NieA Under 7

I think a lot of the reviews for this show are a bit unfair, in my opinion. It's not groundbreaking, but it shouldn't really have to be, and I think that's the charm of it in a way. If you're a fan of ABe's other works, I imagine you will probably enjoy watching NieA_7. It's a slice of life with beautiful animation and a heartfelt story. I found myself smiling at the characters and their antics, laughing at the jokes, and felt it in my chest when the main character was distressed. This is the kind of show that definitely has a few unanswered questions, ... but by the end you feel as if none of them really matter.

As for the racism allegations mentioned in many other reviews, being a bona fide Indian myself, I must admit that these reviews were part of what made me curious enough to watch this show. There are a few outdated jokes about smelly curry and perverted indian men, but nothing crazy or regular enough that it deterred me from the show itself or made me uncomfortable at any point. All in all, if you're a white person quick to be offended on someone else's behalf, be cautious. If you're a person of color, you've heard worse, and might even laugh a little at the absurdity of it all.

NieA_7 is, surprisingly, a mixed bag. It isn't mediocre the whole way through, far from it, but instead it has stellar highs and irritating lows. To summarise: I found the human side of the story (ie Mayuko's) extremely compelling - if the entire show were simply devoted to that, I would be willing to recommend it much more readily. The alien side (Niea's), however, I have little praise for.

Mayuko is a deeply relatable character and navigates the common stressors of life with a certain elegance. I felt her story delivered lacklustre answers to her questions at times, such as what she wants to do with ... her life, or how to deal with student-derived poverty, which I actually consider a strength. These problems are commonly discussed because they have no definitive answer. Maybe you're approaching 30 and still have no savings, or sometimes you enter university or the workforce with an ambivalent heart whilst your peers may have had lifelong career goals that they are now pursuing. Dispassion is not a bad thing, and I'm glad NieA_7 doesn't seem to present it like it is, the mundane nature of life is quite enough. The bathhouse is shown to provide a valuable community service, and when its situation develops (no spoilers!), you have an investment in the standing of this business, care for its well-being, and those reliant upon it. I enjoyed Mayuko's story from start to finish, and on its own I would give it as high as an 8-9/10. On the other hand, all of Niea's scenes, and those involving aliens in general, are consistently just awful. None of the jokes land, and Chada's characterisation frequently enters racist territory. The hierarchy of the alien society is never expanded or commentated upon in any meaningful way, and I felt it presented it as a force of nature rather than anything socially constructed. I understand that it can seem that way on an individual scale, and Niea does at times appear to try and make peace with it, but again, there isn't any substance to it. I would give Niea's story a 2-3/10.

Is NieA_7 a bad anime? Not at all, there's gems of beautiful sentiment woven into it. Is it a good anime? Only just, Mayuko, Kotomi, Nenji, the Karitas, and perhaps Genzo do the heavy lifting, the rest are just dead weight. Be prepared to find the show boring at times, especially in comparison to ABe's other works (to me, it doesn't hold a candle to the magnificent Haibane Renmei), which was how I discovered it. 6/10.

It's...a big mess.

This show has so many fluctuating episodes with different atmospheres, it's as if they're not part of the same story. You first think you're watching a light-hearted comedy, then a seinen, sometimes sci-fi, but wait a second, it's a comedy again. It's like this show doesn't have an identity, and it suffers tremendously.
You'd think that since one of the main characters is a discriminated, "unique" sort of alien, the plot would involve something about that identity. In the earlier episodes, Niea is clearly discriminated against, and I would suppose that her being an "under seven" would have some sort of meaning. Well, ... you're absolutely wrong.
Instead, the first 7 episodes or so is just comedy, not so good, not so bad, whatever. Then, the last 6 episodes is where it takes a huge nosedive. The plot tries to redirect itself to being coming of age, seinen, sort of plot focused, almost no comedy involved. It's pretty slowpaced, and nothing really happens. It mainly focuses on Mayuko's development as a character, and the revolving circumstances that surround her. It's kind of just very mediocre.
Niea makes little to no appearances, and when she does, it actually makes the story seem interesting since its about her hearing things about the mothership. It makes you wonder if the latter half of the show wouldn't be garbage if it just focused on Niea more. Instead, you get this half assed run of the mill coming of age plot about Mayuko. Great.
Characters are also divided in between "serious" characters and comic relief characters. There are characters in the first half of the story that serve as comic relief that never come to show again because the latter half is coming of age, and so they served their purpose. The "serious" characters are the more "mature" characters that help Mayuko come to terms with everything and help her move forward. As if there really are two different plotlines in two different stories.

Typical of a 2000's anime, this show's art, while aged somewhat badly, probably was pretty normal at its time.

Conclusion: If an anime is pretty damn old and isn't really recognizable, it probably faded to obscurity for a reason. This anime is one of them. It tries to experiment with too many things, and because of it, this anime is a jack of all trades and a master of none. It tries to be serious, it tries to be funny, but it just fails at both. The first few episodes were actually pretty decent, but it's too bad that the anime had a lack of focus, and as a result, fell short of every expectation.