First Impression – No.6

Happy Birthday! We got you a new boy toy!

	Numbah six, here we go! I was terrified when I saw some reviews already comparing it to Fractale, which was less than stellar, but I can safely say this has a much lesser chance of crashing and burning. Anyways, let’s just focus on the episode at hand, shall we?
	Yeah, it’s BONES, you’re kind of obliged to watch the first episode. I’m not holding my breath for anything amazing, though.
	Summer season continues to release some really fun shows Now we have Bones doing a science fiction anime?! Hell ya! Well time to jump into a tag review for No 6 hope you enjoy it.
	Oh man oh man, sooooo many summer anime are already out and I’m already working on catching up a bit. But yes! No.6!!! Oh how I have been looking forward to this anime. I really don’t know what to expect besides some good bromance. But yeah, hope this is a good one.

Overcooled: To start off the show with a quick burst of adrenaline, No.6 chooses to have a poor boy being hunted down by soldiers as the first thing you see. As the poor thing hits a dead end after being shot in the arm, he cries out in agony. Meanwhile, some girly-boy is sitting in a classroom daydreaming about flower petals and leaves and shit. Believe it not, but you’ve just been introduced to the two main characters, plus one plucky female side character with a gaudy sweater.

Safu (ugly sweater girl) and Shion (pansy boy) head home together after Safu’s failed lecture. There are telltale signs of a typhoon in the sky, so they quickly rush home to avoid getting caught in it. Plus, it’s his birthday! Surprise! He gets an ugly sweater, a kiss he obviously doesn’t want from Safu and a typhoon. It’s a sad day when a boy prefers standing in a typhoon than getting kissed by a nice girl.

That laptop is. so. screwed.

After Shion’s amusing little heavy metal concert on the balcony, he gets paid a visit by the “learn to shut your goddamned window” fairy. Well, if you can call a 12 year old boy with murderous intent a fairy. Shion is surprisingly calm as the other boy chokes him. His first reaction is not to call the police or anything, but to treat his wounds. The boy, Nezumi, quickly lets down his guard showing a surprisingly nice side as Shion cleans his wound.

So, this is a pretty cool surprise party!

As the boys talk, it becomes clear that the both of them are a bit special. Shion is a genius, which the reason he got to live in the posh area called “Cronos.” Meanwhile, Nezumi escaped from a correctional facility when they were trying to bring him into a building Shion describes as a giant blister. The only other thing we learn about him is that he has a strange marking on his back. After treating his wounds, he gives the raven-haired boy a hot drink, a sweater, and even his bed.

What else could he possibly do for a total stranger? Shion ignores a wanted poster of Nezumi sent to his hi-tech bracelet from the Public Security Bureau and even brings him pie. Oh hey, you’re a wanted man with a tracking chip? Eat some cherry pie, babe. It’s all good. You can imagine how surprised Nezumi is, but he eventually shrugs and just goes along with it. As the two start to really get along, Nezumi starts really teasing Shion, making fun of his typhoon opera. As Shion tries to shut him up, Shion does a quick ankle sweep and pins him to the ground. Despite threatening to kill him, Shion feels nothing but amazement. Sheltered much?

Nezumi suddenly grows quiet and tightly grips Shion’s hand. He has a fever. Naturally, that means Shion has to nuzzle against the other boy’s forehead because that’s the best damn way to tell a temperature. After commenting on just how HAWT Nezumi is, they eventually just fall asleep. The next morning Nezumi is gone and Shion is in a lot of trouble.

Ahahahahahaha! Oh spoon…you’re so funny!

Bonus Birthday Presents:

Not quite what he meant by spooning

BELIEEEVVVEEE ITTTTTTT

I don’t even know the name of half the stuff I’m using is, BUT IT’S WORKING, RIGHT?

From the OP, but too good to not include.

End Thoughts:

I watched this with my friend, and there was a lot of fangirling. A lot. Luckily for you, I got all the squealing out of my system so my end thoughts will still remain coherent. That being said, WOW THIS IS GOING TO BE A GREAT BL SHOW. I know it’s not supposed to be that sort of thing and these kids are only twelve, but it’s going to happen. These two are going to be paired up like crazy. I mean…come on. Rainbows in the OP? An entire ED dedicated to cheerful playing in the snow? I know I already tweeted this, but I really am going to be Metanorn’s go-to girl for homolust this season since I’ll be covering both this and Tiger & Bunny. BUT HEY, I’M NOT COMPLAINING.

I found myself growing fond of the two of them quite instantly. Shion is booksmart, but has a lack of street smarts so severe I’m surprised he’s still alive. It contrasts well against Nezumi’s rough around the edges personality. That being said, I’m relieved Nezumi isn’t a giant asshole. He can kill you in about 50 different ways, but he’s still a nice guy. I’m going to like seeing these two as the main leads, and that is a very important aspect that’s needed for anime to work. Good characters. Also, the girl studies neuroscience! Like Kurisu…and me! Yay!

I really adored this first episode. I love when first episodes don’t rely on stuffing content in your face, but let the mystique and intrigue of the plot slowly settle in. I’m dying to know more about this near “perfect” world they live in, which will no doubt turn out to be corrupt and terrible. It’s only 11 episodes long, so I really hope they don’t have to rush things towards the end, because I’m starting to really like shows that are more of a slow burn these days. I’m really hoping they can weave a complex tale in 11 episodes. I’ll have to stick around and find out.

 

Well, the opening song was pretty pants, but I enjoyed the animation. It was interesting; there seems to be a trend going with pixelation these past few seasons. TWGOK2 had it in it’s OP, [C] had it, and I suppose Kamisama Dolls used all different colours in a type of geometric equivilent. It has a certain Fractale quality about it that worries me, though hopefully it won’t turn out as bad as that.  Either way BONES seems to be trending with sci-fi shows recently. No.6 definitely has the homolust of Star Driver going for it, and boy do we love it for that <3

That being said it doesn’t really look like BONES animation, it was lacking the usual quirkiness that sets it apart from other studios. Anyone could have animated this, the art style was very bland and forgetable. Didn’t impress me. The characters had that same dull, lethargy about them, too. Except maybe Rat, he seemed to come a bit more alive than the others. Shion is dull as bricks, not to mention he looks like a girl. Ugh.

Things don’t really get interesting storywise either until the end when it goes all Song of the Wind & Trees on us. The episode itself didn’t hook me or make me want to see more, but I am going to stick with it long enough to see how they handle the transition from younger them to older them. I want to know why Shion’s hair turns white or how Rat grew up into Yu Kanda from Gray Man. I’m assuming that’s them all grown up, anyway. I hope they get to that soon, the raging GHEYness will seem less shotaish that way.

 

Well wasn’t that a fun first episode? I really love the animation of course Bones always does top quality work with their shows, character designs are also nice to look at really remind you of FMA and Darker than black. The city they live in does sort of remind of Index and railgun, but any anime with giant wind turbines always remind me of those two shows anyway. So yeah the artwork and environment details are really nice and high tech, I think I saw a bit of CGI work but it wasn’t so bad.

When I first saw Nezumi I instantly thought he looked like Sasuke from Naruto! Well his attitude does make him act a bit like him too not wanting anyone to get close. And now Sion! Such a strange kid opening that window and screaming?! LOL random much? Guess he gets really excited during storms. And he’s twelve? ahaha good job Bones. So Nezumi escaped from prison sure buddy let’s be friends why not he is totally safe right? Besides almost getting killed by a spoon! Damn I think Nezumi will be fun to watch.

Them holding hands? And calling each other hot yea I am sure no one will take that the WRONG way? Right? Noooopppeee those two are instantly paired now..Nooo!! Anyway I can’t wait to find out more about Sion and how he gets his new hair color, I assume he gets interrogated? And what kinds of dark secrets Nezumi I can bet they are doing experiments on the prisoners…Anyway I will definitely follow this series! It does seem very interesting so far.

 

Oh wow, as much as this anime somewhat feels a little slow paced with the story developing more, it was just so interesting. First of all, the opening theme was just awesome! Unfortunately, I can’t even attempt to sing such a high pitched song but the animation and scenes was just so cool. To add to that, the ending theme was just so touching. Yes, it’s two guys playing in the snow, but it was just sooooo purrrrty!! I wonder what happened to Shion’s hair and such! I can’t wait to get to that point of the story. The whole setting of this anime seems pretty cool. While at first I thought it was just a modern looking city, there’s actually a separation of class with the poor and rich.

The whole premise of a high IQ 12 year old kid who’s so smart that he’s bored with life is not unusual but to add in an escaped ‘prisoner’ that the kid hides really adds to the thrill. Though, the voice does not match Nezumi, it made me laugh so hard but once past that, it’s all pretty good. How oblivious to the situation Shion is to help a wounded person who has you pinned down is something but what’s even more funny is how Shion plays doctor on Nezumi. Seeing the kindheartedness and yet curiosity of Shion was pretty cool.

Even though there’s no action yet, I’m excited to find out what happens next in this anime. There’s so many mysteries and so many more story developments that we have to go through to get to the point of when the two boys meet years later. As well, the mystery behind the city hall, the moondrop crying, Nezumi’s background, no.6 and the mysterious thing that was happening to Shion in class. There’s so much that I look forward to and I can’t wait to find out what happens next. So see ya next week!