English Dub Review: Special 7: Special Crime Investigation Unit “One Brings Bad Omens, Seven Brings Good Luck”

 

 

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Secret 7 takes place in a modern world where humans, vampires, dwarfs, and elves live in harmony—screw you, orcs and werewolves. Seiji “Rookie” Nanatsuki, our protagonist, has recently been made detective and he is SUPER straight-laced. Nine years earlier, a detective saved him from a terrorist attack at the airport. The culprits were likely part of a mysterious group called NINE that has since gone underground. Ever since then, Rookie has vowed to protect the innocent.

Anyway, one day he goes to a bank—probably to change in a fifty for two twenties and a ten—when three men in animal masks take everyone hostage. One of Rookie’s fellow hostages is a man named Shiori “Charisma” Ichinose who is part of an elite faction in the department known as Special 7, even though they only have six members. (Might want to make note of that.)

Rookie wants to act, but Charisma (an ironic name) begs him to hold back. The seasoned veteran assesses the situation and learns about the robbers through deductive reasoning. It’s kind of like how Sherlock Holmes uses his “mind palace,” which is weird because Charisma looks a lot like Benedict Cumberbatch—but not as pasty.

Most of the other members of the seven are waiting outside to monitor the robbers as they exit the bank in an armored car along with four hostages, including Rookie. Bellemer “Ninja” Cinq monitors the situation using her drones while Akane “Samurai” Shikisai, a vampire, looks on in admiration. Rokusuke “Sniper” Endo waits across the Rainbow Bridge with his massive sniper rifle, and Kujaku “Analyzer” Nijo picks up Charisma in his car as soon as he’s released. Across town, the Seven’s chief, Sakon Zeroemon “Boss” Kiryuin dispenses advice remotely while dealing with all the red tape.

The Seven chase the armored car while Charisma talks to Rookie through an earpiece he planted on the kid after the robbers knocked him out. Rookie attempts to take out the big guy and save the hostages but winds up getting kicked out of the car—although he is miraculously uninjured. Ninja stops the armored vehicle by remotely blowing up the Rainbow Bridge and Sniper shoots the machine gun atop their massive tank.

The three robbers surrender to the Seven—who we discover are kind of a laughing stock among the police. However, the getaway driver busts out of the vehicle and starts rapidly firing a gun at the team. Samurai—who has yet to do anything amazing—appears out of nowhere and destroys all the bullets mid-flight. Using what he learned from Rookie’s earpiece, Charisma discovers which hostage was the mole as he bids “farewell” to Rookie.

The next day—even though Boss is incredibly sorry—Rookie is forced to join the Seven bringing their number up to… SEVEN.

 

Our Take

Okay, there is a lot to unravel here. But first, let’s acknowledge how bloody cool this series is. In the first two minutes, we learn that humans and supernaturals are living together. But before we can even digest that, we’re bombarded with action and mayhem. This is an ideal example of how to pull in the audience from the very beginning.

Even though the action scenes were intense and continuous, the creators did a splendid job of introducing the members of the Seven. Just to be clear, I’m not talking about the opening credits where all the characters’ names were listed in dull blacks and whites and were almost impossible to read. That was rubbish. However, their introductions in the actual story were handled brilliantly. Even though everybody besides Rookie and Charisma only had a few minutes of screen time a piece, I feel I got to know something special about each of them.

I applaud how these characters are memorable without having to rely on the typical anime tropes that are used in some of the world’s most popular animes. I’m looking at you, One Piece. These offbeat soldiers could easily fit within a fantasy or contemporary setting, so it’s a good thing this show is going to give us a little bit of both.

Rookie is a solid Everyman and will be serviceable as the “audience” character throughout the early episodes of the series. However, even in this premiere it’s clear that he will evolve. Seriously, did you see how ripped off those restraints, held his own against that muscular gorilla, and somehow dodged a bullet? This boy is something special. In fact, maybe he’s a completely different species that hasn’t even been discovered in this universe. There are already elves, dwarfs, and vampires, so the sky is basically the limit.

Oh yeah, and little Belle is a homunculus which is strange in and of itself. I learned that little tidbit from Wikipedia—but I didn’t donate the suggested $3.00.