Review of 7 Seeds

*No Spoilers* Summary: This review is for Part 1 of 7 Seeds, which was produced by a different studio than the second season (part 2). I will eventually review Part 2 as well, which is far superior to this part or "season!" 7 Seeds (part 1) is an anime adapted from Yumi Tamura’s manga of the same name. The story takes place in the future after meteorites destroy Earth as it is today, and the characters wake up thousands or some unspecified number of years later to a brand new climate, environment, geography, etc. Unfortunately, the adaptation from the manga is very poor and this anime falls flatwith sporadically developed (and annoying) characters and a disjointed plot. The sci-fi aspect is unrealistic due to the nature of the storytelling and certain living creatures that should be extinct (no spoilers). You may like this anime if you are interested in a compelling story (manga) that poorly adapted its source for seemingly no reason. Also, Part 2 is far better than this season, but you need to watch this first to understand the story.

Story: 2/10
The source material (manga) is interesting with solid pacing and character development coinciding with the plot. The challenge with this anime is that it was adapted terribly. The scenes randomly cut to characters who are on other islands without even explaining who those characters are or where they are. The whole story is jarring while simultaneously being rammed together and cutting out important pieces of character development from the manga. If the anime had stayed true to the manga (which I only read parts of) then it would be a solid 7/10. Instead, it feels like someone took a complex and interesting sci-fi novel and scattered pieces around by randomizing the page numbers and cutting out half the scenes with characters.

Art: 4/10
The art is slightly below average in Part 1. The backgrounds are generally pretty, including the water scenes; however, the characters’ appearances vary. They sometimes are detailed and other times appear completely 2-d like a Family Guy character.

Sound: 5/10
The soundtrack, openings, and endings are average. Some scenes have fitting background music, and the voice acting is one of the show’s best attributes.

Character: 3/10
A major flaw in the adaptation of this manga into an anime is the way the plot is scattered which ultimately detracts from the character development. Half the time, a character is about to make a change and then suddenly the viewer is thrown to some other island and introduced to another character without any explanation. This doesn’t occur in the manga but happens frequently in the anime. In addition, the character arcs in part 1 of the anime are absurd. There are scenes that last less than two minutes and characters just change their mind and magically are all better. The characters in the manga are unique and developed, but the anime completely destroys them, especially in part 1.

Enjoyment: 3/10
Part 1 of this anime is particularly unenjoyable because of the bizarre pacing and lack of direction. With all the absurdity aside, it is an interesting concept but adapted terribly. It is all essential to watch this before moving on, and Part 2 was much more enjoyable!

Overall: 3.4/10
(Part 2 is much better)