"No. 6" light novel impressions
A few hours ago, I finished reading vol. 1 of the No. 6 light novel and the first chapter of vol. 2, all in one sitting, before finally watching the 4th episode (aired yesterday). I am most grateful to the lovely Good Haro for working on the translations of the series, and making this experience possible.
I must admit, if you are not reading the light novel, you are missing out quite a bit. Sadly, pretty much all of Shion's POV is omitted in the anime and manga, which is such a tremendous loss. I've gotten so much more intimate with his character through the novel, as his actions tend to have a very sensible reasoning behind them, once you get to know him. I am terribly fond of him, and I'm so happy I finally got the opportunity to take a peek inside his seemingly rational, pseudoscientific head. And I say this because one definitely gets a different image of him after reading his thoughts. In the novel he is actually much more the emotional, rather than the rational type, even though in the anime his profile is of a child prodigy, who can explain everything in scientific terms and theoretically, but knows very little about life in practice. Shion is, indeed, inexperienced in domains such as the arts, or to quote Nezumi, he doesn't "know a thing about sex or books or fighting". However, he is different from his peers from No. 6 in that he is (subconsciously or not) looking to break free of his dystopic environment. Reading the novel, one can even witness the gradation of his uneasiness with following the given pattern of life in No. 6, i.e. the uncomfort of having to recite the oath to the city each day before work. Had these moments been conveyed in the manga or anime, his actions, and siding with Nezumi would have been much more convincing to someone who hasn't read the novel. In the anime, however, it seems he is only following Nezumi because he has a gay crush on him, which I guess isn't far from the truth, but it doesn't really help ease the BL label. Sadly, that's pretty much all the series is being reduced to nowadays.
vol. 2 opens up with the map of the city (click for larger)
Another thing we lose with Shion's POV are the lovely, quite poetic descriptions of how he is feeling, frequently juxtaposed with the descriptions of nature (concretely, the wind, trees and rain). This boy seems to have a deep bond with nature, a feature that seems to clash with the general perception of him one may have by only watching the anime.
We also miss out on many of his existential ponderings. Leaving such a thing out truly renders him clueless in front of the audience, and he seems like such a flat character. In reality, Shion is conceived to be quite tormented, and he spends quite a lot of time thinking about life, death, and his purpose in the world. For instance: "I didn’t want to die. I wanted to live even if it meant crawling through the dirt. I don’t have any clear goals or aspirations. Without knowing what the future holds, my body changed and my heart warped. Yet, I don’t think I want to die."
Moreover, the novel obviously provides more background information than the anime, such as the POV of the first victim in the park, or the background information on Yamase's shady previous job which may have led to him being 'killed off.' Yamase's conversation with Shion in the control room overall provides more clues to the No. 6 mystery in the light novel version than in the manga and anime. Shion's reaction to the gruesome death of his co-worker is also more detailed, as expected.
I also find it a sweet touch, how even during the 4 years they were apart, Sion is reminded of Nezumi constantly by completely mundane events. It's also effective foreshadowing.
Lastly, there is a lot more wrist-grabbing, sexual innuendo and overall physical contact in the light novel, information which you BL fans out there might find useful. And although I wouldn't exactly say I'm swooning over their relationship, I regret that the meaningful, "I love you" scene was reduced to a very short interaction and changed into simply "I am drawn to you." But I do understand why BONES chose this approach.After all, they didn't even let Haruhi and Tamaki kiss in the OHSHC anime, although they did in the manga. And I should probably stop refering back to OHSHC in all of my reviews.