OP Sequence

OP: 「Spell」 by LAMA
Watch the OP!: Streaming ▼

「びしょぬれネズミ」 (Bishonure Nezumi)
“Drowned Rat”

The BL is strong with this one.

If it’s Thursday it must be NoitaminA, if it’s the second slot it must be an edgy fantastical series, and if it’s BONES sci-fi the plot must be indecipherably complex. So far, No. 6 looks to be meeting demand in all three areas.

With your heartstrings suitably tugged at by Usagi Drop – the successor to Hourou Musuko and AnoHanaNo. 6 takes over the cerebral half of the bill from Fractale and C. I hope it’s ultimately more successful than those interestingly but flawed series – based on the premiere episode it’s too early to say. There were some very nice things here, and some that were already awkward and a bit stilted.

Based on a best-selling YA novel series by Asanao Atsuko, No. 6 is set in the near-future (2013) in the fictional city No. 6, a kind of model city that emerged after a war we aren’t given much detail about. It’s somewhat delicate Shion’s 12th birthday, and after spending some time at the house of his quixotically interested girl classmate Safu (Yasuno Kiyono), where he receives a cake, a kiss (“I’m expressing my reproductive impulse!”) and a bad sweater, Shion (Kaji Yuuki) heads off to his futuristic home.

Shion, it emerges, is a genius – a top-ranking student raised as an elite since the age of 2. This is obviously a highly segregated society though again, details thus far are short. As Shion thrills at the prospect of a coming typhoon which makes the Moondrop (some kind of futuristic communications dome at the center of town) “cry” (it sounds a lot like whale song), he throws open his window and screams exultantly into the gale. But through his open window appears Nezumi (Rat), a wild-looking boy with long hair and a wound on his shoulder. Nezumi (Hosoya Yoshimasa) is an escaped criminal. Shion seems to rather take to the idea of hiding a girlish-looking feral boy in his room, treating his wounds, “forehead-kissing” and holding hands. Rat, for his part mocking Shion’s defenseless nature and willingness to let a dangerous stranger take advantage of his kindness, is in no position to refuse it.

In terms of plot, there just isn’t enough in this first episode to make much of a guess where this is going. Clearly Shion and Nezumi are going to become BFFs, and just as clearly from the ED there’s going to be a time-skip of 3-4 years at some point and Shion’s hair is going to pull a Victorique and turn white for some reason – must be a BONES thing. It’s more than a little jarring to me to hear the voices of 30 year-old men – making no effort to disguise them – coming from these bishounen, prepubescent character designs. Obviously it’s a “we didn’t want to have to change seiyuu” kind of thing, and that leads me to believe the skip is happening sooner than later – but it still lends an inadvertently comedic effect to the scene in Shion’s bedroom.

As with anything BONES, the series looks good and the animation is smooth and fluid. The character designs are classic BONES too, the boys pretty and the girls cute. There’s going to be a lot of violence and and fast-paced action down the line, presumably, as this definitely has the feel of a 1984/Brave New World scenario where society takes way too much direct control over people’s lives. Shion and Nezumi in some sort of resistance movement? Shion banished as punishment for helping Nezumi and turning to him for help to survive? Plausible enough guesses, as good as any others based on the thin evidence of the first episode.

But it seems as if the fate of this series as an entertainment is going to turn on whether the relationship between Shion and Nezumi can carry the show – much of the episode consists of close-ups of the two boys staring at each other. I’m guessing the BL undertones will never rise above the level of undertones a la shows like Pandora Hearts and this show’s numerically-named cousin 07 Ghost, but either way that doesn’t matter so much as the quality of their friendship itself. Like everything else it’s too early to say whether it will succeed in this area. As popular as the novels were I’d like to assume there’s substance there – we have yet another new director in charge, Nagasaki Kenji, so that’s nothing to go on. It’s NoitaminA and it’s BONES, so that’s enough reason to be hopeful if not overconfident.

 

ED Sequence

ED: 「六等星の夜」 (Rokutousei no Yoru) by Aimer
Watch the ED!: Streaming ▼

95 Comments

  1. YES BL! Nah, even without the BL tones this seems quite interesting in its own. And I actually don’t remember PH being like that unless the anime is different than the manga but 07-Ghost did have some lulzy BL moments.

    haitechan
  2. haha YESSS BL 😛

    But yeah, that aside it looks pretty interesting to me. Becauise of their hair 2 main dudes remind me of Kanda and Allen from D.Gray Man.

    Thank you for posting this and looking forward for more episodes to come 😉

    Corn
    1. You are right! And even Allen’s hair wasn’t white at first! I wonder what will happen to Shion. I’m guessing his mom and friends will get killed and his hair goes white from the trauma.

      haitechan
  3. I think the yaoi is going to be pretty low-key. What we old timers used to call shounen-ai.

    I have some seiyuu problems with Nezumi and Shion, I’ll tell you that. Reminds me of the “Seinfeld” ep where Kramer gets his little person friend Mickey to pretend to be the kid he’s babysitting for, and when the mother walks in he says “Good night” in his cigarette-razor blades voice and the Mom freaks out…

    1. Yea, today if an anime has even ONE scene with light BL it will be billed as a Yaoi. Many will drop it regardless of how good the story is and how well done the animation is.

      It’s pretty sad how times change.

      Ruu27
      1. Some people don’t want mechs, cars, moe-ness, and guys in their anime, regardless of whether the story and animation are good. Likewise other people also find the BL, yuri, sex, and what-not a hindrance to enjoying the show, regardless of whether the story and animation are good.

        Chill. It’s called personal preference, not homophobia.

        paulrenzo
    2. Yeah, today if an anime has even ONE scene with light BL it will be billed as a Yaoi. Many will drop it regardless of how good the story is and how well done the animation is.

      It’s pretty sad how times change.

      Ruu27
  4. IIRC, there have never been a ton of BL moments in Pandora Hearts, although there were some way after the anime and manga split.
    Anyway, obsessive fangirl nitpicking aside, that time skip will either happen by the halfway point of the next episode (if it doesn’t then you’ll find me laughing over their voices again), although some of those images were a bit spoilery….

  5. Shounen-ai, yaoi or whatever you want to call it. Having his Mother name you Shion aka some flower cursed him from the moment he was born to be in some BL…I’m just saying. Despite all that I’m wondering if he’s hair turns white on the second episode. The preview shows him having some form of panic, you would think that would trigger it.

    Silentcid
  6. The BL hints are mostly disturbing due to his total lack of understanding of why the girl would kiss his cheek. ‘Rat’ really looked like a girl when asleep btw.

    znail
  7. Lol, the BL is hilarious here as Shion does things without realising the underlying meaning. Doesn’t stop us from seeing things differently. His lack of awareness and curiousity even at a situations where he could potentially get killed makes some interesting social interactions and lack of socially accepted boundaries. Looks like thursday is the day of human emotions with a variety of shows providing an assortment of human interactions

    Shadiic
  8. Forehead-kissing??? LOL
    I’ve quickly glanced through the manga and the premise definitely looks interesting enough. The only concern I have is whether Bones can deliver within 11-12 episodes. It seems like they’re taking their own sweet time with episode one and that’s not a good sign seeing how time management isn’t exactly their strong suit.
    I’ve found it odd that Nezumi sounded like a 30 years old too but I guess that’s a bit of a nitpicking on my part.

    Seishun Otoko
  9. BL… I had a wiff of Junjou romantica from my (gay) brother and I was totally knocked out due to the sheer “homo-ness”. As much as I liked the studio, I’m straight, and Catholic to boot, so any BL tones is a turn-off. And did that kid just kissed that guy on the forehead? While holding-hands before? IN A DARK ROOM!?!….

    I think I’m gonna be sick….

    The M0on DOgg
    1. JR was flatout BL though. No. 6 is just hint at most. No one can mistake JR as anything but BL and I would go as far as to say the plot for JR took a back burner to the BL relationship so that it was emphasized. No. 6 isn’t like that, the plot is the main drive for the show with any possible BL relationship left to be interpreted by the viewer.

      ML
    1. When too girls hug each other you say: “It’s cute!!!” and when too boys do same things you say: “Weird!!! It’s yaoi!!!”. Just don’t comment this show anymore please.

      Seya
      1. What? Everyone knows the original novel has BL elements, so it’s pretty safe to assume that the anime will be the same too, even if their relationship looked normal in the first episode.

        viral
    2. I’ll close my eyes on it. Almost all anime now has such elements for boys. Like I say it early: little ecchi or some hugs between girls. Noitamina is for girls so it’s ok.

      Seya
    3. BL, pointless ecchi, yuri, excessive moe, loli, harem garbage, etc. All the same shit, some dont like a few of them, some dont like any of them.
      Get off your high horse

      babawaba
  10. To a Japanese person, is someone named Nezumi as “weird” as an American/British person named Rat? If so, what makes it different from an “accepted” name like Ryu (which literally means ‘dragon’ if I’m not mistaken)?

    1. Some names may sound weird and some may sound fine. It’s not a matter of being related to a real thing. It sounds strange because it’s not a common name.

      For example, “Nezumi” (rat) in Portuguese is equivalent to “Rato”. It sounds strange/wrong to me. However there are a lot names in Portuguese that are related to real things and do not sound strange, such as “Lua” (Moon), “Flor” (Flower), “Alma” (Soul), “Falcão” (hawk), “Leão” (Lion), Pinto (chick, yeah, it can be a surname here), “Rocha” (rock), “Dias” (days), etc. These are all common names here.

      In fact, in English you can find some examples. The surname “Rice” (which is a type of food), for instance, doesn’t sound wrong in English, but in Portuguese (Arroz), it would sound extremely ridiculous. However if everybody here start using “Arroz”, then it will sound natural after some generations. LOL.

      André
      1. Most intriguing events in Fractale were put at the start to attract the auditorium, but it wasn’t a total failure. Something similar in this season I see in that penguin show, it looks like they put all the efforts in the very first episode to attract the auditorium, but later it may appear to be a total failure, but I’m not sure about this show – it may be actually appear interesting.

        SpoilerMaker
  11. lol ppl
    hm i only read the first 2 chapters from the manga – nothing came up since than – to bad i liked it – that why i noticed it has an anime adaptation – i put it fast in my watching list and was happy was a summer anime

    i have nothing again BL i enjoy watching if is good

    i hate the opening sing though

    but i don’t think will cross any line and will be only best friends

  12. Sorry, I tend to keep away from BL shows. I don’t mind a little, like in Pandora Hearts, where it was actually kept at a friendship level, but here… it’s just not doing it for me. I need at least 1 or 2 cute girls to balance it out (like Alice and Sharon did), and this And there’s not going to be any here, since this is Josei, a.k.a. fujoushi bait.

    DmonHiro
  13. Totally not against BL but for shows like this I prefer if they keep it as BFF. Shounen ai at the max. Just my opinion though.
    And I never thought the first episode of this show could be really intriguing. It totally rockets to my top must-watch-list this season.
    What bothers me a little is Shion’s willingness to help a criminal that even threatened him before. Might be curiosity, might be because he is too kind (kinda hoping this kindness will prove to play part in the story). If I were him I would go screaming for help!
    But I love love love it so far!! 😀
    btw when everybody says Nezumi looks like Kanda, Athrun from Gundam Seed was the first character that came to my mind when I saw him. Weird, huh -_-

    KGFJ
  14. I really don’t think No. 6 is classified as josei in any way. The novels were considered YA and the manga has never been classed as josei that I’ve seen.

    I don’t care much either way – quality is quality so they can have whatever undertones they want. But I do think it’s sort of funny that girls can crawl all over each other and it’s the best Christmas morning ever, and the second a couple of guys hold hands the world is coming to an end. I enjoy a little yuri as much as the next guy, but the difference in reaction to these different scenarios is really interesting.

      1. I was just going from the categories from AniDB… as well as the actual content of the episode… this is josei. Let’s go by the process of elimination if you don’t believe me. Is it shounen? No. Is it shoujo? Not even close? Is it seinen? Well… it has a few elements, but seinen is supposed to be for young men between 20 and 30 years old, sometimes older, so this doesn’t quite fit. It doesn’t fit josei perfectly either, but is a lot closed. It’s more of a josei/shoujo hybrid to me. And yes, most men are unconfortable with male on male relationships. Call it what you will, it’s just how it is. So how much sense does making a show for a specific demographic then adding elements that would alienate it from that same demographic make?

        DmonHiro
      2. It can safely be considered josei. Author Asano Atsuko is a woman. Also, like its name suggests, YA Entertainment publishes works that are geared towards young adults, ages 20-40. The manga version illustrated by Kino Hinoki is being serialize in Kodansha’s ARIA magazine, a monthly publication that features shoujo manga.

    1. Well, I have read six chapters of the manga and it seems very shounen to me. I think people are missing the point over here, there’s so much to the story than the BL undertones which I must add, is extremely mild. And yes, there are female characters who play important roles and they are fairly good looking ones. Keep an open mind, you guys!

      Seishun Otoko
  15. LOOL, there is so much more to this story than just BL, I find it funny how people only focus on that aspect and post just to say how they are against it XD I totally have nothing against BL. Better than Yuri IMO but that might be because I am a girl. Rather see more BL in animes than stupid girl fanservices. And is this even categorized as BL?

    Agreed with Guardian Enzo. Notht e end of the world guys just cause some parts of the story hints BL haha

    And the Ending is pretty 🙂 Great song, great animation.
    With the Opening the animation and the song gets addictive after a while with the sudden voice change half-way through.

    As for the story I like the futuristic setting of the story and the contrast in the 2 main characters. Shion is kind and clueless, Nezumi seems more sharp and independent.

    LOL how clueless are you Shion? You have a girl baking cake and kissing you on the cheek and you still see her as a friend?

    Keep us updated please 🙂

    Corn
    1. i so agree wif u for some reason the ppl watchin care more than whether ther is yaoi or nt than enjoyin watchin the anime seriously i jus think they are jus chidhood friends which are probably misinterprated as tat kinda funny

  16. I hope 4 year timeskip comes soon, it’s just awkward. They don’t sound or look like 12 year olds and the BL undertones were strange despite me actually having nothing against any Bl ever, but I’m sure once they are of a decent age it’ll seem more natural.

    The episode didn’t reveal much and reminded me of early Fractale (which was enjoyable), I just hope it can keep up with itself and since it’s getting adapted from successful novels I am sure it will 🙂

  17. And suddenly the homophobes appear.
    The irony is that as a Yaoi fangirl used to seeing subtext in everything, the BL undertones barely registered on my radar (well apart from the ED and the hand holding, but even then Nezumi’s comment suggests he’s used to being surrounded by dead bodies).
    Is pretty intrigued so far, hopefully they can cover everything in 11 episodes.

    momogoldfish
  18. Well, I’m homophobic but at least I am honest about it – I was once invited to a gay bar and will never forget the feeling of being visually ogled, since then I never try to stare at girls, no matter how attractive, because now I know how they feel – and despite that I am thinking about adding this series to watchlist, if only for the quite realistic future anti-utopia depicted…
    And btw , this doesnt have to devolve into fully fledged yaoi, maybe with slight undertones like, erm, Sora no woto?

    ewok40k
    1. It’s not a BL show. The BL relationship isn’t the main drive of the show, the plot is as compared to shows like Junjour Romantica where the BL IS the main thing that holds the show together. No.6 is plot driven and any possible BL relations are hinted at, left to the interpretation of the viewer. Don’t write-off the show with a simple “BL/Yuri shows are usually boring” if you haven’t even seen the show.

      ML
  19. @Starblacks – thank you! Very kind of you to say so.

    @Kurofaise – I disagree that they didn’t look 12, which was actually the source of the problem for me given the seiyuu they chose. Everything suggests that the timeskip is going to come very soon except the OP, which is almost entirely 12 year-old Shion and Rat. Maybe it’s a one-ep bogus OP, like Kuroshitsuji II’s infamous Claude and Alois opening?

    @Ewok: I don’t think you need to worry about this evolving into full-on yaoi. This is NoitaminA and BONES – it just doesn’t fit.

      1. Not being a homophobe myself, I can’t really say what “tolerable” would be. I haven’t read the novels or the manga, but if you mean no sex or graphic yaoi scenes, yes – I expect nothing along those lines. My guess would be something along the lines of what you saw in 07 Ghost or Nabari no Ou and not much more overt than that.

  20. Really, why are people so persistent on calling it a yaoi series? There are some slight shounen-ai undertones, but that’s all. Them holding hands and Shion checking Nezumi’s forehead for a fever were the only BLish things I’ve seen so far. It doesn’t make sense how not many protest if there’s slight yuri undertones in a series but suddenly many stay away if there’s a scene of two guys holding hands.

    For the hair turning white thing – Shion may have to escape from the city for knowing too much and dying his hair is a way of hiding his identity.

    I love No. 6 so far. I’ve gone ahead and read some of the light novel chapters already. For those who stay away from a show just because it has some light shounen-ai undertones, you’re truly missing out on a great series and it’s your loss.

  21. Ugh, I hate when main characters in a show are straight- It’s almost like homosexual people actually exist (heavy sarcasm)

    Let’s be honest though it’s refreshing to see a (possible) “BL” with the main point being the plot, not some romance for the sake of it being between two men.

    Excited for this season

    Rocket
  22. I don’t understand why everyone is calling out BL. It’s just a kiss to the forehead right? Between kids that age how is that evidence of romance at all? It’s like people can’t touch each other without being considered an item. I know some people would call it slashy but really if it was a girl kissing a girl on the forehead would that be considered femslash or just female affection?

    Blue
    1. If I told you WHY people really think it is BL it would be a massive spoiler. People are posting pics and spoilers from both the manga and novels online…all I can say.

      I personally don’t think it is a BL, because even if everything they are saying is true, it still isn’t the focus. Torchwood isn’t a gay romance series either.

      Dana
  23. Pfffttt that’s not BL! It’s Bromance! Just Bromance! But the moment I smell the slightest bit of…yaoi… I’m out. Out like a guy who hates yaoi. With a passion.

    Chunkylord
  24. This could very well be the second anime adaptation of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. Segregated society, guy meets someone else from the lower classes, and who knows how similar it’ll be later with plot twists?

    This is on my watch list. Thanks for blogging this, Enzo.

  25. @Seya: I read your post about how you are driving me away from posting here so I’ll just want to add this before I officially drop this series:

    “Yes. Hugging, holding hands and getting all lovey-dovey with another guy in an intimate and sexual way is weird and two girls doing it is sexy. A straight girl would say the same thing if it was yuri yet she may like yaoi. Avertedly a person which is no straighter than a rainbow will like yuri/yaoi regardless.”

    =_=

    Forgive me.

    See ya in the Idolm@ster page….

    The M0on DOgg
  26. The “problem” I think most people would have with BL in an anime like this is that… was it really necesary? Like, whats the point of even having it there? It reminds me of all the pointless BL in Tiger & Bunny, which I honestly dont see any different from the pointless yuri, pointless fanservice, retarded harems, etc.

    babawaba
  27. Crash like Fractale and C huh? Well with 11-12 episodes to work with, I kinda have to predict that BONES might just make that crash… Cant really recall at the moment of a good 11-12 episode anime by BONES, some help here?
    Though this episode did do a lot of good first impression for the series. With an interesting and captivating setting in place, all they have to do is explore that setting and ensure that everything is explained ot hinted to the audiences… I am really afraid of keeping my hopes up 🙁

    Flappy
  28. I don’t care. BL overtones or not, it doesn’t take away from what I watch. This reminds of Fractale, which unnerves me a little because I dropped Fractale at episode 4. The whole futuristic city setting always bothers me a little, but I don’t know why. I thought the voices were older than they should be as well. XD

  29. Frankly, I regret mentioning the BL overtones in my review at all. Not because they aren’t there – they are – but because I really don’t care about them one way or the other and I wish I hadn’t injected it into the conversation. It’s not like Rat and Shion were festing it up big-time, anyway.

    Ah well, c’est la vie – I’ll call ’em like I see ’em as the show progresses. If it’s a good show I really don’t think the overtones make a difference.

  30. Oh I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who thought that they were Allen and Kanda; I miss D-gray man. Anyways, I liked the OP/ED of this anime; I’ll watch a few more episodes before deciding if it’s good.

    Rika
  31. Before anyone tries to insult me for this let me make this clear: I am a HUGE homophobe (now saying *youre a homophobe* for what im about to say is no longer a valid insult)

    This series is BL. period. Ive read the VNs and for the first half of the story its pretty much BL, then it turns into *not-BL* (dont wanna spoil why) . . .then turns into BL again at the end (wont spoil why)

    its an ok story….definately wont be completed in eleven episodes, so Im personally skipping this as Im sick of animes that cant complete a fking story correctly (Fractale clusterfuck anyone?)

    Dknight
  32. hahaha i can see why you’d regret putting the “BL” label out, enzo. although i’m not too sure why those who are making a big fuss about not watching it and posting it everywhere on how much they hate “yaoi”(which is just meaningless sex =/= BL or shounen-ai). they really could have just dropped it quietly without festing it up with a wankfest because no one really cares if they watch it or not. no one really cares about their opinion.

    anyhow! commenting here to give you a compliment because i love how this review was written! :”> too bad i had to scroll past all those “OMGBL!!” comments to get to the bottom of the site so i can reply. i love the premise of the story and the setting and the animation is just wonderful. although agreeing with someone who posted up there on how too much of something can ruin a series. i am crossing my fingers and hoping that the focus of the story will not become BL and will keep with the complex plot of uncovering the dirty secrets of no. 6. when a series is not JUST a BL/yaoi series(like hatsukoi and junjou), BL is a side dish… so it would be too sad if something with so much promise actually does just become a BL series since it’d be a waste of the plot. ;_;

    mi-cakes
  33. What impressess me is that there is actually more people complaining about homophobes than opinions disliking the show for its BL undertones. Everyone is free to drop a show for whatever reason they feel like and express them on the comments without needing to adopt any euphemism on their words.

    Labeling those people as homophobes, insecure, immature just shows how much many of you are concerned to make them feel bad about their opinions. Posting to intimidate the others is a weakness. It is, in a way, a desperate, militant search for approval. It shows that those people are clearly not prepared to read posts on the internet.

    That said, i am now going to post my opinion about the episode itself.

    Gorgeous visuals. Immersive atmosphere. Everything that was going on about the city made want to learn more, to immerse myself in the story, to the point i am thinking to hold back watching the show weekly, so i can see it all in one go. Yes, the story, the plot itself. The story, sadly, will probably be character driven. This is sad because, so far, only one character stands out: Nezumi. He has a great character design, exciting personality and probably a good backstory. Other than him, the characters feel uninteresting.

    Roberto

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