Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin or Rainbow for short is a story set in 1950s Japan about seven delinquents who get sent to a reformatory school which at first glance seems nothing short of some of the worst juvenile detention centers. Right in the first 5 minutes of the first episode viewers are led to believe they are not in for a happy ride. This review will contain minor spoilers but nothing that will ruin your enjoyment of the show so be at ease.

THE STORY AND CHARCTERS Our story starts off with six of our seven main characters being sent to the reformatory school where they meet our seventh main character "An-chan" in cell 2-6. Now if you have watched any piece of entertainment before it won't be hard to notice the "good guys" and "bad guys". It doesn't get more black and white than that and the anime sticks to the rule that good guys are entirely good and bad guys bad. The head physician of the institute is...well let's say manipulative and the guard in charge of cell 2-6 is a regular "bad guy, detests the cellmates for some reason" type of person.

Slowly we get to know about the circumstances of every character and how they ended up where they are right now and this is where we can start to notice some plot holes and inconsistencies. I will go over them at the end. After hearing their backstory it becomes even more clear that the writer is really trying to push that all of the main characters don't have an ounce of evil in them and we're supposed to like them. Fair enough, I like simple characters from time to time.

Throughout the course of their stay our protagonists bond more and more with each other and share their dreams which they hope to reach when they get released from the center. Because of such bonds they are even able to handle the brutal treatment given to them by "Ishihara", the guard in charge of their cell and sometimes willingly sacrifice themselves to help each other. Finding that small ray of hope despite the grim situation of the characters is what made me look forward the most to new episodes.

The second half of the show is our “disciplinary school graduates” trying their hardest to reach their dreams and they all help each other at every step of that. Each character (except Soldier (┬┬﹏┬┬) ) gets a small arc dedicated to them but these arcs get very repetitive and predictable. They all start with our main characters in some problem or facing unfair treatment but triumph over every problem with the power of friendship. Not to mention the reliance on “Mario” is a bit too much and Soldier and Joe barely get any screen time (at least Joe had an arc. Soldier got done dirty). The characters don’t go through any growth either and they’re the same as they were in episode one.

THE ART AND MUSIC There’s not much to say about the art of the show since it’s nothing unique. The only thing that comes to mind is the obviously “evil” character designs for the bad guys and normal designs for the good guys. The music is very good and amplifies the emotion portrayed in every scene by a lot. There’s also a lot of narration present which may be a hit or miss for people but I liked the addition.THE NOT SO GOOD PART ABOUT THE SHOW This part will have a bit more spoilers than the rest of the review.

As I mentioned above there are a lot of plot holes and inconsistencies in the show. Firstly why didn’t An-chan just stay quiet when he received the note and waited for his release and then showed it to the police. He clearly isn’t dumb enough to not do that. The second time also he could’ve just stayed in the hospital for one month and then get released but instead decided to come back and receive way worse treatment than he would’ve at the hospital. He also made the situation worse for the rest of the characters even if we ignore the grand escape.

The physician Dr. Sasaki also has way too much power and we never see anyone else exercise any sort of control over the institute. The good guard Kumagai was very easily killed and neither did the main characters show any hint of sadness nor did the police conduct any investigation. The show just forgot about him. Poor guy. Speaking of police, they serve a purpose only when it’s convenient for some character. When Joe admitted to the orphan manager raping him the police guards standing there didn’t take any action. Dr. Sasaki admits that police will conduct an investigation 48 hours after someone from the center escapes but that didn’t happen with our cast. No investigation occurred for the huge fire either.

When An-chan emptied the gun near the military camp surely someone must’ve heard him right? In the second half of the show the person who attacked the bar manager and Mario was clearly at fault and could’ve very easily been detained as there was enough evidence. Baremoto also trusted a prostitute too easily and decided to ignore the advice of his friend when the show puts so much emphasis on the importance of friendship and the bonds our delinquents developed. None of the characters did anything when he straight up disappeared for a month either. Some friendship.

Overall this show is very enjoyable and I love how the characters slowly bond over the course of the show but it does have a lot of plot inconsistencies and very simple characters. So as long as you don't mind them or can't notice them you will have a great time.