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In the future, aliens coexist freely with mankind on Earth. One such alien is NieA, a lazy yet spirited girl who wastes away her days while living with the studious Mayuko. And life isn't easy... Mayuko is always short on food money, the spa where she works is about to go bankrupt and Mayuko's alien-crazy friend Chiaki is obsessed with NieA. A light, mostly comedic slice-of-life show.
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Mayuko CHIGASAKI | heart unheart |
jp. Ayako KAWASUMI
en. Tricia DICKSON
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NieA | heart unheart |
jp. Yuuko MIYAMURA
en. J-Ray
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Naota Nanbada is a boring young boy who leads a boring life in a boring town. His older brother has left for America, and the closest he comes to any excitement is when his deadbeat dad has too much sake. But things change one day when a bizarre girl zooms up to him on a scooter and smacks him in the face with her guitar. What's more, once Naoto returns home he discovers that this strange woman has arrived ahead of him and moved in! Not only does she constantly engage in perverted activities with Naota's father and flirt with the young man himself, but she also claims to be an alien who is searching for the ‘Pirate King.' Now, Naota must learn to live with this new intruder, deal with an odd government agent who sports exceptionally large eyebrows and the mysterious Medical Mechanica, and come to terms with the fact that there are a variety of robots and weapons emerging out of his head - amongst other things. Perhaps boring wasn't so bad after all...
Granted, FLCL is rather more... energetic than NieA_7. But I got a really similar feeling from each of them, due to the ridiculous characters/situations being taken for granted and the ominous and omnipresent giant iron/spaceship that nobody knows anything about but manages to be in the background for what seems like every scene.
A young woman quietly falls to the earth, escorted by a solitary crow. This sort of dream, as many other before have dreamed, comes just before being reborn as a Haibane, a charcoal-winged angel. On the outskirts of the walled-in city lies Old Home, a haven for Haibane to study, live, and learn, while waiting for their chance to ascend to the heavens and escape the confines of their new world. Rakka is the newest inhabitant of Old Home who wants nothing more than to remember her past and discover the secrets of her kind. Together with Reki, Kuu and plenty of other new friends, Rakka will laugh, explore, and search for the meaning of their existence in the process.
Although NieA Under 7 has evident eccentric comedy elements, both are definite "slice of life" genres that deal with inhuman life forms. The most striking similarity is simply the ash colours and the character design. These two titles are both enjoyable. Haibane Renmei offers another world, its values; another perspective of life. It gives you opportunities to ask a lot of questions, but still doesn't feel heavy.
Both of these fantastic series are from mainly the same production crue who try to put some true emotion out there. The struggles suffered by the leads is so similar to be in such different places. With hilarious antics and beautiful scenary these are both true classics.
Follow interstellar bounty hunters Spike Spiegel and Jet Black as they scour the galaxy for criminals with prices on their heads. Hoping to escape their past, they live on the spaceship Bebop, but it's a dangerous business and old enemies don't forget easily. Allies come from unlikely sources, however, as they find comrades in the beautiful swindler Faye Valentine, the genius child hacker Ed and the genetically engineered 'data dog' Ein. Will they be able to help each other though their respective struggles, or is their fate really inevitable?
Ohana Matsumae is a sixteen-year-old girl with no purpose or direction in life. One day, however, she gets the chance to reinvent herself when her mother and her boyfriend do a moonlight flit to escape his debts. Left alone, Ohana goes to live with her estranged grandmother, but when she arrives she finds herself forced to work at the family’s hot spring resort, the Kissuiso Inn. With her grandmother considering her nothing more than an employee and a roommate who hates her, Ohana’s happy dream of a new life soon turns into a nightmare. Now the wide-eyed girl must learn the value of hard work as she attempts to make friends and familiarise herself with life at the resort.
Both anime follow a high school girl who works in an old fashioned place that is very much a part of Japanese heritage: in Hanasaku it is a traditional inn and in Niea a bath house. Struggling for survival while facing the competition of modern rivals and still trying to remain genuine give a thrust to the plot.
With that said, Niea is considerably random and full of oddball comedy while Hanasuku is stocked with well balanced drama. Try to put these titles side by side for a different take on the same original plot-line.
Both of these anime are about a girl who lives in a bathhouse that's going through hard times financially, and they are both slice of life (although NieA Under 7 has lots of Sci-Fi aspects as well). They are both fairly slow paced and character driven, and I got a similar feeling watching each of them, so I think that if you enjoyed one you will enjoy the other as well.
Neo Venezia, the pride of planet Aqua, is a quaint city filled with canals and easy-going people. Many companies operate their gondolas on the canals, giving tours to tourists and locals alike, but the most famous of them is the Aria Company. Follow the adventures of Aria's young apprentice, Akari, as she learns the tricks of the trade from her beautiful senior, Alicia. Together with her friends Aika and Alice, apprentices of rival companies, and their seniors Akira and Athena, they train their skills as gondoliers, meeting new people and learning new things about the city each day.
Just like NieA Under 7, Aria the Animation is purely a slice-of-life series. I feel that Aria has what NieA lacked for me. While they have a somewhat similar sense of humor, it's actually presented in a good way in Aria. If you liked the SoL aspect, atmosphere, "soft" sci fi themes and mild comedy of NieA, make sure to check out, much better, Aria the Animation.
