REVIEW: ‘Scarlet Nexus,’ Episode 7 – “The Hunt for Nagi”

Scarlet Nexus is a sci-fi anime from Sunrise, based on the video game by Bandai Namco Entertainment. With many believing Kasane assassinated Chairman Sumeragi, her squad flees New Himuka for the city-state of Seiran. Meanwhile, Yuito’s brother asks him to take on a bigger role in the coming conflict in Scarlet Nexus Episode 7.

With the chaos of the last couple of episodes calming for a moment, this episode sees the various factions in the world begin to organize their strength in preparation for the coming battle between Suoh and Seiran. As one would expect, both Yuito and Kasane are placed in roles of importance for their respective sides. Being hailed as heroes, the two quickly become symbols for their respective forces to rally around.

While Scarlet Nexus Episode 7 gets the larger political situation settled, it spends most of its time focused on Yuito and his squad. Something seems to be happening to Yuito’s mind as he quickly finds gaps in his memory he cannot explain. When he is taken to the hospital at the behest of his squad, they stumble upon more than just what may be causing Yuito’s memory gaps.

The single biggest theme that permeates the events of this episode is mistrust. From Yuito’s inability to trust his own mind to the feelings of mistrust shared by numerous characters toward the faction they supposedly claim allegiance to, the lack of trust throughout the episode is constant and a bit unsettling.

Because of this theme of mistrust, the moments where Scarlet Nexus Episode 7  shines brightest are when the cast members get to show their genuine support for each other. These moments of honest, genuine sympathy and support feel like refuges amidst a storm. They serve to highlight that even when larger situations are going sideways in the worst possible ways, there will be people there who will look out for each other—a lovely and welcome message.

While this episode is combat light, the animation nevertheless gets a couple of chances to shine. The combat definitely falls into the “short and sweet” categories as one of my favorite characters gets to burn bright during the brief combat sequence. Although this brief combat interlude is the most striking visual moment, I also appreciated how the animation brings one of the setting’s more passive powers to life, granting the moment a surprising amount of tension.

For a key moment in this episode, the show allows Tsugumi to take center stage. Her clairvoyance power doesn’t get a lot of attention and could easily be delivered in a way that would land as uninteresting. However, thanks to some creative visual work, the show manages to generate more tension during Tsuguni’s moment than otherwise might have been.

So, all in all, Scarlet Nexus Episode 7 manages to accomplish a couple of different things. It both solidifies the previously fluctuating political situation of the show while also building up Yuito’s side of the story.

Scarlet Nexus Episode 7 is streaming on Funimation.