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No. 6 three ways.
Jan. 14th, 2012 02:18 pmAfter watching the No. 6 anime, I've started both the manga and the gensaku novels. I usually don't like to start another version of a title too soon after I've finished one, because the story is still too familiar. But with vagaries of bringing stuff to read on the train to work, I ended up starting the novels, and then I had to read the manga to figure out if I want to grab the third volume today while I have a coupon from Kinokuniya.
Since the No. 6 anime was probably so abridged anyway, I don't think there's as big a problem from reading another, fuller account now.
Anyway, my conclusion on the manga is that I have to keep collecting it because Nezumi is just so hawt. Also because Kino-sensei does these really cute mini facial expressions when it's otherwise unclear who a speech bubble belongs to. If I had to point to one frame that says it all, it's when Nezumi sees Shion with the syringe and asks, "What are you going to do after that?!" And Shion, back to the camera, says "Stitch it," but you've got the little starry-eyed face in the speech bubble.
In the end, though, gensaku-worship aside, I think I will like the novels the best. I think there's something about that medium that suits this series best. The little reflective moments you can't capture in an anime or manga. For example, I liked how the novel really explored Karan's being bored in Chronos and then being much more lively after they moved, which gets disposed of in one frame in the manga and not addressed at all (that I noticed) in the anime. Also, you just can't get inside Shion's head (or body) in the manga or anime. Like his... response to Nezumi being on top of him (with a spoon to his throat). I think it was something like "he went numb and his whole body was tingling"? That kind of seals the deal, way early in the series, doesn't it? How can Safu's "I want your sperm" even compete with that?
On the other hand, the novels seem really prone to random digression. Which provide nice little glimpses of the world but sometimes could be handled a bit better. For example, the park scene went something like this:
The garbage-collecting robot has discovered what appears to be a corpse in the park!
Shion leaps onto his bike and pedals for his life.
...ah yes, bikes. Bikes had experienced a sort of boom in No. 6 recently, so that the ratio of bikes to people was now about two to one. And other self-powered forms of transportation. You could say there was a sort of revival.
Where was I? Oh yeah, bikes. So normally there'd be a speed-limiter preventing people from racing through the park. But fortunately Shion's bike was modded.
Wait, you want talk about where he was riding to?
[I may have filled in a lot because it's now been a month or two since I read the passage, but that really is the gist of it.]
Not sure how I'm going to deal with this series going forward. Whether I'll take a break after catching up in the manga or jump back to the novels. Maybe the novels, since Shion-Nezumi interaction is like crack. \o/
Since the No. 6 anime was probably so abridged anyway, I don't think there's as big a problem from reading another, fuller account now.
Anyway, my conclusion on the manga is that I have to keep collecting it because Nezumi is just so hawt. Also because Kino-sensei does these really cute mini facial expressions when it's otherwise unclear who a speech bubble belongs to. If I had to point to one frame that says it all, it's when Nezumi sees Shion with the syringe and asks, "What are you going to do after that?!" And Shion, back to the camera, says "Stitch it," but you've got the little starry-eyed face in the speech bubble.
In the end, though, gensaku-worship aside, I think I will like the novels the best. I think there's something about that medium that suits this series best. The little reflective moments you can't capture in an anime or manga. For example, I liked how the novel really explored Karan's being bored in Chronos and then being much more lively after they moved, which gets disposed of in one frame in the manga and not addressed at all (that I noticed) in the anime. Also, you just can't get inside Shion's head (or body) in the manga or anime. Like his... response to Nezumi being on top of him (with a spoon to his throat). I think it was something like "he went numb and his whole body was tingling"? That kind of seals the deal, way early in the series, doesn't it? How can Safu's "I want your sperm" even compete with that?
On the other hand, the novels seem really prone to random digression. Which provide nice little glimpses of the world but sometimes could be handled a bit better. For example, the park scene went something like this:
The garbage-collecting robot has discovered what appears to be a corpse in the park!
Shion leaps onto his bike and pedals for his life.
...ah yes, bikes. Bikes had experienced a sort of boom in No. 6 recently, so that the ratio of bikes to people was now about two to one. And other self-powered forms of transportation. You could say there was a sort of revival.
Where was I? Oh yeah, bikes. So normally there'd be a speed-limiter preventing people from racing through the park. But fortunately Shion's bike was modded.
Wait, you want talk about where he was riding to?
[I may have filled in a lot because it's now been a month or two since I read the passage, but that really is the gist of it.]
Not sure how I'm going to deal with this series going forward. Whether I'll take a break after catching up in the manga or jump back to the novels. Maybe the novels, since Shion-Nezumi interaction is like crack. \o/
