Nana Maru San Batsu (aka. 7O3X: Fastest Finger First) stands out from the crowd, at least at first. I'll confess that I've not seen many quiz bowl anime series in my time, and it at least has that going for it, among the sea of ecchi that now typifies most seasons. In terms of overall quality, well, you've probably seen better. On the other hand, you've almost definitely seen worse.
7O3X follows Koshiyama, a newcomer to Bunzou High School who finds himself warming to the idea of competitive quizzing. After being picked at random and called up onto the stage for a club demonstration (which I would personally consider the worst thing in the world, besides maybe genital necrosis and nuclear armageddon, at a push), Koshiyama develops a taste for this new hobby, one which he might be suited to given his sizeable (though initially restricted) knowledge base. The rest of the series, naturally, follows our MC and his new friends as they learn how to maximise their potential as quiz participants.
That's the short version. Truth be told, the plot isn't especially difficult to effectively summarise, as it's not particularly complex. 7O3X's forte isn't really thematic or narrative in guise; you can expect characters to remind each other that winning isn't really the goal so much as enjoying oneself, and for words such as 'rival' and 'revenge' to be frequented by everyone in a 12-episode radius. Likewise, none of the cast have especially gripping backstories, nor are they genre-leaders in terms of depth and complexity. Koshiyama himself is a socially-awkward high-schooler with little experience around girls, a love of reading and a healthy propensity for experiential learning, but that about sums him up, and the same goes for many other characters.
That said, 7O3X handles what becomes a much more sizeable cast later on with much more skill than other comparable series. The final arc in particular is actually quite fun, given that we've seen many of these individuals (minor and major) compete across the season and form competitive relationships. That's a positive couched, mainly, in the potential of quizzing as a premise. Building up a knowledge base is far from the only way to succeed in quiz bowl, and this is made apparent as different quiz-based terminology is trotted out for the audience's appraisal; we're introduced to different types of quizzes, different categories of question, and different facts concerning reaction times and quiz ettiquette, which all proves of mild to moderate interest. Compared to other sport anime, including Yuri on Ice (whose figure skating premise was also fruitful but which could be very repetitive at times, with certain routines being played out multiple times over 12 episodes), 7O3X keeps things surprisingly fresh.
I suggested earlier that 7O3X's quiz elements can be interesting, and they can certainly be interesting, but are sometimes undercut by a) an irksome propensity to indulge in tropes from other genres, undermining the comparative ‘freshness’ of a quiz bowl anime series (e.g. two female characters taking up work in a cat maid café), and b) problems that occur in much competition-based anime. Often, conflicts are signposted from a mile away and very heavy-handedly at that (e.g. the ‘teamwork’ episode consists of the opposing team yelling at each other on every wrong answer), while needless melodrama typifies a number of encounters (“before I worry about defeating others… I want to defeat quiz bowl itself!”). Certain emotional outbursts by different characters come off as unconvincing as well; one problem that a lot of sports anime need to circumnavigate is that of the objective correlative, making it apparent to laypeople that these characters care a lot about their hobby without their passion seeming artificial, 'too much'. 7O3X sometimes stumbles in this regard, and ends up unconvincing.
As for other stumbling blocks, we can also point to certain instances of tried-and-tested, awkward sexual innuendo that adds nothing of worth, as well as attention constantly and sometimes pervily being drawn to female quiz members (or their thighs) in the first couple of episodes, and sometimes later on. There's also some clunky exposition throughout, relating to character sub-plots (some of which aren't fully explored this season, kind of necessitating a sequel) or quizzing itself. It does feel a bit like the series doesn't hit its stride until later, when competitions becomes oddly tense and far more engaging for it, with creative problem-solving and not-technically-cheating-but-kinda-shitty plays becoming par for the course.
Visually and in terms of audio, 7O3X is up to par. It's hardly the most visually-impressive franchise to ever hit the screen, but the art style generally coheres with the tone of the series, and the voice acting is nothing to be furious about. I've seen a few people complain about Fukami, the female lead, and her VA, but I didn't feel like she was worthy of especially harsh criticism; she's not as expressive as many other cast members, but then she's also not an especially strong character, so I wouldn't expect a crazily charismatic performance from anyone. One complaint about audio is that a few excerpts, especially a couple of moments of internal monologue early on, felt oddly tinny and of poor audio quality; I don't know is this was just me and my software playing up, but it's worthy mentioning.
TL;DR
7O3X does stand out, even if only slightly, for its quiz-based premise, and there are certainly things to write home about here regarding how quizzing is presented, and how effective and engaging this premise can be. On the other hand, while I didn't personally feel bored at any point (which was a genuine concern), there are still issues that I would want ironing out provided that a second season was on the cards. If some of the clunky exposition and melodrama could be adjusted, and if some of the main characters and their relationships could be explored on the side, then I'd be a happy bunny. As is, don't expect the world but maybe give this one a try if you want something a little bit different to the usual affair.
