REVIEW: ‘ZENSHU’ Episode 7 — “FIRST LOVE”

ZENSHU Episode 7 is the most unique episode of the season yet. It mostly focuses on Natsuko’s life before the events of the anime and the people whose hearts she unknowingly touched. The episode does a fantastic job of portraying the feelings of these characters and displaying Natsuko’s passion for her art. ZENSHU Episode 7 begins by showing Natsuko (Anna Nagase) as a grade-schooler and her first introduction to her favorite film, A Tale of Perishing.

The first screening of the film left such a huge impact on Natsuko’s life that it changed her trajectory in a big way. She became obsessed with the art of the film, which led her to take up drawing and learn more about the film’s staff, including its director, the story, and animation as a whole. At a young age, she decided that she wanted to become a Virtuoso and dedicate her life to creating the same type of art that inspired her.

This passion is strange to some around her but also blindingly pleasant to others. The first person who gets attracted to Natsuko’s passion is her grade school classmate Midori, who admires her passion so much that she becomes attracted to her. She catches feelings for her and becomes her “first love.” Of course, Natsuko is completely unaware of this and is only focused on improving her skills.

This never changes, even when Midori prematurely leaves the school, and her feelings are never revealed or reciprocated. However, a nice gift from Natsuko, in the form of a drawing of Midori and Luke (Kazuki Ura), made her departure a pleasant one.

This scene not only drives home the fact that Natsuko has always been unbothered by the feelings of others but that her love for animation and film have always been the core of her personality. Not much else defines her. The best part of this scene, however, is the perspective switch from Natsuko as the protagonist to another seemingly unimportant character as we see Natsuko’s life from the lens of others, how they perceive her overwhelming passion and peculiarities and, despite them, how they can be attractive to some.

MAPPA captures Natsuko’s passion for animation and film in ZENSHU Episode 7 .

This becomes the running theme ZENSHU Episode 7, as several years of Natsuko’s life are depicted. She’s shown in middle school as she gets stranger and is more passionate about her craft. Her peculiarities catch the eye of her classmate Ninomiya, who also develops feelings for her.

However, this time, she acknowledges his existence not for petty reasons like love but as a subject of study to perfect her drawings of motions. She studies almost everything about him, from the movements of his Adam’s apple to his running on the track. But despite his glee at his crush observing him, he quickly outlives his usefulness to her.

She quickly becomes completely uninterested in him and even mispronounces his name, revealing she never even learned it, which crushes him. The scene portraying Ninomiya’s elation when he realizes his feelings for Natsuko, symbolized by a beautifully animated wave during his running scene, was displayed phenomenally—especially with the pleasant, melodic songs played in the background.

After middle school are Natsuko’s final high school years as she joins a college animation club. She helps them with a project, and because of her skills and talent, she takes over as the director and blows viewers away with the final product. The club’s president, Saburo, develops a crush on Natsuko, much like the others did, but also falls in love with her work. He vows to be her rival despite him lagging severely behind in college.

Saburo’s internal monologue and reactions as he witnesses Natsuko’s artistic greatness and strange nature are hilarious. They provide a good bit of humor and accurately respond to Natsuko’s actions and personality. This part of the episode cements the notion that while Natsuko has never fallen in love, several people have fallen in love with her.

It also proves that the reason for her inexperience with love is her unwillingness to acknowledge, absorb, or even care about other people’s feelings and her tunnel vision when it comes to work.  This major flaw has yet to change either, as Luke, her next victim, is obviously developing feelings for her, but she’s totally oblivious to it.

Natsuko’s elementary understanding of love shapes ZENSHU Episode 7’s humor.

ZENSHU Episode 7′s final act shows Natsuko as an adult and reveals how she has been appointed the director of her studio’s upcoming anime film about first love. This new job takes things full circle to the theme of the episode. Natsuko’s apathy towards others and their feelings has come back to bite her as now love and attraction are foreign to her. So much so that she basically harasses her coworkers and even high school girls to find out what it’s like to be in love or have a crush.

Natsuko’s attempts to understand love are ridiculous, to say the least. These attempts range from stalking high school girls at night to constantly running into a male coworker to replicate the tropey feeling of running into a crush. The goofy actions all provide even more funny moments in the episode. These moments are displayed in such a positively ridiculous way it’s hard not to laugh at them.

ZENSHU Episode 7 ends with Natsuko waking up in the fantasy world after reliving her death in a dream at the end of the flashbacks. A pleasant moment with the Nine Heroes gets interrupted by the bird from the previous episode, who oddly resembles the director of A Tale of Perishing. This may suggest that Natsuko is not fully in this fantasy world after all.

ZENSHU Episode 7 is another highly entertaining episode with great animation, incredibly funny moments, and a fantastic quick look at the protagonist’s life. The episode subverts tropes and throws away exposition. Instead, it uses other characters to emphasize and showcase Natsuko’s unique traits, creating a uniquely pleasant viewing experience.

ZENSHU Episode 7 is streaming now on Crunchyroll.