“I never thought this city was ideal.”
The rulers of No. 6 claim it is a Holy city where “despair has been eradicated.” Shion forsakes a privileged life and future to trust his own instincts and help someone in need. Years later the full effects of that choice, as well as possible truths about No. 6, will come back to him.
While the central concept of an apparently utopian society with a rotten core is cliche at this point, the particular details of No. 6 and the way things are unfolding give the world/plot a lot of potential. There’s already been a couple of (minor) surprises to keep things intriguing. The Shounen-Ai element seems a bit blatant, and it would have been nice to have it more subtle and natural. The characters irk me a bit, and the villains are almost mustache twirling in their depictions, but there’s room for growth in both aspects.
I didn’t love this initial volume of No. 6, but there are some nice touches and enough here to make me curious about where things are going. I’m not in a rush to get the next volume, but can see myself reading more at some point.
Derailments of Thought 