NieA 7

, also known as ''NieA under 7'', is a doujinshi manga series created by graphic designer Yoshitoshi ABe and later published by Kadokawa Shoten on their monthly ''Shōnen'' magazine ''Monthly Ace Next'' from October 1999 to January 2001. The manga revolves around a poor, introverted student named Mayuko Chigasaki, who lives above a Japanese bathhouse, and a freeloading and freewheeling outcast alien named NieA, who lives in Mayuko's closet.

The manga is adapted into a 13-episode anime series by Triangle Staff and aired on WOWOW from April 16 to July 19, 2000. Much of the anime's staff also worked on ''Serial Experiments Lain'', as producer Yasuyuki Ueda suggested the team work on a lighter anime as relief from the dark, heavily psychological ''Lain''. The character Chiaki, a UFO fanatic, shares a name with Chiaki J. Konaka, the script writer for ''Lain''.

Plot

Set in a retro-future setting, the series revolves around Mayuko Chigasaki, a high school graduate who goes to cram school in preparation for college. However, due to having no place to settle in, she decided to live in a bathhouse in the countryside, which is in a financial crisis due to having no customers. Even worse, she has to live with an alien girl named NieA, who has no antenna and is considered an "Under 7", a class despised by other aliens due to being the lowest of their kind.

The series touches lightly upon issues of discrimination, stereotypes, alienation, city life vs small-town life, and assimilation. Mayuko, who attends a cram school, is a young girl living away from her family and expresses a lot of melancholy. NieA, who is apparently placed in an inferior class by her fellow aliens due to being a physical minority among them, immediately accuses anyone who calls her a "stupid no-antenna" or the like, of discrimination. Other aliens adopt various stereotypical cultural styles; one chooses Indian dress and opens a convenience store, another chooses to associate herself with the Chinese Revolution. This theme of the outsider alien is carried through in the brief comic live-action sequence which ends each episode, "Dalgit's Tidbit of Indian Information."

Characters

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:Mayuko "Mayu" Chigasaki lives in a room at the Enohana Bathhouse. She is hardworking, polite, honest, and very self-conscious. Mayuko spends all of her time and energy just making ends meet. She shares an apartment with NieA, who she often refers to as a "freeloader".

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:NieA is a lower-class or "under-seven" alien, who has no antennae. She lives with Mayuko and builds spaceships out of junk. She shares an apartment with Mayu, who often argues with her about money and food.

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Media

Manga

NieA_7 was created by Yoshitoshi ABe as an independent doujinshi manga following the end of ''Serial Experiments Lain''. The manga was picked up by Kadokawa Shoten, initially serialized on their monthly magazine ''Monthly Ace Next'' from October 1999 to January 2001 with a total of 14 chapters over 2 ''tankōbon'' volumes. An artbook titled ''NieA_7 Scrap'' was published in June 2001. The manga was republished in a single '' kanzenban'' volume on 26 October 2012, under the title ''NieA_7 Recycle''.

Chapters

Anime

The anime adaptation, titled ' was animated by Triangle Staff, chief directed by Tomokazu Tokoro and written and directed by Takuya Satō. It aired on the Japanese BS Satellite channel WOWOW from April 16 to July 19, 2000. The opening theme is titled by SION while the ending theme is titled by Maria Yamamoto. For episode 13, the ending theme is "KA MOA'E" by Yoshio Owa.

Geneon Entertainment licensed the anime outside Japan before it went out of print. Discotek Media have rescued the license and released it on DVD and Blu-ray on February 27, 2018.

Episodes

References

External links

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{{DISPLAYTITLE:''NieA_7''

2000 anime television series debuts
Anime with original screenplays
Articles with underscores in the title
Discotek Media
Kadokawa Dwango franchises
Geneon USA
NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan
Shōnen manga
Extraterrestrials in anime and manga