April 16 to July 19, 2000. Much of anime's staff was made up of people who had worked on Serial Experiments Lain (screenwriter Takuya Sato was a storyboard artist for Lain, Yoshitoshi ABe was the character designer for Lain, etc.); it is commonly supposed that they chose to do this light-hearted series to cool off[1] after the dark and psychologically intense Serial Experiments Lain. This idea is further supported by the character Chiaki, a UFO fanatic who shares a name with Chiaki J. Konaka, the script writer for Lain.

Plot

Set in a Retro-Future setting, the series revolves around Mayuko, a High School graduate who goes to Cram School in preparation for College. However, due to having no place to settle in, she decided to live in a Bathhouse in the countryside, which is in a Financial Crisis due to having no customers. Even worse, she has to live with an Alien girl named NieA, who has no antenna and is considered an "Under 7", a class despised by other Aliens due to being the lowest of their kind.

The series touches lightly upon issues of discrimination, stereotypes, alienation, city life vs small town life, and assimilation. Mayuko, who attends a cram school, is a young girl living away from her family and expresses a lot of melancholy. NieA, who is apparently placed in an inferior class by her fellow aliens due to being a physical minority among them, immediately accuses anyone who calls her a "stupid no-antenna" or the like, of discrimination. Other aliens adopt various stereotypical cultural styles, one chooses Indian dress and opens a convenience store, another chooses to associate herself with the Chinese Revolution. This theme of the outsider alien is carried through in the brief comic live-action sequence which ends each episode, "Dalgit's Tidbit of Indian Information."

Characters

  • Mayuko Chigasaki
Voiced by: Ayako Kawasumi (Japanese); Tricia Dickson (English)
Mayuko "Mayu" Chigasaki lives in a room at the Enohana Bathhouse. She is hardworking, polite, honest, and very self-conscious. Mayuko spends all of her time and energy just making ends meet. She shares an apartment with NieA who she often refers to as a "free loader".
  • NieA
Voiced by: Yuko Miyamura (Japanese); J-Ray Hochfield (English)
NieA is a lower-class or "under-seven" alien; she has no antennae. She lives with Mayuko and builds spaceships out of junk. She shares an apartment with Mayu who she often gets into arguments with about money and food.
  • Genzo Someya
Voiced by: Akira Okamori (Japanese); Josh Phillips (English)
  • Chada
Voiced by: Angelino Schintu (Japanese); Wil Castillo (English)
  • Momo Enoshima
Voiced by: Chieko Ichikawa (Japanese); Linda Bendik (English)
  • Chiaki Komatsu
Voiced by: Fumiko Orikasa (Japanese); Zarah Little (English)
  • Shuhei Karita
Voiced by: Hozumi Goda (Japanese); Patrick Seitz (English)
  • Chie Karita
Voiced by: Mari Ogasawara (Japanese); Lauren Bendik (English)
  • Kotomi Hiyama
Voiced by: Rumi Ochiai (Japanese); Robyn Nolting (English)
  • Geronimo Hongo
Voiced by: Susumu Chiba (Japanese); Justin Gross (English)
  • Nenji Yoshioka
Voiced by: Takayuki Sugo (Japanese); Eric Da Re (English)
  • Karna
Voiced by: Tomoko Kawakami (Japanese); Casey Strand (English)

Media

Manga

NieA_7 was created by Yoshitoshi ABe as an independent doujinshi manga following the end of Serial Experiments Lain. The manga was picked up by Kadokawa Shoten, initially serialized on their monthly magazine Monthly Ace Next from October 1999 to January 2001 with a total of 14 chapters over 2 tankōbon volumes. An artbook titled NieA_7 Scrap was published in June 2001. The manga was republished in a single kanzenban volume on 26 October 2012, under the title NieA_7 Recycle. The original manga was licensed by Tokyopop.

Chapters

No.Release date ISBN
Volume 1 July 1, 2000 ISBN 4-04-713349-3
  • 01. "Strawberry Icecone and Alien" (氷イチゴと宇宙人, Kōri ichigo to uchūjin)
  • 02. "Mysterious Oil and Alien" (謎の油と宇宙人, Nazo no abura to uchūjin)
  • 03. "A Female Manager and a Life with No Roof Over My Head and the Smell and Alien" (女経営者と屋根のない暮らしと鰻の香りと宇宙人, Jo keieisha to yane no nai kurashi to unagi no kaori to uchūjin)
  • 04. "Apple and Honey and Alien" (リンゴとハチミツと宇宙人, Ringo to hachimitsu to uchūjin)
  • 05. "Object X and Alien (First Part)" (物体Xと宇宙人（前編）, Buttai X to uchūjin （zenpen）)
  • 06. "Object X and Alien (Latter Part)" (物体Xと宇宙人（後編）, Buttai X to uchūjin （kōhen）)
  • 07. "Tenpai Fever and Alien" (テンパイフィーバーと宇宙人, Tenpaifībā to uchūjin)
Volume 2 March 29, 2001 ISBN 4-04-713413-9
  • 08. "Superstar and Alien (First Part)" (スーパースターと宇宙人（前編）, Sūpāsutā to uchūjin （zenpen）)
  • 09. "Superstar and Alien (Latter Part)" (スーパースターと宇宙人（後編）, Sūpāsutā to uchūjin（kōhen）)
  • 10. "Era Flower Communications Area Problems and Alien" (荏の花通信エリア問題と宇宙人, Era no hana tsūshin eria mondai to uchūjin)
  • 11. "Black-and-White Show and Alien" (白黒ショーと宇宙人, Shirokuro shō to uchūjin)
  • 12. "Melancholic Summer and Alien (First Part)" (夏の憂鬱と宇宙人（前編）, Natsu no yūutsu to uchūjin（zenpen）)
  • 13. "Melancholic Summer and Alien (Latter Part)" (夏の憂鬱と宇宙人（後編）, Natsu no yūutsu to uchūjin（kōhen）)
  • 14. "Super Fireworks Show and Alien" (超花火大会と宇宙人, Chō hanabi taikai to uchūjin)

Anime

The anime adaptation, titled NieA under 7 - domestic poor @nimation was animated by Triangle Staff, directed by Tomokazu Tokoro and written by Takuya Satō. It aired on the Japanese BS Satellite channel WOWOW from April 16 to July 19, 2000. The opening theme is titled "Koko Made Oide" (ここまでおいで, Koko made oide, lit. Come On Over Here) by SION while the ending theme is titled "Venus to Chiisana Kamisama" (ヴィーナスと小さな神様, Vuīnasu to Chīsana Kamisama, lit. Venus and the Little God) by Maria Yamamoto. For episode 13, the ending theme is "KA MOA'E" by Yoshio Owa.

Geneon Entertainment licensed the anime outside Japan before it went out of print. Discotek Media have rescued the license and plan to release it on DVD and Blu-ray on February 27, 2018.[2]

Episodes

# Title Original airdate English airdate
1"Alien and Launching UFO Bath"
"Uchūjin to uchiage yūfō no yu" (宇宙人と、打ち上げUFOの湯)		April 26, 2000May 4, 2007
2"Alien and Violence Cosmic Bath"
"Uchūjin to abare uchū buro no yu" (宇宙人と、暴れ宇宙風呂の湯)		May 3, 2000May 7, 2007
3"Alien and Radio Noise Bath"
"Uchūjin to redio noizu no yu" (宇宙人と、レディオノイズの湯)		May 10, 2000May 8, 2007
4"Alien and Beginner Waitress Bath"
"Uchūjin to sin'mai weitoresu no yu" (宇宙人と、新米ウェイトレスの湯)		May 17, 2000May 9, 2007
5"Alien and Super Dried Amusement Bath"
"Uchūjin to gekikare amūzumento no yu" (宇宙人と、激枯アミューズメントの湯)		May 24, 2000May 10, 2007
6"Alien and Rival Bath-House Bath"
"Uchūjin to raibaru sentō no yu" (宇宙人と、ライバル銭湯の湯)		May 31, 2000May 11, 2007
7"Mothership, Go-Con and Cloudy Sky Bath"
"Bosen to gōkon to kumorizora no yu" (母船と合コンと曇り空の湯)		June 7, 2000May 14, 2007
8"Melancholy and Cast-Off Summer Bath"
"Yūutsu to natsu no nukegara no yu" (ゆーうつと、夏のぬけがらの湯)		June 14, 2000May 15, 2007
9"Close Encounter and After the Rain Bath"
"Sekkin sōgū to ameagari no yu" (接近遭遇と、雨あがりの湯)		June 21, 2000May 16, 2007
10"Glow of the Firefly and Nocturne Bath"
"Hotarubi to yasōkyoku no yu" (蛍火と、夜想曲の湯)		June 28, 2000May 17, 2007
11"NieA_7 Bath (The Former Part)"
"Nia andā sebun no yu (Zenpen)" (にあ・あんだーせぶんの湯(前篇))		July 5, 2000May 18, 2007
12"NieA_7 Bath (The Latter Part)"
"Nia andā sebun no yu (Kōhen)" (にあ・あんだーせぶんの湯(後編))		July 12, 2000May 21, 2007
13"Time Flows by in Enohana Bath"
"Enohana ni toki wa nagareru no yu" (荏の花に、時は流れるの湯)		July 19, 2000May 22, 2007

References

  1. ↑ http://animejump.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=32&page=1
  2. ↑ "Discotek Licenses Cyborg 009 The Cyborg Soldier, Tomorrow's Joe, Project ARMS, NieA_7, Lupin III: The Legend of the Gold of Babylon". Anime News Network. August 13, 2017. Retrieved August 13, 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.