NieA_7 (Collector’s Edition Blu-ray) Unboxing

NieA_7 (ニアアンダーセブン, Nia Andā Sebun), also known as Niea Under 7, is a 2000 television anime series based on Yoshitoshi ABe’s doujinshi manga of the same name. The series was adapted by studio Triangle Staff, and the staff credits include chief director Tomokazu Tokoro, director and screenplay writer Takuya Satō, character designer Yoshitoshi ABe and music composer Yoshio Owa. The series first aired in Japan on April 2000.

Background:

“Mayuko Chigasaki is an ordinary girl from the countryside, who now is attending university in big city Tokyo. She struggles each day to make ends meet while studying for her exams, barely scraping up the yen to afford bus fare to and from school. And at the end of the day, she comes home to a gluttonous, freeloading alien living in her closet!

Ever since the aliens landed, things have been just a little weirder in Japan. Despite that, life goes on as normal for these outsiders. At least, as normal as things can be when your alien roommate builds UFOs out of junk and generally acts like none of her actions have consequences. Each day brings something new, so catch life on the outside in this boxed set!”

Plot Synopsis via MVM Entertainment, January 2024.

Back in the 00s era of anime, Yoshitoshi ABe was one of the most intriguing artists around with many of his titles adapted or produced for anime that have held up pretty well over time. Serial Experiments Lain for example I found to be a deep and complicated series which is hard to summarise, but the designs and animation was great and with its HD transfer looks just as good today as they did when they first aired. Triangle Staff produced that series and they teamed up with ABe for another anime project with NieA_7, which aired before ABe’s work on Haibane Renmei and Texnolyze.

Of the trio of shows that ABe has been involved in, NieA_7 is the one that I knew the least but I was aware that it was once distributed on home video by Geneon Entertainment in North America with an English dub before the license eventually expired. In fact, Discotek Media picked it up and released the series on Blu-ray in 2018 for that same region, but their license had ran out as well. The UK never had the show and MVM Entertainment was able to continue their representation of ABe’s works by licensing NieA_7, so while the series is going out of print in another region, it’s now available in the other.

Collector’s Edition Contents:

MVM Entertainment have been keeping a small trend going for some of their releases with a collector’s edition package. There’s nothing particularly outstanding on their sets but it’s a nice offering for the small UK market that we have. NieA_7 received the treatment which makes sense due to its niche and also being one of ABe’s titles.

This release is presented with a rigid box containing an Amaray case to house the Blu-ray discs, and alongside the case are 5 art cards.

The rigid box artwork is free of any information on the front and spine cover, while the information, BBFC and specification are on the back cover like some of MVM’s previous collector’s edition releases. Given the limited artwork available, this is fair enough. The collector’s edition Blu-ray has 1000 units printed for an SRP of £39.99, and will receive a standard edition Blu-ray release later down the line.

The series was available for pre-order on MVM’s retail store Anime-on-Line but I didn’t pick it up until it was randomly on offer by a third-party seller on Amazon recently.

Physical Contents:

• Rigid Box with Amaray packaging and clean front/spine artwork
• Back artwork for specification and BBFC description
• 5 Art Cards

On-Disc Contents:

Distributor: MVM Entertainment
Released: 15th January 2024

The collector’s edition release for NieA_7 contains all 13 episodes across a single Blu-ray disc, with the encode & authoring done by Discotek Media and MediaOCD. The audio options include Japanese with English subtitles and the New Generation Pictures English dub commissioned by Geneon Entertainment.

One thing worth mentioning is the Blu-ray transfer. Japan released the series on Blu-ray, however due to the presentation being upscaled from an SD source, the end result was not well-received. So when Discotek released the series for North America, they produced their own upscale and have kept that approach going for whenever the Japanese Blu-ray presentation isn’t top-notch. MVM Entertainment re-used Discotek’s disc so you will have the best viewing experience possible for the series.

The yellow subtitles are unlockable during playback, and the regions are locked to Blu-ray players set to B, however owners of a Panasonic player can bypass the setup by pressing STOP during the region lock screen followed by TOP MENU to reach the disc’s main menu.

Blu-ray Specs:

Languages	English, Japanese
Audio	English Linear PCM 2.0 Japanese Linear PCM 2.0
Video	1080p High Definition Native format 1.33:1 aspect ratio
Region	B (A access available via Panasonic Bypass method)
Subtitles	English
Locked Subtitles	No
Discs	1 BD-50

Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:

• Credit-Free Opening “Koko Made Oide (Come On Over Here)”
• Credit-Free Ending 1 “Venus to Chiisana Kamisama” (Venus and a Small God)”
• Credit-Free Ending 2 “KA MOA’E”
• Japanese Commercials
• Chada Music Clip
• Karna Music Clip

Unboxing Photos:

Final Notes:

NieA_7 is available to purchase on Blu-ray by MVM Entertainment in the UK & Ireland. The collector’s edition Blu-ray release can be bought through different retailers including Amazon UK, AllTheAnime Store, and Anime-on-Line.

(Disclaimer: Amazon links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills.)