Marinate1016

7th Loop serves as a shining example of how to write a compelling villainess story, as well as having one of the best female protagonists I’ve ever seen. If you’re like me and a big otome fan, you’ll really enjoy this one as it excels at all the usual story beats, while managing to be a breath of fresh air for the genre too. Unequivocally one of the best shows of Winter 2024. So by now we’ve had the concept of an evil villainess getting another shot at life done multiple times to varying degrees of success. What makes 7th loop cool is that as thename suggests, the MC has lived thru 7 iterations of her life, which have all ends in tragedy. She’s able to draw upon the knowledge and skills of each of her previous lives and use them in the current one to try and prevent war. I really enjoyed seeing the depth of knowledge that Rishe has. It doesn’t feel forced or contrived like most fantasy MCs, she’s able to work through situations because she’s literally lived 6 other lives which have equipped her with the necessary skills. Rishe as a character is so well written. She really is the archetype I think more authors need to follow when writing women. She refuses to be put in a box and comply with anyone’s wishes but her own, she is determined to live life on her terms and is such a fierce soul. So often in these stories, women are swooning over guys or so caught up in stupid stuff that their own character gets lost. Not here. Rishe may have a prince as a fiance, but she’s not subservient to him or a typical maiden in love. She maintains her own interests, ambitions and identity. Speaking of that fiancée, the romance between Rishe and Arnold is of course one of my favourite things about the story. The idea of this strong and independent woman healing a broken young man and teaching him the error of his ways is awesome to me and I love how it was pulled off. While their relationship starts as one of political convenience, it morphs into something more authentic over time. But Arnold and Rishe are very much their own people with their own personalities. They are powerful individuals who refuse to bend to anyone, including the people they love and I found that to be a lot more realistic than your usual Shoujosei romance tropes where a character falls in love, now their whole personality is dependent on someone. The best relationships are those with two people who are complete on their own, but better together. That’s how I felt about Rishe and Arnold. Plot wise, I think this first season is really good. It’s a mix of political drama, the budding relationship between Rishe and Arnold and Rishe’s interactions with characters from her previous lives. It’s really cool seeing how some of the characters have changed since in this loop she hasn’t met them, and how some are still the exact same. There’s also an interesting plot line with Arnold’s motivations and his future ambitions that I had a lot of fun with. It’s certainly more substantive than your run of the mill villainess story. There’s no demon lord or multiple love interests in this one. It feels a lot more authentic and down to earth, and the story is better for it. Art wise, gorgeous show. Rishe and the other characters are all beautiful. As someone who owns the LN, I think the studio captured the beauty of the art very well. The animation isn’t crazy, but there’s some really nice moments like the dance scene from earlier in the season. Just a solid production. For me, I’d say it’s 7th Loop, Raeliana and Lastame as the best of this genre. All 3 have similarities with powerful women who refuse to be swayed by anyone, mature storylines that feel real, plots that don’t revolve purely around romance and nice supporting characters. I think that’s the secret to success with these stories and 7th loop certainly excels at it. 7th loop gets 9 loops out of 10.

KitsuneCat

Ok so, she is not a villainess and none of her lives are carefree. The anime starts off in a compelling way: we have a girl who has lived 6 lives and always worked really hard to do and see amazing things. So, in this new life she decides to take it easy. However, she soon finds herself with the ability to stop a future war that was the reason for her death in the lives prior. She would be able to do this by marrying a prince and "manipulating" him in a way that would prevent the war. The romance develops and the political aspectsof the show give it a nice different flavor. But there are many problems with this show. - Rishe, the mc, is extremely perfect in every way imaginable, which makes her boring halfway through the show. The love interest is not bad, still could be more charismatic instead the usual "i hate everyone but you" kind of character but whatever; - The romance develops quickly but not deeply at all, it´s just not convincing and there isn´t any progression regarding it from maybe episode 6 and on. It actually regresses. - Rishe is the only woman in the anime that does something, all the other female characters exist for her to save, fix or to make her look even more perfect. Most male characters have an important job and/or are experts in a subject and, of course, they are all fascinated with Rishe. In fact, all characters are just in awe of her. The same happens with plot lines that are there to show more of her qualities. Ultimately these side plots get resolved by Rishe in no time and barely affect the main story. - When it comes to animation quality and such, it is a pretty show, there isn´t really anything new (but i also dont feel there was a need for that) it has pretty characters, scenery and animation. The music doesn´t stand out but it fits the show. In conclusion: the show isn´t bad, it just feels generic and becomes boring a litle after the halfway point