Nanamaru Sanbantsu



"Question: What is the format of competitive quiz bowls, called "golden rule" by truly able players? Answer: 7 Right 3 Wrong Explanation: It means that one wins when he gets seven correct answers, or gets disqualifed when he gives three incorrect answers. It's a standard rule loved by competitive quiz bowl players."

Nanamaru Sanbantsu (Seven Right, Three Wrong) is a Seinen School Life manga by Ikura Sugimoto and serialized monthly by Young Ace.

On his second day as a senior high school student, Shiki Koshiyama is yet uncertain which school club will he join, until he got himself invited to Buzou High School's Quiz Club, which he refused initially because he felt it was too nerdy. Or so it seems.

He found a copy of the quiz club's campaign pamphlet: a 100-item questionnaire based on quiz shows, and answered them quite easily. Then he met Mari Fukami, a classmate of his who is actually an expert quizzer known as "The Buzzer Queen" in a rather odd circumstance, and quiz club captain Gakuto Sasajima, who saw his potential to become a great quizzer.

It was only until then that Shiki realized he had such great potential as a quizzer, but needs to hone himself in the art of buzzer-pressing as knowing the answer to every question is not everything in quizzes, but rather the ability to answer every question ahead of the others is what makes one The King of Quizzes.

Nanamaru Sanbantsu is a relatively obscured by the more mainstream ones because quiz bowls are often dismissed as an overly intellectual event that requires the brain of Stephen Hawking to even recognize. Nonetheless, it gave the Competitive Quiz Bowl Genre a manga representation which more or less surprised the quizzer community who thought such a venture impossible.

Time will tell if it will finally undergo the Tournament Arc.


 * Awesomeness By Analysis: 7o3x runs on this trope, as quizzers are often required to have good analytical abilities to recognize the clues necessary to answer the questions.
 * In Chapter 14, Shiki got the correct answer to one of the puzzles in the arcade quiz by looking into which Japanese kanji words occupy the least space in their respective boxes.
 * Bookworm: This is how Shiki gets the immense knowledge that gives him the edge in paper-and-pen quizzes. He only needs to master the art of "buzzing in and answer questions correctly before anyone else" to turn his book-smarts into a real advantage in oral quizzes.
 * Bishounen: Seiji, Mari's older brother. And he looks like Tezuka as well.
 * Bunny Ears Lawyer: Gakuto
 * Chekhov's Armoury: Any Genre Savvy quizzer knows that everything and anything under the sun can be asked in an official quiz bowl tournament. Shiki in particular has a really big stash of Chekhov's Guns that he uses to his advantage in Literature questions.
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Gakuto is really into quizzes. Jinko is pretty much air-headed all the time.
 * Eating Lunch Alone: Shiki does this in the library. Until Jinko came along and ate his lunch.
 * Five-Man Band
 * The Hero: Shiki Koshiyama
 * The Lancer: Mari Fukami
 * The Big Guy: Daisuke Inoue
 * The Smart Guy: Gakuto Sasajima
 * The Chick: Jinko Sasajima
 * Gadgeteer Genius: Jinko Sasajima. She is currently learning how to create a cost-effective buzzer.
 * Gender Blender Embarrassing First Name: Chisato Mikuriya has a reason why he doesn't just exchange phone numbers with his self-proclaimed rival.
 * Genki Girl: Jinko.
 * Gonk: Daisuke Inoue.
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: Mari and Yuki, even when they're now in different schools.
 * Kansai Regional Accent: The entire reason why people think of Gakuto and Jinko as Not Blood Siblings.
 * Lightning Bruiser: Gakuto could be one, and so are the members of the god-tier Kaijou Academy quiz team.
 * Lightning Bruiser -> Glass Cannon: Mikuriya. He can buzz in the correct answer faster than anyone but only if he can recognize it right off the first clue. Otherwise, he tends to stumble as more and more clues pile up, making it more difficult for him to piece them together to get the correct answer.
 * Meaningful Name: Gakuto's name in kanji literally means "school-man", the closest equivalent being "student".
 * Meido: Mari and Yuki's outfits as part of their part-time work at Akihabara.
 * Mighty Glacier: Shiki's voracious reading appetite gives him immense knowledge in a wide range of fields, but as a newcomer in the game, he tends to stumble in toss-ups where speed is a more important aspect than accuracy. After all, you lose if somebody buzzes in the correct answer before you can even react.
 * Nerds Are Sexy: Gee, sure they are sexy, especially the girls. Taken Up to Eleven with an all-girl team Shiki met at Akihabara.
 * Panty Shot: Mari accidentally serves it to Shiki, so she forces him to become a quizzer as retribution.
 * Red Baron: Mari (The Buzzer Queen)
 * Sibling Yin-Yang: Gakuto is a very eccentric master quizzer, while Jinko is a Genki Girl Gadgeteer Genius.
 * Teen Genius: Pretty much everyone here. Especially the one who can answer very difficult questions in less than a second.
 * What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: Quiz bowls are no ordinary school quizzes, but this is the game everyone knows how to play!
 * Zettai Ryouiki: Mari wears a Grade A on their quiz bowl event at Akihabara. The trope becomes a Chekhov's Gun for Shiki later on.