No. 6 Final Episode

All things come to an end, I guess. Luckily my internet problems have been resolved (hopefully for good) in time for me to finish this sucker up. As you recall, Nezumi and Shion reached the secret lab last week and found Safu there waiting for them. We cut over to a gathering the town square where everyone is ready to celebrate the anniversary of No. 6, but it soon turns into chaos as they are all killed by the parasite bees (not the bees!!). Shion is happy to see Safu, but Nezumi is not convinced and questions her. Safu reveals that the experiments with the bees were part of an attempt to gain the power of Elyurias. Shion is confused by all of this until Nezumi finally reveals that it is actually Elyurias talking, not Safu. Safu takes over for a second and finally confesses to Shion, but quickly fades. Elyurias commands Nezumi to release her by destroying the computer, but Shion tries to stop him and destroy No. 6 in his place. However, Nezumi is angered by Shion’s personality change and knocks him out. He plants the bomb on the computer and drags Shion back to the elevator, which closes before Shion can rush out to get Safu. The destruction of the computer sets off a chain reaction that starts the facility on a sort of self-destruct sequence. Shion gets angry at Nezumi and Nezumi takes the role of the bad guy in an attempt to keep Shion from changing. However, a guard points a gun at Shion and Nezumi takes the bullet. Shion surgically removes the bullet, similarly to when the two first met. However, as they try to escape through a shaft, Shion is shot in the chest. Rikiga and Inukashi find the two and they all escape. However, Shion’s wound is fatal. Nezumi refuses to leave Shion, and Rikiga and Inukashi run off, leaving them alone. Meanwhile the bees are all turning into energy and swirling into a vortex, which breaks the wall of No. 6. Nezumi regains consciousness to see Safu, holding Shion in her lap, singing the song of Elyurias. She fades into Elyurias, who also disappears and Nezumi finds his wounds all healed. You know what that means, Shion wakes up as well. Some mushy epilogue scenes after that, including Karan rushing to reunite with Shion after so long and Nezumi leaving No. 6 and Shion behind to wander off into the distance. I gotta say…if you sift past all the random yaoi moments, this was a pretty interesting show. A formal review for it will probably be coming soon.

No. 6 Episode 10

Well, this series is coming to a close. This week’s episode starts off with the dog from last week delivering the baby to Inukashi. Meanwhile, Shion and Nezumi are dumped into a pile of corpses. They start to climb up, with Shion slipping multiple times. Inukashi and Rikiga sneak by holding a janitor hostage and steal some clothes. They reach the control room and open the door for Nezumi and Shion to enter the facility. They don lab coats and continue on to where Safu is. Rikiga and Inukashi are spotted leaving the control room and the facility is locked down. As Nezumi and Shion continue on their way up, Nezumi notices some changes in Shion’s attitude. They reach an elevator and engage the guards, but Nezumi is shot. However, Shion shoots the remaining guard, and moves to finish him off. Nezumi yells at Shion to stop, but Shion fires (with a dead look in his eyes). However, he comes to his senses and realizes what he’s done. Nezumi blames himself for Shion’s change, but Shion comforts him. After bandaging Nezumi up, the two enter the elevator. The episode ends with them reaching the top and seeing Safu standing there with a strange look in her eyes. So, next week ends this series. I noticed that the fight scenes in this episode seemed to be made to look intense, with lots of focus on Nezumi and such.

No. 6 Episode 9

Straight into the action, this episode starts off with Inukashi crossdressing to fool a man who turns out to be a No. 6 official. Nezumi and Shion are there to capture him and tie him up. Nezumi is able to get a map of the correctional facility from the official. The next day while Nezumi and Shion are walking about, the Western District is attacked by a bunch of weird tanks with strange wave guns. Shion tries to save a baby by strapping it to Inukashi’s dog and telling it to rush back to Inukashi, but he exposes himself in doing so and a tank finds him. Before it is able to fire, Nezumi appears and throws up his hands and surrenders. Later, Nezumi reveals that getting captured was part of the plan as they are taken to the correctional facility. Meanwhile, back in No. 6, Yoming reveals to Karan that the hospice where Safu’s grandmother lived is actually an execution chamber for those that are no longer needed. He starts to tell Karan about his plan to send out a message calling everyone out to rise against No. 6, but Karan tells him that he reminds her of the ones that created No. 6 and he leaves. Safu hears Elyurias calling out to her, and we hear the scientists saying that she has “awakened.” However, something goes wrong (we’ll find out about that next week, I suppose). The episode ends with Nezumi, Shion, and the other captives being dumped down a shaft at the correctional facility. Things are certainly coming to a close. This show has a nice Dune prequel series/1984/Brave New World feel to it. It would be nice if it wasn’t so short, though…Just feels weird. One question still bugs me, though: Is Inukashi a girl or a boy??

No. 6 Episode 8

Sorry about the tardiness. We start this episode by getting right into the action, with Nezumi and Shion scaling a cliff. However, they are captured (Nezumi allows it to happen) and brought before the very man that gave Nezumi his name. Nezumi reveals that this man is also the one who created No. 6 in the first place. He pulls out the picture that he found a few episodes ago at Rikiga’s house, depicting a younger Karan and the man before them in the center. The man reveals that he knows about the parasite bees and asks Shion to tell him his story. Nezumi and Safu have another simultaneous vision and the man asks Nezumi to sing the song that he hears in the vision, causing the caverns to light up in response to the song. Shion questions the man, and he tells him about the creation of No. 6. He then tells Shion about his meeting with Elyurias, some sort of ultimate power. He attempted to research her, but No. 6 tried to kill him for it, so he escaped. No. 6 then tried to gain Elyurias’s power by attacking her forest. They murdered the villagers, with Nezumi as the sole survivor. The man calls Nezumi a hypocrite for trying to destroy No. 6, then gives Shion his research, revealing that he was the first survivor of the parasite bees infection by showing off his similar scars to Shion. The two then head off to return home. They find Rikiga and Inukashi there, and Nezumi recruits Rikiga to help Inukashi with information collection.

No. 6 Episode 7

This episode starts with Nezumi asking Inukashi to help him get information on the correctional facility in No. 6. Inukashi initially refuses, but Nezumi begs him to help him, and he finally agrees. We then switch over to Karan inside No. 6, who discovers that Safu’s records have been purged. She starts to talk with an old lady in a park, but is saved by Youming before she reveals too much to the lady, who was actually a spy. Youming then takes her back to her shop, revealing that he has been investigating No. 6 due to his own suspicions (I figured that guy would end up being important). Back in the Western District, Shion is still trying to find a cure for the bee syndrome, but is not having luck finding the necessary tools. Rikiga is touched by his kindness for some reason and decides to buy him some new clothes. At the clothing shop, Shion finds a jacket that he recognizes as Safu’s (dun dun duuuun). Meanwhile, Safu awakes in a testing chamber and overhears some scientists referring to her as a “perfect sample” for their project. Inukashi approaches Nezumi, telling him about the jacket that Shion found. Inukashi reveals that it was actually him that smuggled the jacket from the correctional facility and he concludes that Nezumi is trying to save Safu. He warns Nezumi that Shion will be going after Safu himself, but Nezumi just tells him to keep doing his job. That night, Nezumi talks a bit with Shion and both hide what they truly know from each other. Nezumi finds Shion heading towards No. 6 and proceeds to punch him for his foolishness. He tells Shion about Safu and that he made the preparations to go save her, but Shion punches him back for hiding it from him, saying he wishes to be Nezumi’s equal. This shocks Nezumi, and he finally tells Shion what he means to him (…). The episode ends with Nezumi telling Shion that he has something to show him.

This episode…urgh…I dunno if I can keep watching this show. What do you guys think? Worth my time?

No. 6 Episode 6

We start the episode off with Safu going through customs, having just come back to No. 6 because of her grandmother’s death. For some reason, she isn’t allowed to bring in a Picasso artbook (ehh?). After getting her grandmother’s personal effects, Safu becomes suspicious because of a missing knitting needle and a scarf with an unfamiliar smell. She tries to call Shion, but he’s been disconnected (since he’s a fugitive and all). She then decides to go see Shion’s mother, who tells her that Shion is in the Western District (why would you do that?). As Safu runs off to find Shion, she is stopped by the Public Security Bureau, who stuff her into a car and drive off. Meanwhile, Shion is helping Inukashi dig a grave for one of the dogs, his “uncle.” Afterwards, he talks to Nezumi about going back to No. 6 in the spring to make a serum to counteract the bee parasite. Nezumi responds by attacking Shion, but he doesn’t kill him. He tells Shion to pick a side, but Shion comes up with an idea to destroy the wall around No. 6. Nezumi tells him it won’t work and leaves Shion to himself. The episode ends with Nezumi getting a letter from Karan that Safu has been abducted. Uhh…this episode was hard to watch, but I think I’ll keep going just because I really wanna know what this bee business is.

No. 6 Episode 5

Let’s get right into the action. This episode starts with a super hypocrite girl getting owned by the bees. We switch over to Shion’s love interest, Safu, who seems to be leading a fairly normal life at her new school (or whatever her rendition of normal is). Meanwhile, Shion is reading to a couple of random kids. Nezumi leaves to do whatever it is he does, and Shion asks to join him, but Nezumi refuses to take him, knowing that Shion will distract him. Later, Shion is talking about this with Inukashi when Rikiga, the informant from the last episode, shows up. He starts to try to insult Inukashi, but one of Nezumi’s rats shows up and scares the crap out of him (but they’re so cute…). All of the comedy aside, Rikiga asks Inukashi about strange incidents in No. 6 with people aging and dying (sound familiar?). Inukashi asks Shion to tell them everything he knows about the bees and he obliges. After explaining about his condition, Shion realizes that he needs to let Nezumi know and rushes off to find him at a play, having taken a female role (no wonder they call him Eve). Nezumi notices Shion, but continues to act. However, he and Safu (who is still in a completely different place), simultaneously pass out for some reason. Shion starts to have a strange vision and freaks out, calling out for Shion, who pulls him out and wakes him up. Shion then tests his mental state with some hilariously easy math questions. As Shion asks Nezumi what happened, Nezumi gives an identical answer to Safu, who is explaining the same thing to a nurse. Safu reveals that she has become aware of Nezumi’s existence somehow, as her mother walks into tell her that they are returning to No. 6 because her grandmother is dead. After hearing about the bee activity in No. 6, Nezumi is delighted and pulls Shion aside to dance (O.o). Afterwards, Shion says some pretty weird stuff to Nezumi about being afraid to lose him, which confuses Nezumi quite a lot (quite understandably). This episode was pretty good. The yaoi undertones are starting to make me a little wary, but I liked the cuts between Shion/Nezumi and Safu in No. 5. It would be pretty depressing for Safu to lost to Nezumi after her awesome pickup line, but meh..we’ll see what happens.

No. 6 Episode 4

So, we start off this episode with Nezumi showing off how much of a boss he is. Shion’s mother gives him a place to investigate called Latch Bill.  Shion and Nezumi go to meet with a former reporter from Latch Bill who recognizes Nezumi, calling him Eve. Nezumi reveals that he is an actor (kinda suspected from the play rendition he did before) and that Eve is his stage name. The contact tells Shion and Nezumi that he knows Shion’s mother, having asked her out in the past. He then offers Nezumi a job as a pimp, which enrages Shion to the point of violence (ehh?). As the two leave, Nezumi recognizes someone in a photo on the ground. Later, Shion is talking with the Dogkeeper (I’m gonna stick with Inukashi because Japanese names sound more cool), but Nezumi arrives to insult them both. Inukashi notices something about Nezumi’s behavior around Shion and later challenges Nezumi to get revenge for the insults (so childish). Inuzaki is able to rile Nezumi up by mentioning Shion and proceeds to surround him with dogs. Nezumi is able to get past them, though, and manages to pin Inukashi. However, Shion shows up and Nezumi hesitates, allowing Inukashi to escape. So, in this episode, we kind of see a more human side to Nezumi. Kind of a standard “acts tough so he doesn’t get hurt” sorta thing. It will also be interesting to see whether Shion’s outburst is due to his condition or whether he always had the capacity to be violent. On another note, I’ve managed to get the openings for Kamisama Dolls, Kamisama no Memouchou, Yuru Yuri, Sacred Seven, Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi, and Ikoku Meiro no Croisee, but I’m really looking forward to the openings for Ao no Exorcist (the second one), Mayo Chiki, and No. 6.

No. 6 Episode 3

Wow, that was the most awkward transition into the opening theme I’ve ever seen. But let’s ignore that. Apparently Nezumi knows a lot more about classics than I do (which is sad because I was probably required to read most of these books in college/high school). Also…ROBOT RATS O.o. Pretty cool stuff. Looks like the weird thing we saw on Shion’s neck last week is expanding. In this episode, it flares up, causing Nezumi to take some extreme measures. He cuts into Shion’s neck and removes what looks like a cocoon of some kind. However, all of this causes Shion to finally take on the appearance he has in the ending sequence of the series. Shion explains to Nezumi what’s been happening in No. 6 and Nezumi proceeds to laugh quite maniacally about the whole situation. They go to see someone called the Dogkeeper, who runs a hotel in the slums. Apparently, he has some information for them. The episode ends with Nezumi threatening Shion if he ever decides to side with No. 6 again after Shion goes on a naive rant about saving everyone by informing them about the bees. Yeah…Shion’s naivete’s gonna be annoying…I can tell. Oh well, hopefully he can get past that. Looking forward to more as usual 😛

No. 6 Episodes 1-2

So, the first episode of this anime confused me, mostly because the characters in it look nothing like the characters in the series art that I saw beforehand. In the first episode, we’re introduced to the main characters, but you don’t see much of where the series is going. However, more stuff is explained in the second episode. So, the main character is Shion, who’s basically a genius, as determined by a test he took when he was 2 years old. He lives in a city called No. 6 in a futuristic society. He even has a cool bracelet so the government can track him…erm, I mean so he can get news and identify himself if need be. However, Shion then meets a boy who calls himself Nezumi, who has escaped from capture by the government. Seeing that he is wounded, Shion decides to patch him up and then starts to talk with him. And the first episode basically ends like that…

However, in the second episode, there is a time lapse and we see that Shion no longer lives in his nice house and actually has a menial job. It turns out the Public Security Bureau found that he was hiding Nezumi and he was expelled from his home and forced to live in an area called Lost Town. One day at his job, Shion and his co-worker see something strange on the surveillance and rush to check it out. Turns out…it’s a corpse (yay -.-). To make matters worse, the next day, Shion’s co-worker collapses and…dies. Shion is then captured by the Public Security Bureau (presumably because he saw too much). However, he is saved by Nezumi and taken to a strange new city. So, it was hard to talk about these two episodes without really summarizing them just because the series doesn’t make much sense going over these two episodes. However, seeing the story so far, I think that this anime is gonna turn out to be okay. The opening sounds pretty good and the ending is nice and mellow.