First Impressions / Trinity Seven

「奥義(ロストテクニカ)と異変解決(プロブレム・ソルヴィング)」 (Ougi (Rosutotekunika) to Ihen Kaiketsu (Puroburemu Soruvuingu))
“Lost Technica and Problem Solving”

Sexy gives way to badass, and leads to tragedy.

Distracted by the Sexy

I couldn’t help but laugh at how often Liese used her sex appeal to further her plans. The Headmaster, of course, wasn’t being serious about it—he undoubtedly let himself get beat so that Arata and the others would have to take care of Liese. I was fixing to rage when everyone started talking about how Arata wants to see all of the Trinity Seven naked—I mean, it was funny, and seeing Levi naked would be an automatic win at life, but they were in the middle of a battle!—until Sora calmly noted that Liese was using that as a distraction to let her disrupted magic return to normal. I say it once, I’ll say it again—I’mm all for fanservice, but if it’s not going to be shameless, I like it to be relevant to establishing character or the plot. All home runs in the fanservice department this week.

The Enemy That Wasn’t

The dynamic is odd between Liese and the rest of the Trinity Seven (+ Arata). They never really act like enemies, to the point that they allow Liese to approach Selina, even though she was the one who put her in that bed. Arata said it best—up until Liese froze time, it didn’t feel real, because they were taking so many breaks to banter. Which is odd because some of their attacks were clearly aiming to kill (see: Levi’s kunai to the eye). Which actually worked, sort of, though it still feels odd.

As for Liese herself, it felt like she was too devoted to being an evil mage as opposed to focusing on something of substance. Take when she said, “A mage does whatever it takes for their research.” I don’t buy it. Obsession isn’t a reason for itself, and trapping herself in another dimension for her research’s sake makes even less sense than Arin being willing to let the world burn in episode two. But then again, Liese mentioned something about “us,” so it appears that she isn’t the only one involved in this evil magus schtick.

Freeze the World, and the Poisoned Kiss

The magic system still hasn’t been explained well, so I don’t really understand what Mantra Enchant does. I thought it buffed the user’s physical abilities, which made sense to me, but is the dragon part of it? And I have no idea why Arata putting it on his tongue did what it apparently did. He also got his magic back so quickly that it seemed like a waste of time to have him lose it at all.

Looking past the exposition failure, I liked the movements of this battle. Reveal followed by counter, culminating in Arata’s poisoned kiss that dealt the final blow to Liese. It was competent, and for a magical-fantasy-action-harem anime, that’s pretty much what we need. It was still the oppai jokes that carried the whole bit, which is fine. Though that pained “I’ll rub them raw!” did not work. C’mon Arata, take this seriously.

Looking Ahead – More Enemies Immediately

I loved Arin pointing out Mira’s tsundere act. She wants to punish Liese, uh huh, suuuure. But at least they didn’t leave Liese in limbo without giving us hope she would return, because Selina is great, but she’s nothing next to her onee-chan. The tragic bit just doesn’t feel right for Trinity Seven. It doesn’t look like Arata is going to get any time to rest though, which is par for the course. At least he’s finally getting competent enough to not be a drag on the show.

tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – Sexy gives way to badass, and leads to tragedy. It doesn’t look like Selina or Arata are going to give up on Liese though #trinity7 07

Random thoughts:

  • I liked the Headmaster’s comment about how evil mages are always defeated once they obtain great power. You can defy the systems for a while, but eventually it will chew you up and spit you out. Better stay on the side of good if you want to take those shortcuts, Liese.
  • From the sound of it, Hijiri may have triggered the series-beginning Breakdown Phenomenon, and then saved Arata from her own mistake. And mages still can’t see how dangerous obsession is? Bakas.
  • The Headmaster is using Arata in the role Hachiken from Gin no Saji ended up filling, someone new to mix everyone up and help them grow. Except this time it’s on purpose, and Trinity Seven isn’t nearly as good. Though what is?
  • Don’t Dress Break your grimoire, dude. I have a feeling that won’t end well.

Check out my blog about storytelling and the novel I’m writing at stiltsoutloud.com. The last four posts: Import, don’t recycle, Impostor syndrome, Save it for your daydreams, and Storytelling is subjective. For book updates, sign up for my mailing list.

Full-length images: 08, 14, 20, 25, 33, 36, 38.

 

ED3 Sequence

ED3: 「ReSTART “THE WORLD」 by Touyama Nao & Suzaki Aya

Preview

31 Comments

      2. Ahaha, thanks Anon! Should be soon. Hopefully next month, if I can get everything done in time :X

        @silke13 @Ginobi47

        Sorry, but I actually eschew the harem in my own writing, and any fanservice I include is minimal and split more or less equally between the guys and the ladies. I can enjoy fanservice and harems with other people’s characters, but not my own … I’ve spent too much time with them to tolerate fanservice that doesn’t reveal character or further the plot. Plus I’m more of a fan of Sakurasou or Kyoukaisen-style Mass OTPs. They’re just regrettably rare.

        Stilts
        Reply

  4. Yeah you tell her Arata! You’re going back there like a man, grab her boobs and bring her back out!
    Is this a one cour show? They are introducing a major villain all the way at episode 7 I feel like it will cause a lot of things to be crammed in if we only have 5 more episodes, unless there will be a season 2.

    gawrshness
    Reply

  6. Stilts, It is more easy to understand yours magic if you to associate it with your sins. In case of Dragon, the sin of gluttony. And Liese counter measure she talk all the time in kill him.

    Everaldo
    Reply

    1. I think she was playing around most of the time, including when she was shielding her breasts while Sora was taunting her. She’s emotionally immature though (I take that to mean the same thing as pure), so there’s that.

      Stilts
      Reply

  8. Was gonna say that the Headmaster, despite being a Paladin-class, was simply no match for Lieselotte’s WMD (Weapons of Mass Distraction), but yeah he most likely faked it. Considering the Headmaster’s personality though, he might have really wanted to grab ’em.

    Zhinvu
    Reply

  10. https://randomc.net/image/Trinity%20Seven/Trinity%20Seven%20-%2007%20-%2001.jpg
    Liese: C’mon, Arata.
    https://randomc.net/image/Trinity%20Seven/Trinity%20Seven%20-%2007%20-%2027.jpg
    Arata: Can I?
    https://randomc.net/image/Trinity%20Seven/Trinity%20Seven%20-%2007%20-%2028.jpg
    Liese: Nope. I am joking.
    https://randomc.net/image/Trinity%20Seven/Trinity%20Seven%20-%2007%20-%2023.jpg
    Arata: She is toying me.
    https://randomc.net/image/Trinity%20Seven/Trinity%20Seven%20-%2007%20-%2002.jpg
    Headmaster: Let me do it, Arata. <3
    https://randomc.net/image/Trinity%20Seven/Trinity%20Seven%20-%2007%20-%2003.jpg
    Liese: I am not interest with older guy.

    Setsuna Henry
    Reply

  14. Ok, if something can be called over the top fanservice, that would be Liese doing “raising the skirt” move with her top.
    And I thought she didn’t have any more skin to show on Japanese TV.
    Shouldn’t have understimated her.

    Erimaki
    Reply

    1. Same general vein as DxD, but the plot is different. It’s another magical-fantasy-action-harem(-fanservice) anime to be sure.

      And I don’t think it’s fair to take out a major part of the story and say “Can it stand without this?” Fate/stay night is a dating sim, so how would it be without all the kickass action? That wouldn’t work, because it’s an inexorable part of the story. Same thing here.

      I will say that the fanservice, comedy, and banter-between-the-characters are the main drawing forces of this series. The plot is less so, but it’s competently done (though it was floundering pretty hard a few episodes back).

      Stilts
      Reply

    2. The series has a relatively decent story line and sans the fan service it’s enough to entertain you, but don’t go looking for some deep plot here. Similar with DxD though DxD has more fan service

      Juan
      Reply

  17. Am I the only one who hates the animation. I like the story and the chars and all, but the animation… it looks so dull and grayish along with the fact that I feel like I’m reading a manga slideshow rather then an actual anime, or it must might be just me.

    drzero7
    Reply

  18. I think, answering the question of why his kissed beat her, it was what Akio said about her magic, if you had a weak will, you yourself takes crit damage. Being as Liese still feels fondly of her friends and the feelings of wanting her back put into Mantra Enchant, it broke her will for that moment and dealt that damage.

    Ray
    Reply

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