Review of 7 Seeds

It’s been a long time since an anime has really pissed me off. I think the last one to do it was back in 2016, so yeah it’s been a while. The ones that are especially guilty of this are those that I feel have potential to give me something different. 7 Seeds almost was one of those types but it quickly descended into disappointment. Before I tackle the major problem I’m going to get some things out of the way. The art and animation for 7 Seeds started out good if you ask me which is a surprise because Gonzo was the studio incharge and they are not exactly known for quality anime. However they did not betray my expectations and quickly the animation deteriorated as the series went on. Pity, it was one of the few things I liked. The music was alright, nothing memorable, but I am happy they used the standard length for the openings and the endings. I’ve noticed that when it comes to Netflix’s original anime they have begun to trim the length of the OPs and EDs and sometimes opting to cut them out entirely, so I appreciate that they made it feel like an actual anime series that aired on television.

The characters for the series were the beginning of my frustration. At first the main cast was centered around 7-8 characters. With a twelve episode run I was confident that everyone would get adequate development. However as the episodes went on we were introduced to more characters and more and more and more to the point where I could no longer care about any of them. I also found a lot of them to be pretty annoying and overall useless. For a post apocalyptic survival story you want characters that are level headed with the tools and traits necessary to survive. Also the world they inhabit is treacherous yet they feel the need to split up every chance they get. This is a post apocalyptic story of survival by means of cooperation, not a random episode of Scooby Doo.

With that out of the way it’s on to the major problem when it comes to 7 Seeds, the story. Starting off I found it to be incredibly appealing to someone with my tastes. I’m the kind of person who is interested in survival and post apocalyptic themes. 7 Seeds appeared to be centered around those themes making the decision to continue watching ever easier. As time went on though I began to notice something was off. The story had a habit of skipping around a lot. Characters would cover thousands of miles of ground in half a episode. Said characters would then break off and split up covering more ground in an unrealistic amount of time. The characters can say that weeks, months, or even years have passed from the first episode until the last but I’m not buying it. Episodes that feel like they should cover an entire arc or series worth are done and solved in a matter of minutes. Now, I’m no manga reader, so I’m going into this blind, but it feels like they are skipping a ton of material.

Part of an anime’s job when it comes to telling a story of the very purpose of the story is to carefully set up the world. The problem with 7 Seeds is that they show us a world that I for one would like to know more about but they then choose to move on without giving the audience a chance to take it all in. This is a recurring theme for 7 Seeds and it’s even more disappointing because what they are rushing to isn’t even worth it.

To start off the review I mentioned that it had been a while since an anime really pissed me off. Generally for an anime to really piss me off it either has to be a complete butchering of a manga that I treasure dearly or an ending that is one big middle finger to the viewer. Considering I never read the manga you can probably guess which of those 7 Seeds is guilty of. Honestly, before the ending came about 7 Seeds was not a bad anime. Sure it was rushed to hell and the characters were annoying and they skipped around a lot but I still found it interesting. That was until I saw the ending or lack there of. Bad endings can jeopardize any series, but endings that don’t even end are worse. I’m not talking about the wishy washy use your imagination kind of open ending, I mean the kind where the episode ends and you think there is going to be another episode after it, but there isn’t. Yep, the good old “f*ck you! Go read the manga!”. Well guess what 7 Seeds anime, f*ck you! Go make a better ending!