7 Seeds
Synopsis — from MyAnimeList
Imagine this: you are living a normal day in your life. Maybe you are out with friends, eating your family's home-cooked meal or spending time with your girlfriend. When you next wake up, you are suddenly thrust into a strange, new world, surrounded by five strangers on a rapidly sinking boat in the middle of a storm. For Natsu Iwashimizu, this is her new reality. Humanity has perished, and all that remains of the Japanese population are five groups of men and women who were chosen to be sent to the future in hopes of continuing mankind's existence. While every other person chosen has a useful talent such as martial arts, knowledge, or architecture, Natsu is a shy high school girl who cannot even raise her voice to shout. The new world is dangerous beyond imagination, and although Natsu seems to lack helpful skills, she must go with the others making their way to the "Seven Fuji" in order to survive.
Audience Consensus
Audience reception for 7 Seeds is highly polarized, with a significant portion of viewers finding the anime to be a poorly executed adaptation that suffers from rushed pacing, underdeveloped characters, and an abrupt, unsatisfying ending. Conversely, a smaller group appreciates its mature themes, realistic survival focus, and distinct characters, despite acknowledging production flaws. The common sentiment is that the anime fails to do justice to its source material, leading to considerable disappointment.
Strengths
- Mature story that avoids typical shonen pitfalls with no eccentric characters or villains of the day.
- Engaging and realistic take on post-apocalyptic storytelling, focusing on survival and inter-group tension.
- Characters, while numerous, are given enough distinct personalities to be relatable and not caricatures.
- Artwork is described as 'pretty amazing' by one reviewer, and the OST and sound design are noted as being of good quality.
- Deals with heavy topics like murder, abuse, rape, and mass death effectively, suggesting a dark and mature tone.
Weaknesses
- Animation, pacing, and sound are frequently described as mediocre, bland, average, or even horrendous.
- The story and character development are considered rushed and superficial due to condensing a large manga into a short anime.
- The ending is consistently criticized as abrupt, open-ended, unfulfilling, and lacking resolution.
- Many viewers found the characters irritating, bland, vacuous, cliché, or difficult to differentiate.
- Scientific inaccuracies regarding wildlife adaptation and evolution in the post-apocalyptic world are a significant point of criticism.
- The plot is seen as illogical, with too many odd events and poorly thought-out character decisions.
- The pacing is problematic, with large jumps in time and location that feel unrealistic and unearned.