No. 6 (Anime + Manga/Novel) + Happy New Years

HAPPY NEW YEARS!!! Can't believe it's 2012 already. Hope everyone has a good day and year !

Anime

Title: No. 6

Japanese Title: NO.6 ナンバー・シックス

Amount of Episodes: 11

Status: Completed

Tags: Sci-fi, dystopian

For: Teens

Summary: Set in the year 2013, No.6 seems like the perfect place, with all the intellects and people who contribute most to society allowed to live in lavish luxury and everyone else given a chance to live in comfort.

At the age of two, Shion was tested to have the"highest-ranked intelligence" so he and his mother were allowed to live in the highly regarded, luxurious area named "Cronos".

On the rainy night of his twelfth birthday, Shion discovers and aids a runaway by the name of Nezumi who escaped from the City's Special Security Area. And with this simple gesture of goodwill, Shion's life changes forever, as everything that he is given in No. 6 is suddenly ripped away from him as quckly as Nezumi disappears the next day....

Wdebo's Review [This review is for the anime only]: I first discovered No. 6 over Summer, and as a huge fan of dystopians, I was so excited to start watching. When I first saw No. 6's MAL profile, it was when it first started airing and held very high ratings, but when I went back to the page a couple of weeks ago (because that is when I started it), the ratings had dropped considerably. After finishing the show, the ratings make complete sense. Even though the anime started on a high note, it ended flat. After the first couple of episodes, the only thing I was watching for, instead of plot was just the relationship development between Nezumi and Shion.

The first few episodes were absolutely amazing. Each episode was filled was so much action and emotion and there was just so much potential. However, after that block of episodes, the plot started to slip and everything just fell through. There were a lot of plot holes that created confusion and the plot itself seemed to be going no where. However, the last couple of episodes were pretty addicting, I just could not stop watching them, but then it spirled down again and the ending was a huge disappointment. It wasn't because it wasn't an ending I wanted, it was because it just didn't feel like it fit in well. It felt too rushed and there were a few huh? moments.

There were a lot of interesting characters that were thrown into the mix, but, apart from Nezumi and Shion, none of them seemed to be given much development. They just seemed to be placed into the story as decoration, they did not really seem to be doing much to help the plot move along. While the plot and secondary characters were not all that impressive, the protagnoists, Nezumi and Shion, and their relationship with each other was basically the only thing that kept me watching the show.

I absolutely adored the relationship between Nezumi and Shion. And no matter what people say, it was not only "bromance", it was defintely a romantic relationship. Seriously, what pair of best guy friends kiss each other "good night"?

Now that we have that out of the way, the reason I loved their relationship was because the growth of their closeness and realizing how they needed each other in other to survive and also how the other brought out their best side, was just wonderful. It was a very nice little BL undertone to the story.

I am also absolutely in love with the opening and ending. The opening took a bit for me to get used to because the voice was just so high, but the artwork was very well done (As opposed to the art in the actual anime which was just ok) and I loved the effects it utilized. The ending, on the other hand, had me completely hooked from the very beginning. The song is beautiful and the video that accompanied it was so bittersweet.

All in all, even though the plot fell flat, the only redeeming factor of this anime is the relationship between Nezumi and Shion.

Grade: B-/C+

Watch No. 6 HERE

Novel/Manga

Novel~

Volumes: 9
Chapters: 43
Volumes Read: 3
Status: Completed
Translated Source: HERE

Manga~Volume: ?
Chapter: ?
Chapters Read: 7
Status: Ongoing

Wdebo's Review: The novel was the first that appeared and then there was a manga adaption and finally an anime adaption. The novel is definitely the best out of the three, mostly because there is just so much more oppurtunity for there to be more details added.

The storyline of both is so much richer. There is so much more added to Nezumi and Shion, the readers are able to understand what Nezumi and Shion are feeling, it really shows their growth and also their reasoning for their actions. The details also help to explain the progression of events, which the anime failed to at parts.

The secondary characters are also given a better chance to grow and allowed to take on a bigger role in the actual story.

All in all, I highly recommend readers to begin with the novel and manga first, just to get a better understanding of the actual story and then to start on the anime.

[Note: The site I posted only has half of the volumes translated. I don't know if there are any sites out there that have the entire thing translated, just search around! And if you know Chinese, the entire thing is translated to Chinese (The Chinese novel was first published in Taiwan...Hehe I love being Taiwanese ^^)!]

Grade (For Novel): A
Grade (For Manga): A--

Read the manga HERE
Read the novel in Chinese HERE [Chinese Title: 未來都市NO.6]

Wdebo :)