Posted by OP Sequence
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OP: 「Seven Doors」 by ZAQ
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「魔王候補と第三の選択」 (Maou Kouho to Daisan no Sentaku)
“Administer and Third Selection”
Finally, a magical-fantasy-action-harem anime with a calm, confident protagonist. The quirky, funny, and occasionally flirty haremettes are a big bonus too.
The Calm, Confident, Honest Pervert
I hesitate to call Kasuga Arata (Matsuoka Yoshitsugu) a pervert. Perversion isn’t his overriding trait, like it is with Issei. Mostly what he is, is honest. All guys (and girls!) are perverts to a certain degree, unless they’re repressed, in which case the perversion is just buried under neurosis. What makes Arata different is that he’s calm and confident enough to make jokes and flirt. It starts with him not freaking out or apologizing in a panic when he groped his cousin and childhood friend, Kasuga Hijiri (Suwa Ayaka), but it extended throughout the episode. Him bantering back and forth with the playful ninja Kazama Levi (Sakura Ayane) was the first sign that this trait was here to say, but the long, open, and obvious look he gave the naked Kannazuki Arin (Uchida Aya) was perhaps the best. Most anime males would run away screaming instantly at seeing a naked girl, and even the good ones would act more like Madan no Ou to Vanadis’ Tigre, who turned away to be polite. It took Arin’s lack of screaming and deadpan “kyaa” to chase Arata away, and that was only because her reaction confused him. I think Arata is the kind of guy who likes to tease, if his reaction to busty tsundere Asami Lilith (Hara Yumi) is any indication.
But as I said, perversion is not Arata’s overriding trait. It’s a strong component, and that’s fine, but he’s definitely driven by more. That’s corroborated by his quick thinking in taking a third option (trope! And he even called it out himself. Or you might say, hung a lampshade on it…trope!), and how his private thoughts are dominated by more than lusting over hot girls. I don’t know if he loves Hijiri as a girl, but he definitely loves her as a person, or perhaps a family member, and getting her back (without it feeling like an unhealthy obsession) drives him. He’s driven, but balanced. I like what I see from Arata so far.
Quirky Haremettes, Irreverent Tone
But the male lead is only one part of the magical-fantasy-action-harem genre. (One part, the action, I can’t really speak to yet, since there wasn’t much this time. That’s okay, I’m sure it will come.) There’s also the girls, and I like them a LOT so far. Levi is the one that first struck me as different, because she entered the scene and immediately began playing around. Arin’s deadpan delivery is something I’ve seen before, but I like the flavor she exhibits—it’s not Rei Ayanami-style I’m-emotionally-cold-inside, she just doesn’t appear to care, and a judicious lack of giving a fuck is something I can get behind. Lilith-sensei seems to be the most typical so far, but she comes alive when Arata is around and she gets to be a flustered tsundere instead of the ice princess we’re told she is. That informed gap moe gives a little extra flavor to her character.
Mostly though, the quirky haremettes illustrate something I’m enjoying about this show so far—it’s irreverent tone. It let itself get serious during the first part when Arata’s whole life was falling apart, but it didn’t dwell or slide into angst. Hijiri is still alive, according to the grimoire (Kugimiya Rie) Hijiri left with Arata, so moping time is over before it really began. The story is taking itself seriously, but it’s also saying “Shit, let’s have some fun!” If director Nishikiori Hiroshi and his team at Seven Arcs can balance the tone correctly, this is going to be a fun show.
The Tragedy, the Intrigue
They put the end of the episode in a good place, because the most interesting thing (to me) that’s happening right now—other than waiting to see how awesome Arata will get, and how he’ll win over all the girls—is what’s the relation (if any) between Hijiri and Arin. As much as the reason for the Breakdown Phenomenon that caused Hijiri’s not-death should be intriguing, it’s not, because we weren’t given enough time to connect with Hijiri, so I only care about her disappearance in proportion to how much I have come (and will come) to like Arata. Which isn’t a criticism! That wasn’t meant to be a big tearjerker, so spending much more time on it than they did would have been a waste. But the reason why Hijiri and Arin look alike has my curiosity piqued, because it could lead to so many interesting things. Hijiri shares Arata’s surname of Kasuga, so I assume they’re first cousins, but she had that grimoire, and she looks like Arin. Maybe they’re not related after all? Maybe Hijiri is really related to Arin? Or maybe it’s all a big red herring ? (trope!) Whatever the case, they were wise to end on that note, because that has me interested.
Actually, I take that back—they were wise to end on Arata having forgotten his pants. That snapped the tone right back to irreverent, and made me laugh! I like a protagonist who forgets his pants, and isn’t bothered by it. That’s the kind of man all men should aspire to be.
Looking Ahead – Demon Lord Candidate Action
It looks like next episode will give us more of a taste of the action, and hopefully introduce us (and familiarize us with) more of the Trinity Seven. I can’t wait!
I haven’t decided whether I’m going to blog this yet, but it’s at the top of my list. You can expect at least one more post on the series, and then I’ll make a decision on whether I’ll continue coverage.
tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – A calm, confident harem lead takes the third option & lands himself at school with the powerful (& beautiful) Trinity Seven #trinity7 01
Random thoughts:
- They were smart for casting Matsuoka Yoshitsugu as Arata. He’s been one of my favorite comedic male seiyuu ever since Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo, but he can do badass as well. And Hara Yumi as Lilith, who also voices Mari-nee? Yay! I want to hear more of her.
- Those were some odd oppai squeezing noises. Did her breasts just squeak?
- Another series with a powerful KugiRie character. I am not complaining!
- At first I thought the casting choice for the Headmaster (Miki Shinichiro) was odd. When I read the manga to preview this series, I wasn’t sure whether he was a guy or a woman, so casting Roy Mustang’s seiyuu seemed odd. The more I think about it though, the smarter it seems. Not only is there no confusion for anime viewers, his performance was good.
- Lilith-sensei is so adorable when she’s embarrassed. Tease her Arata, tease her more! No, wait—send me in coach! I’ll do it!
- Adaptation faithfulness: Good so far, from what I can tell. This covered I think two manga chapters, and I’m pretty sure everything made its way in with minimal changes or cuts. That’s the limit of what I can say though, because I stopped at the Arata-forgot-his-pants part because I didn’t want to spoil any more of the story for myself. From here on out we’ll find out together.
Check out my blog about storytelling and the novel I’m writing at stiltsoutloud.com. The last four posts: Rape fiction, Five movies on a plane, Remarkably lost, and What comes first: world, narrative, or characters?. Comments have been re-enabled.
Full-length images: 08, 11, 27, 29, 35.
ED Sequence
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ED: 「BEAUTIFUL≒SENTENCE」 by Magus Two (Hara Yumi & Uchida Aya)
Preview
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Come one Trinity Seven! Please don’t disappoint stilts next week, earn your weekly coverage!
Its finally here this is the best harem manga I have ever read so I hope the anime can show how great Arata and the girls are 😀
A tip of my hat to whoever cast Matsuoka Yoshitsugu as Arata. A perfect fit who portrays our perverted (or “honest,” I should say? Lol) but admirable protagonist about as well as anyone could’ve hoped.
As for the actual adaptation, I’m pretty happy. It stays faithful to the manga and, more importantly, airs that certain charm about it that makes me want to keep watching in the same way that I want to keep reading the manga.
With only a single cour though – so far anyways – hopefully there won’t be an issue with pacing and, if the OP (which was better than I thought it would be, btw) was any indication, Seven Arcs already has a clear idea of where they want to go.
All in all, a wonderful addition to an already bombastically awesome season, indeed. Can’t wait for the next ep.
Thank you for the feast! XD
You know this anime made me fantasize about what would have happened if Touhou got an official anime. Lilith for example almost completely looks like Hong Meiling, especially her anime incarnation from Fantasy Kaleidoscope. We even have a character called Hijiri though I guess that one doesn’t have any other similar traits to Byakuren. I am going to following this series! Let’s see how Arata will handle his harem! Though after seeing what happened to Hijiri I immediately shipped them as the official couple.
Liese best girl!
You misspelled “Levi”. 😉
I see what you did there.
Show Spoiler ▼
I’ve read the manga till chaps 20 and honestly I don’t get where all the praises for Arata come from.Show Spoiler ▼
Given that you’ve only read up ’til Ch. 20, I can understand where you’re coming from. That said however…
Show Spoiler ▼
I’m afraid that i can’t read on, unfortunately. My patience for him ran out Show Spoiler ▼
Well, that’s it.
Stilts edit: Added spoiler tags, just in case.
With all respect, I think you’re being unfair in your judgment of Arata as twenty chapters in a manga, comparatively speaking, can’t honestly be said to be an “incredibly long time” by any reasonable measure. In addition to that, Show Spoiler ▼
Regardless, it is your choice of course and no one can force you to read it. However, it’s a shame that you’re giving up so soon on what is, IMHO, an entertaining and worthwhile manga.
Let’s just conclude that it’s difference in taste. And for Amiluhur’s standard, MC takes too long to get better.
A lot of the praise comes from him being a completely *a*typical harem protagonist. In addition, he’s thrown into the deep end of the pool, and despite being outclassed by most of the mages he comes across, still manages to hold his own, and then some.
Looking at the OP, they’re probably planning to animate up to ch29 or 30.
Spoiler characters:
Show Spoiler ▼
Anyway, they seem to have tweaked a few of the jokes, but it seems to be a completely solid adaptation so far. This one is by far #1 on my watch list this season. 🙂
Do you think they’ll have any problem fitting 29-30 chapters into 12 episodes? That would be a good half of the season would be three-chapter-of-source-per episodes. After hearing how fast Madan no Ou to Vanadis was blowing through source material, despite a solid first episode I’m a little leery about how that one is going to go. If doing 2-3 chapters per episode seems reasonable though, I might get a little more hyped on this one.
I re-read the manga just now. 3 chapters per episode is fast but definitely not super rushed or anything. Madan is definitely rushed for sure. But we are comparing a manga adaptation and a LN adaptation here so I’ll stop now.
Pretty much what Hugh said. It’ll be a bit on the fast side, but I don’t think it’s unreasonably so, especially since there are several battles, which the anime can blow through in a hurry.
Three unenthusiastic “kyaa” deliveries already (two from her and one from Amagi Brilliant Park)? Loving it! lol
Already loving Lilith, Levi, and Arin, but from the looks of things, I’ll be loving the others too.
Pretty good adaptation so far. If they keep this up, this is definitely going to be one of my top anime of the fall 2014.
Trinity seven gets an anime…?
Nononononono.
Stilts, don’t you make me pick up another show because of a good review. I’m already at almost 30 on the season.
I wanna have a life!!!!!!!
Good. Join me! I don’t have enough time for all the shows I want to watch, and I have seven shows outstanding from summer. My free time ;_;
I guess this is a bad time to tell you to hurry up and watch UBW and catch up on Akame just for episode 14? 😛
I’m around 25 right now, and I thought I had a long list. 😛
From something which I expected to be a mildly entertaining series(which I think is an appropriate stance to take with these types of shows when you go into them blindly),this was quite nice. Arata’s confidence is welcomed and I do hope you’re right in that he’s someone who likes to tease,Stilts. The girls seem okay for now and I also found the principal dude to be pretty fun.
It’s enough for me if this show will be as enjoyable as say,Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance,not asking for anything more. That being said,I don’t mind surprises 😛
Wow, that was surprisingly awesome. I had no idea what to expect going in, and that was very entertaining. And I love how they broke the tension at the end of the episode with the pants gag. (And I love a “kyaaa,” deadpan faux scream from a character who doesn’t care. That’s gold there.)
I’m trying to be picky about what I watch this season… ah, screw it. If it’s good, I’ll find a way to watch it. Sleep is for the weak. 😛
Reminds me of Mahou Sensou oddly…
Let’s pray this doesn’t suck complete and utter ass though.
It’s so not like Mahou Sensou that I can’t even think up enough adjectives to describe just how different they are.
Yeah… Mahou sensou was a complete disaster…
It’s mostly just the initial premise and the design of the school from the inside. So I’m certain it’s nothing like it. It’s just a few scenes took me back to Mahou Sensou…except Mahou Senou was horrible.
Im glad im not the only one getting a Magical Warfare vibe on this one.
The main difference is that Trinity 7 pretty much nails everything in terms of execution, while Magical Warfare was just plain disastrous.
I like what I see so far and I hope Trinity 7 keeps up the good work
I enjoyed the first episode and look forward to see how the story unfolds. For the most part, when I saw the character designs on the RC preview write up, this show definitely was instantly on my radar. All the characters so far look like a lot of fun. Especially Levi, Arin, and Lilith.
After this first episode, I can say that I plan to follow this.
Stilts, hope you decide to cover this!
I always found this manga funny and entertaining with just the right dash of Ecchi in it. I liked Isse from DxD but come season 2 I felt like they over emphasised the Ecchi nature of it and not to mention Isse’s head is just filled with oppai and nothing much else.
In that respect, I like Arata better than him in being a “perverted” protagonist who accepts it. As Stilts pointed out though, it’s not really perversion but rather just saying it as he sees it and being honest with himself.
@Stilts : Somewhat of a spoiler (not story related) though with regard to Hijiri Show Spoiler ▼
Lilith-sensei is my favorite thus far. Although I think calling her Lilith-chan is more appropriate considering her looks and behavior, the “sensei” part makes her like the “forbidden fruit” you can look at but not touch! Right, Kami-nii-sama??!!
Let’s be honest, the fanservice is the real appeal for shows like this…
I’ve read the manga ages ago but I eventually dropped it. The plot becomes boring and unbearable.
Just you wait till Show Spoiler ▼
. She’s Arita’s best wingman at perversion.
So… I caved.
fml.
Anyways, wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it’d be before I read this post and was convinced to give it a try. (Seriously, please never let me meet a conman in real life.) Arata was pretty fun. Naively honest people like him are pretty endearing.
If there was anything that had me face-palming, it was the revelation that Asami is normally an ice queen but goes dere as f*** around Arata. Seen it before and have never really liked it. Even more so because all it took was checking her out.
And thank God that Hijiri wasn’t voiced by Kugimiya Rie. Throughout the first part of the episode, I was wondering who voiced her. Suddenly my crazy radar started up…
https://randomc.net/image/Trinity%20Seven/Trinity%20Seven%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2008.jpg
*beep*
https://randomc.net/image/Trinity%20Seven/Trinity%20Seven%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2009.jpg
*beep* *beep* *beep*
https://randomc.net/image/Trinity%20Seven/Trinity%20Seven%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2010.jpg
*BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP*
And suddenly Kugimya Rie. Until I went to check the voice cast I thought I was slipping in my ability to recognize seiyuu. Scared me for a sec.
While it wasn’t too bad, it remains to be seen if it can stay that way. At least I know I only have
Stiltsmyself to blame if this turns into a fiasco.Bwahaha! I take your blame freely. All your free time are belong to anime. Join me in getting nothing accomplished ;_;
It begins! One of the best harem mangas with the best harem protagonist EVER!!! Cant wait to see the rest of the trinity 7 animated.
A bit late to comment, but no helping it.
— “Adaptation faithfulness: Good so far, from what I can tell. This covered I think two manga chapters, and I’m pretty sure everything made its way in with minimal changes or cuts.”
Like a couple others shows this season, I gave the source material a pretty good “test read” (14 ch. IIRC), and I agree. IMO this was a good, inclusive, and faithful adaptation. A few things were left out early on but nothing I would consider materially detrimental. Once you got about 1/3 of the way into the episode (latter part of ch 1 & all of ch 2) pretty much right off the manga pages IIRC. I haven’t read enough to know where the anime might choose to end, but if it keeps up the two manga chapters per episode pacing and EP 01 is any indication, there should be no problems at all in terms of source material adaptation. Definitely points for that.
— “There’s also the girls, and I like them a LOT so far.”
Agree. Typically I end up liking the girls more than the ML even if he’s not the more “traditional” fairly useless pansy type, and this series is no exception. Arin and Levi are two of my favorites so far (again didn’t delve that deep into the source material). Lilith is certainly attractive, but personally I would prefer less frequent embarrassment moments (with or without violent retribution following). YMMV there.
—“Most anime males would run away screaming instantly at seeing a naked girl, and even the good ones would act more like Madan no Ou to Vanadis’ Tigre, who turned away to be polite.”
Perhaps a minor point, but while not instantly, Arata did run away from embarrassment at the end of the bath scene (around 20:30 mark) which was per source. Since you mentioned Tigre in comparison, inexplicably Vanadis’ adaptation added a few anime-only Tigre blushing moments. For what source material the anime included, he only really blushed that one time when seeing Elen naked. Given that most fans of the harem genre seem to prefer an ML who doesn’t blush/react like the purest maiden entering puberty, I simply cannot fathom why the hell Vanadis’ adaptation added those moments. Kudos to Trinity Seven’s adaptation for NOT doing the same! Furthermore, I liked how Trinity Seven’s adaptation showed Arata becoming embarrassed before running out of the bath without resorting to an exaggerated depiction as if his head was dunked in pinkish red ink. Again, have to say this was a good adaptation so far and hope it continues to be so.
As for the series I think it’s solid for the genre though I wouldn’t call it the best harem series ever. EP 01 was a good, solid start. Assuming it keeps up the adaptation quality level (I expect it will, but sadly you never know), I’m in.
When “Kalki” burst through the window, I about lost it and had to check AniDB to make sure. Good to hear Miki-sama again.
A kuudere love interest?! 😀
I’m already sold.