No. 6 Series Review

It took awhile but here is my couple of weeks late review of BONES’ No.6 series =)

Plot Summary:

Shion is a bright teenager living a comfortable and promising life inside No. 6, one of this six remaining city-states created by The Babylon Treaty after the last great war devastated the world. On the rainy evening of his twelfth birthday, he meets a savvy adolescent who calls himself “Nezumi” (Rat) and is desperately trying to runaway from the authorities. For helping a fugitive of the state, Sion is stripped of all his privileges. Four years later, they meet once again. For better or for worse, Sion is about to unravel the secrets guarded deep inside No. 6. – ANN

Genre: Action, Adventure, Science-fiction, Dystopia

Review

The Plot:

This show had started off as one of the more refreshing stories of the season but failed to deliver/live up to the expectations. Although the show did not lose steam and every episode was just as interesting as the previous one with more complications and mysteries shrouding the plot, it inadvertently also set it up to fail. It seemed like the writers had lost track of time whilst developing the story and had forgotten that this series was meant to end with 11 episodes, as such, the ending felt forced and rushed with many questionable solutions having been presented. Despite that, one cannot simply ignore the first 10 episode and write this series off as the ending was not as horrible as you may think, it was simply unsatisfying and disappointing due to the potential this series had.

One thing that really interest me at the start of the show (but got lost along the way as the story went down a different path) was the concept of No.6 being a Dystopian Society controlling its people like mere puppets. I shall not divulge too much as it might spoil the show but lets say that this show started off by creating many opportunities but ended up focusing on just one situation and everything else got lost in the background.

Although BONES had had its fair share of mediocre series recently, this is one of the better series produced by them and it has restored my faith in the company.

The Characters:

I am a firm believer that a plot can be terrible but if the characters are charming and entertaining, it makes a terrible series watchable and perhaps even fun. This show did not have a terrible plot, and whilst we won’t be remembering these characters for years to come, they do have strong personalities that jump off the screen.

First off, we have our protagonist Shion who is pretty much a goody-two-shoes who is meant to be a know it all genius. I am usually a person who will get annoyed by characters who are overly idealistic and innocent but his character just contrasted and complimented Nezumi’s character.

Worse thing about Shion is his clothes, it makes him look like a grandfather. White hair can be cool, knitted clothes in that colour just looks like he came from a retirement home.

Nezumi is my favourite character of this show. He brings the edge to this series with his personality not to mention the fact that he is cool and calm (when Shion is not around). This is one charming character that makes watching this show so much better.

The supporting characters Inukashi and Rikigai are interesting with their different outlooks on life influenced by their past.

The character development in this series is done well with the exception of the last couple of episodes.

Of course, we will have some our dud characters who felt like they were there for no reason at all. But they aren’t really worth mentioning.

The Animation:

The animation was what one would have expected out of a studio like BONES.

Despite being set in a post-apocalyptic time, this atmosphere was one that was enchanting rather than depressing and dark and I really appreciate this fact. The color palette chosen for this show is really neutral and brings out the environment well. When it came to No.6, the colours used were more sterile and cool whereas a warmer colour palette is used with the environment of the West City and this really help with expressing the vast difference in the societies where one is controlled by their emotions and the other is with emotions being taken out of the equation.

BONES has always been good with their action scenes and this is no exception. The most entertaining scenes in this show were either that action scenes or the emotional ones where more attention is paid to giving the characters a more dynamic feel with the camera angles and fluidity of the animation.

I have mentioned in my reviews that my favourite images from this show were those taken of Shion and Nezumi overlooking the barren and torn down West City during a sunset or sunrise. (This show really likes it’s sunsets and sunrises. It seems that most of the time when we see the west city skyline, it is usually around that time). A good and creatively constructed world makes a believable and interesting universe.

Although there was nothing superb or overly creative about the animation, it was still good.

The Soundtrack:

The opening song irk me whereas the ending song made me feel all nice and warm. But after watching the whole series, I have to say that the soundtrack was picked pretty well. It suited the oddness that is the show. I will leave whether this is a good or bad thing up to your imagination.

Overall:

If you are looking for a deep and dark post-apocalyptic dystopian society story, this is not it. The show will make an interesting watch and is one of my favourites from this season. However, this is not a show that will make me go up to my friends and say “You have to watch this!” It is a above average series

Series Rating: 7.5/10

-ra out!