Nanaka 6/17

I give this anime an 82/100

I first came across this little anime after finishing watching Nobody's Boy Remi on Anime News Network. I had run out of anime to watch and felt like starting on some new ones. Thankfully, Nanaka 6/17 turned out to be a fine little anime for me to watch before school started for me.

So basically it's about two kids who grow apart upon entering high school. Nanaka's the studious girl and Nenji's the delinquent. Then, they get into an argument and Nanaka gets a brain injury which causes her to suffer from 'Backwards Aging Syndrome' as I call it. She's turned ... back into her 6 year old self and Nenji has to babysit her. Simple enough, right?

Yes, this is a very simple story. Nothing complicated, nothing totally bland. Just simple and easy to understand, though it does go into a strange direction in the end, but it's not anything bad. I liked how it was executed.

The animation is, like the story, simple. It's not trying to be extravagant, which is good because sometimes I see that backgrounds tend to be a tad exaggerated in anime. But unlike the story, the animation tends to get a little bland at certain points. It's nothing special, but nice enough. The soundtrack too. It's not mind-blowingly awesome, nor is it bad. It just doesn't really stand out.

The characters are what made the show for me. You'll be surprised by the changes that the main character, Nenji, goes through in order to reconcile with Nanaka and rekindle his old relationship with her. He does start out rather bland, but his development throughout the show is just amazing. He knows that he can't walk away from certain responsibilities or else his reputation might kick the bucket. Nanaka's got nice development too. She starts out as a stony-faced girl who can't think of anything better to do than study study study and not care about others. Thankfully she grows into a better person, even with her age regression, by the end of the show. The pink-haired girl, Yuriko, is definitely a change from the usual 'other girl likes the main guy who the main girl falls in love with' in most anime. Instead of being jealous and raving, she's calm and considerate and knows that although she likes Nenji and used to dislike Nanaka a little at first, she knows she can't force herself on Nenji and that Nanaka's a person who also deserves a little bit of happiness.

Of course, while there are good things about this show, there are also bad things about it. The biggest flaw of this show? I feel it's the way they make little kids TOO mature sometimes. I mean, what little 5-6 year old girl would know the meaning of the words reference and reasonable and relationship? And what little kid would want to wish to be a housewife at such a young age!? That makes absolutely NO sense at all (unless it took place in the 19th century, but that's a different matter entirely)! Little kids should be little kids and play around with dolls and toys, not do housework and hook up with a high school guy! Good thing this show didn't pull a Kodomo no Jikan. Ugh. I'd hate to see this go into that direction.

Well, even with its flaws, Nanaka 6/17 is a nice little show about childhood, nostalgia, growing up, and learning lessons in life. It's not mind blowingly awesome, but it's not bad either, and that's fine with me. But don't expect it's portrayal of little kids to be entirely realistic.

"Hawawawa"


This will be a phrase you will hear often in this series, as Nanaka often tends to blurt it out whenever she is under any kind of pressure.

Story 7/10
This title stays tried and true to the basic "memory lost" storyline you probably have seen before, however it does have a unique aspect to it. For one, Nanaka does not suffer this through the whole storyline like you would expect, nope, in fact about half way through the series she begins to slip in and out of her two different age personifies. Which is a nice touch and helps to keep the series from becoming bland! ... And I do have to give kudos to the somewhat twist on the original concept that it brings to the table.The episodes don't really end on any cliffhangers, but Nanaka and the gang always seem to be doing something different in each episode. And as you would expect, Nanaka and Neji grow closer and change as the story progresses. It must be said though, that the ending to this series is just horrible! As nothing is resolved in the end, but getting there is quite entertaining!

Art: 5/10
The art style and characters are where this series really suffer from. Every character in this title just seem to scream out generic and bland, it almost brings to mind of a new company in Japan that has just started making anime. Because all the differences the charters did have, seemed to be nothing more than the obvious ways of making them look different. Oh and the backgrounds.....so boring!

Sound: 6/10
The soundtrack to this series has its charm, the opening and closing theme are well done and fit the style and atmosphere to this title, though I doubt anyone will be rushing to upload it to their ipods. The voice acting too isn't that bad, while nobody ever comes off as anything more than ordinary and seem to lack veriety in the personality department, at least to ever stand out as such, they also won't annoy either. Which is always a good thing!

Characters: 5/10
They are not bad, but some of their personalities may annoy some people. Six year old Nanaka, while cute and all, may start tobug you as you make your way through the series. Nenji is so lacking in the personality department, what with his more quiet nature, that he comes out more as boring than anything else. And 17 year old Nanaka? You will most likely just hate her! (she tends to be rude and want things her way) In my opinion, Amemiya is probably the most likable of the bunch, while she secretly likes Nenji, she usually puts that feeling aside in order to help both of them keep Nanaka's situation a secret from others. Nothing bad by any means, but nothing real special either.

Bottom Line: 6/10
Now despite everything I said about the characters, the anime itself is quite enjoyable and fun for a spin or two. Overall, the positives out way the negatives. If you are looking for an anime with a slight twist on a tried and true formula, then Nanaka 6/17 is worth giving a chance to!

Do you truly give a fuck about spoilers for Nanaka 6/17? I thought so.

I don't know why this anime in particular hit me as hard as it did. Anime, in general, is so monotonous, gimmicky, and tropey. I've been aware of this for years now. However, something about Nanaka 6/17 really got under my skin. I think it just caught me at a bad time. I'm a little burnout on anime, at the moment. The show isn't doing anything different from your ordinary, run-of-the-mill anime. No, it's just that it's so blatant and lacks any kind of subtlety in it's writing, that it made ... me legitimately angry. Okay, okay. Angry is a bit of an overstatement. I'm just tired and fed up. It's almost as if they had a checklist of every generic anime cliché they wanted to do. A dime a dozen, you're probably thinking. Many anime do that. The difference here is that they rub that checklist in your face. It's covered in drool and doodled with crayon. That's the aura I'm getting from this show. I only watched this out of curiosity and got through a third of it.

Nanaka 6/17 is about this girl named Nanaka Kirisato, a seventeen year old high school student. Her age will be important in a second. Nanaka had a bit of a whoopsy poopsy slip 'n fall after getting into a heated argument with her friend, Nenji Negihara. Who looks very similar to Itou from "Kyou Kara Ore Wa" look it up. The accident caused her brain to regress back into a six year old. Which is in the title! Get it!? Nanaka 6/17! Hahahahahhahahahahaha. So hysterical I'm laughing my pussy off. You can imagine many of the awkward scenarios coming out of a premise like this. Nenji trying his best to keep his now mentally regressed friend out of trouble. It gets very annoying at times.
This show loves putting it's stupid, unfunny gimmick in your face constantly that it starts to become very irritating to watch. To give the show some credit, it's the only gimmick it has. Which is pretty frustrating, considering it's not that strong of a shtick to begin with.

SHE'S SEVENTEEN BUT HAS THE MIND OF A SIX YEAR OLD! ISN'T THAT WACKY!? PLEASE LAUGH! WE'RE BEGGING YOU!

I bet that caught your attention after skimming the review. Lol

One noteworthy thing I will quickly mention is that episode four is point where Nanaka 6/17 becomes interesting. There's another character I didn't mention named, Yuriko Amemiya. Up until this point, Nenji has kept Nanaka's condition a secret, especially at school. Yuriko is the first to learn about Nanaka's secret. She's also in love with Nenji, but since Nenji and Nanaka are always together, she ends up getting jealous of Nanaka. So for the first three episodes, Yuriko is jealous of six year old. Thinking about that fact is slightly funny to me. Episode four was by far the best episode I watched. However, I just can't bring myself to care. It wasn't even that strong of an episode. It was just mildly intriguing for a few minutes, and that was it. I couldn't muster up the strength to continue. Who knows, maybe it improves dramatically after episode four. Probably not. I don't care. You shouldn't care. Wouldn't recommend.

Can't say it wasn't fun...because it wasn't.