Line #64 Manga/SevenSeeds


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/7_seeds_netflix.png]]
2
3	->''"When you wake up, you don't know if you're in heaven or in hell, but regardless, you wish to strongly keep surviving."''
4
5	''7 Seeds'' is a thought-provoking manga written by Yumi Tamura, better known for ''Manga/{{Basara}}''. The manga ran from 2001 to 2017, with a total of 35 volumes; it started its publication in ''Bessatsu Shoujo Comic'', but it was moved to the {{josei}} magazine ''Flowers'' in 2002, where it ran until its conclusion. In 2007, the series won the ''Shogakukan Manga Award'' for shoujo manga.
6
7	In the near future, scientists have discovered that a huge meteor is heading towards earth and its impact would wipe out almost all life. World leaders met and tested a number of countermeasures. The worst-case countermeasure to be created was the ''7 Seeds'' Project, where each country took young and healthy people and put them into a cryogenic sleep. They would be released once conditions on earth had become safe enough to live in.
8
9	In Japan, the ''7 Seeds'' Project was organized into a total of five teams of seven people. Team Spring; Team Summer A and B; Team Autumn and Team Winter.
10
11	The story begins some unknown number of years in the future, when Team Summer B awakens and learns that their entire world and old life has been destroyed and evolution has begun anew.
12
13	An anime adaptation by Studio Creator/{{Gonzo}} was released worldwide by Creator/{{Netflix}} in June 2019. It was directed by Yukio Takahashi with Touko Machida handling series composition and Youko Satou designing the characters.
14	----
15	!! 7 Seeds Contains Examples Of
16
17	* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture
18	** The time period prior to the meteor impact isn't shown much, but what is known about it seems hardly different from the modern world, except the mention of frequent and strong natural disasters.
19	** Team Summer A's test appears to take place during the same time. [[spoiler:Subverted, as it turns out they were frozen around the same time Hana was born. As it is, their methods are outdated by about two decades. News that none of them take very well.]]
20	** After meeting Aramaki, this is the time frame that Team Spring ''thinks'' has passed. [[spoiler:Realizing that he is the same Aramaki that she and Arashi have been watching on TV, the team jumps to the conclusion that they were frozen, the impact happened and Team Winter was awoken shortly after. And then 15 years have passed since.]]
21	* ActionGirl: Hana, Botan and Ran are the most noticeable examples.
22	* AerithAndBob: The Ryugu Shelter is located in Kansai and has characters like Sadao and Takashi next to Maria and Mark, as well as his dead brother, Mike.
23	* AfterTheEnd: Majority of the series takes place after meteorites have destroyed most life on earth.
24	* AllJustADream: Hana and Natsu learn that the ''7 Seeds'' Project was simply a virtual-reality projection and dream, respectively. [[MindScrew Or was it]]? [[spoiler:It's all real. This was just their version of hallucinations brought upon by the ants in their nest.]]
25	* AmbiguousSituation: One of the last pages of ''7 Seeds Gaiden'' that finishes the series off shows the lower bodies of children laughing and splashing around in water. It is unclear if these children are [[BabiesEverAfter children of the main characters]] or [[spoiler:some of the children from The Arc, meaning the group has managed to raise The Arc and thawed-out the kids inside]].
26	* AnachronicOrder: Several arcs are written this way. Team Spring finds a note from Natsu, while Natsu isn't shown to actually leave the note until much later. The events of Team Winter take place 15 years before the others awaken. [[spoiler:And Team Summer A was chosen 20 ''years'' before the meteorite hits earth.]]
27	* AnyoneCanDie: The post-apocalyptic world isn't nice to anyone.
28	* ApocalypseHow: A Class Four.
29	* ApocalypticLog: Mark's journal in the Ryugu Shelter's ruins.
30	* ArmorPiercingQuestion
31	** Takashi recruited the celebrities of the Ryugu Shelter arc with one. Its true meaning dawns on them when [[spoiler:Mark witnesses the culling]] and Takashi repeats his question.
32	--> ''Can you continue to lie until the very last moment of the very end?''
33	** When Ango reveals the anguish Team Summer A went through to be chosen, Arashi asks him a simple question that completely stumps him and Ryo.
34	--> ''Why didn't you just run away?''
35	* ArtisticLicenseBiology: From strange rash infections to mutant fungal spores and iron-eating bacteria, biological actions that would usually take weeks or even years to occur now spread within mere days or minutes.
36	* AxCrazy: Team Summer A becomes a little unhinged after the Final Test.
37	* BerserkButton
38	** Don't hurt Hana in front of Arashi, unless you want to be hurt.
39	** Do not make any comments about Ango's friends. Ango will attack you.
40	* BewareTheNiceOnes
41	** Arashi is a sensitive and sweet guy, but he almost killed a schoolmate that threatened to hurt his girlfriend.
42	** Chisa is demure and polite, but wishes to tear 'it' off when she hears that [[spoiler:Ango tried to rape Hana]].
43	* BigFriendlyDog: Aramaki's dogs and their puppies.
44	* BlackBlood: [[spoiler:Maria]]'s blood is black, making them realize they were the carrier of Acari X.
45	* BodyHorror: [[spoiler:Yanagi-san]] gets injected with insect eggs, which end up bursting out of his face and body.
46	* BreakTheCutie: This occurs to several characters.
47	* ButWhatAboutTheAstronauts: Aramaki speculates that there might be astronauts that have escaped the catastrophe on earth and their descendants are now living on the moon.
48	* CelebritySurvivor
49	** Takahiro Aramaki and Fubuki Saejima were fairly well-known baseball players, despite only being in highschool. The two of them recognize each other by name fairly quickly.
50	** The Ryugu Shelter arc has several entertainers -- including the famous idol Maria Miki -- in the underground shelter, recruited to help keep the other inhabitants calm and entertained.
51	* [[CelibateHero Celibate Heroes]]: Rather forced upon them. The Fuji shelters do not contain any contraceptives, as the team members are supposed to repopulate humanity. Team Autumn has made a strict ban on any kind of sex that may result in pregnancy and the other teams choose to remain celibate until things have settled.
52	* CharacterDevelopment: As the series goes on, many of the characters grow and develop into fairly competent teams.
53	* CrapsaccharineWorld: The Ryugu Shelter is an apocalyptic shelter disguised as a luxury resort.
54	* CrapsackWorld: The post-apocalyptic world is bad enough, but the world prior to the meteor's impact was not great.
55	* CryonicsFailure: Three members of Team Winter.
56	* CyanidePill
57	** Each of the team leaders was given a capsule with cyanide in it, to be used if the future turned out to be completely uninhabitable or the leader had to get rid of 'problematic' members.
58	** The Ryugu Shelter arc reveals that Takashi had the same type of pills as the leaders and to be used, if things deteriorated too badly in the shelter.
59	* DeadGuyJunior: Aramaki names two dogs after Fubuki and Mitsuru. He admits to regretting the decision later because he will 'lose them again' when they pre-decease him.
60	* DeathOfAChild: Aside from the apocalypse having killed almost everyone, the children in the Ryugu Shelter don't make it, either. And then there are all the candidates that didn't make it onto Team Summer A.
61	* DeathWorld: The post-apocalyptic world is filled with flora and fauna that want to kill you.
62	* DrivenToSuicide: Several minor characters.
63	* DueToTheDead: Some characters take their time to bury their dead.
64	* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: Several meteorites have fallen onto earth, with its destruction of buildings leaving a thick cloud of dust behind that blocks out the sun for another ice age.
65	* EnsembleCast: Five teams with eight members, leading to at least a 40-people cast in the beginning. The number dwindled as the series progresses, but the focus remains on multiple people at once.
66	* ExposedToTheElements: Subverted. They all feel the elements very well. Arashi uses seaweed to keep warm and cover himself while floating in the ocean and Botan reprimands Ran for wearing skimpy clothing, which leaves her to be more vulnerable to injuries, too.
67	* EyeScream: The Acari X parasitoids feast off of their host's body and eat their way out through the eyeballs.
68	* EasternZodiac: Wood carvings of the eastern zodiac were left in locations that clued the Team Summer A candidates in on when the next part of the Final Test may begin.
69	* {{Fanservice}}: Quit a bit from both sides. Arashi and some of the other men tend to go diving or swimming shirtless, though some of the women show their goods, too.
70	* FlingALightIntoTheFuture: Deconstructed. The manga shows the effects this has on the people involved and what sacrifices had to be made to pull it off.
71	* FriendshipMoment
72	** Ryo reveals that his reason for trying to [[spoiler:kill Haru and Hana]] was because their presence made Ango emotionally unstable and he wanted to protect him.
73	** Natsu musters up her courage and apologizes to Matsuri over a remark that she thinks may have hurt her. Matsuri thanks her, realizing that she doesn't need to 'play a part' around Natsu.
74	** Semimaru asks Natsu if she did her best on her own, when she was separated from the others. She does and Semimaru praises her... [[LovingBully and then teases her about it]].
75	* GivingSomeoneThePointerFinger: Semimaru gives it to Arashi for referring to Semimaru's hometown as 'the place with all the eels'.
76	* TheGreatestStoryNeverTold
77	** Had they never found Mark's journal, the tragic and bittersweet story of the Ryugu Shelter might have been lost forever. And they would never have found out why the shelter was more dangerous than they initially thought.
78	** In-Universe, the story of ''Wonderful Q'' ends up answering the series-long question of 'What is Q?'. The answer isn't shown to the reader and the story has likely been lost to time.
79	* HeroicBSOD: Half of the Team Summer A members have this look on their face upon being chosen.
80	* HighschoolSweethearts
81	** Hana's parents. Takashi and Miho dated during highschool and got married in college.
82	** Hana herself seems to have thought that she would end up this way with Arashi, imagining herself dying of old age with him by her side.
83	* HopeSpot: The Ryugu Shelter was revealed to be part of a Japan-wide network of other shelters and having a standing communication with each other. [[spoiler:Even though Ryugu ended up badly and the connection to other shelters was lost quickly.]] Odds are, there may be some people still living in some.
84	* HumanPopsicle: All of the characters were put into cryogenic sleep before the meteor hit.
85	* HumansAreBastards
86	** Incredibly drastic measures were taken to attempt to keep humanity alive. The shelters like Ryugu were the more mundane ideas, though the most drastic and disgusting measures [[spoiler:like the culling of the shelter inhabitants]] were meant to be absolute last-ditch efforts.
87	** The reasons for having students dropping out of the Team Summer A candidates were minor, at best. Young kids like Nobara, whose only issue was some bad eyesight, were made to drop out. [[spoiler:Which means that they were killed and turned into fertilizer.]] And the less said about the Final Test, the better.
88	** The modus operandi for 'recruiting' most of the ''7 Seeds'' members was to take the candidates and freeze them, without their consent and not knowing what happened, until they woke up in the post-apocalyptic world.
89	* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming
90	** The ''Hail of Corn'' arc depicting the choosing of Team Summer A are named after classical music pieces, which are mentioned to be played or sung during the chapters.
91	** The ''Ashes'' arc uses old movie and book titles like ''Literature/OnTheBeach'' and ''Literature/WutheringHeights''.
92	* IntimateHealing
93	** The ''Minor Heat'' arc has Ango and Arashi wrap up nude in an emergency blanket, due to being drenched and cold.
94	** The ''Ocean/Mountain'' arc has Koruri do this with Haru, who is freezing from having been in cold water. They strip and wrap up in her jacket.
95	* ItSeemedLikeAGoodIdeaAtTheTime: The scientists of the Open Sado Project discovered a new ant species that thrived on eating the energy bars their shelter was stocked with. [[spoiler:The ants escaped, grew huge and killed most of the scientists. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Good job]]!]]
96	* IWillFindYou: The reason why Hana and Arashi keep going is in hope of eventually finding the other.
97	* {{Jerkass}}: Most of the teachers of the Team Summer A candidates.
98	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Semimaru and Ryo can be jerks, but they have a hidden, softer side.
99	* JustBeforeTheEnd: The flashbacks shown tend to occur some point before the meteor's impact on earth. Mark's journal tells the story as it begins a mere few days before the impact.
100	* KillerRabbit: Team Summer B encounters cute rodents. Half of them are carnivorous monsters that eat the other half, who are the meek prey.
101	* LookOnMyWorksYeMightyAndDespair: The theme behind the relics of modern civilization. Even the Ryugu Shelter was touted as a masterpiece of engineering and technology. By the time the teams encounter it, it's barely functioning and the structure is hanging on by a thin thread.
102	* LoveConfession
103	** When Matsuri confesses her feelings to Ryo, he doesn't quite [[ObliviousToLove get]] what she means by 'liking' him and wanting to 'go out' with him. Though if she means having children with him, that will have to wait until things are less hectic.
104	** Natsu confesses her feelings to Arashi, who returns them, in her illusion. This makes Natsu realize that she loves the Arashi who is in love with Hana, [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy more than her feelings being requited]].
105	* ManEatingPlant: Natsu and Arashi run afoul of one early on, but get rescued in time.
106	* ManipulativeBastard: Most of the adults in the series are terrible people, with Team Summer A's teachers being the worst kind.
107	* TheMedic
108	** Team Spring has Fujiko, who was an aspiring doctor before the impact.
109	** Team Summer A has Ban, who was the top of the medical class. He's unhappy with his abilities, though. [[spoiler:Not only because he wasn't able to save a lot of people during the Final Test, but he also feels his methods are outdated because Team Summer A was frozen much earlier than the rest.]]
110	* MessageInABottle: Arashi throws one into the ocean during the story. [[spoiler:In the final chapter, the united Japanese teams find another bottle; a response from a couple of teams in America that have also survived.]]
111	* MoodWhiplash
112	** The penultimate chapter of the very intense ''Minor Heat'' arc features Team Summer B and some of Summer A to escape the Fuji ship, before it launches its missiles all over Japan, and horrified that they haven't been able to stop the launch. The last page switches to a very peaceful Hana, submerged in water.
113	** The next chapter continues with Hana, being 'adopted' by a mother pig and her piglets, frolicking around and making peace with the idea of living in this new world. The last pages switch back to the previously intense Fuji ship.
114	* NiceJobBreakingItHero
115	** Team Summer B, Ango and Ryo head into the Fuji ship, thinking that it's a supply shelter like the others. Their presence turns the ship's electricity back on, which includes the countdown to launch missiles and a nuclear warhead all over Japan. [[spoiler:They manage to get out and the launch is avoided.]]
116	** Hana, Fujiko and Chisa encounter an old ruin and open it up, realizing it's a mushroom farm. Opening it has lead to the mushrooms' spores being released onto the forest nearby and destroying the eco-system that had been sustaining itself for a long time. [[spoiler:A forest fire occurs, which destroys the forest, the animals within and the spores, allowing nature to fix itself.]]
117	* NoNameGiven: The crew of the Fuji ship is, at best, known by their occupations.
118	* NotSoDifferentRemark: From Ryo to Ango, being "You're cut from the same cloth as I am, so maybe you'll make it."
119	* ObliviousToLove: Several of the Team Summer A candidates, due to their raising.
120	* OfficialCouple
121	** Hana and Arashi from Team Spring and Summer B, respectively.
122	** Eventually, Kurumi and Ryusei from Team Autumn form a relationship and await offspring.
123	** Even stranger, Koruri and Haru end up hitting it off well.
124	* OneSteveLimit: Subverted. Hana reads that the man who hired Mark was called Takashi. She mentions that her father was called that, too, but it's likely a coincidence. Played straight, when it turns out that they are the same person.
125	* OppositesAttract: Tough-as-nails, stubborn Hana is dating the sweet, good-natured Arashi.
126	* ParentalAbandonment
127	** The parents of the members sold them to the government for a million yen. Though it is mentioned that some may regret the decision or broke down and told them.
128	** Subverted with Hana's parents. They sincerely regret their involvement in the project, but still believe it to be for the best. And they take consolation in her boyfriend being sent, too.
129	* ThePlague: Parasitoids break out in the Ryugu Shelter.
130	* PosthumousCharacter: Any person shown prior to the impact. And everyone in the Ryugu Shelter arc.
131	* PuppeteerParasite
132	** The mantis larvae controlling [[spoiler:Yanagi]].
133	** The Acari X parasitoids begin to take over the host's brain and steer their actions.
134	* PutOnABus: As the story progresses, the various team members end up splitting up or getting separated. Generally, this results in TheBusCameBack.
135	* RagnarokProofing
136	** While plant-dinosaur hybrids and flesh-eating silverfish have had time to evolve, the Shinjuku skyline is still discernible, despite being partially submerged in water.
137	** Downplayed in the case of the Ryugu Shelter. It looks aged, but overall still very sturdy with working electricity and even automated speakers. But its structure is worse than it looks and could collapse easily.
138	** Subverted with the subway line leading to the above shelter. The train ''looks'' pristine, but years of neglect and saltwater intrusion has weakened it enough that it dents through mere touch and feels like seaweed.
139	** The Fuji ship is quite sturdy, the electricity and even the computers work well. It should be fully functional, except for the parts where the iron-eating bacteria has messed with the machines.
140	** Justified in the case of the Fuji shelters. They were deliberately designed to be able to preserve indefinitely.
141	* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: The attempted rape of Hana is treated as a much worse offense by the other teams than the fact that [[spoiler:Ango]] didn't even try to help her from being sucked into a raging river.
142	* RecruitTeenagersWithAttitude: Team Summer B. Team Summer A was specifically engineered this way.
143	* RiddleForTheAges: In-universe, the manga ''Wonderful Q'' has the protagonist seraching for 'Q' and what exactly it is. Sataka admits that he questions this himself when he noticed that the Chinese language has a Q in it. The question of 'What is Q?' is answered, but the reader is never shown explicitely.
144	* RotatingProtagonist: Most of the arcs focus on the entire team, though some characters have more spotlight than others. The ''Hail of Corn'' arc revolves around the choosing of the Team Summer A candidates, but there is heavy emphasis on Ango and how he ends up being chosen.
145	* RuinsOfTheModernAge: Team Spring and Summer B can't believe they are in Japan, until they encounter these.
146	* SceneryGorn: The old ruins of the previous worlds are this in spades. World-famous monuments and landmarks are submerged in the ocean or corroded to the point of crumbling apart at mere touch.
147	* SceneryPorn: The lower layer of Sado is a gorgeous forest area with its own eco-system.
148	* SeriouslyScruffy: All the characters, eventually, since personal hygiene is not a top priority.
149	* ShipTease: Part of their reason is to keep humanity alive, so this is bound to come up.
150	* SpotlightStealingSquad
151	** Can be attributed to each team at times, with focus switching around so much. [[WordOfGod Tamura]] even lampshades this at one point, when the ''Hail of Corn'' arc begins and she says it's about ''another'' team this time.
152	** Hana is a singular character example, with a mini-arc revolving around a disease she catches and that needs to be cured; as well as her [[spoiler:supposed death]] before another, larger arc follows her around for a while, before she meets up with others and the spotlight is shared again.
153	* StarCrossedLovers: Hana and Arashi. They were dating before being frozen and, upon finding evidence that the other is part of the project, too, their goal is to find each other.
154	* SurvivalistStash: The Fuji shelters. Purposefully created to give supplies like food, blankets and even crop seeds to the project's members.
155	* SurvivorGuilt
156	** Every member of Team Summer A feels a certain amount of it after the Final Test, though the biggest examples are Ango, Koruri and Gengoro. Ayu leans more towards guilt due to [[MurderByInaction inaction]].
157	** Aramaki feels this the most as the sole survivor of Team Winter. He feels like he should be the one to have died because he considers himself the most useless and ill-prepared for the post-apocalyptic world. It becomes especially noticeable when [[spoiler:Hana is presumed dead]] and he feels terrible for being incapable of doing anything to help.
158	* TearsOfBlood: Any Acari X-sufferer ends up shedding these to varying degrees.
159	* TeethclenchedTeamwork: When Arashi, Aramaki, and Ango meet up in the ''Mountain & Ocean'' arc, they butt heads [[spoiler:over Ango having attempted to rape Hana, which infuriated Arashi]]. When they hear the others guys needing help, Ango tells those two that they have to work together for now, even if they don't like it.
160	* TemporalThemeNaming: All of the project's members are named after seasonal poetry terms.
161	* TitleDrop: The project the teams and guides are part of is the ''7 Seeds'' Project.
162	* TogetherInDeath: Some characters are fortunate enough to end this way.
163	* ToiletHumor
164	** Semimaru freaked out because a dried-out dinosaur he peed on came back to life!
165	** The ''Applause'' chapter has a young Hana eat something that doesn't agree with her and she poops into the ocean. She poops more when she sees some insects eating her feces.
166	* TooDumbToLive: Most of the Team Summer A candidates, despite having been trained for situations. Justified with several of them, though, as they openly state that they are coasting along and think the Final Test is simply a test.
167	* TownWithADarkSecret
168	** The Ryugu Shelter is basically a Japanese version of [[VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas Vault 22]].
169	** The Fuji ship couples this with [[RoomFullOfCrazy full of crazies]]. [[spoiler:The bad condition of the world and threat of supplies dwindling, along with an ample supply of guns has caused everyone on board to go insane and start killing each other. Even the captain counts, as he started the launch of missiles on Japan.]]
170	** Unintentionally, the mushroom farm that Hana, Fujiko and Chisa find ends up causing an ecological devastation.
171	* TraumaCongaLine: The entire series. It starts with the revelation that the world is post-apocalyptic, any known civilization is gone and then we get to things like Team Summer A's Final Test.
172	* TwistedChristmas: The Ryugu Shelter's final day occured on December 24th.
173	* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: Including freezing civilians without their knowledge to be sent into a post-apocalyptic world's uncertain future, [[spoiler:culling half of a shelter's population to keep the rest alive for longer]] and mentally scarring 17-year-olds with a dangerous test...
174	* WeHardlyKnewYe: Several minor characters die before they are properly established.
175	* WellIntentionedExtremist
176	** Everyone in charge of Team Summer A, particularly Kaname and Takashi, know that their methods are incredibly harsh and maybe even cruel, but they do it to make sure that the team is prepared for anything in the future.
177	** The government's response to the impact and measures taken to avert a complete annihilation. So long as ''some'' semblance of human civilization survives, they will do anything to achieve it.
178	* WhatTheHellHero: Ango and Ryo are eventually called out on their actions during the ''Sumer Solstice'' arc.
179	* WhereItAllBegan: The penultimate arc reveals that [[spoiler:the institution that Team Summer A was raised in and where the Final Test took place was Sado]].
180	* YouCantGoHomeAgain: The landmass where you used to live might still be there or it might have been submerged in the ocean. Either way, you will find nothing but ruins and all your friends and family are dead.

Context Manga / SevenSeeds