(WARNING! THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!)

No.6 is a manga set in a dystopian like era, where supposedly there are no crimes or hardships to speak of. It's centered around two boys, Shion (a top-ranking elite) and Nezumi (an escapee from the special security area), as their lives slowly change after their first fateful meeting.

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Story 8/10: I found myself mesmerised in the world of No.6 and it's conflict between the outside and inside borders. The inner being the home of ignorance and security while the other is overwhelmed with devastation and filth. This is an important point in the story for it plays a key part in the characters' motivation later on. I liked how we were given little details of information as the plot progressed, answering questions that the anime failed to do. (Spoiler alert!) However, there were a few parts that I wished were more elaborated on. For example, Elyurias' character. It felt like she was clumsily added in as an afterthought. Being briefly explained as the 'Forest God' who wanted revenge on No.6 for killing her people. I wanted to go more in depth with her goals and hatred for humans, instead of getting a quick summary of her existence.

Art 8/10: The art style was a bit simplistic, though not in a bad way as it suits this kind of story. It's pleasant on the eyes, and a joy to look at.

Characters 9/10: Shion and Nezumi are fairly complex characters. They both have very distinct personalities, and I feel is an outcome of their upbringing. Shion being raised within the borders, he lived a life of peaceful bliss, never having experienced a single hardship. Although, this doesn't seem to make him happy as he feels there's something missing. This feeling grows and gnaws at him after he meets Nezumi, a seemingly stranger whom barged in his world and changed it significantly. This, of course, makes Shion drawn to him and want to learn more about him. On the other end, we have Nezumi. A child born from the Forest tribe. We learn that No.6 killed his family and people by burning them alive and that an old lady who had raised him after that, drilled it into his mind that No.6 is filled with sinners and deserves to be eradicated. These two major events is what created the character we have now, a boy with an everlasting hatred towards No.6. And so, Nezumi had to learn how to survive on his own from a very young age, this caused him to not give out his trust easily and think that bonds were just burdens. But then Shion comes and completely destroys his beliefs, making him turn into a big walking contradiction. Of course, this scares Nezumi because of how easily the other boy had done it. These two characters are like books themselves. They're intriguing and I never seem to get bored of them. Although, I would've liked it more had we explored Shion's dark side whenever he would witness a loved one hurt. For example, in the cave, when Nezumi struggles against Sasori, Shion snaps and wraps a wire around Sasori's neck to strangle him, only stopping after Nezumi forces him to. He has also shot and killed a guard, who had in turn gravely injured Nezumi. Shion seems to take on a different personality when he does so. This is proven when he murdered the guard, becoming shocked and frightened once he had pulled the trigger.

Enjoyment 9/10: this was a thrilling ride that had left an empty void in my heart when I had completed it. It made me want to find out more of what happened to Shion and Nezumi, I didn't want to stop reading about these interesting characters. Either way, I highly recommend this to anyone interested in sci-fi/dystopia with shounen ai elements.