As various spring series come to a close or reach their halfway point, so signals the start of the summer season!

The first series that I checked out was Nanatsuiro Drops. When I first heard about Nanatsuiro Drops -and the tens of times after that- the phrase “Character designs by Noizi Ito” seemed to be a recurring motivation for watching it. After watching the first episode, I’m wondering if there’s any reason except the character designs to keep me watching. While I didn’t expect much original content from a mahou shoujo series, I can’t shake this feeling that I’ve watched this already…

Nanatsuiro Drops starts off as a seemingly normal school days type anime. However, it quickly discards reality and through various circumstances, a civilian loli named Takamachi Nanoha Sumomo Akihime is thrust into a world of magic through a chance meeting with a talking ferret stuffed animal.

Her newfound friend asks for her help in collecting relics called Jewel Seeds Stardrops. To help her fulfill his request, the stuffed animal, who Sumomo names Yuki-chan, gives her a red gemstone called Raising Heart that awakens her magical girl powers.

The chase after the first of seven Stardrops proves to be a success and marks the beginning of Sumomo’s life in this new world of magic. However, an ominous blonde haired named Fate Testarossa who also appears to be a magical girl is after the Stardrops as well, and is determined not to let this novice get in her way.

. . . . .

The only other two mahou shoujo series I’ve ever watched are Sailor Moon and the Nanoha series, so maybe I’m just jumping to conclusions when I see such a blatant copypasta of Nanoha’s first season, if this is a standard introductory arc in mahou shoujo series, then feel free to ignore the rant.

As for the technical aspects of the show:

Character designs and animation were definitely above average, while I don’t think it’s justified to watch the show based solely on the cute designs, they’re nice to have. Though I can’t say I’m too pleased about the frequent use of chibi animation, it brings back horrible memories of Yoakena ;_;

The animation was smooth and fairly consistent, I just hope they have a large enough budget to keep it that way until the end. Judging from the animation style, I’m not holding my breath for epic battles melee battles and earth shaking beamspam, but as long as Sumomo doesn’t start shooting sakura petals, I’m not going to complain much.

Music was meh, the OP and ED were pretty generic in my opinion, and the background soundtrack was neither memorable nor annoying. Music has always been the least of my concerns when watching anime, so a weak OST isn’t going to make or break this series.

Overall, it’s too early to say whether I’m going to enjoy Nanatsuiro Drops. So far I’m not impressed by how closely the story mirrors the first season of Nanoha, especially since that was a bore until the later episodes. But there will be plenty of chances for Nanatsuiro Drops to break away from genericness and develop its own plot.

I’ll keep watching for now, if not just for the nice character designs and Sumomo being a moeblob (even though her voice makes my ears bleed). But if this ends up being nothing but a retelling of Nanoha, I won’t hesitate to drop it.

~ Shirukii ~