Title: Trinity Seven
Publisher: Sentai Filmworks
U. S. Release Date: August 16, 2016
Format: Blu-ray / 12 Episodes /300 Minutes
Genre: Action, Fantasy, Harem
Age Rating: 14+
Overall Personal Rating: B+
Synopsis:
Arata and his cousin Hiijiri are living a regular, uneventful life. One day, the sun suddenly turns black, but Hiijiri insists to him that it has always been that way. As the events unfold, his world is literally crumbling and Hiijiri disappears. Determined to save her, he finds that he is led to another world to discover his destiny. He is now in an Academy for training mages where he begins to discovers his unknown magical powers and his fate to become demon lord. His goal is to use the power to rescue Hiijri. He begins to meet the other students, most importantly are the Girls of the Trinity Seven, all females who are highly skilled in different areas of magic. His attitude is flippant as a Harem collects around him.
The worlds that Arata and the others do inhabit are never the reality they seem. Their existence is fragile and their control could belong to anyone. The powerful mages can construct and destroy the surroundings. Strength, teamwork, magic and determination is what moves Arata through his quest in an existence he doesn’t understand.
Commentary:
I’m going to get the bad stuff out of the way first because there’s really only one thing. My complaint about this anime: lots of boob humor. Not original enough and really not seamlessly placed into the story. It seemed more like they felt they had to use it and found odd or uncomfortable places to pop it in. Making Arata a “pervert” was a distraction to the real story. Sure lighter moments can enrich a anime creating a rhythm and balance, but mostly the boob humor was lack luster. I don’t even consider it fan service, it was more like ten year olds trying to impress each others by talking about or touching body parts. So, please, if they are going to incorporated fan service as a comedy element, it sure would be nice if they made it clever and a real part of the activity and even find ways to be more original. Now, taking a step back, and knowing that the manga came first, I’ll put it this way; as a fan service anime it has an awesome depth and layers, but as a fantasy anime, the fan service dragged it down.
Trinity Seven can fit into several categories/genres. Most notable to me is the action. This anime is loaded with dramatic action. And to step it up even more, the way worlds with their own realities can be made and destroyed, the settings changed often and the action had to mold into the new magic and mystery. The jump in wolds controlled/ created by different characters made for interesting developments and situations for them. I thought it one of the best anime creations to vary the settings. The story really weaves into complexity with the expanse of characters, mysteries, quest and magic. A viewer really needs to pay attention.
There is a good variety of characters, and not all random. While Arata is the token odd male used to display the personalties of the female characters, they themselves are based on the Seven Deadly Sin. This really sets up some interesting personalities. I really value character or personality growth in an anime. While the girls of the Trinity Seven don’t get enough space to develop much, Arata certainly does. He grows in skill, knowledge and understanding in this bizarre universe. The girls characters stay interesting because, like Arata, the a gradual reveal of their abilities and true natures. Remember, as a demon lord candidate, a evil power lurks within him.
The sound support was well done. I watched the English dub. The music really helped set the tone of the scenes, from unsettling to action. But even better, this anime has absolutely great visuals. I like the style of characters, even down to the costuming. The depiction of action was really cool and compelling. The spell casting and overall magic was even better. It takes more skill than I could understand to illustrate the crumbling of a world and the existance of things that don’t exist. Even the use of colors seemed well thought out. All wonderfully done.
Overall Grade: B+
