Seven Senses of the ReunionStreaming on Prime Video. 12 Episodes.Do you ever get kept up at night wo

Seven Senses of the Reunion
Streaming on Prime Video. 12 Episodes.

Do you ever get kept up at night wondering “What would happen if the Isekai genre and Anohana had a baby?” If the answer to that was YES, then do I have an anime for you.

Seven Senses opens with a group of kids playing an MMO. They’re some of the game’s best players, beating high end bosses and avoiding player killers. And that’s a good thing - KO in this game and your account is gone forever and you can’t make a new one. When they challenge the toughest boss in the game, one of their friends is KOed, and shortly after she passes away in real life.

It’s years after this event, the game they all played is relaunching under a new name - allowing you to use your old accounts. When Haruto is forced to log in, he’s shocked to see his dead friend’s avatar still in the game and confined to it. Thus begins a tale of finding lost friendships, love triangles, and some world domination plot involving The Bad Guys.

Let’s get this out of the way first, Seven Senses is NOT a complete package. By the end of 12 episodes, it feels like what is just an introduction. There’s a villain who crops up towards the end of the show and is in the opening that never plays his cards, mysteries don’t get solved, we don’t know who Elicia is or what is up with Asahi. The show just drops us on a happy note and ends.

Does that leave the show still worth watching? It’s going to depend entirely on whether or not you can get attached to the characters. Yes, there’s a plot going on here, but since these 12 episodes mostly focus on bringing the original group back together, Seven Senses becomes more of a character driven story than anything it’s underlying plot wants it to be. Even if it does seem to have some interesting ideas. (Though one of it’s most interesting got retconned immediately by shenanigans.)

Luckily, the characters are very charming and easy to root for. Nozomi and Clive come into things a little too late to feel very fleshed out, but the rest of the original gang have plenty of time to shine. (and fill the Anohana archtypes; though they are never quite as strong a cast as that show had) Even though the series is trying to handle it’s sidelined plot at the same time, it never feels like the characters are being rushed to conclude their messy feelings.

Sometimes the drama is silly, romcom esq “misunderstandings” and sometimes the characters sort out their differences in surprisingly mature ways. (For that I would say Satsuki and Takanori are the allstars. Haruto hardly ever has to solve his own relationship struggles, since the other two solving theirs does it for him.) It’s not allstar character writing, but it does enough to be engaging.

All in all, I enjoyed this show, but the lack of an ending was a huge let down that makes it hard to recommend. I can only hope for a second season, but I’m not sure the show got enough traction to earn one. (Fingers crossed!!) If you are looking for character drama with an MMO flavour and (unsolved) mysteries, then maybe give this a spin. Just keep in mind, the ending won’t leave you feeling satisfied.

I’ll be sure to revisit this show if it gets another season!