Nanaka 6/17

I remember a friend of mine showing me the trailer to this last year, and since I like her recommending animes to me, I decided to give this show a look. And BOY am I glad I did. This was the best anime I've seen last year. And here's why.

Story:

The show is about 2 friends. Nanaka and Nenji. Both have glaring flaws. Nanaka is a study obsessed girl which causes herself to alienate everyone around her. Giving everyone a bad view on her. Nenji is a delinquent who always gets himself into fights with others. But after a heated argument, Nanaka falls into a coma, ... and wakes up as her 6 year old self, trapped in her teenage body. This causes Nenji to change his ways, and to help Nanaka get through life in the state she's in. Now, while it has a familiar premise, the way it's told and the themes it has are done really well. Making it stand out. The best thing I loved about the story was the fact I could identify with it's messages about growing up. And I was at a time where school was beginning to overwhelm me as well as the future. The ending is bittersweet, but still very satisfying.

Art:

J.C. Staff's animation style varies in many of there shows. It goes from simplistic to very detailed. Nanaka 6/17's animation is on par with Azumanga Daioh. As in it has a really cute simplicity to it. While the character designs are familiar looking, they're still fun to look at.

Sound:

I've only seen this dubbed, because it's my preference. I have to say, they did a good job with it. I really liked that 2 of my favorite voice actors, Monica Rial, and Chris Patton voice the two lead roles. All the other voices are regulars you're use to hearing, and you will like there work here. The music goes from cute and adorable, to slow and relaxing. While it's not really the best I've heard in anime, it's still very good.

Characters:

The highlight of the show. I really loved this cast of characters. Both Nanaka's do represent 2 sides of us. The 17 year old side represents that side of me where I could get so obsessed with either my hobbies, or school, to a point where I alienate myself from others. However, as the series goes on, you do understand the reasons why she went into that state. The 6 year old side represents that little kid in us that's still there. Let's face it, we do have childhood favorites we like seeing every now and then. And of course there's that side that either cannot wait to grow up, or is just scarred to. So, 17 Nanaka's a bit of a bitch, but the 6 Nanaka's a lot more fun. Nenji was my favorite character, mainly because he was the one I connected with the most. I do feel his pain whenever he feels bad about acting mean and rotten, and then tries his best to improve. Or how he feels alone now that Nanaka's pretty much forgotten about him, and never has time to be with him. Trust me, I know how that feels. There are other characters like Amemiya, her friends, and Jinpachi where you may not like them at first, but as the shows goes on, they do warm up on you. Kuriko was a character that I could've hated, but I do understand why she likes to be with Nenji and her rivalry with Nanaka is just cute and hilarious. Nanaka's dad was just a riot with his over worrying and affection towards her daughter. You may dislike some of them at first, but they'll win your heart in a beat.

Enjoyment and Overall:

Nanaka 6/17 is a underrated gem in my opinion. An anime that's overlooked, but has a lot to offer with it's smart story, and lovable and relatable characters. If you haven't seen this series, consider it. Cause I have the feeling you won't be disappointed.

If I got a dollar for every time someone fainted unnecessarily in this show that will still not be enough money for me to watch this show again. Decent story with elements to be something great but masked behind annoying, flat characters.

Do you truly give a fuck about spoilers for Nanaka 6/17? I thought so.

I don't know why this anime in particular hit me as hard as it did. Anime, in general, is so monotonous, gimmicky, and tropey. I've been aware of this for years now. However, something about Nanaka 6/17 really got under my skin. I think it just caught me at a bad time. I'm a little burnout on anime, at the moment. The show isn't doing anything different from your ordinary, run-of-the-mill anime. No, it's just that it's so blatant and lacks any kind of subtlety in it's writing, that it made ... me legitimately angry. Okay, okay. Angry is a bit of an overstatement. I'm just tired and fed up. It's almost as if they had a checklist of every generic anime cliché they wanted to do. A dime a dozen, you're probably thinking. Many anime do that. The difference here is that they rub that checklist in your face. It's covered in drool and doodled with crayon. That's the aura I'm getting from this show. I only watched this out of curiosity and got through a third of it.

Nanaka 6/17 is about this girl named Nanaka Kirisato, a seventeen year old high school student. Her age will be important in a second. Nanaka had a bit of a whoopsy poopsy slip 'n fall after getting into a heated argument with her friend, Nenji Negihara. Who looks very similar to Itou from "Kyou Kara Ore Wa" look it up. The accident caused her brain to regress back into a six year old. Which is in the title! Get it!? Nanaka 6/17! Hahahahahhahahahahaha. So hysterical I'm laughing my pussy off. You can imagine many of the awkward scenarios coming out of a premise like this. Nenji trying his best to keep his now mentally regressed friend out of trouble. It gets very annoying at times.
This show loves putting it's stupid, unfunny gimmick in your face constantly that it starts to become very irritating to watch. To give the show some credit, it's the only gimmick it has. Which is pretty frustrating, considering it's not that strong of a shtick to begin with.

SHE'S SEVENTEEN BUT HAS THE MIND OF A SIX YEAR OLD! ISN'T THAT WACKY!? PLEASE LAUGH! WE'RE BEGGING YOU!

I bet that caught your attention after skimming the review. Lol

One noteworthy thing I will quickly mention is that episode four is point where Nanaka 6/17 becomes interesting. There's another character I didn't mention named, Yuriko Amemiya. Up until this point, Nenji has kept Nanaka's condition a secret, especially at school. Yuriko is the first to learn about Nanaka's secret. She's also in love with Nenji, but since Nenji and Nanaka are always together, she ends up getting jealous of Nanaka. So for the first three episodes, Yuriko is jealous of six year old. Thinking about that fact is slightly funny to me. Episode four was by far the best episode I watched. However, I just can't bring myself to care. It wasn't even that strong of an episode. It was just mildly intriguing for a few minutes, and that was it. I couldn't muster up the strength to continue. Who knows, maybe it improves dramatically after episode four. Probably not. I don't care. You shouldn't care. Wouldn't recommend.

Can't say it wasn't fun...because it wasn't.