Anime Review: Sacred Seven Episode 1

Posted on October 8, 2011 by matthigh

Anime Review:
Sacred Seven Episode 1


“Please…you GOTTA GET ME OUT OF THIS SHOW!

What this is about: Watching all of the anime shows so you don’t have to! For more information about me and my reviews, click here for details on what I am reviewing.

Series Premise: Sacred Seven is an original anime series that began weekly televised broadcasts in July 2011. High school outcast Tandoji hides a secret and uncontrollable power, but when the town is attacked he is forced into action with the guidance of a billionaire socialite who helps him learn his true form and master the power of the Sacred Seven.

Click on the thumbnails below to view the picture in full size in a new window:

ep. tl;dr review: Loner boy, secret powers, sniper maids, rich-girl loli, Megaman suit. Quick, what other worn-out anime trope can we stuff into this?

Episode Summary: Ever since an incident years ago when several students were injured when he let his powers run amok, Tandoji has shut himself off from everyone and remains a pariah at school. All except for one insufferably effervescent girl, Wakana, who bull-headedly keeps inviting him to join the geology club despite her friends’ disapproval. One day out of the blue, Tandoji is visited by multi-billionaire Ruri and her boy toy faithful butler Kagami plus a talking Tiki mask, and they explain that a powerful monster called a Darkstone was released the previous night and they need Tandoji’s help to fight it. Angered and unwilling to lose control of himself again, he turns them away. The next day when Wakana and her friends are visiting the museum to see a rare gem, the monster attacks the city. Ruri unleashes her army of scantily-clad maiden commandos in defense, but the monster is overwhelming. Tandoji, realizing that Wakana is in the city, rushes to town despite himself; when he sees her injured, his powers transform him into a Darkstone himself, and he wails on the monster. With Ruri’s Lite-Brite Powers, she is able to return Tandoji back to his former self, then unlocks his “true form” where he has control over the “Sacred Seven”, and defeats the Darkstone for good. The next day Tandoji returns to school to find out Butler Boy is the class president…and Loli Ruri has bought the entire school to keep an eye on him.

My Impressions: Actually, for the first few minutes, this started out a bit cliche, but potentially interesting. Loner Boy at school who is so disliked by everyone (mostly due to rumor) that he is physically shunned, the entire hallway falling silent and parting like the Red Sea when he walks through. Except for Ditzo Girl, who apparently has the social skills of the rocks she loves so much (Her cell phone charms are a bunch of ROCKS, for fuck’s sake. WTF’s up with that?) So far, so good…

…and then the Commando Maids pop out of the woodwork, set up roadblocks, communicating with the Sniper Maids under the control of Loli Ruri, her butler whipping boy and the unexplained talking Tiki mask. Okay, okay…the show’s not completely gone yet, maybe they’ll salvage it somehow…

But…NOPE. If I had ten foreheads, I’d be doing ten facepalms as things spin out of control. As the headless statue monster rampages through the city turning everything to stone with a massive stone medusa head in its hand, you have more Commando Maids in their Maid Tanks running around from their Sooper Seeekrit Base, Butler Boy noodling around town in some sort of Transformers reject car, Loner Boy coming to the rescue and Loli Girl coming to save him instead. With some unexplained magical crystal power, Ruri glows like a cheap bug zapper and turns Tandoji into…Megaman. Or, more accurately Hepta-Man! And of course he knows how to use his newfound powers.

The icing on the cake is the closing when Tandoji goes to join the Geology Club (where the members sit in a room with a pile of fucking rocks) where Ditzo Girl greets him…along with Loli Girl and Butler Boy who have bought out and taken over the entire school. I kind of feel like they took about every single possible anime cliche they could think of, threw them all in a box, and said, “Okay, this first episode we are going to scrabble together a show that involves the first eight cliches we pull out of the box. Aaaaaaaaand….go!” Makes me wonder what the next eight cliches they’ll manage to shove into the next episode. Wait…no, I really don’t.

It’s sort of disappointing in a way, because I kinda like some of the character designs (Ruri is awfully cute), the animation is well done, and it is choreographed REALLY well. So much talent, wasted on such a terrible story cobbled together by committee. It’s substandard high-profile shows like this that continue to give the anime industry a bad name, Japan. Get a fucking clue already.

The verdict: – It’s like Star Driver…only not as FABULOUS!

For more information:

Sampling of Online Reviews:

  • “The army of french maids was also hilarious. All I could think of when the alarm sounded and they started sliding down fire-brigadesque poles was a loading dock noise and a big booming mechanical voice shouting “DEPLOY MAIDS”. Made me lol, again…But if anything can be said about Star Driver and Code Geass is that they were heaps of outlandish fun, and if this promises to be similar I will definitely be following this show to the end.” – Metanorn
  • “I gotta say that I love his fighting armor suit. It’s red and sleek. I was expecting something mecha but this is obviously better. When he’s mad, he’s fucking mad. But Ruri ruins it for me. Once she gives him her gay heart-shaped stone, his armor turns to pussy. Fuck. Needless to say that pissed the hell out of me. Fuck. He can’t do much in that gay suit armor of his especially when there are bigger fish to fry >=( Grade: 7/10.” – Conspicuous Klux
  • “The likeness to Code Geass in the character design department actually worked against the series when I saw it though. Instead of carving out its own feel, it looks really… unoriginal. Added to that, we have the classic Guyver-ish suit, we have the air board from Eureka 7, and the main guy is your typical anti social character that is actually avoiding everyone because a dark past…I guess my biggest concern is how unoriginal this series seems to be.” – Anime Evo
  • “I can’t help but wonder if they actually took this seriously at first glance, or thought that doing it straight faced would be a better way to get the ridiculousness of the situation across. Either way, this was easily the funniest thing that I’ve seen all season. However, that’s not me saying that Sacred Seven isn’t promising. It’s just a little hard to take seriously when there are so many similarities to the overly hammy Code Geass.” – Rabbit Poets
  • “I got the impression that this series is trying to dethrone Code Geass from it’s throne of fandom, and well…everything is actually here to do that. Creative monsters, a main character who’s much more interesting than your average one, a very different take on mecha suits, a bishie butler…and maid snipers. Yeah. Maids with snipers.” – Meeping Anime
  • “If all that sounds remarkably formulaic, it is – so much so, in fact, that I’m wondering if this is meant to be taken quasi-seriously or as a bit of Sunrise self-parody.” – Lost in America
  • “Holy shit, that was pretty sick – but I’m going to be honest, it felt pretty rushed. From “OMG WE MUST FIND HIM” to “OMFG LEAVE ME ALONG” *GOES BERSERK* to “OMFG THERE’S SOME WEIRD MONSTER THAT PETRIFYING PEOPLE AND SMASHING THEM INTO BITS I MUST SAVE THEM!”. I think maybe they should’ve taken it a bit slower.” – Angry Anime Bitches
  • “Yes it’s fun, but what here is mem­or­able? You can be decently well executed, but unless you do some­thing to set your­self aside from the pack, you’ll be noth­ing more than fluff.” – The Cart Driver
  • “Well, it’s not a kiddie show in the same sense of Yu-Gi-Oh or Pokemon, but it’s nonetheless very juvenile and basic. The best way of thinking of it is a watered down Code Geass, from the characters to the plot to the designs. But watering down Code Geass takes away what made it so special.” – Sekijitsu
  • “What I do like is the maids. I find a group of attack maids are cute with their frilly dress and unison calls. When they were sliding down that poll and that emergency light going off I was in total shock at how cheesy it was but it was cheesy fun. Seriously old school. Grade: 3.5/5.” – Myu’s Anime Blog
  • “This show takes too many elements from other mecha series, and doesn’t even go with the most interesting ones. It lacks a signature, and will the creators be able to create this during the rest of the series? Potential: 70%.” – Star Crossed Anime Blog

ROUND ONE RESULTS FOR SUMMER 2011 SHOWS:

Thumbs-up for Round One: Busou Shinki: Moon Angel, Blood-C, Mawaru Penguindrum, Kamisama Dolls, No. 6, Dantalian no Shoka, Uta no Prince-sama

Thumbs-down for Round One: Double J, Morita-san wa Mukuchi, Mayo Chiki, Nyanpire the Animation, Carnival Phantasm, Copihan, Yuruyuri, The Idolmaster, Sacred Seven

Coming up next: Manyuu Hikenchou, Ikoku Meiro no Croisee, Kamisama no Memochou, Nekogami Yaoyorozu, Nurarihyon no Mago Second Season, Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi, Twin Angel Twinkle Paradise, Baby Princess 3-D, Natsume Yuujinchou-san, Usagi Drop, Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu Second Season, Rou Kyuu Bu, R-15, Blade, Higurashi no Naku Koko no Kira, Oretachi ni Tsubasa OVA

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1 Response to Anime Review: Sacred Seven Episode 1

  1. Pingback: Anime Review: Recap of the Summer 2011 (after the 1st episodes) | This Euphoria!

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