Cognitive dissonance: When anime idol girls in drab and boring uniforms suddenly switch to bikinis on a beach…
Anime
22/7 (Nanabun no Nijyuuni) is a currently airing Winter 2020 anime TV series.
Plot summary from AniDB:
* 22/7 (nanabun no nijyuuni) is a digital idol and voice actors’ project produced by famed producer Akimoto Yasushi.
One day, Takigawa Miu suddenly receives a letter notifying her that she has been chosen as a member of a brand-new project. Half in disbelief, she heads over t
o the location stated on the letter. There, she finds seven other girls summoned there in the same fashion. The girls behold a giant, top-secret facility. They stand in bewilderment as they are told: “You are going to debut for a major record label as an idol group.” A new kind of idol, never-before-seen, is about to be born here…
Source: Official website
Tags from AniDB and MAL:
idols, music
Staff
Akimoto Yasushi is a Tokyo-born lyricist, music producer, film director, planner, broadcast writer, screenwriter and gensakusha (a person who writes stories for manga). He has created some of Japan’s top idol groups, Onyanko Club and the AKB48 franchise. The total sales of the singles he has written exceed 100 million copies, making him the best-selling lyricist in Japan.
Episode 06
Title and summary from Wikipedia:
“Between the Even and Odd Numbers”
The Wall issues out twenty orders at once, giving each of the girls both solo and group jobs while also assigning Reika Satō as the leader. As the group fly to Okinawa for a photo shoot, Reika is reluctant about wearing a skimpy swimsuit, feeling it lacks the nobility she has been striving for since her mother died at birth. After speaking with the other members, including Akane Maruyama, Reika eventually decides to wear the swimsuit to fulfil her role as a leader. Just as 22/7’s success starts to take off following the shoot’s success, all of the girls save for Jun Toda suddenly collapse.
OP
EP
ED
Best Girl
Busty redhead idol girl, Reika, FTW! (IMHO.)
Thoughts
Somehow, I was still watching 22/7 (Nanabun no Nijyuuni) when the beach episode happened. And it featured my choice for best girl, with a nice payoff near the end after a slow buildup. Along with some nice character development too. Plus an added bonus of decent eye candy and mild sexual humor from all the girls. And an above average budget for a good part of the episode? For an idol anime? Color me surprised… So a special edition fanservice review was in order.
Turns out the chief producer knows what he’s doing too. Having produced idol shows IRL and in anime.
Overall 22/7 (Nanabun no Nijyuuni) seems to be a generic idol anime with drab uniforms, a below average budget and just enough to keep things mildly interesting. Like having a bit of an isekai twist to the plot. And character driven episodes and EDs. Fortunately, the beach episode was Reika’s turn but the other girls get their turn in other episodes.
Since it’s an idol anime, there’s an emphasis on purity and innocence but there’s still some mild sexual vibes and humor. And some nice eye candy for the male gaze. But anything that’s a bit stronger like ass shots and visual jokes is usually off in the distant so the artwork isn’t as good. Which is a shame with character designs this nice…
I did have fun making media for this episode when the budget was above average, but when the budget seemingly dropped in the second half, the number of panning shots (and the number of stitches) increased significantly. Unfortunately, a number of them were time consuming to make and with 51 stitches total for this review (out of 66 made), making media did become a bit tedious. Still fun overall but a bit of a grind. Fortunately, some of the stitches and WebMs turned out really nice…
Since 22/7 (Nanabun no Nijyuuni) is an idol anime, don’t expect anything close to conspicuous nudity during the rest of the season or on BDs. There is an onsen scene in a later episode but it was way too brief and the water was way too murky for another special edition review. Bummer. So enjoy the beach episode for what it is — a chance to show off the attractive idol girls in swimsuits and to give the best girl, Reika, a chance to shine and show off at the same time…
Notes
Check out the links to AniDB, MAL and Wikipedia if you want to learn more about the characters and story.
This review uses a combination of jpgs for display images and pngs for link-to images in order to be more mobile friendly and speed up page load times.
For details on how to access and/or download the original media, or something close to it, see the Notes section of Kanata no Astra TV Episode 05 Special Edition Fanservice Review.
For details on how to access and/or download a GIF instead of a WebM, see the Notes section of Cosplay Complex OVA Episode 1 Fanservice Review.
