Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Welcome to the Worst Isekai arc. Throughout the month of May I’ll be taking a look at some of the worst isekai animes of all-time. Why? Because people still don’t know just how awful these animes are and need to be told so they can avoid these animes at all costs. Let’s start off hot with Seven Senses of Reunion. Written by Noritake Tao from 2015-2018, Seven Senses of the Reunion is often regarded as being one of the most hated isekai animes out there. From the very first episode this anime was rejected by fans for blending together two shows that should never be blended together, SAO and Anohana. I mean it, this series blends together two shows that are the complete opposite of each other. SAO is a teenager’s wet fantasy come true and Anohana is an emotional story about lost, friendship, and learning to move on while still caring for those you still have in your life and yourself. While both animes had issues and plotholes a good chunk of people still like them, but everyone can agree that these two stories have no business being fused together as it would result in bad things happening and sure enough they did. Let’s try to get invested in an anime that tries desperately to get it, this is Seven Senses of the Reunion.
Opening and Ending Theme
The opening is “360° Hoshi no Orchestra” by petit milady. I swear that’s the title of the song. As far as openings go I wouldn’t call this one bad. I did like the instrumental and the singing, but after a few episodes I got tired of hearing it and would skip over it. I guess this is one of those songs you have to listen once and then come back to it at a much later day.
The ending is “Starlight” by Erii Yamazaki and it’s a beautiful song. It perfectly fits with the anime and captures of the emotions of losing something important to you. This makes the song all the more sadder that it’s wasted on an anime like this that doesn’t live up to just how good the song is.
Episodes 1-4
The anime begins in the game called Union where a party of 6-players named Subaru are the best team in the game and are only in elementary school (they’re gonna be some serious gamers when they get older). The leader of the group is Haruto, followed by the vice-commander Takanori, the elementalist Satsuki, the mage Nozomi, the rogue Clive (who lives in a different country), and finally Asahi who has the ability to see into the future (well that makes her OP in the game). We see that despite being in elementary school, they already have feelings for each other. Satsuki has a thing for Haruto, Takanori has a thing for Asahi, and Asahi has a thing for Haruto who also has a thing for her (I’m sure Clive and Nozomi have a thing for each other as well). While taking on a new in-game mission, Asahi dies protecting Haruto where this results in her dying in real life (oh shit it’s SAO all over again). We find out Asahi died from cardiac arrest and even though Union was found not responsible for her death, they shut down the servers anyway (so she died from the shock of dying in the game? Now I see why the game was rated T for Teens). Haruto was devastated by Asahi’s death blaming himself for it and Takanori also blamed him for it. This whole mess resulted in Haruto abandoning games all together and shutting himself off from the world (and he stays depressed for years. Look, I get it. Losing someone you care about is tough, but to stay depressed and sad for years just makes you look pathetic. You should only mourn a person’s death for a week, a month at best). We fast forward 6 years later where Haruto and the others are in high school now and the creators of Union have launched a whole new game called Re’Union (scientifically proven not to give your kid cardiac arrest should they die in the game) and have invited a select number of players who have what they call Sense (a rare ability that only that player has. Think semblance from RWBY) to play the game. Haruto was chosen as one of these players and after his schoolmates beg him to join he logs back into the game and goes on a beginner quest with them in a cave where they’re total noobs and go charging headfirst into the cave only to get saved by Haruto seconds later (okay, I don’t play a lot of MMORPGs but even I know not to charge headfirst in). After defeating some man-bats, the cave changes on them and turns into some kind of blue dungeon. Haruto thinks this is a bug (fucking Bethesda) but that thought gets put on hold when they reach a dead end and find a treasure chest. Haruto opens the chest and finds Asahi who recognizes him and everything (Haruto found a Asahi).
In episode 2 Haruto can’t believe that Asahi is right in front of him (either she became one with the game or someone is trolling you hard). At first he doesn’t believe that this is the same Asahi that was his friend but she recognizes him, has memories of the others and everything so Haruto has no choice but to accept that this is Asahi. He tells her that she died in real life and at first she doesn’t believe him but when she sees she can’t log out and 6 years have gone by she has no choice but to believe Haruto’s story and her reaction is pretty meh (which is understandable as from her perspective only a day has gone by). The two get approached by an old rival from their past that Haruto used to beat but now the tables are reversed as Haruto has been out of the game for so long that he’s forgotten how to use his sense and everything. He gets saved by Takanori who created his own guild after Subaru broke up (if it was like the Beetles I’m not sure) and isn’t shocked to see his childhood crush alive and standing in front of him. He wants to take Asahi with him, but she refuses to go anywhere without Haruto which Takanori is against as he says Haruto is weak and Haruto has no rebuttal (because it’s true). Takanori takes his leave and Haruto has Asahi stay at the inn after he logs out. The next day he receives a visit from Satsuki (who matured incredibly well) where he tells her about Asahi and then turns into a pussy saying he wants nothing to do with this (oh for God’s sake get over it man. This guy is just as bad as Tomoya from Clannad. I’m sorry your friend died but it’s been 6 years get over it) and Satsuki reprimands him and says he’s just running away from his past (scene here: https://youtu.be/s8jfOVjQOeg). They both enter the game and meet up with Asahi where Satsuki tells her she’s dead but Asahi still doesn’t fully believe her as she’s here so she must still exist somehow (scene here: https://youtu.be/rvVBctAe-Nk). They get attacked by another guild who want to steal Asahi and use her powers for themselves, but Satsuki takes them all out mercilessly. They go to their old hideout where Haruto gets approached by a player named Elicia who can read minds and tells Haruto that the bigger guilds are coming for Asahi because her sense holds an even greater power. She takes her leave but not before telling Haruto to face his past (yes please. The sooner you do it the better off you’ll be).
Nothing much to really say about episode 3. It starts with Satsuki trying to get Asahi to stay away from Haruto (we’re you telling the guy to face his past last episode?) but that’s not gonna happen. Asahi recreates the ring of Subaru and Haruto puts it on her ring finger which makes Satsuki jealous (they’re only married in the game, not in real life. You still have a chance). Satsuki makes a ring herself and the three head out to the place where Asahi died to search for clues (scene here: https://youtu.be/Ahm7kkwstnE). They find nothing and as they’re leaving Elicia shows up and summons the boss that killed Asashi who appears to be a lot stronger this time around. At first it seems like they’re all going to lose but Haruto’s desire and determination to protect Asahi this time around re-awakens his sense and he destroys the boss thanks to Asahi’s power (scene here: https://youtu.be/aJ3TMONlOCc). With this, Satsuki fully accepts that Asahi is still alive (the doctors, her parents, and the local morgue beg to differ) and they vow to help her log out (it’ll be difficult without a body but we’ll manage).
In episode 4 after the group leaves the dungeon, Satsuki finds a red crystal shard on Asahi. When they all look at it they see strange images. Asahi believes that these images are her memories from the last 6 years but really doesn’t know what they mean (sums up the anime in a nutshell). They head back to the inn where rumors of them defeating the boss from last episode have spread like wildfire (news travels fast in this world). Asahi believes the key to solving her mystery is reuniting Subaru but Haruto and Satsuki aren’t sure if Clive and Nozomi are in the game or even if they want to help (and don’t get me started on Takanori who’s pretty much obsessed with Asahi and believes she belongs to him. She wasn’t even yours to begin with). The group decides to ask an informant for information on Clive and Nozomi but they get ambushed by Southern Cross one of the big guilds in the game who want Asahi. Luckily, they get saved by Angelus the leader of Brill Society (what is with these guild names?) who invites them to join his guild for protection. He believes that Subaru is a distortion in this world that will jeopardize everyone and wants to keep a careful watch over it but Haruto and the others say no and Angelus takes his leave promising to eliminate them should they become a threat (okay, why are we treating this like the real world? It’s a game, have fun). The next day Haruto asks Satsuki out to help him shop for the latest VR tech and we see her jealousy begin to boil up as Haruto keeps talking about Asahi (scene here: https://youtu.be/Pf8kF68EHNU, just tell him how you feel. Let’s not go down this road). Back in the game they decide to go to the first place where Asahi used her sense the Tower of Heaven. It’s an easy place as they’re able to easily beat all the monsters and boss despite Satsuki being out of it for most of the battle. When they reach the top, Asahi checks her inventory where that red crystal shard somehow is there. She pulls it out where it’s stolen by Takanori who says it’s dangerous. He looks down on Haruto saying he can’t protect Asahi and brings Haruto to an isolated space where the two prepare to fight each other (my heart wants Haruto to kick his ass and put him in his place but my brain is telling me he’s going to lose only to win later on).
Episodes 5-8
With the way episode 4 ended you would think episode 5 would deliver on some much-needed closure between Haruto and Takanori. Well they decide to be a cocktease and have Satsuki break Takanori’s barrier stopping their fight before it can really get started (so you mean to tell me the ending of episode 4 was totally pointless? (Shizuku): Fuckers. (Nitsuj): I agree). The only thing we get from Haruto and Takanori is finding out that Takanori is completely obsessed with Asahi to the point that he’s prepared to spend the rest of his life in the game in order to be with her (okay, you need to get one thing straight, she is not into you man and acting like a borderline sociopath doesn’t help your case. Hell, he acts like Asahi is his property and no one else’s. Motherfucker she was never yours to begin with). He takes his leave as does Satsuki who is still struggling with her emotions (just tell him how you feel and get it over with. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, you won. Asahi has no body. Haruto is all yours. I swear this anime makes me want to shoot down every dumb character. (Isis): Just say the word. Although I may run out of bullets). The next day Haruto and Asahi go to a local informant in the hopes of finding out if Clive and Nozomi are in the game but get no answers. The only other possible conclusion is Clive and Nozomi are on different continents than the one they’re on which means they’ll have to travel to that continent directly and ask a local informant there (and what exactly are these other continents? Are they other servers? This anime doesn’t explain how this world works or what the rules are. Everybody acts like they’re trapped in the game and if they get a game over they die in real life which so far that isn’t the case so why the hell does everybody act like game over is death?). Satsuki joins up with them where they get trapped in a fog and teleported away from each other. It turns out Southern Cross, Brill Society and Illumanti (Takanori’s guild not the actual one) have teamed up with each other to catch Asahi (see Takanori? This is the crazy shit that turns Asahi away from you). Satsuki and Haruto each fight against members of Southern Cross and Brill Society while Asahi gets put to sleep by Takanori who gets double-crossed by Angelus and Letos (the leader of Southern Cross) who swoop in and take Asahi for themselves (nice going Takanori. The more you fuck up, the more Haruto looks like a rockstar in Asahi’s eyes). Brill Society and Southern Cross unite under one guild called Divine (ughh~ *double facepalm* why?) thus forming the biggest guild comprised of 3000 members (well that’s gotta be illegal) and Haruto prepares to raid their base swords swinging to get back Asahi all by himself.
Episode 6 is an action-packed episode as Haruto goes all Kirito on us and takes out 1500 players before getting captured and saved by Satsuki and Takanori who is still riding his ego train and continues to act smug despite this whole thing being his fault (I look forward to the day Haruto kicks his ass and brings his ego crumbling down). They manage to make it into the inner sanctum where Angelus and Letos are ready for them. Angelus uses mind control on Asahi which allows him to use her sense to see the future so Letos can predict what Haruto is doing and Angelus can bind Takanori. As for Satsuki, they put up stones which weaken elemental skills. But Satsuki just says f that shit deciding that she doesn’t want to lose to Asahi as apparently Asahi has always been jealous of Satsuki as well. Satsuki was always on the frontlines fighting side by side with Haruto while she had to watch. The two admitted along time ago that they were jealous of each other but made a vow to fight fair and square to get Haruto (than get him). Satsuki unleashes the elemental kings and uses a powerful attack knocking out the remaining members of Divine and leaving only Angelus and Letos with Angelus unable to see the future as Asahi broke his mind control. Backed into a corner and desperate, Angelus pours the remorse, anger, and fear of 3000 players into Letos which makes him super strong and an out of control monster (always with the out of control monsters). Luckily, Haruto, Satsuki, and Takanori release an old signature move called Estrella. A combined move between the three where Satsuki bends space, Takanori controls time, and Haruto unleashes a hundred sword slashes across dimensions which all strike Letos and take him out (that’s actually a pretty badass combo). With nothing standing between them and Angelus they take him out and reclaim Asahi. With Asahi safe, Takanori hands over part of the red sphere and they see another vision where scientists were testing something. Takanori takes his leave and vows to end Haruto one day.
In episode 7 Haruto, Satsuki, and Asahi head out to sea to an area known as the Lost Pentagon where an unbreakable sword can be found somewhere at the bottom of the ocean in this area. They search the area but find nothing until Asahi says she senses the sword in a certain direction and sure enough they find it where we see the sword is Haruto’s old sword Pleiades. He goes to grab it but a dangerous sea serpent appears to fight where they’re at a disadvantage underwater (hope you got those Sonic air bubbles). They get saved by Clive who stalls the monster with an attack which allows them all to escape unharmed. Once they return to surface, Clive is gone but he left them a note saying he’ll see them around (I take it Clive was the mysterious one of the group?). Back in the real world, Haruto and Satsuki go to have lunch with Takanori (oh good, maybe some humble pie will calm his ass down) where he says that Asahi is being targeted by Gnosis one of the biggest guilds in the game who move around in secret (the real Illuminati of this game). They’re the ones who told everyone about Asahi and are even the ones responsible for the forming of Divine. In other news, we find out that Takanori has been looking for Nozomi in his spare time (for the first time ever he’s not acting like an asshole. It’s a miracle) where we find out she just moved back into the city. Back in Re’Union, Haruto and the others try to get his sword back but have no luck finding the serpent until Clive shows up not the least bit shocked to see Asahi (suspicious much?) and helps them find the serpent where through their combined teamwork they manage to catch it and trap it in ice (well that’s a keeper for the wall). As Haruto goes to grab his sword, he gets stabbed in the back by Clive (scene here: https://youtu.be/hYiMS2A0Ogw, the fuck man?).
Episode 8 starts off on a what the fuck note as we get a what if scenario created by Asahi’s sense. In this what if scenario, Haruto was the one who got a game over 6 years ago (not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing). But instead of dying he instead falls into a coma for 6 years and wakes up to the sight of Asahi (who is a barely legal loli), Satsuki, Takanori (who’s not an asshole in this scenario so that’s an improvement), and Re’Union isn’t a thing. Elicia appears and tells Haruto that he’s in another timeline and explains that senses can be used in the game as well as reality (oh you’ve got to be kidding me?). Asahi’s power isn’t seeing the future but instead choose a future out of infinite possibilities (that’s basically the same thing. I know you’re trying to sound smart anime but the more you try the more stupid you look). So who’s responsible for all of this and why, Gnosis. Gnosis is responsible for this as they wanted to trigger Asahi’s sense as her sense is apparently the ultimate sense that they’ve been looking for. In fact, the whole point of Union was just a testing ground to learn how to use senses in real life (https://youtu.be/BNsrK6P9QvI). So Haruto breaks out of this timeline and returns to his original timeline where he blocks Clive’s attack revealing that this isn’t the real Clive but an imposter instead who is a shapeshifter. The shapeshifter reveals himself to be Simon from Gnosis. He combines himself with the sea serpent and tries to destroy Haruto and Satsuki in the hopes of activating Asahi’s sense. The real Clive shows up and together they fight against Simon, retrieve Pleiades, and defeat him. After the fight, Clive gives Asahi the red shard dropped by Simon where in this one we see Asahi lying on an altar surrounded by cloaked men (well if that’s not the set up for a dark hentai I don’t know what is) and getting rescued by Elicia.
Episodes 9-12
Emotions run wild in episode 9 as everyone confesses to each other. Re’Union is hosting a ball and everyone decides to be real with each other. Satsuki confesses to Haruto, Takanori tells Haruto that he’s in love with Asahi (call the cops), and Nozomi is in love with Takanori (Clive gets love from his right hand). Speaking of Nozomi, Haruto and Satsuki go to visit her in the real world where we see she’s now a model for a magazine and has made new friends at her school (and out of all the characters she’s changed the most. It’s always the quiet ones). They ask her to log in to Re’Union but she hesitates because of the whole Asahi dying thing, but once Haruto and Satsuki tell her she’s still alive (eh, from a technical standpoint) she says she’ll consider it. On the night of the ball Haruto goes with Satsuki and Takanori goes with Asahi as Haruto realizes that even though he fights to save Asahi, Satsuki was the one who pulled him out of his rut and brought him back from the brink. This leads to him realizing that the one he loves the most is Satsuki. As for Takanori and Asahi, Takanori goes to comfort her after Haruto rejects her promising to always be there for her and for the first time Asashi really takes a look at him. Ha, psych! That would be realistic and interesting (and we can’t have that in this anime). Haruto chooses Asahi over Satsuki (confirming that he’s a lolicon) and making it clear as day that he loves her. Asahi also rejected Takanori (which I’m perfectly okay with. He is not right for her) so he goes with Satsuki instead (misery loves company. Or in this case rejection). Just when you think things can’t get anymore generic and cliché, Nozomi logs in and goes to the ball where she sees Takanori dancing with Satsuki and gets the wrong idea (it was at this point that I asked myself, why the hell am I still watching this anime? I’m like 95% sure I know what happens next). Nozomi runs out crying where she comes across a clown named Cerinthus and a hooded lady named Marcion who invite her to join Gnosis (okay, if a clown comes up to you and asks you to join something run away).
So in episode 10 as you would expect Nozomi joins Gnosis donning a new outfit and personality entirely (what the hell are you wearing woman and what kind of drugs did they give you?). She attacks the group in her fortress and manages to inflict Asahi with something that gives her nightmares or some shit (more info at a later episode). As Haruto and Takanori wonder why Nozomi betrayed them, Satsuki makes it clear for them that Nozomi is in love with Takanori, saw them dance, misinterpreted what was going on, and Gnosis took advantage of her jealousy (congratulations Takanori, you had a rebound girl and even then, you found a way to screw that up). As the three discuss what to do next they find themselves stuck in an alternate dimension similar to the real world but different.
In episode 11 we start with Haruto, Satsuki, and Takanori in the alternate dimension which was created by a member of Gnosis who pretty much tells them what they already know and sends them back to reality (what the hell was that all about?). They all return to the game where their base gets destroyed by Nozomi and the group goes to face her in her castle of misunderstanding and stupidity. They fight her and the members of Gnosis where Takanori takes Nozomi on alone and manages to return her to normal (through the power of generic bullshit. Honestly, you two deserve each other. You’re both possessive and believe someone belongs to you when really it doesn’t. Scene here: https://youtu.be/B2s9rCiTivc). The episode does end on a highlight with Asahi shooting Haruto thanks to that nightmare mark Nozomi gave her (a part of me is happy about this).
In the final episode, through the power of love (or friendship or whatever BS they pulled out of their ass), Haruto survives the gunshot to the heart, Subaru reunites, and Haruto somehow unlocks his full power and defeats Cerinthus and Marcion (could you get anymore cliché and predictable?). So finally Subaru is reunited and the only thing of interest we get from this season finale is that Elicia knew everyone when they were younger so there’s a possibility that she was the 7th member of Subaru.
Final Thoughts
What the hell happened? The anime starts off bad and slowly starts to become terrible with its generic and cliché storytelling and writing. The anime tries hard to make you build a connection with these characters and they fail miserably thanks to the writing. Haruto’s character is bland and we as an audience are asked to feel sympathetic for this character, but we don’t and why should we? Even when he meets back up with Asahi, he really doesn’t change all that much throughout the anime plus the anime doesn’t really dive into their relationship aside from the fact that the two have feelings for each other. Okay, but what else is there between the two? What were they like outside the game, what were they like at school, what do they like about the other? Stuff like this never gets touched upon and this same level of thinking applies to the remaining cast. Satsuki likes Haruto yet didn’t make a move on him at all during those 6 years. What the hell, who does that? Takanori was easily the worst of the bunch as he’s an asshole who thought of Asahi as his property and didn’t care about what she wanted. Nozomi was like the female version of Takanori who goes all evil on us for the stupid reason that the boy she likes (who she hasn’t confessed to) is dancing with another girl and not hearing their side of the story first. Clive isn’t as bad as the others, but my goodness he is a walking cliché and probably has the least amount of character of the bunch. He’s basically just the cool loner character the kind of guy who keeps stuff to himself. He’s honestly like a walking drama student trying to act cool. This series tries hard to directly copy the characters of Anohana and fails miserably.
The story isn’t much better as they pretty much keep repeating themselves over and over again. I get what they were trying to do, blur the line between the game and the real world like they did in SAO along with the story of Anohana and this is a terrible mashup. Both the problems of SAO and Anohana are brought to the forefront here. The story is told in such a bad way that you can’t get invested into anything that is happening and without reading the novel I kind of have a prediction on what the big payoff will be down the line. They don’t do a good job explaining the senses either such as where it comes from, how it manifests, or if everyone in the world has a sense as well and just doesn’t know it.
The animation is really lacking here from Lerche. It’s low quality and looks like it was made in 2011. The fight scenes aren’t all that good either. They don’t do a good job building up the world they’re in or how it works, the monsters are monsters that we’ve seen in other animes, and the spells they use are generic as well. The only thing I will say I liked was when they did that combination attack in episode 6. That was kind of cool and I wished they showed more of that sooner and in the episodes that followed. The music is also generic and doesn’t leave much of an impression on you. I didn’t find it memorable and at times wouldn’t even notice it.
Final Score
The final score for Seven Senses of the Reunion is a 2.5/10. It’s a terrible mashup between SAO and Anohana that makes you feel nothing while watching it and doesn’t do a good job of explaining anything. From what I’ve been told the light novel is better but not by much. With the way the anime was received I doubt a second season will be made, so this anime will be forgotten as time passes and go down as one of the worst isekai animes out there. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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