Nanatsuiro Drops

We are all victims of circumstance. Whether we like it or not, we are all drawn into circumstances that we originally had nothing to do with, and for better or worse we stick through them. In anime, these circumstances usually have magical properties and usually involve the main girl changing into a mahou Shoujo and her partner collecting something needed in order to accomplish a great task. In the story of Nanatsu-Iro Drops, or Seven Colored Drops, Akihime Sumomo strives to save the little stuffed animal that she met.

The story is a basic mahou shoujo with a bit of the twist: The main boy, Tsuwabaki Masaharu, accidentally takes a magic potion that turns him into a stuffed animal by night. In order to turn him back into a human, he has to go to the chosen girl and she must collect the seven moon drops and if he takes it, he can return to normal. Also, Tsuwabaki can not tell the chosen girl his identity.The girl, is Akihime Sumomo, a shy girl who has a fear of water and cries easily. With Yuki-chan's help, Tsuwabaki's identity when he is the stuffed animal, they gather the Seven Drops, and hopefully return him back to normal.

The characters were very well done, and the main cast was very well done. The main characters are very distinguishable from each other, and well developed  and the relationships between the characters was very well done. You can sort of feel the akward love between Akihime and Tsuwabuki and the closeness between Akihime and her best friend, Nako. Also, you can tell the competitiveness and jealousy Aspalas, Akihime's competitor in getting the Seven Color Drops. The side characters I will admit, kind of blend, and the kind of just are there for filler. They just sit there and try and push Akihime and Tsuwabuki together, and yes their plan succeeds, though I think with out them, the story would have gone on just fine.

Another thing I would like to note is the magical element. Until about episode 3 or 4, she really didn't have a set transformation sequence, and she had to manually change into the outfit. Also, it wasn't until the latter half or so of the series that magic started playing a major role in the hunt for seven color drops. Though the constant use of magic allowed for some interesting circumstances, and the gaining of the recipes leads to some amazing development of Sumomo. But for some reason, I feel like the magical girl element was not fully there, but still prominent enough to call this anime a magical girl anime.

The art in Seven Colored Drops is very shoujo like, i.e. the big eyes that take up half their faces, and the girls usually came off as lolis. It was fluid and smooth, and there was a bit of derpy-ness in the eyes sometimes, but that is normal. The magical girl outfits of Aspalas and Sumomo were well done, and the main cast was distinguishable. The side characters on the other hand looks like they were just cookie cutter characters, and, honestly, they just sort of blended

Overall, this anime is decent. It has its ups and downs, and when you think that's it, there is more. It almost makes you wonder why the magical girls go through so much, though it doesn't explain it all the way though. I reccomend this to any mahou shoujo fan, and even to those that aren't, this would make an excellent first mahou shoujo anime for the fact that it isn't overly drawn out like Tokyo Mew Mew and Sailor Moon. So in your search for a good anime, may you find the Seven Colored Drops.