No. 6 is based on the eponymous novels and manga that were created by Asano Atsuko and Kino Hinoki. The story taken place in the city ‘number 6’, one of the six existing states that still exist after the creation of the Babylon treaty. This treaty was drafter after the last big war, that destroyed a big part of the Earth. Shion, a bright teenager who grew up with all the benefits this city could offer him, has a comfortable life and seems to be headed towards a very promising future. On his twelfth birthday he meets a boy who calls himself Nezumi, this boy is trying to run away from the authorities and is clearly in need of some help. Shion helps him escape the authorities and in doing so both his and his mother lose all of their privileges. Four years later Nezumi and Shion meet once again. With Nezumi’s help, Shion discovers more and more that the city he lives in is not as great as it seems. His life changes drastically because of this.
Shion goes through a lot of developments during the course of the anime. Where in the beginning he was mostly scared and reserved, he becomes more and more determined later on. The more horrible experiences he goes through and overcomes, the more he seems to find himself.
Nezumi is a bit of a mystery in some aspects, but slowly but surely it becomes clearer where he came from and how he was shaped into the person he is. He is distrusting, but this isn’t very surprising once you know his background. Despite the many ‘friends’ he has, there’s no one he seems to fully trust, not even Shion.
The story mainly focusses on the city, the direct environment of the city and all the bad things that take place here. This causes a lot of unexpected events to happen, but even when a lot goes wrong the characters in the story still often find space for some humor. Aside from this, despite all the misery, a romance develops between Shion and Nezumi. There’s mainly a lot of hints of a relationship, but it does get confirmed near the end. The anime has a decent amount of dramatic moments and there’s not a general happy ending in everything, but they don’t focus on it more than needed.
Once you know the full story you can see that every detail about the city, characters and the events that occur was well thought out. Every detail adds to the story and the characters have interesting conflicts, but also interesting friendships.
Even if you don’t like shounen ai I’d still recommend this anime to you. The story itself is not particularly focused on the romantic aspect of Shion and Nezumi’s relations, but mainly on their struggle to improve the world they live in. There’s almost no focus on them as a ‘couple’, but it doesn’t come out of nowhere either. The two characters complement each other well, when it comes to the interaction between the two of them.
Studios: Bones
Started airing: 8th of Juli 2011
Number of episodes: 11
Rating: 80/100
