2010 spring | Episodes: 26 | Score: 8.5 (162846)
Updated every Wednesdays at 00:59 | Status: Finished Airing
Type: TV
Producers:VAP | Nippon Television Network
Synopsis
Japan, 1955: Mario Minakami has just arrived at Shounan Special Reform School along with five other teenagers who have been arrested on serious criminal charges. All assigned to the same cell, they meet older inmate Rokurouta Sakuragi—a former boxer—with whom they establish a close bond. Under his guidance, and with the promise that they will meet again on the outside after serving their sentences, the delinquents begin to view their hopeless situation in a better light. The seven cellmates struggle together against the brutal suffering and humiliation inflicted upon them by Ishihara, a sadistic guard with a grudge on Rokurouta, and Gisuke Sasaki, a doctor who takes pleasure in violating boys. Facing such hellish conditions, the seven inmates must scrape together all the strength they have to survive until their sentences are up; but even if they do, just what kind of lives are waiting for them on the other side? [Written by MAL Rewrite]
Voice Actors
Park, Romi
Waki, Tomohiro
Oguri, Shun
Fujiwara, Keiji
Koyama, Rikiya
Kuroda, Takaya
Hasome, Tatsuya
News
02/24/2024, 10:01 AM
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09/29/2023, 08:05 AM
In this thread, you'll find a comprehensive list of anime and manga licensed in the fourth quarter (Oct-Dec) of 2023. Fall 2023 anime which were licensed before...
Reviews
AnimeEnjoyer420
This is a series that I desperately wanted to like, and it does have the occasional good moment, but generally speaking, this is a story with interesting ideas that is constantly failed by poor writing. The core ideas here - a story about a group of boys that bond while being abused at a reformatory school in 1950s Japan, and which follows them after their release and into adulthood - are loaded with potential, and that brotherly bond between the characters is easily the strongest part of the series. The storytelling ambition to progress through its story and the lives of its characters rather than muddlingthrough a status quo of its own making is commendable as well. Unfortunately, all the other elements are far weaker. From unnuanced villains that do the worst possible things simply because they are Evil to gross writing that has a lurid fascination with sexual exploitation, there is very little to recommend here in the way of storylines or drama. All the emotion in the story is drained away by the ridiculous overacting of the villains and the extreme, edgy nature of how things tend to play out. Edginess is, unfortunately, the name of the game here. There's a tendency to frame this sort of thing as "adult" or "mature", and indeed it's even listed as such on Crunchyroll, where I watched it. Nothing could be further from the truth, however. The defining characteristic of the writing in Rainbow is really a sort of childishness, with a fixation on sex, suffering and unfair persecution that screams adolescence. Virtually every named female character in the series is either a prostitute or a family member of a character that is introduced into the story so they can be raped by a villain. Virtually every adult is an unhinged, tyrannical fascist or a huckster. While the series begs for understanding of its protagonists, misunderstood boys branded criminals by society for justified acts of self defense or revenge, it does not extend that understanding to any of its other characters, which are largely 1 dimensional and defined by their villainy. It even leads to more significant writing problems, where the logic of the story begins to break down unless you look at it through the lens of "this is a story written by an author that was just trying to write about people doing the worst things he could think of at the time", most unforgivably in the climax of the Anchan vs Ishihara story arc at the end of the 1st cours that I will keep vague for spoiler reasons. Suffice to say that the intended emotion of the scene lands more on the "so idiotic that it made me laugh" side of things than was intended. These issues start to improve in the 2nd cours, but never fully go away. It does have some nice moments though, Turtle and Lily's story arc late in the 2nd cours is a rare high point in the series. Sadly, this only heightens the pervasive sense throughout the series that it could have been excellent if only it was written by someone without a sledgehammer sense of subtlety and a creepy fixation on prostitution and rape. I simply can't recommend it as it exists in reality though.
Natsude_tanaka
For me, this is one of the most underrated and overrated show that ive ever seen. truly, don't deserve the love that it gets. People from 2010, im very disappointed because angel beats was released in the same time and defo was better than Rainbow. Here i was, thought to myself im seeing a gem but nooo. This review is just for the ppl that feels the same like me since in the forums and reviews full of ppls saying that it was good and underrated and etc lol ( SPOILERS DUHH ) There's a few characters that i liked and a few that idont like that. im only gonna talk abt the seven members only since the others are just there for plot. Mario Minakami a.k.a Sakuragi 2.0 a.ka. i want Sakuragi inside of me, the start of the show i was like yeah u cool and i liked u but after fam he just want sakuragi's d so bad that he's willing to sacrifices his right hand for sakuragi like really (if u think that was heroic of an act yeah don't worry ill go in detail on that event) I understand that he sees Sakuragi as a role model but why is this show try to make him as Sakuragi's clone, like this dude literally sounds and looks like Sakuragi in the sec half of this series. how can a guy says to girl that he will beat her down and later on in like 4 to 5 eps says that he loves her like what yeah u could say that it was love at first sight or it was long ago when said that but like really? hahaha. To say the least, i don't like this character anymore Sakuragi Rokurouta, he's basically was create to be a role model for the prisoners. he's actually a decent guy but what i dont understand how did he survive a beating to his head, don't u get a concussion or be in a coma haha how strong are u? i mean i know he's a boxer but like really? throughout the story we didn't really know why or how he got into prison? All in all, i dont really have a say abt him because theres nothing to say abt him. in the end, idk lost a bit of respect to how he went out. Nomoto Ryuji a.ka colonel hughes ( he actually looks like him in the sec half of the series ) , tbh i didnt really dig his character that much since he was a dick in the beginning, he was like ohh i dont trust anyone but proceed to help joe to escape and as well as help ishahara to get sakuragi riled up. the reason for being liked that was ohh her mom get raped or offer her body to get food aand thats why i dont trust anyone, like dude come on u wasnt rich to beginning with. well, the story didnt explore onto why he didnt trust anyone other than her mom getting laid for money. Later on, he turns to an ok character for me since he did his things during the prison break and others. I dont like what happened to him later on, bro why is the story makes us believe that he was the smartest among the group and proceed to be in loved and deceive by a prostitutes...srsly?why? theres no reason for him to stoop so low like that man and i blame the author for this, u create a character known to be the brains in this team and yet u make him look pathetic. SMH Yokosuka Jou a.k.a the man that everyone wants the taste of his d, i liked him but he was kinda cringy during the series but i let him off. His backstory is actually really sad, his parent left him and get disowned by his little sister ( which was annoying god damn it). So, he decided to be a singer to one day reunites with his sister. tbf, i actually dont have a problem with this character. he was the softest among the group, when u see him u dont think he was an ex prisoner lol. Maeda Noboru, same goes for this guy.. dont think he was a bad character. Tadayoshi Tooyama, i quite liked this character, his body suited with his personality. its quite ashamed that we didnt have an arc for him. thats madhouse's fault for not giving him one, quite sad to be frank. They wasted an ep for this next character tho, Matsu'ura Mansaku, literally the joke abt him is him being dumb and they thought im gonna laugh, yeah maybe one or two times but if thats what his character , then whats the point of his character? im not a big fan of him since he did nothing for the plot other than make the girl confessed abt what happened to Mario. The problems that i found from ep 1 - 12 - Why was Sakuragi in prison? even if his father kills himself, why did sakuragi in jail...i understand if he feel responsible for his death but thats not a reason to be in jail since theres no proof of him killing his dad so why lol his mom couldve done something instead she did nothing. im so confused well i suppose its a plot hole lol like theres no reason for this to be a thing. - Well i guess, he likes to follow his idol's footstep so he decide to get his right hand get absolutely smashed for no reason. this happens when sakuragi was month away from being a free ma, he got transferred to another cell for obvious reason by sasaki since they want him dead. Sakuragi knew abt this but accept it since theres no point in retaliate to them so this is where mario's comes in. He overheard someone in the cafe or canteen abt sakuragi, and that makes mario want to ask them abt sakuragi if they know anything. and i guess that scene makes sense u know u emotion get better of u, but still i dont understand why he punch his face lol. this what pisses me off, so soldier said to Mario think before u act and literally seconds after soldier said that he go up to the prisoners and wants to apologize for his actions which is fair enough but bro why in hell did u think that they will listen to u when u said punch me as much as u want but dont hurt sakuragi. For that he got his hand smashed lol - why do they treat injuries like it was a slap on the wrist, for example, in ep4, Sakuragi got his left or right ( i dont remember ) leg get hits by ceiling collapse. u would think it will took him at least a month to recover since well we dont know the detail of his injuries but it took him for a few days and u can see him doing heavy works. and no one forces him to stop like really. Same goes to mario dude got his right hand smashed but after a few days i think he's back to normal and to make it worse he uses his hands to carry sakuragi yeah he said he was light but bro really? and hitting the sandbag as well goddd - why wouldn't turtle report to the police for the corruption happen in prison after he got captured lol what are the risk if he speaks? like dude shout at the police to make a call like wow. the show didnt even let us know what happen if they told the truth to the cops? lol at least have turtle say it to the police, even if they denied at least we will accept other than doing nothing to bring the truth out lol - this is where i lost respect for Sakuragi like how can u die like a loser? my god i understand u didnt kill ishahara because that was smart but why in the hell u didnt knock him out? are u not a boxer? or are u telling me violence is not the answer for a situation like that? one more thing, when u get stab, your first thought will be ohh let me get this knife out of me first but for sakuragi he let the knife in him for awhile until the plots wants him to remove it lol like i dont like his deat*h wasnt befitting to the character that the author creates. - The force romance in this series is so pathetic. why in the hell would sakuragi fall for setsuko like they wasnt an indication of them being in love lol. i just dont understand...the girl legit saw this dude once and suddenly he falls in love? hahaha This show is such a mess but i dont understand cant see this yeah u could say i enjoy and tbf thats the important part but bro arghhh its actually really annoying seeing the 9's and the 10's and the discussion as well bruhhh haha This is the last part for this review, the character's arc Mario's arc Now, i said it already not a big fan of him anymore, by why in the fuk did they make him fall in love with setsuko? WHYYYY? im so annoyed just let the girl moved on, thank god she did but where was the connection or the romance between them? all i can see was setsuko friendzoning him lol. i think it was three eps for his arc and wasted on setsuko and him being in a jail but tbf for that i guess they want to tell us abt why he got into jail. i dont understand why they have setsuko like no reason so im not gonna go into it since its pointless. With the prison thing, it was kinda annoying since my guy didnt want to save his own ass. although at first the prosecutor was prick well he still prick even after this, he ask him why do u punch a teacher? Sakuragi Jr. didnt say anything and his reason was he cant say it to protect the girl that got raped, my dude ur ass is abt to get in to jail again and the case was 2-3 years ago im sure she will be fine with it but in the same she dont care abt u which is dumb in itself since mario literally saves her. look i understand she got raped but cant they disclosed this information? like cant they just have her and mario and questioned what happened, like srsly. Nomoto Ryuji's arc This arc absolutely ruins him as a character. why in hell would he ever fall in love with a proustite? he supposed to be the 'smartest' but clearly not. all the three eps was literally his story abt his one sided love with that girl. smh. why not have him go to college since every time he was on the screen, the other characters mentions that he loves to study. so play on that by enrolling him to college and deals with circumstances of being an ex prisoner after that if u want to throw in a love story( because this story loves to make all the character falls in love somehow) go ahead, i wouldnt mind but legit why tho? haih. wasted potential and eps.... Tadayoshi Tooyama' arc well madhouse give us the biggest middle finger to the viewers by not giving us an arc let alone an ep. my god he was the best character in the whole god damn anime. couldnt they fit at least ep? why wasted an ep of cabbage (he legit did nothing, the joke in this was he's stupid so laugh guys). they couldve throw in his story in cabbage arc but noo.. wasted on this fatsoo ( no offense but yeah) Maeda Noboru' arc his arc was the best. no need to explain but well i guess lily's a hooker soo whatever Yokosuka Jou's arc hoenstly not bad but i want to rant abt his little sister. she was so ungrateful in ep2, i mean what so hard to say thank you in front of ur bro like he legit sacrifice himself just to meet u and u have the audacity to do that my god. after joe got captured, obviously he got punished honestly the disrespect that he got from meg was painful than the beating. so sad for joe man and fk MEG lol. and somehow she's alright later on, u expect her to be either skinny or in a critical condition but nope she's turn out to be alright. what letdown, in her description it said she was adopted by a inter gender sex offender and u telling she come out just fine. SMH. lets go with joe's arc, it was fine until ep 19 where this ep can literally summaries this show as a whole. how the manager goes from 'its too late' to ' u are trash'. makes no sense at all, like are ppl forgetting that the manager was with joe the entire time? idk understand her point at all ( go and check for urself even without context u still will find it weird) and the fight to save joe was ridiculous, the guy could've shot joe plenty of time but decided to be 'cool' and get himself rekt . also kawamata got shot on the shoulder but no one cares to bring him to the hospital, my guy literally dripping with blood but the manager was yup im not gonna call the ambulance or bring u to one lol. what is this logic mann i ramble too long, whatever man. PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DONT WATCH THIS!!! AND PLS HIT HELPFUL BUTTON TO HELP SOMEONE INNOCENCE TO AVOID THIS ANIME LOL LIKE LEGIT IT GETTING 8.51 IS SO DUMB. If this can get higher than ex arm should get the same rating lol
literaturenerd
Overview: I decided to watch another one of MALs top 100 greatest anime of all time. It's hard to find something in MAL's top 100 that isn't a Kintama spin off, so Rainbow seemed like a good choice. Sadly, I was a little bit disappointed by this series. Don't get me wrong! Rainbow is a very addicting watch and it's by no means a bad anime. However, I feel it had the potential to be even better. What I expected: This is a series about 7 juvenile delinquents who have been sentenced to serve time in the worst juvenile detention center in Japan...and possibly the world. It's lesslike a Juvenile Hall and more like a Soviet Gulag or a Nazi concentration camp. The leader of the detention center is a pedophile who starts raping the kids the moment they arrive. The main guard is some guy who looks like M. Bison, but is apparently an Amon Göth wannabe. Together, these hardened delinquents must rediscover their humanity and learn to trust other people again by forming a kindred friendship. I was promised an anime that was part Shawshank Redemption with some Count of Monte Cristo and some of Dostoevsky's House of the Dead thrown in. The anime would humanize these delinquents and get us to empathize with them while showing the horrors of the prison system and touch on many dark and uncomfortable themes. This anime takes itself VERY seriously, so I thought I would get a very mature, adult series. What I actually got: Immediately, the anime throws away the chance to make a bold decision and humanize people who have done horrible things. All 7 of the delinquents are purely good and innocent, but were sentenced to Juvie Hell for outragous reasons. One kid just defended himself and beat up a guy that tried to rape him. One kid stole food because he was living on the street after his entire family died in the atomic bombings. This anime takes place in the 1950s BTW. There is even a kid who got sent here because he blamed himself for his drunken father comitting suicide by throwing himself in a river. That's right, the police arrested a child for blaming himself for his father's suicide and then an appointed judge sentenced that child to the worst prison in Japan! The anime goes SOOO far to show these kids are innocent and don't deserve what's happening to them that it becomes ridiculous. A mature work wouldn't need to do this. It would realize that people aren't just pure good or pure evil, so it's ok to humanize people that are less innocent than Jesus Christ! Let's look at the 1800s prison drama "House of the Dead" that I mentioned above. The main character is this guy named Goryanchikov who was sent to prison for murdering his wife. At least that’s what you’re led to believe at the beginning. So of course the reader starts out disliking him. The book gradually humanizes him and makes us feel for him. In fact, all the prisoners including the child murderer are humanized because humans shouldn’t deal out that level of Hellish punishment on our fellow Man. Rather than rehabilitate the criminals it debases and dehumanizes the guards. Meanwhile, the portrayal of the villains is equally silly. Not only are these guys PURE evil, but they're drawn with super exaggerated features so they look like fucking demons. They also can't go a single scene without evil laughing like Disney villains. Is this series really meant for mature audiences? If I wanted to watch purely innocent prisoners against pure evil prison wardens I'd put on my copy of "Riki Oh: The Story of Ricky". Everything about Rainbow feels like a shonen that was made for 12 year olds. However, if it was made for children it probably shouldn't have so much graphic anal rape and brutal violence. Rainbow has a bad case of Elfen Lied Syndrome where it has no clue what it wants to be. Although comparing Rainbow to Elfen Lied is unfair in my opinion, because I actually feel Elfen Lied is superior as an anime adaptation. At least with EL it's clear what happened. You had this highly ambitious director who wanted to improve a shitty manga and had only 13 episodes to do it. All the tonal whiplash and elements that don't seem to go together make sense when you consider this. With Rainbow you had a very talented director, an award winning manga, and 26 episodes with a massive budget and Studio Madhouse. What the HELL went wrong here?! How could they fuck up this bad?! I can only guess there were some massive communication issues between the mangaka, the director, and the producer. I don't believe for a second that Hiroshi Kojina was aware he was supposed to be making a seinen and not a shonen series. Positives: The animation is great and I love the character designs for the 7 heroes. The anime had the ambition to tackle serious topics like pedophilia, rape, poor treatment of the homeless, and prison violence while never undermining these things with bad humor or misplaced echii scenes. This anime had the potential to be truly great. It's also a series that is very easy to binge and no matter how many awful things happen, you stilll want to keep watching. The soundtrack is also pretty solid. Overall: While I'm baffled as to how this anime ended up rated so highly, I can say this anime was still worth watching. It kept me entertained for 26 episodes and it was certainly an interesting series albeit very frustrating at times. This anime was massively hyped in 2010, but since then has quickly fallen into obscurity with only its hilariously inflated MAL rating as its legacy. If you have the time to spare, I would dig this one back up and give it a watch. At least watch for a few episodes and get a feel for what it's like.
jzathejenius
Rainbow really is an anime of two halves. There is a tonal shift that happens about halfway through that completely changes the feel and the quality of the story. This is not a good thing in my opinion. Lets look at each half and assess its quality. The story starts out in post-war Japan with a bunch of young delinquents being stuck in the same jail cell of a reformatory for young men. This half of the anime concentrates solely on the boys being subjected to some absolutely horrific treatment by the warden and one particular guard, whilst looking for an opportunity to escape. Now fairwarning, this portion of the story is REALLY DARK. Holy shit, it might be some of the darkest, most effed up stuff Ive ever seen in an anime!!! Without going into detail, it involves regular beatings, child rape, torture, and eventually straight up attempted murder. And the villains are portrayed in the most mindlessly evil way possible: by this i mean the way they're animated as snarling drooling demons basically, with no actual motivation for their actions other than "these guys are are just pure evil". In fact the vast majority of adults in Rainbow are portrayed as evil....so while some elements of the story feel faithful to the place and time, the portrayal of people is very cartoony, with little motivation for their actions. Basically, the young guys are good, the bad guys are pure evil. What im trying to get across is that Rainbow is not a subtle anime at all. Nevertheless, the first half is powerful, as we see these boy's friendship strengthen through their shared adversity. It feels a lot like "Shawshank Redemption" in this regard. Now, without spoiling it too much, eventually the boys leave the reformatory and try to make their way in the real world. This is basically the storyline for the entire second half of the series. This is where Rainbow falls flat in my opinion. The tone of the series changes drastically, with a lot more light hearted feel. Dont worry, there's still lots of beatings, just less paedophiles and kiddy rape. The leader of the boys ***SPOILER*** gets killed (in an absolutely ridiculous way it must be said), and this prompts each of the boys to decide what they want to do with their future. Now this sounds ok on paper, but the execution is so over the top dramatic and unrealistic it really makes your eyes roll. To give an example, one of the boys wants to become a singer. Fair enough, nothing wrong with that. However, the band he is apprenticing for decide for some reason that because he wants to become a singer he is their competition and that they must teach him a lesson by beating the crap out of him, threatening to pour mercury down his throat, and eventually trying to murder him. For absolutely NO REASON. Its contrived drama that just would never happen in real life. This is the over the top ridiculous cartoony tone of the series second half,and i feel it really suffers from this inept writing. The animation is generally and consistently really nice, to its credit it rarely looks low budget. Sound is also pretty good, and its got a killer opening theme song by Coldrain (reminiscent of Hunter x Hunter's epic metalcore opening). Those that applaud Rainbow as masterpiece are simply way off the mark. It explores some dark, horrific themes, that do reflect the hard times of post war Japan. But instead of a realistic portrayal, they went for over the top drama and torture porn. Basically its content is meant to shock, not to make a thought provoking point.
cubelet
By halfway through, I originally decided to go ahead and mark this one "dropped," but honestly dropping a show like that drives me nuts regardless so I decided to go ahead and finish it. My biggest problem was that the characters and story were all pretty shallow, and seemed to count on some of its shock value type moments to grab the viewer emotionally rather than really building up an emotional attachment. It just felt like "oh, some stuff's happening to some guys," basically. It does improve eventually though, enough that I suppose I don't mind having finished it after all. I think for the story,there was just too much they tried to pack in to show everybody's individual story. There just wasn't any time to get attached to what was happening. The art and sound were both good, but not really so much so that I feel there's much else to say about them. Characters- they just perpetually felt like they were almost good, almost sincere, almost engaging. There were a few scattered moments where I started to think maybe they were finally flushing out better, but it just didn't happen. I enjoyed a few bits of it, but it definitely wasn't something that I was sad to see end.
CoolCat0615
Friendship is an extremely common theme in anime (in any medium for that matter) but rarely is it portrayed in hell. Set in a crippled 1950's Japan, Rainbow thrusts its seven protagonists into a juvenile refinement center, which is essentially a youth prison filled with guards who are out for blood. They give each other nicknames, befriend each other over a smoke, and carve their dreams on a tree for when they're finally free, and agree to meet there once again in the future. It is a very gripping story and throughout the series you as the audience will be kept on your seat almostconstantly. The atmosphere is always extremely tense, and this is in-part due to the brilliant presentation. There are a lot of sombre guitar-based musical pieces, which are not anything particularly memorable on their own, but blend in with the material very nicely. The opening and ending are phenomenal scores though, the opening highlighting the brutal conditions in tone and lyrics and the ending contrasting it with a cold, melancholic feel. Both songs have phenomenal vocals as well. Not only is the animation fluent, but Rainbow also has a great usage of framing and angling. The show even utilizes bright, high-detail still frames without feeling cheap due to how infrequent they appear and how well they contrast and compliment the usual artwork of the show. During the first half of the show, the colour palette is mostly grey, which really brings out the dreariness of the setting. Couple this with the vivid redness of the blood and you yourself have a very grim experience. The boys are almost always in peril, and face very harsh consequences for their actions, some of which last a lifetime. This brutal reality only makes the catharsis that much more satisfying when the boys do succeed, creating a very exhilarating watch. But as ruthless the show is, it lacks all subtlety. Along with most of the show's antagonists, Ishihara, the guard in charge of our cast's cell, is drawn very grotesquely to accentuate his sadism, and looks very unrealistic compared to the grittiness of the other characters. This is pretty unnecessary considering the extent of Ishihara's character is his sadism alone. Even the other antagonists, such as the pedophilic doctor Sasaki, are all very one-dimensional, and merely serve as villains for the sake of being villains. The protagonists are not that complex either. The seven boys all have a few traits to make them stand out, and while they develop nicely throughout the show, they don’t have that much to them. Soldier and Cabbage are completely expendable and exist solely to have muscle and comic relief respectively. Sakuragi, the eldest, is a very stoic man, but cares for his friends deeply, and while this makes him likable, it doesn't make him all that memorable. Rainbow is somewhat imbalanced in the way that it treats its characters. During the first half, most of the cast is given sob-story back-stories to make the audience care about them rather than actually developing them and their relationship. In this case, said victimization works, but it is still a cheap tactic. The back-stories can be quite melodramatic, but given the setting, and the fact that many criminals have childhood trauma, they rarely feel implausible, or as some may say, edgy. I really wish that the characters had been fleshed out more in the beginning as it would’ve made the audience’s care for them that much more genuine. It is only during the second half, which takes place outside the prison, in which character dynamics are fully explored. The show handles this switch from thriller to slice of life very well, which is quite difficult to pull off. Albeit without some of the intensity, the characters’ interpersonal problems are just as entertaining as the threats to their life in part one. Turtle and Uncovered are probably the best characters of the bunch. Turtle's charisma and sly, con-man nature always steals the spotlight, while Uncovered is a flawed but good-natured man which makes him very easy to relate to. Joe's dreams of becoming a singer are handled in a realistic manner as well, as he faces many bumps in the road, and his story proves that becoming a superstar is certainly no easy task. But no matter how tough it gets, Joe presses on, which displays a lot of growth in his character. In fact, all of the characters mature quite believable and subtly, which is something the show deserves a lot of credit for. This passage of time is most evident in Mario. He begins as an irrational boy, and idolizes Sakuragi to the point of taking up boxing, something Sakuragi loves. Eventually he develops a strong relationship with Setsuko, which forces him to grow and become his own man rather than just mirror Sakuragi. All of these elements come together and create a very entertaining and down-to-earth story, although there are many small narrative inconsistencies littered throughout the show. For example, there is a scene in which one character is walking around in an atomic bomb site moments after it was detonated, when he should clearly have died due to radiation poisoning. Or another time when the cast managed to track down a woman across the country none of them knew the whereabouts to (or had any prior connections to) within a matter of days. This is the 1950's; such a task would be near impossible in such a short amount of time. Alone, these issues are fairly minor, but compounded they become very damaging to the immersion of the series. My biggest complaint is an extremely irrational and stupid decision made by Sakuragi around the halfway point. His blatant ignorance regarding almost all of the characters in the show almost cost his friends in prison their lives, if not for a convenience in the plot. But at the end of the day, none of these gripes destroy the experience completely, and the show still feels grounded enough to display its themes cohesively; and the main theme of Rainbow is friendship. While I wish the show would have spent more time developing their friendship throughout the earlier sections of the show, (as they go from strangers to eternal companions in just two episodes) Rainbow nails its thematic execution regarding the importance of camaraderie. The way the characters act so genuinely selfless towards one another is truly inspiring, and while the dialogue can sometimes feel unnatural or ham-fisted, the cast's actions speak far louder than their words. Everyone really needs each other to survive, inside the prison or out, and Rainbow displays this while still firmly grounded in reality. The cast is a mixed bag and the narrative can be very inconsistent but the brisk pacing and tense atmosphere keep excitement high while the subtext is powerful enough to linger in one’s mind for months. Rainbow isn’t something revolutionary, but it is a unique experience, so I can recommend it as something to be backlogged, and not necessarily watched right away.
mkzxwing
*This review WILL contain spoilers Since the anime has such a high score and a crazy amount of 10/10 reviews (what aggravates me, because its far from perfect), i will write a review, pointing all of the problems i found with it. This anime was very hard to watch and relate to at a lot of points. No, not because of how sad and harsh it is, but because as an anime that takes itself seriously its too inconsistent and illogical. Now don't get me wrong, this anime has a lot of strong points, but they still can't fully cover for all the flaws. Illstart from the very beginning, and state every problem i personally spotted and can remember (by chronological order). An-chan "kills" his father. Its also said he committed suicide. So how exactly did An-chan get to the reformatory? Did he turn himself in to the police saying he is the one who did it? If so, did no one bother checking? Because his father didn't have a grudge against him, and logically would commit suicide in a way that can't be connected to his son (to avoid giving him more trouble)... What follows is the suicide incident (in the reformatory). An-chan didn't seem to be a stupid guy. He only had a few months left, so he could just quietly get out and bring both the bad guys to justice. Instead he decided to tell Ishihara that he knows. WHY? No logical explanation is provided, and none is even possible. Next up is "Turtle". I'm not sure about the circumstances of the post nuclear bombing aid that was given (or not given) in japan, but shouldn't he have been placed in some sort of hospital and/or trauma rehabilitation facility, and if he ran off and was judged, wouldn't he at least get a more considerate verdict based on his personal file? Moving on. When the boys come to the reformatory, they seem to be already familiar with each other, how, and when did that happen, and why is it not mentioned? Also why did An-chan decide to beat them all up when they got there? Because it was completely unnecessary, and frankly out of character for him to do so, the only reason for this event i can think of is to speed up their bonding instead of showing it develop overtime (though frankly i doubt that one as well, because usually no one would bond with someone that beat them up faster that if he wouldn't)... The boys in the reformatory also seem to have the ability to go the the library as they please, yet never use it except for one time... What's the point of sitting in a prison cell then if they can always or at least sometimes be in the library?! Side characters. They just seem to be there for decoration, as if no one else even exists. When Joe runs away and gets caught, he clearly states that the woman who took him in raped him in front of two guards, and she replies in a hostile way and even hits him and draws blood. The two guards seem shocked, but this does not lead anywhere. When the fire starts at the reformatory, no one seems interested to investigate why and how it started, and why 7 people where almost burned alive. Why does it seem no one else supervises the reformatory aside the doctor? In episode 2 the director is shown, but later he's never mentioned. The doctor also seems to have too much power (able to fire guards and he's completely unsupervised). Why does that stay true after 2 lethal accidents and a fire that almost killed 7 people? Normally those events would definitely earn the attention of investigators and the director. After the fire, An-chan decides to come out of the infirmary early, again, for no apparent reason. He is put in with a few angry cell mates who where instructed to beat him to death overtime. He endures it. But after his friend gets hurt while trying to persuade them to take it out on him instead, he beats them all up at once, and threatens them so they won't blame him and the problem gets solved. The question arises - why the heck didn't he do that in the first place? When An-chan is made to starve, a good guard appears. Instead of talking to other guards and maybe filing a report, he goes against the doc and Ishihara, eventually getting killed (again, with no consequences, because its apparently easier to kill a guard than a prisoner. Another point - this man, who pretty much lost his life while trying to help the protagonists, got completely forgotten, and the boys didn't even once visit his grave). And finally, the escape. Everything would be ok about it if you have a very short memory, BUT, if you do remember back a little, an important detail gets left out (for the plot convenience, as usual). When Joe escaped, the director said that the police will be involved if he's not back in 48 hours. This time nothing like that was mentioned. So, was that not important in the first place? Or if it was, then the police surely got involved this time, so why was it not shown, and why was it fruitless? An-chan's death. It was ridiculous. There was so many problems with this event alone that its almost comical. First off - Ishihara shot the gun. He shot it a few times, NEAR A MILITARY BASE. Now i don't know what anyone thinks, but let me assure you, if something like that really happened, the guards would come running. Yet no one came (until later, when it serves the wanted plot... in reality - just in time to be court martialed for not doing their job), not after the shooting, and not after the motorcycle accident. An-chan didn't knock him out for some reason as well (though if you'd consider his character he WOULD do that much before he got stabbed). Now explain to me, if going back to see the boxing match was so important, why did he remember it just when it was convenient? Why not just knock out Ishihara? Why not knock him out after giving him the letter and he still came at him? And why remember to go back only when he's about to get killed, taking the knife out and walking menacingly towards armed men? I mean he above all else should have known that getting killed is the worst possible thing he can do to his friends... And what about the cops who decided to side with An-chan at the very end? What happened to the investigation of why he got killed? All the leads where there - Ishihara's finger prints on the gun, the man who called them and said he had the gun, and then lied to them and told them to shoot the wrong guy? Why was Ishihara not interrogated and put in prison/ mental facility? How did the doctor not get arrested over that, how did he leave the reformatory, and how on the earth some time later, he, being a DOCTOR tried running for a mayor? Later we have the "revenge". It was pretty good, BUT... Logically, it would be a pretty big scoop, leading to a major investigation. This would mean that Mario (and Turtle) would no longer have to be a fugitive if he simply turned himself in, and aided the investigation, explaining his circumstances. But he doesn't, because it seems logic and this anime are on a different wavelength. And finally we get to the last parts - the protagonist's arcs. First off - Mario. This is just a load of bull. A man in the bar where he is an assistant at, doesn't pay for the drink and assaults the owner, while breaking property. Mario then lets him hit himself twice before beating him up. Now what do we have here? 3 witnesses that saw the barman being assaulted, followed by Mario, who then applied self defense. 3 against 1! And he probably had a past of doing so in other bars too! Logically, he would be too afraid to even file a complain, because he's clearly at fault and there where 3 witnesses. Instead, the bar owner fires him because "he dislikes this sort of thing" (though the barman clearly likes him, and logically would help file a complaint), and Mario and Joe just keep quiet about it. The stupidity in this one is overwhelming. Instead, Soldier gets hurt trying to get the guy at fault to sign a document saying Mario is not at fault (instead of getting the asshole in jail and revoking his complaint that way)... All for nothing, because the judge is a moron, an aggressive one on top of it. Normally, the scoop from the doctor's arrest would be pretty much enough to explain everything, yet it seems they forgot that thing exists. Instead, Baremoto turns out to be a son of the judge's friend, and they get the girl to testify she was raped and that was the reason Mario got into the reformatory in the first place, so Mario leaves happily (despite all the stuff the judge told him, and even hit him) Next up is Joe. The logic fail is rather immense in this one, so i will explain it in depth. The problem here is when Joe is late to his concert, after almost getting killed, along with the woman who sponsored him in exchange for having sex with her. She is not portrayed as too bad of a character up to now, except making Joe lay with her to fulfill his dream. Yet after she fails to protect him, nearly gets him and herself killed and saved by his friends, instead of being shocked, or explaining Joe that its over for him (like you'd expect of her), suddenly, for no reason at all she starts to yell at him that he's a loser, its his fault for being late, and that he'll always stay scum... Just W T F . It was so frustrating to watch, not because i felt bad for Joe (at this pint i lost all emotional involvement and was torn between laughing my ass off or getting mad trying to understand wtf just happened), but because it was so horribly illogical and retarded. Baremoto. At the fire incident, he learned to trust his friends, and that they are the most important thing in the world for him. At his arc though, he falls for a prostitute, and forgets it all without a single hesitation. This is BS. Not as BS though as Turtle's arc, who we got led to believe was seriously ill because of being near and in the blast zone of a nuke, but then, suddenly, its all ok, and we forget all about it. And this sums it up for the story problems, now for my other problems with this anime: No soldier arc! The anime could use an extra ending and opening. And finally, the characters are too immature and shounen like, while its supposed to be seinen. I also didn't expect there would be so much happy endings for everyone in it. Now don't get me wrong, Its not like i don't like happy endings.. But those look so forced, undeserved and unfitting. Not much gets resolved, after An-chan's death and revenge on their tormentors, the only problems are trivial stuff, arising from the boys being unable to deal with the real world. Yet they want to make it look like its just as dramatic and bad as everything else that happened before, and that feels as ridiculous as if a man who just literally escaped from hell itself with relative ease, suddenly broke down after being called a "poopy face" by a little kid. *Edit* : Oh, and how could i forget? There's an extremely annoying narration going on, always pointing out the obvious and taking up extra time, not to mention the voice of the narrator is in itself pretty bad, like one you'd get in an old, self dubbed video in the 90's So final verdict- the anime is not bad, but the story falls apart due to the infinite plot holes, inconsistency and logic fails, as well as the characters being unfit for the universe around them, and having pretty small issues in the second half compared to the first half of the show, leading to a fall in interest. Despite that 6 is usually a score i'd usually say is somewhat good, i would not really recommend this anime, as its major trait that is supposed to be the dark atmosphere and struggles of the protagonists is severely broken apart and comical if you have a long attention span and look at it critically.
Kazman
Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin. This anime goes into the dark theme of seven teenagers forced to suffer for their crimes in a detention facility just after the WWII. The story follows these seven teenagers in trying to survive the cruelty of the warden and the detention center in general. The story progression may be a bit slow at times but it surely delivers. Story: 8/10 The theme of the art is generally dark which makes perfect sense for what it is trying to portray. The animation is superb and the style is very suiting. Art: 9/10 The sound, even though nothing too unique or amazing, waspretty enjoyable to say the least. Most of the soundtracks were suited for the occasion and used very well. Sound: 8/10 In my opinion, the best part of this anime are the characters and character development. In terms of side-characters it may have been sub-par as side-characters weren't given too much attention and development. However, it more than made up for this fault by the development and illustration of the main characters, which there were seven of. As these characters are made to be real life like, you can relate to each one and would generally take a liking to most, if not all, of them. In terms of main characters, this anime does it especially well. Character: 9/10 In terms of enjoyment, Rainbow certainly succeeded to keep me entertained throughout the series. It manages well to play well with your emotions where you would find yourself smiling whenever something pleasant happens, angered or sorrowed whenever during a woeful moment and sitting on the edge of your seat for the most part. Enjoyment: 9/10 Do I recommend this anime? Yes, definitely a must-watch. Overall: 8.4/10
Akai_Shuichi
In the aftermath of the most devastating war in history, inside a reformatory, an unbreakable friendship is born between seven children. There probably aren't many anime that can depict a friendship between a group of men as good as Rainbow. This group of friends will try to survive to a very harsh environment, and their friendship will prove to be their biggest weapon. In the 50s, Japan was really in a very poor state because of World War II, and this anime makes it a goal to really show the viewers a bit of how things were back then; how much injustice was all over and howhuman rights were violated daily, specially in a place like a reformatory. It was a hard life, and many people suffered a lot. Our characters are challenged by many difficulties, which of course, included the relation between them sometimes, but everything will end up making their ties stronger. Prison is, obviously, not a friendly place, and many thing will happen in there to make our main characters act in extreme ways. This is an engaging series from the first moment. If you like it, you will probably get hooked immediately and until the end, making this a very enjoyable series. Music is also a very big element here, and it's played beautifully, from the opening to the ending, going through some great insert songs and a glorious BGM consisting in various tunes. You can expect great things when you have Masafumi Mima as sound director (Full Metal Alchemist, NANA, Shingeki no Kyojin, among many). If you like what we commonly refer to as GAR (very manly characters), you're coming to the right place, as many of our characters being great examples of it, specially Rokurouta Sakuragi, who is very well voiced by Rikiya Komaya (Kiritsugu in Fate/Zero, Kogoro from Detective Conan, Takamura from Hajime no Ippo), and is probably one of the finest examples of "GAR" you'll ever find. Animation is really good throughout the whole series, with Madhouse doing an extremely good job in pretty much every aspect of the anime. There are some cruel things shown, because, just like Madhouse makes it clear at the start of every episode, they really want to portray the atmosphere of that period. The anime is basically divided in two halves divided but a timeskip, with the first half being the clear superior one, but with the second one still being pretty solid. The first half is mainly about the life of this group inside the reformatory and about how they forge such a great bond. The second half is more about their life after the reformatory, and how that friendship proves to be something unbreakable. Biggest problem in this anime would be the antagonists, who are guys that are so evil, that they really aren't that believable as characters, even if their reasons were actually pretty common in places like that. They're there to be hated, and they make them very "hateable"... to a fault. This is an anime pretty hard to dislike, as it is pretty solid in every aspect, and maybe you can even get to learn a little bit about what is to be in a place that was devastated by war. Madhouse is already a studio full of great works, and Rainbow is among the very best of them.
HappyHarryHardOn
What exactly is friendship? Are your friends more important to you than your family? What are you willing to go through for a friend? Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin (for the rest of the review the anime will be referred to simply as Rainbow) focuses on friendship, as well as several other themes based around friendship, such as humanity, morality, violence, love, family etc. This is my review: Story - Rainbow is a tale about seven inmates in a special reform school who grow closer with the increased time they spend together. All seven of them are there for committing several crimes which shaped these verydifferent yet very similar individuals. From the opening moments of the first episode right through to the last scene of the last episode I was hooked. The show grabbed me and forced me to sit down and watch what happened next. Rainbow is brutal, mature, dark and at times depressing. But I was surprised at how light the show can get at certain points, from the funny banter between the seven inmates to the way they overcome obstacles by relying on each other and their bond. The tone shifts from time to time but Rainbow manages to keep the shifts fluid and smooth. For me, Rainbow had two highlights, and the story was definitely one of them. The writing was well done because the show didn't come off as melodramatic and managed to feel really inspirational at certain points and there were more twists than one would expect from a show like this. Characters - I mentioned that the show had two aspects that really stood out. The characters were the second aspect. These were really cool guys. They were bad ass but they were portrayed in such a sympathetic way that you would root for all of them, sort of like multi-layered anti-heroes. The story was really amazing but I really enjoyed seeing the guys react to the situations they found themselves in. Character driven stories always work when it's executed properly. Like I said their friendship is an intricate part of the story. It is tested time and time again. It's wonderful to see selfless friendship like the one showed here. If you have a best friend or an entire "entourage" that you'll take a bullet for you'll know what I'm talking about. Two characters took a back seat to the others sometimes but that didn't detract from how enjoyable Rainbow was. Sound - The voice acting was fantastic with each character sounding like they ought to. It is a lot more difficult to illustrate chemistry between animated characters than live-action characters but once again Rainbow manages to pull it off. There are a couple of bonuses available in the form of short clips with some the show's voice actors and I must say I really found new respect for seiyuus. The OP is probably not for everyone. A heavy metal track will turn some off but in my opinion it fitted well with the tone and atmosphere of the show. Listen to it and you'll know what to expect. The rest of the OST wasn't very bad and after listening to "A FAR OFF DISTANCE" I just had to get it on my phone. Art - Rainbow's art is really good. I'm not an artist so I don't know how to explain it in detail but it's not too shabby. The art is very realistic like seinen should be. There are no alterations to characters' facial expressions for Japanese slapstick and like the voice acting, the art of each inmate fits to their personality and who they are. Enjoyment - A part of me wishes that I didn't see Rainbow because after watching it, it'll be hard to find another series that will be able to top the standard Rainbow set. The story is brutal and violent, but also sincere and inspirational. The characters are extremely likeable and their relationship can get one emotional. Lump in throat emotional. The voice acting and soundtrack sound great and the art is beautiful. George Abe and Masumi Kakizaki really managed to create a distinctive style here. Rainbow is a fantastic character driven story chronicling the lives of seven inmates who became best friends. The show is not for the weak of heart but please give it a try, you'll be surprised how much you love it. 10/10 Who said anime was just for kids?
Kynov
The problem with ourselves right now is we usually too arrogant and easily judged anime just by seeing the cover. Without watching or see it, we can easily bashed and even judge the anime before even giving it a shot. Many covers in anime sometimes didnt really represent on whats gonna happen in the anime itself, Like Rainbow : Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin. STORY Whats in your mind after seeing the cover? I can easily guess that you're gonna think this anime is about in prison and full of action. Well, thats 30% right. But, thats not all. Taking place after World War II, The storyin this anime was about 7 prisoners that must struggle to live in prison and how they dealt with it and they follows their life together and how they move on afterwards. Quite attracting, if i could said after hearing the premise. The story itself brings the manly, GAR and friendship themes. In this anime you can find many tearful, and moments about the bonds within the prisoners but at the sametime its still GAR and manly. Confused? Well, it cant helped. Usually, GAR or manly themes is always about gore, action, blood, and any violences act like in Berserk. But in Rainbow, that stereotypes is banished. Manly and GAR that i said in this anime was more about melancholic manly themes. If you ever have "Manly tears were shed" then this anime have A LOT of scenes that will makes you saying that. Well,it cant be helped since in this anime they more into explicit scenes. This friendship theme in Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin is not like any friendship themes that shounen anime always brings which is always cliche and sometimes unlogical. In rainbow, its more darker and more realistic. Like sometimes they must betray their friends for their selfish goals and at the sametime, they must sacrifice themselves for someone who is called "friends". This anime successfully execute and represent about the friendship bonds between men. Sometimes, some anime crossess the line between friendship and bromance but in Rainbow, you dont need to afraid. This anime purely about friendship and how they help each other within them even helping to get a girl. Again, Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin will bring you a friendship and manly story that you wouldnt have imagined before. ART Madhouse, who didnt know this studio producer? known for BECK, Black Lagoon, Death Note, and many other famous anime. They continued make an awesome anime like this anime Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin, Madhouse never let you down in anything,They have their own standard like in the art. The art in this anime is more into realistic type which is really suitable with the story, The background is quite detailed like in the prison. Its so dark and they use plain color to present "depressing and how boring" that lives in prison. For me, Its quite close like the real prison that usually have a heavy atmosphere and not-so-comfortable place.and Rainbow is successfully make the viewers feels like in the real prison. SOUND Well, the OP in this anime was make this anime more epic. "We're not alone" singing by coldrain is really represent with this anime. This rock band who formed in Nagoya , is rarely make a song for anime. They (until now) just make song for 2 anime, Hajime no Ippo and Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin. But that doesnt mean this band have bad quality or like that, just hear the OP in Rainbow, the rock song is really suitable with anime that have manly themes and more the lyrics is seems have a connection in this anime like "There's a place in this world where hope and dream are not yet lost", Well, prison is a place where hope and dreams are lost. Summary, Not just hearable, and catchy the OP song in this anime have a meaningful lyric that connects with the anime itself which makes the song being more epic. For the seiyuu, you wouldnt find any famous seiyuus in nowdays like Hanazawa Kana or maybe Mamoru Miyano (Well, but you will find several seiyuu from old generations like Rikitya Koyama whose voiced Kogoro (Detective Conan)) and i predict you will guess the voice will be terrible and not really worthy, Well you're wrong guys. Again, dont judge anime by its covers, seiyuu, or anything else. This what shines the most. Every seiyuu is really suitable with the character which is their voiced. Non-famous seiyuus doesnt mean havent a quality, sometimes they can be a little diamond in amount of a lot famous seiyuu out there. CHARACTER The character is what make Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin shines the most. In this one, you will find 7 men which have their own uniqueness. At the first, they being portrayed in this anime as the criminals but as long as the story goes you will find this "criminals" have their own reason why they do commit crimes and not just that, within 26 episodes you will see many epic, tearful moments with them. Also you will see how each characters struggle for achieving their own dreams. In this anime, the 7 men have their own unique dreams, like Mario who wanted to be a boxer or Mansuka Matsuura who wanted to eat good food everytime and What makes this anime is more fascinating is the character development. From relationship to the personality, you will see many developments in here and that what makes this anime so appealing. CONCLUSION Sometimes i always wonder, why good anime like this have so few viewers than any sh*tful anime. Maybe because this anime doesnt have moe characters or ecchi scenes (maybe). But, for me seeing this masterpiece anime which just have a few viewers make me excited. Its like finding a hidden gem. Anyway, if you're looking for manly but at the sametime touchy, then this anime is really for you. You will get GAR feeling but at the sametime you will have heartwarming feeling.and one more thing, this anime have so many tearjerker scenes. So prepare some tissues.
Mordo_Rigs
What exactly is friendship? Are your friends more important to you than your family? What are you willing to go through for a friend? Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin (for the rest of the review the anime will be referred to simply as Rainbow) focuses on friendship, as well as several other themes based around friendship, such as humanity, morality, violence, love, family etc. This is my review: Story - Rainbow is a tale about seven inmates in a special reform school who grow closer with the increased time they spend together. All seven of them are there for committing several crimes which shaped these verydifferent yet very similar individuals. From the opening moments of the first episode right through to the last scene of the last episode I was hooked. The show grabbed me and forced me to sit down and watch what happened next. Rainbow is brutal, mature, dark and at times depressing. But I was surprised at how light the show can get at certain points, from the funny banter between the seven inmates to the way they overcome obstacles by relying on each other and their bond. The tone shifts from time to time but Rainbow manages to keep the shifts fluid and smooth. For me, Rainbow had two highlights, and the story was definitely one of them. The writing was well done because the show didn't come off as melodramatic and managed to feel really inspirational at certain points and there were more twists than one would expect from a show like this. Characters - I mentioned that the show had two aspects that really stood out. The characters were the second aspect. These were really cool guys. They were bad ass but they were portrayed in such a sympathetic way that you would root for all of them, sort of like multi-layered anti-heroes. The story was really amazing but I really enjoyed seeing the guys react to the situations they found themselves in. Character driven stories always work when it's executed properly. Like I said their friendship is an intricate part of the story. It is tested time and time again. It's wonderful to see selfless friendship like the one showed here. If you have a best friend or an entire "entourage" that you'll take a bullet for you'll know what I'm talking about. Two characters took a back seat to the others sometimes but that didn't detract from how enjoyable Rainbow was. Sound - The voice acting was fantastic with each character sounding like they ought to. It is a lot more difficult to illustrate chemistry between animated characters than live-action characters but once again Rainbow manages to pull it off. There are a couple of bonuses available in the form of short clips with some the show's shows voice actors and I must say I really found new respect for seiyuus. The OP is probably not for everyone. A heavy metal track will turn some off but in my opinion it fitted well with the tone and atmosphere of the show. Listen to it and you'll know what to expect. The rest of the OST wasn't very bad and after listening to "A FAR OFF DISTANCE" I just had to get it on my phone. Art - Rainbow's art is really good. I'm not an artist so I don't know how to explain it in detail but it's not too shabby. The art is very realistic like seinen should be. There are no alterations to characters' facial expressions for Japanese slapstick and like the voice acting, the art of each inmate fits to their personality and who they are. Enjoyment - A part of me wishes that I didn't see Rainbow because after watching it, it'll be hard to find another series that will be able to top the standard Rainbow set. The story is brutal and violent, but also sincere and inspirational. The characters are extremely likeable and their relationship can get one emotional. Lump in throat emotional. The voice acting and soundtrack sound great and the art is beautiful. George Abe and Masumi Kakizaki really managed to create a distinctive style here. Rainbow is a fantastic character driven story chronicling the lives of seven inmates who became best friends. The show is not for the weak of heart but please give it a try, you'll be surprised how much you love it. 10/10 Who said anime was just for kids?
Radeon
Rainbow : Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin - after watching episodes of this anime, one word kept coming to my mind. "Beautiful". This anime shows how beautiful friendship can be. Acts of selflessness, sacrificing oneself to help another, returning to that one special place - It's all present in Rainbow. It's a good mix of emotion, struggle and drama. Rainbow is one superb anime, regrettably, it's buried deep within the other numerous popular titles out there and I'm glad I found it(more like stumbled upon). Story? Rainbow focuses on seven teenagers who are found guilty of committing crimes and are sent to a Disciplinary school/Reformatory. In reality,it was Hellhole for them because they received very harsh treatment by some of the authorities to the point where they got thrashed by a group of hired thugs and received a lot of unnecessary punishment, though not all of the main characters suffered the same exact punishment. The story takes place in 1955, a decade after the end of the Second World War. During that time, Japan in it's state, still rebuilding its cities after the war and corruption is common. Speaking of plot, it can be rather predictable sometimes. Characters' "motives" are predictable as ever too. What's very common in anime are that you can tell who's evil and who's not; Especially, when one of those anime characters who always had their eyes shut, suddenly they open their eyes and with a wide silly grin across their face obviously tells you that they are up to no good. It often shows that their intentions are usually bad too. But even with that, with lots of edge-of-seat action scenes, plenty of sorrowful moments, plot twists and memorable acts of friendship - Rainbow's overall storyline is top notch. Character? Rainbow have a nice cast of main characters each with an interesting backstory. The seven protagonists of cell six each have their own unique personalities. Also, Character development is good. For example, Mario Minakami. In the start, He was weak and sometimes talks big but with help in the later episodes, he becomes a badass. The MCs are initially hostile towards each other but soon after they start helping out they quickly become friends. My favourite character in the series is Sakuragi Rokurouta: a young man with a boxing talent. He's also the oldest, strongest and acts as the leader out of the seven. With all that, Sakuragi Rokurouta is a man worth respecting. Sound? The Opening theme is extremely good because I like these kind of songs: the Rock/Metal genre. Opening theme "We're not alone", sung in English by Japanese Band Coldrain was epic. Not only that the opening theme was awesome, but its also very fitting for the anime. The ending theme, wasn't entirely great, still I don't think its too bad. Also, whenever one of the protagonists gets serious, a distinct background music kicks in. Voice acting was brilliant but I find the English voice overs of the American characters sound a little weird. Art/Visuals? The overall visuals passable. I think the dark/gloomy art style and colors really does suit the anime. However, Viewers who constantly had been watching anime with bright visuals might find Rainbow's visuals repulsive. Amusingly, all the evil characters in the series look so hideous. Characters' hair colours are natural; colours that naturally exist in real life: black, dark brown, blonde, etc. No, I don't hate the colorful hair that exist in anime, but the natural hair colors gives a more realistic feel. Conclusion? Rainbow is an anime with an inspiring story and have many likeable characters. However, some people may find Rainbow's art style unappealing, but even you don't like that, you should at least give it a try. But for fans of thriller/Drama or anyone looking for a good anime of its genre, it's a must watch.
Stark700
"Most people are prisoners, thinking only about the future or living in the past. They are not in the present, and the present is where everything begins." - Carlos Santana. Dealing with the past is not easy especially when you commit something terrible. Say, a crime. Then, you think about the future but that little hope is so far away because where you are now is somewhere that you never want to be: prison. Trapped like a caged bird and nowhere to go, nowhere to run, your future is about to go down the drain faster than the rain pouring outside. This is what happens whenyou commit a crime. This is what happens when you disobey the law. This is what happens in Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin. Well, I finished the series Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin over a rainy weekend. It's funny too since Coldrain also sings the OP song and this story is anything but hot. It is cold. It is thrilling. It is emotional and it throws drama right into your face with a boxing punch. I have to say that this is one of the most underrated series I've seen in awhile. From the first episode, I was intrigued by possibly just the first 10 minutes. Now, I'm a bit fan of prison like theme and at first, it felt like watching Deadman Wonderland which I did enjoy also. Long thought cut short, this series creates a touching story, a story of emotional drama and psychological thriller. This series pushes violence in the RIGHT way unlike some series that has just presents unnecessary gore every 5 minutes. This anime did not make that mistake, at least from my point of view. The first half of the series presented involves the prison style and what it is like to feel the guilt after committing a crime. It makes you feel the realism and the severe consequences of committing a bad deed. And of course in prison, there are prisoners and wardens. Unfortunately for our protagonists, they are not on good terms with a few particular characters namely Ishihara. He is one of the most sadistic characters in the series and I think most people (including myself) would probably want to beat him half to death after watching the first half. But not all is gloom and doom because there are also characters that sparks light into that cave of darkness. That light would definitely be Sakuragi for his way of protecting the others after an emotional drama that left him scars. He is very driven to protecting what he believes is right and those are his friends. He can be pushed to his own physical limit by Ishihara but when faced with seeing his precious friends suffering, his rage reaches a boiling point where he disregards his own safety. Now, I found that to be truly inspiring. The other characters of the series are also quite interesting ranging their past and history involving the dark mood of the story. Such an example would be Mario. He is also noticeable in the series as one of the main characters. At first, he gets into an intense fight with Sakurgai but later on views him as a close brother figure and inspires to be like him. His character development in seen as one of the major points of the series and after watching him develop was quite an interesting turn throughout the progressing episodes. As for the animation, I loved the execution as well as its performance and thought this series lived up to its expectations. Not that it's any surprising anyways since one of my studios, Madhouse is involved. The art is performed spectacular and darkens the mood of the story. Throughout the episodes, there are manga like sketches that conveys the mood the story and through the narrator dialogue covers the background. It captures the sense and style and I really enjoyed its unique performance. Additionally, there are scars that portrays not only the physical but mental manifestations that drove some characters to become what they are. The OP song of this series is also quite catchy even though I'm not familiar with the band. I tend to skip a lot of OP songs but didn't let a go pass on this one. Why would I anyways when it's so damn catchy? Good job Coldrain, kudos to you. Overall, my enjoyment of this series was decent and did not feel like a waste of time. There were hardly any cliches I've found and the driven characters' development of the story from hopelessness to a better future makes me want to learn about them more and more. This series is not an anime that should be dropped from the first few episodes (as I'm sure some people have). Instead, concentrate on the dark setting of the story and its driven characters. Concentrate on the realism and the reality of being sent to prison after committing a bad deed. Why? Because crime is real and the consequences are there. That little hope is still there though because after a long pouring weekend, a rainbow does shine into the sky. That rainbow represents hope, a hope for a better future. Have hope in yourself and concentrate instead on the present. Like the song by Coldrain and lyrics says: We are not alone.
mahoganycow
"No matter how tired you are, or how much punishment you take, look into his eyes. Never look down." When I read the description for Rainbow, I knew I'd have to watch it. A story of a circle of friends being forged under the anvil of the Japanese disciplinary school system...sounds like an awesome “for men” type story, right? Well, as I quickly found out, Rainbow bites off way more than it can chew, and in the end its execution does not keep up with its ambitious ideas. It is still a fairly engrossing and entertaining series, but “The Shawshank Redemption” this ain't. Rainbow begins with sixteenage criminals being taken by bus to a reform school. We're informed that the year is 1955. I guess in Japan in 1955 “reform school” basically meant “maximum security prison for kids,” because this place has the works—armed guards, high walls, and lots of cells. A guard leads the six boys to their holding cell, and it's there that the six newcomers meet Rokurouta Sakuragi, an ex-boxer and two year veteran of the reform school. Sakuragi earns the respect of the boys by easily beating all of them in a six-on-one fight. When a sadistic guard enters the cell and offers to let the boys beat Sakuragi with a wooden club as punishment, they gain Sakuragi's respect by steadfastly refusing the demands of the guard. Afterward, Sakuragi takes the six boys under his wing, teaching them the ropes of survival in the harsh world of the reform school. We later learn that the aforementioned guard has an obsessive vendetta against Sakuragi, and the boys engage in a dangerous game of cat and mouse against this guard and the prison's administrators, with Sakuragi protecting the boys and the boys protecting Sakuragi. Whew. That's one heck of a plot, and it does have a certain crazed momentum and intensity to it. It's the kind of show where, at the end of an episode, you'll want to immediately watch the next one, and that's a feat in and of itself. However, there are sacrifices made to maintain this rapid pacing. The show really skips a lot of development that would have been necessary to fully flesh out the cast of characters. For example, between the first and second episodes, we're informed that a month has passed, and that the boys have become good friends in this time. I would have rather seen them become friends than simply be told that they've become friends; you really have to suspend your sense of disbelief to honestly feel like anyone could develop live-saving bonds of friendship in the period of time allotted in this series. The show makes this tradeoff of character development for plot speed on several occasions, and the end result is that, while I thought this was going to be a dark and mature prison drama about friendship under the worst of circumstances, it sort of ends up being a prison thriller where friendship is just a convenient device used to explain the plot's direction (Q: “Why did this event happen?” A: “FRIENDSHIP, MAN”). Speaking of explaining plot direction, there is one aspect of this show that annoyed me more than any other: The narrator. This show has a female narrator (who you might recognize as the voice of Rei from Evangelion) who occasionally interjects to make inane and obvious observations about what's going on. The end result is similar to watching an action movie with your stupid friend who likes to point out everything that happens. For example, let's say there's a scene where the boys get brutally beaten by the guards. The show will then pause on a still frame of the boys dispirited faces, and the narrator will say something like “On that day, the boys were once again dispirited by the brutal beatings of the guards.” If that seems redundant to you, that's because it is. Narration of this type does not tell me anything that I could not have learned by watching, and really serves no purpose whatsoever. It's not even an issue of “show, don't tell.” It's an issue of “you already showed me this, you do not need to tell me it too.” Three episodes into the series, I was tired of hearing the narrator talk, and every time she does, the show falters just a little bit more. Rainbow's animation is a product of Madhouse, so you pretty much know it's going to look good. Every character design is unique in its own right, and while it's tough to make a world of gray appealing, they pull it off. Sequences of action (fistfights being the most common example) are smoothly and lovingly animated. Can't say much about this other than that it's a job well done, although one thing that I really must comment on is the occasional absurdity of the art and animation during scenes of emotion. I wish I could insert a screenshot of one of the characters crying to accompany this comment; it literally looks like characters spew thick, viscous tears from every bodily orifice. Rainbow's soundtrack is unusually mixed, and strangely appropriate. There are upbeat rock/jazz numbers for the many moments of inspirational bro-love, atmospheric pieces for dark scenes of prison violence, and the obligatory sad orchestral songs for those would-be tearjerk moments. The show opens with a fast-paced metalcore song that I initially thought was ludicrously out of place, but eventually I warmed to it. It ends on a more tender note with a slower pop song. All in all, pretty well-chosen music. In the end, if you're looking for something that offers a mature take on serious issues, my personal opinion is that RAINBOW just isn't it. It's a fast-paced, plot-focused, action-heavy show that's been poorly disguised as a character-driven drama, and while the characters don't fall entirely flat, I'd say most of them are only a step or two above it. But it is a well-plotted series, and survives on suspense and visceral momentum that are uncommon today. In terms of sheer entertainment, Rainbow is a winner. Its failings are purely in the theme and character departments.
ajm
'Grasshoppers can fly, so can birds. Yet.....aren't we even allowed to dream' Growing up and living in an environment where a struggle is present every moment of your life can only take a toll on ones psyche. You have no friends and either have no family or, the family you have are troubled or distant from what they previously were. The only way to survive is by trusting no one but yourself as past experiences have dictated your innate perception of people. They are selfish and only get by; by looking out for themselves. Hate breeds hate, loneliness too does the same. This is theenvironment and setting of 'Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin 'or 'The Criminal Seven of Compound Two , Cell Six'. For me this series had everything an anime enthusiast could ask for; a gripping story, character development and the right mixture of genres encompassing the life and times of the cast. This series on completion left me wanting more but, also gave utmost satisfaction at where it finished. Like any good series it grabbed me within the first episode. For me beginning a new series at times can be daunting as a number of them take a while to get into. Rainbow on the other hand excelled at the opposite. I was hooked! I personally enjoy the opening and ending themes of a series as they begin and end your viewing of an episode/series. Both themes were amazing and portrayed the themes and symbols of the series. 'We're not alone' by Coldrain starts the episode; the lyrics of the song encompass what those of the cast should be realizing. That you are not alone in this world and by standing together anything is possible. The ending is 'A far off distance' by Galneryus which is a reflective and a guitar wrenching powerballad showing the struggle and promise the cast have in life. To keep me from rambling on i will be straight too the point with the remainder of the review. The story was heartfelt, a tear jerker but at times it could be said a little too over emotional. However, looking back and taking all factors into account this was needed to show the effect that ones values can have on their life. For me the biggest let down of this anime in which everything was a 10/10, was the story as I longed for more. 9/10 Sound and Art will classed under Animetography; which i believe was one of the best aspects of the series. The detail in the facial expressions of the characters and settings would have to be up there with the best of series. As a viewer it really gave me a feel of the life the cast lived. The use of still shots was also a key upside to this anime as it created a lasting impression something that at times would playback to you throughout the series. The music was fantastic encompassing mood perfectly and really setting the bar in terms of tempo and speed the anime progressed in. Overall both a 10/10 Koyama Rikiya lead the cast of the series and showed why in my eyes he is one of the best in the business. Possibly some of the best voice actors i have heard take part in this series and really encompass what are individual brings to the table. Yet again 10/10 Impression or enjoyment was also a 10/10. Like i said earlier the only let down was the anime actually ending. As anime watchers i implore you to watch this series as it is one of the best stories to have come out of Japan in recent years. A tale of friendship and a never give up lifestyle encompass the series. Without giving detail or providing spoilers to the series i hope this persuades you into watching and getting your friends to watch as well. One of the key things about this anime is the lack of awareness people have to it. 'We all wish to fly freely in the sky'
Shroukin
It is hard to write a review on a anime with so much within its 26 episodes... but here goes... The story is amazing, there is deep, momentous very well-paced plot that keeps you clicking on the next episode every time. There is an extraoridinary amount of development with it's plot and a sense of great brotherly love. The art, is amazing. Since Rainbow (the manga) was written a while ago, there is a look and feel about it characteristic to that era,however, the animators for this series have successfully reinvented it while keeping it true to both the manga and the times, giving it a freshfeel and keeping it remarkably consistent. The sound is amazing. The opening and closing themes really connect with the viewer and I believe 'wraps' the while feel of the anime. The characters are one of the great highligts of the anime. Here is where we find the wealth of character development and extraordinary eyeopeners where the journey taken by the main protagonists really lets us have connections and favourites. Really developing each characters individual traits and personalities that lend so much wealth to the show, rather than making another weird psycopathic seinen throwaway anime. I enjoyed the series, I think that is very apparent from the review and I recommend it to anyone at all, because in truth, this series is a truly heartwarming story of a friendship, love and the conquering of insurmountable odds. 10/10
8thSin
'RAINBOW - The Seven from Cell 2-6' is about seven teens who spent time in same cell of Shounan Disciplinary School after committing separate juvenile crimes in 1955. This series is one of the purest example of Japanese "Yankee" or "Furyou" (high school deliquent) Drama . Although prominent in Japanese films, this genre is extremely rare in recent anime series possibly due to lack of interest from typical otaku demographics and decline of furyou in Japan. As far as I know, 'Sakigake! Cromatie High School' being the only other one (and many other series in lesser extent, such as 'GTO' and 'Gokusen'). 'RAINBOW' is a hard-boiledfuryou drama in its purest form. Story/Character: 7.5/10 'RAINBOW' is a very character-driven series with at least two solid episodes dedicated to development of each cellmate. The story start out a bit too fast and forces viewers to accept convenient plot developments. Typical furyou drama of this type would take about a quarter of the story to introduce the gang and better half of the screen time to establish the bond between each member. In 'RAINBOW', however, all seven are gathered in the very first episode with light introduction by the narrator, and immediately form a strong bond. By ep4, they've become inseparable friends with absolute trust. Although such rapid formation of trust is hard to swallow, it allows larger portion of the story to challenges and hardships that awaits them. The first half is mainly about the seven's time spent in prison. As one would expect of a furyou drama, all the characters start as troublesome and selfish individuals until being united by a leader. That leader in this series is 'An-chan'. As a senior in the disciplinary school, he teaches his juniors true strength and importance of friendship as they overcome various hurdles and eventually "graduate" from the school and form new goals. Whereas most furyou drama end there, 'RAINBOW' continues on to the second half, tackling issues such delinquents will encounter in society beyond the protective environment of a school. They face corruption, discrimination, and exploitation by adults, but with the help of friends and hard work, they find new hopes. All the main characters have distinct personalities and dark pasts, but all of them are either falsely convicted or had good reasons to commit their crimes. The story once again forces us to accept such convenient premise for plot development and melodrama. The story in this series is very heavy and emotional draining, but at the same time, too convenient and ignores character motivations from time to time for the sake of drama. All characteristics of traditional drama in mid-1900s Japanese storytelling. Animation: 9/10 Every episode begins with an explicit warning. While this series is nowhere near graphic as some other anime series I've encountered, this warning is very appropriate since this series faithfully follows traditional seishun/furyou anime qualities other than the violence. As expected of Madhouse, artwork and character design successfully captures the gloomy and depressing atmosphere of the post-war Japan. Animation in general was nothing fancy, but consistent throughout the series and relatively pleasing to the eye. There was a lot of frozen manga sketch scenes to enhance drama. This is a signature technique in classic anime that worked very effectively in establishing retro atmosphere of this series. Visually, it lacked detail sometimes, but the atmosphere is great, and it's an excellent example of old style animation with modern improvements. Sound: 9/10 The seiyuu cast did a great job, pretty much everyone sounded like they should and none sounded annoying at all. What's significant about the cast was that it uses many major Japanese actors as voice actors. Oguri Shun, who starred as the protagonist in furyou film and manga adaptation 'Crows ZERO' plays Mario. Waki Tomohiro, who starred in many movies and TV drama as a fat delinquent student plays Cabbage. Also a major actress Kanjiya Shihori as Setsuko. The narration in this series by the veteran voice actress Hayashibara Megumi was absolutely phenomenal. Retro female narration voice in rough, delinquent talk further sets the atmosphere, and was a highlight of the series for me. BGM was sparingly used, but significantly added to drama and inspiration in crucial scenes. OP including the animation was amazing. I usually don't like foreign-language theme songs in Japanese shows, but it was fitting for the despair and toughness of the characters, and the opening animation in itself was exciting and had all the major qualities and symbolism of this series. ED, once again, is very retro Japan. Enjoyment: 9/10 'RAINBOW' is one of those serious anime that's becoming increasingly rare in recent years. Like all furyou drama, it focuses on friendship and trust among friends, but it doesn't shy away from the the toughness of real life. It's a classic drama that depicts cruelty, corruption, sorrow, and eventually hope in depressing post-WWII Japan. The story feel forced and melodramatic at times, but then again, that's pretty common classic Japanese storytelling. This is a series that really feels like you're watching a retro piece, but offer values that modern viewers can still relate to. As long as you allow yourself to connect with the characters, this will be a very enjoyable series. I feel this is the most neglected series of the season (ending Summer '10), and definitely a must-watch for serious anime viewers.
A2ZOMG
Rainbow starts off fine with an interesting concept (boys from post WWII) but this show could have been so much more if they really stuck to that principle. As stated early on, the author wanted to emphasize the coolness of his characters, and given that, it shows in how little this anime develops anything else. The art aside from some violent scenes is pretty average, and it's generally made obvious who the antagonists are from the art style alone. Given that, it reduces the amount of surprise and suspense that the show has. Minor points for the art successfully making me hate the villains and findthe good guys...cooler though. If that was the purpose, at least it was consistent about that. And of course the characters. Certainly...they are cool, all of them featuring somewhat blindly noble ideals taught by their beloved Anchan. Unfortunately character development isn't as strong as it should be. Even after a few years pass, all the characters in this show remain pretty much the same, and never really grow out of their flaws. However Mario's changes in becoming a carbon copy of Anchan basically flashes the word "cliche" in bright red bold letters. During the last half of the show, some time is spent to supposedly go into detail what the characters to to make a living, except for Soldier unfortunately, and the transition from character arc to character arc is very abrupt, assuming that you will understand what is going on from watching the introduction of all the characters. Each of these arcs unfortunately is plagued by use of the same cliche devices - a repetition of the story about how friendship wins everything - and I find that gets boring at a certain point. Rainbow looked interesting when it was first released, and don't get me wrong, I found it moderately entertaining. However I will be clear that this show is just average at best. It falls into too many cliche patterns and fails to actually go more in depth about its original draw to attention; this show should have done more work in portraying the problems of post WWII life. That I believe is the reason why most people including myself watched this show in the first place.
Nyron
After finishing episode 1 of this series, I took a deep breath. I was so engrossed that I had apparently forgotten to breathe while I was watching. After finishing episode 26, I finally exhaled. This series was a rush of nonstop emotion all the way throw and never faltered for a second. Everything I said here over a half a year ago holds completely true and I can't flaunt my glowing recommendation for this series enough. Rainbow is definitely one of the best things Japan has put out in a long time, and not in an ironic "Oh, Japan!" flashy comedy/campy/ridiculous way. It's a serious story. Soserious that the first episode starts off with a disclaimer about explicit content. Think about that for a second. In a medium like anime where there's blood, tits and who knows that else in so many shows, what are they warning you about? Real stuff, that's what. Rainbow is constantly presented as a brutal, depressing series where the violent content is required to present the story in a proper way. But don't be put off because it sounds too depressing or even boring(I don't know how anyone could think this, personally), because Rainbow is also a story of true bro-ship. Like Gungrave before it, Rainbow will be bleak. It will be depressing. But through all that, a heartwarming tale of friendship will shine. A tale that's under the perpetual threat of being crushed by the blackened circumstances around it, and that's what will keep you engrossed. The animation is terrific, as expected of Madhouse by this point. This includes the great still art that pops in during narrated scenes, as seen by the series' title art to the left. The whole episode, and most likely a good portion of the series was depicted with very few colors other than shades of grey and dark blue. Any bright things on screen are bright things in the eyes of the story, like the sunshine outside or the end of a lit cigarette shared between the beaten characters. This was a very fine touch and does nothing but add to the heavy atmosphere of the series. The audio and the animation work beautifully in tandem, with the music bringing scenes to life by boosting the dank atmosphere. The opening by Coldrain is especially great, bringing a badass touch to the show. Similarly, the voices are gruff and work very well with the rest of the presentation. The above was stated after watching episode 1, and now that the series is over I think it's time to address these issues. Firstly, Rainbow finished excellently. It did not, however, cover the entire 22 volumes of story and instead opted to stop around volume 12 or so. This is no reason to not watch the series, as the stopping point they chose was pretty tactfully chosen and very satisfying. When it comes to negatives, Rainbow suffered from two things at certain points: Pacing and over-emotion. Even if you haven't read the manga, there's a good chance you'll notice that certain parts, mostly in the second half, seem rushed or like they crammed too many chapters into an episode and that makes it seem like the story skips around a little too much. It's not a big deal at all and very rarely detracts from anything, but it's a factor you'll probably notice. One of the bigger factors that may not sit well with some is that the series can come off as a little too over-dramatized or sappy at points. Sometimes the manly guitar solos and power ballads work incredibly well and you'll be clenching your teeth with man tears streaming down your cheeks, and other times it doesn't work too well. That's something that'll vary a lot from person to person though. The final thing that bothered me was that one of the characters never gets an episode or arc devoted to him, which is pretty unsettling considering the other six boys got the spotlight multiple times. That was the main casualty of the long manga->short anime transition, so what can you do? In closing, Rainbow's definitely in the top 10, maybe even top 5 shows of the year 2010. Not watching it should be a crime.
Animanga