Shichisei no Subaru

So the concept of the anime is very similar to Anohana, and I think that may be part of the reason why people hate it so much - it seems like a bland copy. But just because the concept is similar, it doesn't necessarily mean that Shichisei no Subaru is a complete ripoff. Yes, there are some similarities, but Subaru does execute them differently (though it's hard to be specific about this without spoiling). The main difference though, is the fantasy and action aspect. I think these were implemented well enough to give the anime an original feel, and the monsters were surprisingly cool sometimes. ... I also enjoyed the characters for the most part. Some of them were similar to anohana, painfully so. But they were still given development at least (the main ones anyway) and character development is always nice to see.

My main problem is that it just feels incomplete. I hope we get a season 2 or something to tie up the story, but if the reception there is anything like the reception over here then unfortunately we'll be stuck with this incomplete story.

TL;DR It's not as good as Anohana, but it's still good and worth a watch as long as you don't compare them too much.

"This anime is worse than the ones I saw 5 years ago, because I saw this one today."

There is no limit to the ripoff and plagiarizing claims in the current "critical" atmosphere. In 2011, we got AnoHana, an anime which originality was limited to its ridiculously long name no one to this date has been able to memorize. And in 2012, we got Sword Art Online, anime which originality was entirely limited to the fact that it had none. Apparently, this anime produced in the lord's year of 2018, Shichisei no Subaru, is a ripoff of both: Sword Art Online and AnoHana...... Great.

Story:

Party ... of friends is having the time of their life inside this MMORPG game where they rock. While normos go to work and school/whatever, these fellas are doing the enjoy your life thingy and it's beautiful. Unfortunately, this thing only lasts for half a lifetime before the servers need to go down (or something, I wasn't really paying attention because it was irrelevant), what happens is these fellas get separated for a long period of time until one of them logs in and finds out that a party member who was supposed to be dead is now a spooky ghost thing still living inside the game. This starts off a journey that is exactly like SAO because it takes place inside a video game and exactly like AnoHana because there is one dead person in the series. Kudos for figuring this out.

I also spotted a red colored door here which I'd claim is a ripoff of Shakesperian literature, but then I remembered it's a smart piece of literature, and therefore red door is actually a reference to it and not a ripoff. Or would be if this anime had psychological tag in it and some nerd was claiming it's full of obscure philosophical references. ... but in this case, the door just happened to be red. There was also a deja vu in this which makes me believe this entire story takes place inside The Matrix.... just how deep does the rabbit hole go? moving on.

The story is rather weak. Mystery elements are thrown from here and there like it's a middle age stoning in progress. There are memorylosses, and sudden "realizations" like it's that ending scene from Interstellar where Cooper's daughter ponders, and dead people being alive, and characters who teleport to the screen in the right time to give some "hints" on what is going on. Also, dragons. It's pretty cheap and essentially no planning or effort is put into making any of it believable or in any way logical. The best part is how the anime just doesn't care, so it's practically impossible to get annoyed by any of it.

Most interesting factor of the narrative centers around the subject regarding stuff like how much people and the world around them changes in 6 years. What occurs is practically a timeskip of 6 years that doesn't influence one of the cast member's virtual self but removes her from the current IRL timeline. Not to leave the impact what one person's death can carry unmentioned. This is practically the only reason why the story is worth of following at all, but I thought it was dealt pretty well with, mainly because it made me feel some emotions and I don't typically care for drama this shallow.

Characters:

Anaru.... I mean the girl with red eyes and red-ish hair has real cute reaction on everything that is related to romances and and deeper feelings. Otherwise her presence is almost calming.

Menma... I mean the girl who ded really likes hugging. Her voice is quite annoying, but otherwise it warms my haarto when she tries to be strong and more mature than she is.

The real mc is kinda Jesus especially considering how smooth he is with the ladies when it comes to understanding their feelings. I like he ain't embarrassed of no hugs.

No in-depth character portrays or strong personality traits will be found here. Almost the entire cast is really light-hearted and positive. This is a casual anime and the only way to enjoy it is to take it as one.

Conclusion:

This anime is spectacularly average. It doesn't do quite anything that is impressive in terms of negative or positive. Even the "negative" parts of the story are less meaningful due to them being "average bad". My reason for enjoying and thinking this series reached the common mediocrity level is almost entirely based to the character centric drama and happy hugging scenes that were also very mediocre but I really liked them.

The atmosphere of this show is close to charming. Smooth and very easy to watch. Works especially well as background entertainment.

*I actually was paying attention, but the real events are a spoiler, hence the alternative line

Video games are part of our society’s norm. I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy video games today. One of the most popular genres is MMORPG where socialization is part of gameplay. As an unwritten rule, many people play MMORPGs to connect with others. Here, we have this show called Shichisei no Subaru (Seven Senses of the Re’Union) that unites in-game characters together in a fantasy world. You probably heard this many times before but shows like this are not going to disappear any time soon. It’s a popular concept with great potential. But unfortunately, Shichisei no Subaru breaks that potential and ... limits itself to mediocrity.

Noritake Taro’s novels expands for over 6 volumes at the time of this writing but the anime consists of only 12 episodes. Red flags should already be raised as you would expect certain material to be omitted. It’s an issue found in many light novel adaptations but that’s the least of this show’s problems. By reading the premise, there’s some questions to keep in mind. It also takes place in a futuristic setting (year 2036) and the popular MMORPG “Union” is at the heart of this show’s story. Fast forward to 2040 and we have a new game called “Re’Union” launched that adapts similar mechanics to Union. We also meet a group of players including protagonist Haruto Amou who tries to move on from the past. Oh but the past comes back to haunt him when he realizes that his childhood friend, Asahi returned after her supposed death. What could possibly go wrong?

Anyone who’s familiar with anime like AnoHana may find this anime similar at its base context. We have a girl coming back from her assumed death and reunites with the protagonist. What does set apart is how Asahi exists in both in real world and in-game. In essence, the show attempts a blur between fiction and reality as both worlds’ stories connects with each other. My impression of the first episode made me realize how the creators wanted me to feel something for the characters. When we first meet Haruto, he seems just like a regular guy who actually seems a bit indifferent about his life. Until he meets Asahi again, his behavior hardly felt noticeable. After reuniting with Asahi, we can see how much he begins to doubt himself and wish he could’ve saved her back then. Did it make me feel sympathetic about him? The short answer is no and the long answer is why should I. We don’t really know much about their past in the beginning and although the show attempts to bring out characterization, it doesn’t come with good writing. This could have really been written by anyone who played a fantasy video game and Haruto’s character is blend as it can get. His actions are often motivated by his insecurity and it’s hard to get attached to him. Later in the series, he does seem to regain more of his confidence back but his development is still lackluster.

The guild Haruto used to be in is known as “Subaru” and has quite a reputation by name alone. Satsuki Usui is a mage of this guild and is one of the very few people who still maintains contact with Haruto. However, it’s pretty easy to notice that she fills this show’s role as the childhood crush. She is hopeless in love with Haruto but the latter seems to never notice her feelings. Childhood romance in a series like this is hardly surprising but because of its nature, I can’t say it works for the show’s story either way. That’s because Asahi is always on Haruto’s mind so tough luck to our mage girl. Throughout the rest of the show, we also meet other members who were members of the guild including Takanori Mikado, Clive Vivaldi, and Nozomi Kusaka. It’s pretty obvious at the same time that the show adds more romance angles between these characters. At some point, it made me wonder what this show’s true intentions are. It felt more like a teenage soap opera than a fantasy drama. To my displeasure, every episode focused more on character relationships rather than plot development. There’s far too much emphasis on relationships at the expense of crafting a creative MMORPG story. In reality, I felt very disappointed by this series’ inability to capitalize on its MMORPG concepts as well. Socialization between the characters are often repeated dialogues that you’ll hear over and over again. The only bright side is the occasional battles that shows the testament of these guild members. Even then, these battles are hardly memorable to recall despite the stakes.

Sci-fi fantasy game genres being adapted into the anime medium takes guts if you want to see a creative world. Studio Lerche probably knew this but the world fiction of this show is average at best. By technical quality alone, it looks mildly creative with the fantasy elements like the basic-looking towns and landscapes. Weapons, armor, and spellcraft is pretty typical of what you’d expect from an MMORPG game. Even the bestiary in this series are hardly inspiring. They look half-assed with minimal effort without unique traits. Character expressions in the show often looks forced with the same faces. Only Satsuki occasionally shines from the main cast but that’s mainly because of her personality. Oh and we can’t forget about Asahi. Because of her childish nature, there’s questionable fan service that will pop up at times. On the other hand, I am satisfied with the real life character designs of its cast. They look like real people and their age fits within the category of gamers. Similarly, their voices matches with their characters that is convincing to the ears. You can even hear their expressions of feelings in their voice tone that connects with their dialogues.

It’s too bad really. Shichsei no Subaru turned out to just be another one of those shows where people will forget to talk in the future. The main cast couldn’t hold a candle to impress anyone with their mediocre personalities. The story felt like it’s a copy-paste of any fantasy shows you can find on the web. Hell, even some similar light novels I’ve read had more personality than what this show had to offer. What a waste.