Alternate Titles: Ryuugajou Nanana no Maizoukin
Light Novel Adaptation by A-1 Pictures
Simulcast on Crunchyroll

Premise

Juugo is excited about transferring to Nanae – a high tech artificial island designated as a “Special Student Zone” full of schools. He gets more excitement than he bargained for when he discovers a ghost girl living in his new apartment, the secrets of her past holding out the promise of treasure and adventure.

Jel’s verdict: Raiders of the Moe Ark

Despite the “Light Novel Syndrome” info dumping and casual groping that would bring down lesser shows, I really enjoyed the first episode of Nanana’s Buried Treasure. Nanae Island offers a really unique mix of sleek near-future technology and ancient archeological wonder a la Indiana Jones, creating a grand sense of scale and adventure that holds a lot of promise for future episodes. What could have been a rote “Magical Girlfriend” type of show becomes much more interesting with room to expand outside the confines of the hapless protagonist’s apartment.

It helps that Juugo proves to be considerably less hapless than your average anime leading man, which is another welcome twist to the genre. Sure I’d rather live without the aforementioned casual groping, but he does have a passion for his new circumstances that feels refreshing compared to all the slacker male leads that just want to live a “normal” life. I love the relationship that he immediately establishes with Nanana, quickly reaching a level of relative comfort without freaking out like he’s never seen a girl before.

There’s definitely some highly implausible facts to swallow like the notion that half a dozen high school kids could build a fancy high tech island, and the introduction of some seemingly unrelated detective girl makes me wonder if Nanana’s Buried Treasure is going to overcomplicate matters in the future. But the mix of humor, heart, and adventure in this first episode really has me excited for more.

Iro’s verdict: Ghast-lease

An apartment on a tropical Pacific island with state-of-the-art school facilities for 5000 yen a month, the only catch being that it’s haunted by a cute girl? That alone shattered my suspension of disbelief; nowhere on this entire planet can you possibly find a housing gig that good. Joking aside, this was pretty decent. A giant school island scattered with buried treasure is at least somewhat different from the usual high school stuff, and the mystery of what exactly is up with Nanana creates a fair amount of curiosity. On the other hand, the main character is pretty annoying, and unfortunate anime tropes seem to already be rearing their heads. Still, Nanana has more promise than the bulk of this season’s shows, so I’m willing to give it a bit more time.

Marlin’s verdict: The Temple of Doomoe

I liked this show quite a bit. I am all for adventure stories, and if the beginning’s treasure hunting sequence is any indication of how cool Nanana’s own dungeons are, then I could see this being a fun romp. Of course the center of this story seems to be around Juugo and Nanana. It’s a pretty cute if cliched way to do the boy meets supernatural girl. Considering I was a huge fan of Dusk Maiden I am all up for the adventures of a new sexy ghost. The only question is will our main character be enough on his own to carry this show. It seems to be implying that he will eventually try to find her treasures, but due to the nature of Nanana’s existance, she obviously won’t be able to come with. It does seem like there are a few more characters ready to enter the mix (and some of ’em are actually guys? Is this a real LN?). I’d really like to see where they go with this premise, but my initial impression is very positive.

Aqua’s verdict: Better Than It Has Any Right To Be

It always hurts just a little bit more when the umpteenth light novel adaptation to be announced finds its way into the once sacred noitaminA timeslot. Even though the label lost pretty much all of its prestige a few years ago, it still feels a bit weird to watch that signature opening animation being followed up by high school antics and perverted jokes. Yet whether it was due to post-Ping Pong giddiness or the fact that it was one in the morning, I found myself quite enjoying Nanana (not to be confused with Nana, Banana No Nana or one of the gazillion songs called “Na Na Na”). For one, it looks pretty as sparkles, with a sharp, colourful art style and some surprisingly quality animation. As opposed to other light novel disasters like Dragonar Academy or Chaika The Coffin Princess, Nanana’s Buried Treasure has an actual, distinct and unique world to go with its Robotics;Notes-esque futuristic slice-of-life. Quite a lot of effort has been put into bringing the “Special Student Zone” to life, resulting in some phenomenal vistas that only make me hope the show’s story will put its setting to good use.

The spunk that Nanana’s Buried Treasure has manages to set it apart from the largest common denominator of light novel adaptations. The Indiana Jones-esque opening, surprisingly sufferable script and promising, if not a tad bit silly premise point at good things to come, yet sadly enough, Nanana can’t always break away from the stigma of its ilk just yet. Juugo, our protagonist, teeters between unlucky everydude and deranged lech, and not unlike Bakemonogatari leading man Arararagi, the show loves to use him as a means to assert that it’s apparently totally normal for boys to grope and ogle everything with breasts, which the female characters provide more than enough of. Yet at the same time, a lot of the — thankfully not too many — characters introduced in this episode had some pretty charming moments nevertheless. While the anime clichés lurk around every corner, Nanana’s Buried Treasure seems to have just enough heart to pass the test. Whether it’s a buried treasure or a box of nasties in a pretty wrapping remains to be seen, but for now, at least I’m willing to play along.