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「そのわけは…」 (Sono Wake wa…)
“The reason for that is…”
Things are certainly getting BONES-y again down NoitaminA way. Mysterious female singers, byzantine plot developments, noble savages – it’s easy to see why BONES saw these novels as kindred spirits after its own heart.
All in all this was a solidly entertaining and nicely designed episode of No. 6. There isn’t much in the bromance front for the fans to cheer about and the haters to moan about, but Nezumi fans will be delighted to hear him deliver a full-length song, and there is a whole lot of plot advancement and some nice character drama of a non-controversial manner. All of the major plot points get a touch, and none more so than Nezumi’s background. We’re introduced to the man known only – as far as I can tell – as “The Man Who Named Me” (though “Plot Driver” would certainly be appropriate as well). TMWNM is a white-haired old man living in some sort of massive underground cavern complex, surrounded by half-naked – and half-wild – followers.
These are the detritus of No. 6, refugees who were chased out of the city by the evil and dictatorial sickos who ran the place. I think we have our answer as to why No. 5 seemed so different than No. 6 – these places were set up in the aftermath of a global catastrophe by a kind of “Best and the Brightst” gang of social elites in the six remaining habitable places on Earth. And once founded, they appear to exist semi-independently – and No. 6 went bad and then left bad in the rearview mirror. The old man and Karan were there when the city was founded, but he fled after the leaders destroyed a gang of peaceful forest folk, who followed a mysterious being named Elyurias. All the forest folk died after No. 6 destroyed their home in a genocide of fire – except one little boy who would be dubbed “Rat” by the old man.
The old man seems to be at the center of everything – he was the first victim and first survivor of the parasitic wasps, and he knows where all the bodies are buried. But he gives up all his research to Shion on a chip, more or less abdicating responsibility and leaving the coming battles to the youngsters. As Safu suffers in a tank in a lab at the correctional facility, she and Nezumi both hear the song we now know is Elyurias’ – but does this mean Safu is a forest folk, too? And Karan rebuffs Yoming’s advances, both sexual and political, and chooses not to become an all-out rebel and likely corpse just yet.
I confess TMWNM was an extraordinarily convenient plot device, but exposition is exposition – at least we know more than we did before. Not everything – still unclear is just how the wasps came to be and what their ultimate purpose is. Dogkeeper and Rikiga are officially on board the rebel alliance, as Shion and Nezumi prepare to try and rescue Safu. It seems as if Rikiga could possibly be Shion’s father – at the very least, he’s carrying an enormous torch for Karan. I can’t help but wonder if this won’t boil down to a decision by Nezumi – I see him getting an opportunity to destroy No. 6, and weighing the words of the TMWNM (“You’d be just as bad as those you hate”) and Shion’s wishes against his own thirst for revenge.
Preview
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Wah Nezumi can sing well O_o but then I guess when they were auditioning for his role they were looking for someone who can sing
It’s sad and a bit disappointing that TMWNM (did I get that right?) is more or less an obvious plot device. It would have been better if things went on more smoothly. But I guess it’s necessary given this show’s length. And it’s quite interesting how there’s a ‘supernatural’ element. I’ve got mixed feelings about it, but it was already hinted before, anyway.
But, YAY, for a big move in terms of plot!
Btw, the second sentence of your second paragraph should be “There isn’t much…” instead of “Their isn’t much…”
well I would like them form bigger gang but o well its develpoing nice and slowly
Shangri-la http://myanimelist.net/anime/5220/Shangri-La
Anyone watched this before? Someone it seems similar.
1. Mystical Beings
2. People living in the outlands, forest folk
3. Few urban which are considered Utopias
4. Strange living creatures who attack people, plants and now bees.
5. Main character is decedent of someone who created said city.
I still haven’t watched it, but is it any better than No. 6?
…Looking at Archaeon’s review, it looks like it’ll be confusing. But then again, that guy can pick out the smallest problems.
It was not too confusing. Maybe the buying and selling of shares might be confusing if you have not traded before; not relevant to understand shares unlike [C].
It does not have any shonen-ai if that is what you are asking.
As No. 6 has not finish airing I can’t of yet say which is better. Shangri-la is more straight in the face. No over portrayal of anguish or anger. No play like sentence.
Heh, this is what I’m hoping the show DOESN’T turn out to, there was no need for any of the mysticism in Shangri-La and it annoyed me sooooo much in the end.
They certainly did leave out a lot from the original novel. I’m not complaining about that – reducing 9 volumes into 11 eps is a difficult thing.
However, I do feel a little bemused as we never got to know Nezumi’s real name. Maybe this series should be alternatively titled as “Ano Shounen” for “We Still Don’t Know the Name of the Young Boy We Saved That Day”… (Please don’t hit me.)
Bad jokes aside, I thought this episode was quite poorly animated in comparison to the previous one… (Or maybe it’s just me.)
And what’s with the weird background music during Nezumi’s singing? sure, bk music adds to the mood and I’ve loved No. 6’s ones so far, but this very one made Nezumi sound like as if he was singing in a primary school morning assembly.
Will this every air in the U.S?
If this is the only exposition about the setting we will be getting I’ll be sorely disappointed. EVERY dystopia runs on lies and oppression and violence, what really fascinates me whether the cruelty involved is almost morally justifiable (Ursula Le Guins’ “The Ones who walk away from Omelas”) or totally totalitarian (1984) ie the tiny little ideological details. Right now, No.6 just seems too generic. Oh and though the sudden supernatural element was hinted at with Nezumi and Safu’s mind-sync, it seems really incongruous with everything else. Honestly if I’d wanted a BL story with a side-serving of sci-fi, the Ai no Kusabi ova is way more sophisticated (explicit yaoi but that’s another story…)
Also regarding Karan, I get the feeling that she still wants to believe in the Utopian ideals behind the original project, out of all the known founders she seems to have the less bad things happen to her.
Hosoya does have a nice voice, no wonder he’ll be having a concert soon~
It’s quite funny this show doesn’t get as much comments here as before. Same goes with other forums where this is being discussed. Did this show really lose some of its fans because of one kiss?
Oh, I was gonna say what you said xD
That’s what I though too. Lots of people already dropped the series before the kiss, and even more after this kiss. Lol, that kiss was an empty kiss. It has got nothing to the with romance whatsoever. It’s not like we see the typical pattern of typical shounen-ai animes : Kiss, rape, rape, kiss, kiss, rape, and more kisses and rapes.
I don’t know if I’d say “no romance whatsoever”. I think it’s pretty clear that Shion and Nezumi feel some physical attraction, but it’s just as clear that the anime isn’t going any farther with that than what you saw last week. This isn’t a typical shounen-ai series, as you say, but that doesn’t mean a kiss on the lips is nothing more than a hearty handshake.
Either that, or the kiss was the only thing they wanted to discuss!
I believe the latter=) Female fanbase is still strong anyway. This episode was rather satisfactory one because it explained some mysteries, so no curiosity hype over unexplainable events = less comments. Next episode gotta have some outstanding scenes with main characters (and I don’t even mean gay stuff) so we’ll see the reaction.
Ok I’ll discuss what really bothers me: It seems that Nezumi can sing some funeral songs for Inukshi dogs and promised to sing her the same when she’s dying or in pain. At the same time Elyurias’s song seems funeral too, people who hear it begin to freak out, and Nezumi tried to escape it in his dream as if he knew it would kill him. But he says he heard this song only recently for the first time. I’m confused.
I loved Nezumi’s singing voice. He was absolutely fantastic. I can’t stop listening to him singing over and over again. xD
And my god, this episode was godly. I just can’t understand why people can’t discuss No.6 without either hating the BL tones or fangirling over them. :/
Where’s all the comments about a man hugging a women? (JK) Forest folk? I guess that gives Nezumi and Safu something (sample? as in from that enchanted-looking tree or for it? or host for parasitic wasps?) in common. But I can’t be too sure that she’s one of the Forest folks too even if she is able to make a connection to Nezumi who is. Now there are more questions I have about the origins of those parasitic wasps. I hope that wasn’t all to Nezumi’s past; explain more about it next time. I’m confused about who is sending those cyborg mice to Karan – is it Sion, Nezumi, or both. And if it’s both when did Nezumi tell Sion about how to do it?
I’m starting to like the OP/ED of this anime; I can’t stop listening to the music.
When the old man asked Nezumi to sing, I was extremely against that, “Don’t, just, don’t sing.” I was afraid that his voice would be so off key just like Felton’s. But his voice turned out good *nods in approvals* I forgot that some seiyuus could sing well.
Ah, I am not a fan of yaoi anime/manga. Bromance yes though. It’s so touching to see this kind of friendship.
Pikachu: LOL thats what i was thinking as well XD
He hugged her! I will drop this show 😛
I’m just glad those immature people are all gone now.