Dramatic Staring Time
There’s something to be said for a classic and a bomb being planted in a building is pretty standard in cop shows (even if the cops involved aren’t in any way associated with the bomb squad they somehow end up involved). So Special 7 pulling a bomb threat and assembling the team is not a terrible way to go particularly when they explain that there’s the potential that magic was being used with the bomb. So for a set up this one isn’t terrible.
The problems start cropping up once the inter-departmental shenanigans go on. Once they find not one but four bombs in three different buildings and public safety still apparently shorts them on access to the bomb squad you really have to question the logic of what is going on in this world. Who would want to be the one in charge of having denied a request for the bomb squad if three buildings went kaboom?
Still, all the members of the team are out and about in this episode and mostly not being quirky or playing to their strengths but stuck watching a bomb count down while waiting for the bomb squad. While the terrorists ultimately force them into taking action, it was actually kind of nice seeing this group just doing some standard work without any bells, whistles or weirdness. Incidentally, while watching this episode I noted that I also just really like the visual style of the anime even if the animation isn’t great. Small things and all.
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This would have been another positive step for Special 7 except for the finale on this whole episode. I won’t spoil it but in the grand nature of anime it one ups the danger and as the protagonists kind of overcome it they one up it again and so on but the final solution is just plain dumb and if it was that easy to solve the problem it kind of makes everything else they did more or less pointless.
However this one has low-key settled into my watch list and while my expectations remain low, I’m also having a bit of fun watching it. While it would be nice to have the Rookie character actually not just spout platitudes about the role of police and justice, the rest of the characters have settled into a fairly easy pattern to just ride along with even if the world building is still a bit on the weak side. For now I’m enjoying it enough but I’m also not recommending this one unless you really want an anime with a police focus and you aren’t overly picky.
Thank-you for reading 100 Word Anime.
Join the discussion in the comments.
Karandi James
Special 7 is not so special, but here’s the episode coverage.
Images from: Special Crime Investigation Unit – Special 7. Dir. H Kosaka. Anima&Co. 2019.
I have finished my review of Special Crime Investigation Unit – Special 7 Episode 3 I have changed the style a bit, so please read it and let me know how it is and how can it be better.
https://sennin.home.blog/2019/10/27/special-crime-investigation-unit-sector-7—episode-3-review/
Okay, will check it out soon.
Your reviews are amazing, How do you write like this and can you offer me tips on how to be a better reviewer
Mostly practice. After three years the style of my review has just kind of naturally progressed to this after finding what seemed to work and what didn’t. I assume in another three years it will have changed again.
How do you start writing. I mean…I started with writing in a format and now it doesn’t work for me and am still trying to figure out how to go about writing my reviews and how do you analyze the anime especially when it comes to the sound, voice actors and animation
Try a few different things. Try breaking it up with headings, try just free flowing, try different orders and see what feels the most comfortable for you. I started writing 100 word reactions to episodes just to get me writing anything again but then found I wanted to write more and branched out into lists and all sorts of other things.
Okay. Then what about the voice actors. For me everyone sounds similar to me and the animation is very tough to differentiate. How do you analyze that?
Unless it is remarkable, I don’t tend to focus on those aspects. I focus more on characters and story.
I watched episode 2 last week and a few days after that I completely forgot what happened, but I still remember the first episode. Thank you very much for your review. I am going to watch episode 3 now. Also, I do not know if you have seen it, but I saw that Netflix released a teaser for their Ghost in the Shell series, and the reaction has been polarizing, to say the least. I would like to hear your opinion.
I’ll have to have a look but I’m not overly attached to the franchise so I’ll probably not have an overly strong reaction to it.