#no 6

[restructuralcommittee]

New article by Asano Atsuko, author of No. 6!

This article was printed in the Nikkei evening edition, and the following image of it was posted on Twitter. In the article, Asano hints at a potential continuation for the story of No. 6 (!!!). @aowyn translated the article and kindly granted us permission to post the full translation, so you can see for yourself!

I've always loved chocolate. Probably, this is because of a memory.

A long time ago, I received a large chocolate bar from a relative. I split it with my older sister. While that's not much of a memory, I remember the sweetness of the chocolate bar and the feeling of how it slowly melted in my mouth. When I reached adolescence, however, hearing tall tales like if you eat too much chocolate you get acne, gain weight, etc took me in, and I left chocolate behind for a while.

Now, though, I eat chocolate nearly every day. It's just a little bit of high cacao chocolate, but it's my dessert at lunch.

I choose chocolate anywhere between 80%-90% cacao. It's bitter, but I love the sublimity of the bitterness mixing together with the sweetness that comes from behind.

Especially when spinning a tale about boys, I eat more bitter chocolate. That was the case when I wrote "Battery" and when I was tackling the world of No.6. Why, I wonder? Even I don't know. It may just be a matter of preference. But when I try and draw out a stronger, denser relationship between two boys, or face individual differences that won't be reconciled, I always end up wanting chocolate that is more bitter.

When the protagonist of the novel is a girl, this becomes strangely unnecessary. Even if I eat it as an after-meal dessert, I don't feel a strong desire for it. It's really strange. Compared to strong girls who shape their world to their will, boys carry a certain peril somewhere behind their toughness. I wonder if that's just me feeling that way, though. Hm, I'm not sure. I wonder how that boyish peril is tied to the flavor of chocolate. I really don't know.

This year, a new No.6 series began. Bitter chocolate is lined up on my desk. As the bitterness that lingers on my tongue gives me a push forward—"Now, write!" it says—I'm face to face with the boys.

[lem0nsharks]

it’s them…

[mafuyuh]

i will always wait for you.

[dailyfigures]

Shion ; NO.6 ☆ Good Smile Arts Shanghai

[mercyll]

Is Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury the first anime series to depict a married same-sex couple?

Given the rings and comments from the staff (excluding Bandai) it's pretty clear that both Suletta and Miorine are married. And looking at older anime couples I can't find another one where the characters are actually married to one another.

There are series that depict engagements and proposals (implied or otherwise with queer characters).

Some examples would be:

Yuri & Viktor from Yuri on Ice, where it's implied that they want to be engaged.

Ranma & Akane from Ranma 1/2, both find themselves in an arranged engagement but end up falling for each other anyway. Ranma is canonically genderfluid in both the anime and manga and Akane is attracted to Ranma as both a man and a woman. And this is ignoring all of Ranma's other fiances who know about their curse and want to be in a relationship with them anyway.

Utena & Anthy from Revolutionary Girl Utena, while the circumstances of their engagement are out of their control, the two of them fall deeply in love with one another despite that. And in the movie they kiss.

Other LGBT anime couples are together or in love but next explicitly depicted as engaged or married would be:

Michiru Tenou & Haruka Kaiou from Sailor Moon, they are very much together and in the Crystal series end up living together and adopting a baby.

Yukito Tsukishiro & Touya Kinomoto from Cardcaptor Sakura, who are in love with one another.

Eiji Okumura & Ash Lynx from Banana Fish, who are in love with one another. And it hurts.

Yuu Koito & Touko Nanami from Bloom Into You, who are two girls who fall in love with one another. And in the story you watch them grow and get closer.

Nezumi & Shion from No. 6, a sci-fi drama where two boys fall in love. This one also hurts.

And countless other examples, none of which I could find have the characters taking their relationship further than dating or engagement.

So, is Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury the first married same-sex couple in anime?

On a minor note, there have been several gay weddings depicted in manga.

Some examples would be:

Our Dreams At Dusk by Yuhki Kamatani, which was written by an asexual, X-gender author.

Until I Meet My Husband by Ryousuke Nanasaki and illustrated by Yoshi Tsukizuki. This manga was written by a gay man and based on his own essays about his life. The manga is auto-biographical.

I Married My Best Friend To Shut My Parents Up by Kodama Naoko, who has written several other LGBT manga, most of which are Yuri.

And there are several more!

Bonus:

Shoutout to Episode 7 of the 80s anime Dirty Pair for having a wedding between a cis man and a trans woman in one episode.

[duncanor]

That's it, I think I get it now

Edit : Wait, I forgot a tier, my bad

[olikon]

LOOK WHAT I BOUGHT.

[cattory]

Happy twitter trend day‼️

Original by lilalienz4ever

[v1trum]

Just finished rewatching all of umbrella academy. Time to rewatch it all again !!!!!!

[rcrisdraws]

Finally drew Nezumi!!!! a lovely commission for @nezumivc103221 with a tender air of mystery to it! had a blast with it

[no6zine]

Sign ups are now open for the 2024 No. 6 zine: Encore No. 6!

This will be a free digital zine and we are accepting all creators who would like to participate regardless of experience. Please read our guidelines here carefully before signing up.

You will find a link in the form that invites you to join the No. 6 discord server. Anyone is welcome to join the community and if you choose to join, please mention if you have signed up for the zine and we will redirect you to a separate server for Encore No. 6.

Cover artist applications are now open!

Artists can apply to make the cover art for our zine. If you would like to be in the zine even if you are not chosen, then please fill out the contributor sign up form too.

Thank you so much for your interest in our zine! We can't wait to see what amazing things you create!

@all-zine-apps @zinefeed @zine-scene

[lem0nsharks]

wish you were here xoxo - Shion

[no6secretsanta]

Welcome to the 2024 No. 6 Secret Santa!

We are now open for sign ups. Everyone and anyone is welcome to participate, whether you’re an artist, a writer, a gif-maker, or even a playlist creator—whatever form your holiday spirit takes, we want to see it under the proverbial tree. The only requirements are that you love No. 6 and digital gifting.

>>If you’re interested in participating, SIGN UP HERE<<

The sign up form will include several questions about your wish list for this holiday season (what kinds of gifts do you want to receive? What kinds of gifts are you willing to give? Are there topics you aren’t comfortable with?) Your answers will help our elves pair you with the right recipient.

SIGN UP DEADLINE: End of day Monday, November 25th. Pairs will be made after the deadline and all participants will receive their Secret Santa assignment via email on December 1st.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: End of day Wednesday, December 25th. The actual gift exchange will occur between December 26th and January 1st. If you have questions, feel free to send an ask to @no6secretsanta​.

And if you want this to be the best holiday exchange ever, ~please signal boost this post~!

[kolomo]

[restructuralcommittee]

Hello, Sorry to be a bother but this seemed like the best place to ask. Do you know where the information that Atsuko Asano was inspired by Banana Fish comes from? I'm working on a chart connecting boy love heavy/yaoi related things together and would need a source before I could add that to my chart.

Hi! Sorry for the delay, it took us a minute to do a bit of digging. As far as we can tell, this is the source, or one of the sources, for this claim: https://www.news-postseven.com/archives/20180601_687793.html?DETAIL

It's an interview in Japanese. Run through google translate it says something like, "I love Banana Fish, but I couldn't help but regret that it didn't have a happy ending. That's why I wanted to create a film that depicts the action, the love between boys, and the relationship between countries and individuals, just like in the same work. I wrote a novel called No. 6'' because I wanted to create a work that ended in a different way while still depicting the story.'' (Asano)"

Doubtless there is some nuance lost between the original article and the machine translation, but if we take the source as reputable then it does seem to be true that Asano was inspired by Banana Fish!