Rating: 
Summary: Nothing like FLCL
Review: This looks to be a pretty cool series from Yoshi AbE and the folks who brought us "Serial Experiments Lain". It's about a young student named Mayuko who's struggling with her college entrance exams while trying to make it on her own. She lives above the bathhouse where she's employed, reluctantly, with a strange girl named NieA. NieA's just about the most freeloading little cuss you'll ever meet, and to make matters worse, she's unemployed. Not only that, NieA is continually filling Mayuko's tiny apartment with old junk as she tries to build the better spaceship. Oh, did I mention that NieA's an alien? Several years ago, a giant spaceship crashed near where Mayuko lives, and since then, they've been mingling with the local populace and just trying to get by like everyone else.The first volume of this series pretty much establishes the main story and introduces most of the main characters, and it's a lot of fun. While "Lain" all but twisted my mind into a soft pretzel, this offering seems to be one of those series you can just sit back and enjoy. The characters are a very interesting mix and meld surprisingly well with each other considering how different their personalities are. The locals' attitude toward the aliens is pretty humorous, as well; everybody just sort of accepted their presence and got on with life. (Makes sense, I guess, as none of the aliens seem to be "evil" in any way...at least, not yet.) I also love how the characters completely "freak out" in the blink of an eye; some of the facial expressions are priceless. The way Mayuko and NieA go back and forth reminds me a lot of a bizarro-"Odd Couple", and makes for some of the funniest moments. Far as DVD goodies, there ain't much; just the obligatory creditless opening and some line art from the designers' sketchbooks. All told, don't be afraid of "NieA" because of the creators; this series is very enjoyable from the get-go and won't hurt your head. If anything, it'll make milk come out of your nose. File under "Just Plain Anime Fun".
Rating:
Summary: The Deadbeats from Another Planet
Review: This looks to be a pretty cool series from Yoshi AbE and the folks who brought us "Serial Experiments Lain". It's about a young student named Mayuko who's struggling with her college entrance exams while trying to make it on her own. She lives above the bathhouse where she's employed, reluctantly, with a strange girl named NieA. NieA's just about the most freeloading little cuss you'll ever meet, and to make matters worse, she's unemployed. Not only that, NieA is continually filling Mayuko's tiny apartment with old junk as she tries to build the better spaceship. Oh, did I mention that NieA's an alien? Several years ago, a giant spaceship crashed near where Mayuko lives, and since then, they've been mingling with the local populace and just trying to get by like everyone else. The first volume of this series pretty much establishes the main story and introduces most of the main characters, and it's a lot of fun. While "Lain" all but twisted my mind into a soft pretzel, this offering seems to be one of those series you can just sit back and enjoy. The characters are a very interesting mix and meld surprisingly well with each other considering how different their personalities are. The locals' attitude toward the aliens is pretty humorous, as well; everybody just sort of accepted their presence and got on with life. (Makes sense, I guess, as none of the aliens seem to be "evil" in any way...at least, not yet.) I also love how the characters completely "freak out" in the blink of an eye; some of the facial expressions are priceless. The way Mayuko and NieA go back and forth reminds me a lot of a bizarro-"Odd Couple", and makes for some of the funniest moments. Far as DVD goodies, there ain't much; just the obligatory creditless opening and some line art from the designers' sketchbooks. All told, don't be afraid of "NieA" because of the creators; this series is very enjoyable from the get-go and won't hurt your head. If anything, it'll make milk come out of your nose. File under "Just Plain Anime Fun".
Rating:
Summary: Anime you can just chill to...
Review: Well here is something that I can really relate to. I recommend this to anyone that ever has had trouble making ends meet and forced to live the "ghetto" kind of lifestyles (and i kno who you are all u otakus & college students out there). Watching these wonderfully eccentric characters trying to deal w/ this is very entertaining indeed. Sometimes there are animes (as well as movies) where you have to be in a certain mood to watch. Lain is one of those, however Neia is not. Neia_7 is one of those animes where you can just sit, relax, watch and have fun watching at anytime w/o having to think too much, because its so close at home that u can easily relate to what the characters are going through. Its as if you are already familiar w/ the characters. Thats how i felt anyways when i watched it
Rating:
Summary: Not Great, but quite good
Review: When I first watched this anime, I was rather put off by it. I guess the wacky humor and sudden moments of seriousness had me a little whiplashed. However, after watching this thing about 4 times (very odd for me) it has clawed its way up to the 4 star level, which is pretty good. I think the plot line is a little hackneyed and some of the jokes don't work for an out of the loop gaijin like myself. Still, it really is a fun and interesting anime, and well worth checking out for anyone who marches to the beat of a slightly different drummer.
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