Creator: Hinoki Kino
Original story: Atsuko Asano
U.S. publisher: Kodansha
ISBN: 9781612623603
Released: April 2014
Original release: 2013

I was rather pleased when Kodansha Comics licensed Hinoki Kino’s manga adaptation of Atsuko Asano’s No. 6. The original No. 6 was a nine-volume series of science fiction novels written between by 2003 and 2011. (Sadly, they haven’t officially been translated into English.) Also in 2011, two adaptations of No. 6 began—Kino’s manga series, which also ended up being nine volumes long, and an eleven-episode anime series directed by Kenji Nagasaki. The anime was actually my introduction to No. 6. Parts of the anime’s original ending frustrated me a great deal, but I was so taken with the characters and setting that I wanted to explore another interpretation of the story. No. 6, Volume 6 was originally published in Japan in 2013 while the English-language edition of the volume was released in 2014. The series has now passed its halfway point and is approaching its climax. The fifth volume ended in the middle of a critical scene, so I was particularly anxious to read the sixth.

The Security Bureau of the city of No. 6 has arrested Shion’s close childhood friend Safu and is currently holding her within the Correctional Facility. Shion is willing to do almost anything he can to rescue her, but he won’t be able to do it on his own no matter how hard he tries. Instead, he must rely on those he has met in West Block, a large population of refugees living outside the city walls. Rat has devised a daring plan to infiltrate the Correctional Facility. Shion and Rat allow themselves to be rounded up during the Manhunt—an effort by No. 6 to forcibly control and instill fear into those living in West Block—and are thereby able to gain access to the least secured area of the facility. If they hope to proceed any further they will have to depend on outside help and bribery; nothing is free in West Block, especially when those who give their aid may very well lose their lives for doing so. Everyone involved in the rescue have their own motives and agendas against the holy city of No. 6 so, at least for the time being, they are comrades.

No. 6, Volume 6 is a particularly important volume in the series for several reason: more of No. 6’s dark secrets are uncovered, a part of Rat’s past and the reason behind his hatred for the city is revealed, and the characters, specifically Shion but also Rat, have reached a crucial turning point in their development. All three of these things are interrelated and tied closely together. Shion grew up living an extremely privileged life in the supposedly perfect and pristine No. 6. However, the Manhunt and his experiences in West Block have shown him the terrible things that the city is capable of. Shion’s innocence is shattered further when he discovers that even the foundation of No. 6 was based on the blood of others. This history and Rat’s connection to it is something that up until this point in the series Rat has kept hidden from Shion, partly because he tends to distrust and close himself off from other people, but also because he was trying to protect the other young man. However, these are terrible truths that Shion must now face and come to terms with.

Seeing Shion begin to really change in the previous volume was heartbreaking, but here in No. 6, Volume 6 the difference between who Shion is now and who he was before is terrifying. The violence he is willing to commit with such eerie calm is chilling. His mother, still inside the city, is understandably worried about her son and his survival. However Rat, who is with him, is less concerned with Shion’s physical safety and more concerned about the potential loss of Shion’s personality and his very self. It’s almost as if the two of them have changed roles. Never before has Rat appeared so vulnerable or exhibited such kindness. He fears for Shion and is afraid of who Shion is becoming. At one point in the sixth volume the question is asked “Who do you want so much that it kills you?” In many ways, that question is the crux of No. 6. Rat is changing. Shion is changing. For the better and for the worse. For themselves and for each other. As a result the dynamics of their relationship is also evolving. They may or may not survive their confrontation with No. 6; tragically, even if they do, it is likely that they will be so different that little of their past lives and selves will remain intact.

Creator: Hinoki Kino
Original story: Atsuko Asano
U.S. publisher: Kodansha
ISBN: 9781612623597
Released: February 2014
Original release: 2012

As much as I would like to read them, it is highly unlikely that Atsuko Asano’s series of science fiction novels No. 6 will ever be licensed in English. Happily, two adaptations are available: the 2011 anime series directed by Kenji Nagasaki (which was my introduction to the story) and the manga series by Hinoki Kino. Despite the anime’s bungled ending, I actually quite enjoyed the series, so I was glad to have a chance to experience another interpretation of the original story. The fifth volume in Kino’s manga adaptation was initially published in Japan in 2012. Kodansha Comics’ English-language edition of No. 6, Volume 5, published in 2014, also collects bonus stories not included in the regular Japanese edition. Though it had its high points, overall I found the first volume of the No. 6 manga to be a bit weak. However, each volume has gotten progressively stronger as Kino has had time to more fully develop the series’ characters and world.

With the increase in the number of refugees and the rise in violent crime, the population of West Block has been deemed too large and dangerous. It’s all the excuse the holy city of No. 6 needs to mount a massive cleanup operation, known to the residents of West Block as the Manhunt, in which parts of the area outside the city walls are completely destroyed and the population conveniently “removed.” The Manhunt is a way for No. 6 to keep control and prevent riots, but this time the operation serves another purpose—to gather enough undesirables to serve as human guinea pigs for a top-secret experiment being conducted and authorized by the city’s upper echelons. The Manhunt will also provide Shion and Rat with the opportunity that they need to infiltrate the Correctional Facility in order to search for and hopefully rescue Shion’s close friend Safu. Rat is one of the few people to have made it out of the Correctional Facility alive and doesn’t particular want to go back, but he isn’t about to allow Shion to attempt it on his own.

This is the volume of No. 6 in which Shion is brought dangerously close to his breaking point, and it is heart-wrenching to witness it happen. Living in West Block has been slowly changing him; it’s an environment that is drastically different from the seemingly perfect city of No. 6 where he spent almost his entire life. But the violence and suffering that Shion has been exposed to in West Block is nothing compared to the extent of the very deliberate cruelty of the Manhunt. Any faith that he still had in No. 6 is shattered when confronted with this horrifying atrocity, absolute proof that the city is not at all what it claims to be. Shion by nature has a very positive and optimistic outlook on life, but he has begun to lose that. Both he and Rat regret that change and even fear how much Shion might continue to change, especially in light of the most recent turn of events. Shion will never be able to return to the person who he once was no matter how much either of them would want it.

The characters and their growth continue to be some of the strongest elements of Kino’s No. 6 manga. This is especially true of Shion, as can particularly be seen in this volume, but Rat has also been changing in significant ways. The supporting cast, too, has almost all seen at least some minor development. The only major exception to this is the research scientist in charge of No. 6’s experiment. In fact, even though the series is more than halfway over, he doesn’t even have a name yet and is only referred to as “the man in white” in the character profiles. Since he seems to be one of the series’ main antagonists, this is a little disappointing. It’s also rather unsatisfying that the experiment, its purpose, and the motives behind it haven’t yet been made clear to the readers. This persistent vagueness and lack of clarity, instead of being mysterious or creating ominous tension, is mostly just frustrating this far along in the series. Even so, Rat and Shion’s excellent development in the manga largely makes up for this. In the end, I’m still really enjoying No. 6.