No. 6 - Living In This So-Called Utopia - Anime Review
This anime was originally adapted from a novel by Astuko Asano and
currently started a manga adaptation drawn by Hinoki Kino. But after watching the first episode, I immediately fell in love with this series. It was nice to see an interesting Sci-fi and mystery themed plot. This story takes place in a dystopian city, No. 6, where its citizens lives in a ideal world, but also blinded on what was actually happening behind the scenes of their society. But after Sion meets Nezumi, a runaway fugitive, he's about to get a reality check.
I liked that the character development were portrayed in a natural and human way. It's not over-the-top and not too over dramatic. Although, Sion and Nezumi's bond with each other seems very questionable. I mean, you can insert many yaoi jokes in certain scenes. It seems that this series does have hints of shonen-ai, but I was not bothered by it because I was still curious on how this plot will unfold. Anyway, the two main characters are completely opposites of each other. Sion is a naive but innocent boy who, after finding out about the secret motives of No.6, wants to warn and save the people who are living in that city. On the other hand, Nezumi is very cynical, sharp tongued, tsundere and absolutely hates No.6. He wants to see it fall apart and has no remorse over the people who lives there. As the story progress, their friendship slowly builds up. As well as, their tensions starts to build up when Nezumi warns him that if he keeps up with this saving No.6 plan, he will also become his enemy.
There were other characters that played an important role in this story such as Safu. She's Sion's childhood friend. I thought she was just some girl who was going to be Sion's future love interest. But she ended up having a big role in this story. There's Karan, Sion's mother who not only worries about her son's well being, but might know a little bit more about No.6. Also, it introduces other inhabitants such as Inukashi and Rikiag, who were living outside of No.6 and see how they live without the same comforts as those living in No.6.
Studio Bones does an amazing job in rendering a detailed setting of a futuristic city environment. The quality of the animation was amazing. Each scenes were very detailed. And, it has that movie-like quality animation. even the small-quick action sequences were awesome to watch. I also loved the little illustrations that they showed at the end of each episode.
It's really too bad that this series is only 11 episodes long. I hate to see such a good anime series that ended up having a rushed ending. There were still some plot holes. There were some events that happened at the end which didn't get any explanation. But, oh well. The original novel is 9 volumes long, so it's obvious that there has to be more to this story than what the anime was showing. This anime got me curious as to how it was same or different from the original story. I hope that either the manga or the novel gets to be officially translated into English because I'd like to read about this story. Or, I could probably find translations somewhere online. Maybe the ending to the original story was more satisfying than the anime.
As a whole, I really enjoyed this series and it was mostly due to the characters that were involved in this story. It was interesting to see the development of Sion and Nezumi's relationship which feels very genuine and they looked cute together. I liked them just the way they are and they're the ones who carry this story forward.
Sion grew up in an elite environment where the high educated and the privileged citizens gets to live in a luxurious area known as Cronos.
However, when the authorities found out that Sion was sheltering a wanted
fugitive, Nezumi, who escaped from a correctional facility, Shion’s mother and he were stripped away from their elite
status and forced to live in the suburbs.
Four years later, while Sion was at his
workplace, he witnesses his co-worker slowly dying from a parasitic infection. The authorities comes by and arrests Sion for having to witness something which he shouldn't have. But Nezumi comes to rescue him and helps him escape the city. Sion is shocked to see what the real world actually looks like from the outside of the city, but he later learns about the dark secrets of No.6.
I liked that the character development were portrayed in a natural and human way. It's not over-the-top and not too over dramatic. Although, Sion and Nezumi's bond with each other seems very questionable. I mean, you can insert many yaoi jokes in certain scenes. It seems that this series does have hints of shonen-ai, but I was not bothered by it because I was still curious on how this plot will unfold. Anyway, the two main characters are completely opposites of each other. Sion is a naive but innocent boy who, after finding out about the secret motives of No.6, wants to warn and save the people who are living in that city. On the other hand, Nezumi is very cynical, sharp tongued, tsundere and absolutely hates No.6. He wants to see it fall apart and has no remorse over the people who lives there. As the story progress, their friendship slowly builds up. As well as, their tensions starts to build up when Nezumi warns him that if he keeps up with this saving No.6 plan, he will also become his enemy.
There were other characters that played an important role in this story such as Safu. She's Sion's childhood friend. I thought she was just some girl who was going to be Sion's future love interest. But she ended up having a big role in this story. There's Karan, Sion's mother who not only worries about her son's well being, but might know a little bit more about No.6. Also, it introduces other inhabitants such as Inukashi and Rikiag, who were living outside of No.6 and see how they live without the same comforts as those living in No.6.
Studio Bones does an amazing job in rendering a detailed setting of a futuristic city environment. The quality of the animation was amazing. Each scenes were very detailed. And, it has that movie-like quality animation. even the small-quick action sequences were awesome to watch. I also loved the little illustrations that they showed at the end of each episode.
It's really too bad that this series is only 11 episodes long. I hate to see such a good anime series that ended up having a rushed ending. There were still some plot holes. There were some events that happened at the end which didn't get any explanation. But, oh well. The original novel is 9 volumes long, so it's obvious that there has to be more to this story than what the anime was showing. This anime got me curious as to how it was same or different from the original story. I hope that either the manga or the novel gets to be officially translated into English because I'd like to read about this story. Or, I could probably find translations somewhere online. Maybe the ending to the original story was more satisfying than the anime.
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