Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin (Rainbow)

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Alternative Titles

English: Rainbow

Synonyms: Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin

Japanese: RAINBOW 二舎六房の七人

Information

Type: TV

Episodes: 26

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Apr 7, 2010 to Sep 29, 2010

Premiered: Spring 2010

Broadcast: Unknown

Producers: VAP, Nippon Television Network

Licensors: Funimation

Studios: Madhouse

Source: Manga

Genres: Drama, Historical, Seinen, Thriller

Duration: 22 min. per ep.

Rating: R - 17+ (violence & profanity)

Statistics

Score: 8.59¹ (scored by 79,277 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score. Please note that 'Not yet aired' titles are excluded.

Ranked: #72²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #384

Members: 199,342

Favorites: 5,264

8.59

Ranked #72Popularity #384Members 199,342

Spring 2010TVMadhouse

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Episodes: /26

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Synopsis

Japan, 1955: Mario Minakami has just arrived at Shounan Special Reform School along with five other teenagers who have been arrested on serious criminal charges. All assigned to the same cell, they meet older inmate Rokurouta Sakuragi—a former boxer—with whom they establish a close bond. Under his guidance, and with the promise that they will meet again on the outside after serving their sentences, the delinquents begin to view their hopeless situation in a better light.

Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin follows the seven cellmates as they struggle together against the brutal suffering and humiliation inflicted upon them by Ishihara, a sadistic guard with a grudge on Rokurouta, and Gisuke Sasaki, a doctor who takes pleasure in violating boys. Facing such hellish conditions, the seven inmates must scrape together all the strength they have to survive until their sentences are up; but even if they do, just what kind of lives are waiting for them on the other side?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

FUNimation Entertainment simulcasted Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin in North America, but didn't give it a physical release due to poor streaming numbers. It is no longer streaming via FUNimation.

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Related Anime

Adaptation:

Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin

More characters
Characters & Voice Actors

Sakuragi, Rokurouta

Main

Koyama, Rikiya
Japanese

Minakami, Mario

Main

Oguri, Shun
Japanese

Maeda, Noboru

Main

Park, Romi
Japanese

Yokosuka, Jou

Main

Hasome, Tatsuya
Japanese

Nomoto, Ryuuji

Main

Fujiwara, Keiji
Japanese

Tooyama, Tadayoshi

Main

Kuroda, Takaya
Japanese

Matsuura, Mansaku

Main

Waki, Tomohiro
Japanese

Ishihara

Supporting

Ishii, Kouji
Japanese

Koike, Setsuko

Supporting

Kanjiya, Shihori
Japanese

Sasaki, Gisuke

Supporting

Hashi, Takaya
Japanese

More staff
Staff

Koujina, Hiroshi

Director

Mima, Masafumi

Sound Director

Kurata, Ayako

Episode Director, Storyboard

Hosoda, Masahiro

Episode Director

Edit Opening Theme

"We're not alone" by coldrain

Edit Ending Theme

"A FAR-OFF DISTANCE" by Galneryus

More reviewsReviews

Apr 11, 2010

26 of 26 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 10

Nyron (All reviews)

675 people found this review helpful

After finishing episode 1 of this series, I took a deep breath. I was so engrossed that I had apparently forgotten to breathe while I was watching.

After finishing episode 26, I finally exhaled. This series was a rush of nonstop emotion all the way throw and never faltered for a second. Everything I said here over a half a year ago holds completely true and I can't flaunt my glowing recommendation for this series enough.

Rainbow is definitely one of the best things Japan has put out in a long time, and not in an ironic "Oh, Japan!" flashy comedy/campy/ridiculous way. It's a serious story. So serious that the first episode starts off with a disclaimer about explicit content. Think about that for a second. In a medium like anime where there's blood, tits and who knows that else in so many shows, what are they warning you about? Real stuff, that's what. Unlike Lucy ripping the head off some moe girl in Elfen Lied, Rainbow is constantly presented as a brutal, depressing series where the violent content is required to present the story in a proper way.

But don't be put off because it sounds too depressing or even boring(I don't know how anyone could think this, personally), because Rainbow is also a story of true bro-ship. Like Gungrave before it, Rainbow will be bleak. It will be depressing. But through all that, a heartwarming tale of friendship will shine. A tale that's under the perpetual threat of being crushed by the blackened circumstances around it, and that's what will keep you engrossed.

The animation is terrific, as expected of Madhouse by this point. This includes the great still art that pops in during narrated scenes, as seen by the series' title art to the left. The whole episode, and most likely a good portion of the series was depicted with very few colors other than shades of grey and dark blue. Any bright things on screen are bright things in the eyes of the story, like the sunshine outside or the end of a lit cigarette shared between the beaten characters. This was a very fine touch and does nothing but add to the heavy atmosphere of the series.

The audio and the animation work beautifully in tandem, with the music bringing scenes to life by boosting the dank atmosphere. The opening by Coldrain is especially great, bringing a badass touch to the show. Similarly, the voices are gruff and work very well with the rest of the presentation.

The above was stated after watching episode 1, and now that the series is over I think it's time to address these issues. Firstly, Rainbow finished excellently. It did not, however, cover the entire 22 volumes of story and instead opted to stop around volume 12 or so. This is no reason to not watch the series, as the stopping point they chose was pretty tactfully chosen and very satisfying. When it comes to negatives, Rainbow suffered from two things at certain points: Pacing and over-emotion. Even if you haven't read the manga, there's a good chance you'll notice that certain parts, mostly in the second half, seem rushed or like they crammed too many chapters into an episode and that makes it seem like the story skips around a little too much. It's not a big deal at all and very rarely detracts from anything, but it's a factor you'll probably notice. One of the bigger factors that may not sit well with some is that the series can come off as a little too over-dramatized or sappy at points. Sometimes the manly guitar solos and power ballads work incredibly well and you'll be clenching your teeth with man tears streaming down your cheeks, and other times it doesn't work too well. That's something that'll vary a lot from person to person though.

The final thing that bothered me was that one of the characters never gets an episode or arc devoted to him, which is pretty unsettling considering the other six boys got the spotlight multiple times. That was the main casualty of the long manga->short anime transition, so what can you do?

In closing, Rainbow's definitely in the top 10, maybe even top 5 shows of the year 2010. Not watching it should be a crime.

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Apr 13, 2014

26 of 26 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 10

HappyHarryHardOn (All reviews)

213 people found this review helpful

What exactly is friendship? Are your friends more important to you than your family? What are you willing to go through for a friend? Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin (for the rest of the review the anime will be referred to simply as Rainbow) focuses on friendship, as well as several other themes based around friendship, such as humanity, morality, violence, love, family etc. This is my review:

Story - Rainbow is a tale about seven inmates in a special reform school who grow closer with the increased time they spend together. All seven of them are there for committing several crimes which shaped these very different yet very similar individuals. From the opening moments of the first episode right through to the last scene of the last episode I was hooked. The show grabbed me and forced me to sit down and watch what happened next. Rainbow is brutal, mature, dark and at times depressing. But I was surprised at how light the show can get at certain points, from the funny banter between the seven inmates to the way they overcome obstacles by relying on each other and their bond. The tone shifts from time to time but Rainbow manages to keep the shifts fluid and smooth. For me, Rainbow had two highlights, and the story was definitely one of them. The writing was well done because the show didn't come off as melodramatic and managed to feel really inspirational at certain points and there were more twists than one would expect from a show like this.

Characters - I mentioned that the show had two aspects that really stood out. The characters were the second aspect. These were really cool guys. They were bad ass but they were portrayed in such a sympathetic way that you would root for all of them, sort of like multi-layered anti-heroes. The story was really amazing but I really enjoyed seeing the guys react to the situations they found themselves in. Character driven stories always work when it's executed properly. Like I said their friendship is an intricate part of the story. It is tested time and time again. It's wonderful to see selfless friendship like the one showed here. If you have a best friend or an entire "entourage" that you'll take a bullet for you'll know what I'm talking about. Two characters took a back seat to the others sometimes but that didn't detract from how enjoyable Rainbow was.

Sound - The voice acting was fantastic with each character sounding like they ought to. It is a lot more difficult to illustrate chemistry between animated characters than live-action characters but once again Rainbow manages to pull it off. There are a couple of bonuses available in the form of short clips with some the show's voice actors and I must say I really found new respect for seiyuus. The OP is probably not for everyone. A heavy metal track will turn some off but in my opinion it fitted well with the tone and atmosphere of the show. Listen to it and you'll know what to expect. The rest of the OST wasn't very bad and after listening to "A FAR OFF DISTANCE" I just had to get it on my phone.

Art - Rainbow's art is really good. I'm not an artist so I don't know how to explain it in detail but it's not too shabby. The art is very realistic like seinen should be. There are no alterations to characters' facial expressions for Japanese slapstick and like the voice acting, the art of each inmate fits to their personality and who they are.

Enjoyment - A part of me wishes that I didn't see Rainbow because after watching it, it'll be hard to find another series that will be able to top the standard Rainbow set. The story is brutal and violent, but also sincere and inspirational. The characters are extremely likeable and their relationship can get one emotional. Lump in throat emotional. The voice acting and soundtrack sound great and the art is beautiful. George Abe and Masumi Kakizaki really managed to create a distinctive style here.

Rainbow is a fantastic character driven story chronicling the lives of seven inmates who became best friends. The show is not for the weak of heart but please give it a try, you'll be surprised how much you love it.

10/10

Who said anime was just for kids?

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Jul 24, 2015

26 of 26 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 6

mkzxwing (All reviews)

192 people found this review helpful

*This review WILL contain spoilers

Since the anime has such a high score and a crazy amount of 10/10 reviews (what aggravates me, because its far from perfect), i will write a review, pointing all of the problems i found with it. This anime was very hard to watch and relate to at a lot of points. No, not because of how sad and harsh it is, but because as an anime that takes itself seriously its too inconsistent and illogical. Now don't get me wrong, this anime has a lot of strong points, but they still can't fully cover for all the flaws. Ill read more

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Apr 21, 2013

26 of 26 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 9

Radeon (All reviews)

161 people found this review helpful

Rainbow : Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin - after watching episodes of this anime, one word kept coming to my mind. "Beautiful". This anime shows how beautiful friendship can be. Acts of selflessness, sacrificing oneself to help another, returning to that one special place - It's all present in Rainbow. It's a good mix of emotion, struggle and drama. Rainbow is one superb anime, regrettably, it's buried deep within the other numerous popular titles out there and I'm glad I found it(more like stumbled upon).

Story? Rainbow focuses on seven teenagers who are found guilty of committing crimes and are sent to a Disciplinary school/Reformatory. In reality, it was Hellhole for them because they received very harsh treatment by some of the authorities to the point where they got thrashed by a group of hired thugs and received a lot of unnecessary punishment, though not all of the main characters suffered the same exact punishment. The story takes place in 1955, a decade after the end of the Second World War. During that time, Japan in it's state, still rebuilding its cities after the war and corruption is common.

Speaking of plot, it can be rather predictable sometimes. Characters' "motives" are predictable as ever too. What's very common in anime are that you can tell who's evil and who's not; Especially, when one of those anime characters who always had their eyes shut, suddenly they open their eyes and with a wide silly grin across their face obviously tells you that they are up to no good. It often shows that their intentions are usually bad too. But even with that, with lots of edge-of-seat action scenes, plenty of sorrowful moments, plot twists and memorable acts of friendship - Rainbow's overall storyline is top notch.

Character? Rainbow have a nice cast of main characters each with an interesting backstory. The seven protagonists of cell six each have their own unique personalities. Also, Character development is good. For example, Mario Minakami. In the start, He was weak and sometimes talks big but with help in the later episodes, he becomes a badass. The MCs are initially hostile towards each other but soon after they start helping out they quickly become friends. My favourite character in the series is Sakuragi Rokurouta: a young man with a boxing talent. He's also the oldest, strongest and acts as the leader out of the seven. With all that, Sakuragi Rokurouta is a man worth respecting.

Sound? The Opening theme is extremely good because I like these kind of songs: the Rock/Metal genre. Opening theme "We're not alone", sung in English by Japanese Band Coldrain was epic. Not only that the opening theme was awesome, but its also very fitting for the anime. The ending theme, wasn't entirely great, still I don't think its too bad. Also, whenever one of the protagonists gets serious, a distinct background music kicks in. Voice acting was brilliant but I find the English voice overs of the American characters sound a little weird.

Art/Visuals? The overall visuals passable. I think the dark/gloomy art style and colors really does suit the anime. However, Viewers who constantly had been watching anime with bright visuals might find Rainbow's visuals repulsive. Amusingly, all the evil characters in the series look so hideous. Characters' hair colours are natural; colours that naturally exist in real life: black, dark brown, blonde, etc. No, I don't hate the colorful hair that exist in anime, but the natural hair colors gives a more realistic feel.

Conclusion? Rainbow is an anime with an inspiring story and have many likeable characters. However, some people may find Rainbow's art style unappealing, but even you don't like that, you should at least give it a try. But for fans of thriller/Drama or anyone looking for a good anime of its genre, it's a must watch.

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Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin

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