Featured Post

Popol Vuh: The Definitive Edition of the Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life and the Glories of Gods and Kings by Dennis Tedlock

This volume can be divided into two parts. First is the introduction of the Popol Vuh; second, the translation of the work itself. It is...

Thursday, April 05, 2012

No.6

Sion lives in a perfect world; he's a brilliant and promising student, has a mother who loves him, and lives in a society where peace and order reigns - what more can he ask for? He certainly seems happy but he finds himself wishing he could be like the leaves and flowers that could go wherever the wind takes him. Yet he never questioned anything. He is one of the many obedient residents of No. 6, a colony created after the war. No.6 is a perfect society - or is it?



One stormy day, Sion meets a kid whose views differed from his. Years later they meet again. Sion by then has moved to another section of No.6, the Lost City, when the authorities learned he helped a fugitive escape. This fugitive, Nezumi or Mouse, was the boy he met on that stormy night four years ago. Despite losing the opportunity of getting a better job, he didn't seem to regret what he had done.

Nezumi and Sion

The death of his co-worker changed Sion's life. He is arrested  but Nezumi  rescues him. Now he's an outlaw and he has to adapt to the people and ways of life of the town outside No.6. But he wants to go back. A plague is causing mysterious deaths in the city. Sion survived the attack of the bee that feeds on host's body and he wants to warn the people, but Nezumi does not want him to go back.

This 11-episode series is a mix of sci-fi, fantasy, action, and boys love. Sion and Nezumi have to find ways to survive, to reconcile their views, and to discover the city's history to save it. I had to finish this within a day. The story is engaging and the characters are easy to like. The animation is one of the best I've seen so far. It also raised certain issues about the so-called perfect society and why it can never be attained by force, although it did not seem to consider also the consequences of the characters' feelings for each other.

I don't recommend this to people who are not into boys love anime (or yaoi for that matter). But I guarantee that even the  hints of romance won't spoil the story and animation. I'm giving this series a 10 out of 10 rating.