Trinity Seven

Episode 6

Trinity Seven has sexy girls, a sizable amount of fan service, an amusing male lead, and lots of powerful magic being thrown around. So why is it so dull?

That's the big question, and the most probable answer keeps coming back to two things: uninspired scripting and weak directing. The problems with choppy editing that crippled episode 2 have improved but not entirely gone away, as evidenced by the somewhat awkward stopping point of this episode, but they may have been obscuring another issue: that the writing and direction simply fail to give the series much spark. There's entirely too much “stop and explain” going on to maintain a good flow of events, the humor is still mostly failing miserably (really, they should just stop having the Headmaster try anything funny or perverted because his attempts just get sucked into the black pit where all pathetic humor dies), the magical displays never seem like anything that special, and the action sequences lack zip; the scene here where Levi goes on the offensive should be a neat battle where we get to see ninja magic shine, but it instead is a humdrum affair. A weakly-used soundtrack may also partly be to blame.

The plot progression does not fare much better. As Liselotte sprouts her “demon candidate” wings and Serina's health wilts, we discover that she can not only steal the powers of others, but also their research as well. When Arata powers up, Liselotte manages to distract him with the possibility that she might know where Hijiri is and then steal his powers, too, with a kiss. She uses his stolen powers to keep most of the other Trinity Seven members at bay by destroying their clothes (because apparent a denuded mage is a depowered one?) and fend off the counterattacks of Mira and Levi, although eventually suffers enough of a disadvantage that she retreats. In the interim, Mira and Akio work to train Arata while others talk strategy and look after Serina, whose health is still slipping in the absence of her magic. Liselotte is hardly done with the school, however, and her renewed assault brings the powerful Headmaster into play.

The episode does, of course, keep its focus on its one strength throughout, as enough female flesh gets exposed to meet the fan service quota. However, even that is problematic, as one aspect of the fan service continually gets in the way: Liselotte's breast-flaunting top. It is a distraction that makes her much more difficult to take seriously as a villain, although her overly casual behavior also does not help. Lilith also wears a smirking smile in one scene when she has absolutely no reason to be smiling that way, especially given how serious-minded she is always portrayed; yeah, she could be smiling because of the violin player, but that is not a nostalgic smile.

The episode ends with the Headmaster ready to show off his true power, but he and the rest of the cast will have to come up with something special for the series to avoid becoming a true yawner.

Rating: D+

Trinity Seven is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.