Episode 1, part 1:
(Sorry for any errors! I change a few minor things like spelling/grammar errors I found along the way and changed "Rat" to "Nezumi" for our sanity. I also added key events in the anime where it's hard to tell by the commentary alone what they are talking about.)
YK: Hello, everyone! Good afternoon, good evening and good morning! I’m Shion’s voice actor, Yuki Kaji.
YH: Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening! I’m Yoshimasa Hosoya, Nezumi’s voice actor.
YK: Yep.
YH: Right.
YK: Well, we’re already out of sync with the tension of the scene playing.
YH: Yes, we are!
YK: But this is a commentary!
YH: Exactly!
YK: I hope you enjoy hearing what we’ve got to say. This is the audio commentary for No. 6 DVD/BD Volume 1.
YH: Right.
YK: So, we actually have certain themes we’re going to discuss.
YH: Right, right, right.
YK: There are two of them. We’ll passionately discuss the episode, specific scenes, and characters. So we’ll have fun chatting about No. 6 while watching the episode.
YH: Sounds good!
YK: Yeah! And also… we’re going to discuss our feelings about the show.
YH: I see.
YK: That’s what this program is going to feature.
YH: Wonderful!
YK: I’m not sure if “program” is quite the right word for it…
YH: Isn’t this great?
YK: Yeah. We’ve got something kind of like a script.
YH: Right.
YK: So we’ll be glancing at that and using it as a guide.
YH: Right.
YK: Jeez, how many times have we seen this?
YH: I’m starting to wear it out.
YK: We’ve watched it a lot.
YH: It’s wearing out? But this didn’t get a VHS release!
YK: Yeah, it isn’t a VHS, is it?
YH: But you get what I mean.
YK: So, the episode started with a pretty serious scene starring Nezumi.
YH: Right, right. It starts with a chase scene.
YK: That’s the opening scene.
YH: Yeah…
YK: And then Safu and Shion are at school studying.
YH: Right, right.
YK: Although I’m not sure you could say Shion is studying.
YH: Seriously!
YK: Well, I’ve got a bit of trivia for this scene.
YH: Right, right, right.
YK: Shion is gazing out of the classroom daydreaming. Here you can see Shion floating in the sky. This fantasy-like scene wasn’t originally in the script. Director Nagasaki added it in the storyboard. It was a Nagasaki idea. But the first time I saw this was when I was recording as Shion for the first trailer.
YH: I remember that.
YK: It was then. The song really matched it well. I felt it matched the world of No. 6.
YH: I can see that.
YK: The sound matched.
YH: It did a good job creating a sense of foreboding.
YK: It was really abstract… It’s like Shion put all of his attention into one thing and couldn’t think about anything else. Doesn’t that seem about right?
YH: Uh-huh, yeah…
YK: I felt that it did an excellent job of portraying how we are going to see more of that character trait.
YH: Kaji, were you the type of child in elementary school that would daydream during study time?
YK: No, I was a real poop!
YH: I doubt that! I don’t believe you…
YK: I acted like a good kid.
YH: Oh, I see. You were the studious type.
YK: I actually studied.
YH: So you’d study…
YK: Hosoya, how about you?
YH: Me? Right before summer break in the first grade,
YK: Uh-huh…
YH: my teacher told me, “Hosoya, I don’t know where you’re looking during class. I’m worried about you.”
YK: There’re kids who are like that!
YH: I know…
YK: I think a lot of people are like that, especially in elementary school.
YH: They lack determination.
YK: Yeah…
YH: I often stared at the ceiling, believe it or not.
YK: That’s kinda scary!
YH: Kinda!
YK: It’s not like you could see things you shouldn’t, right?
YH: Probably not.
YK: You just liked fortune telling, right?
YH: R-Right. But I just recently got into fortune telling.
YK: Well, here’s the opening. Lama sang this theme…
YH: Right. It’s cool how…
YK: …song.
YH: …they show the two extremes. There’s Shion’s life and then Nezumi appears and we see his life. Then their lives intertwine.
YK: The story starts when they are twelve. The tones and the pictures or composition here are kinda cool.
YH: Aren’t they? That looked kinda like a honeycomb. It’s like they flew through a honeycomb.
YK: Then there’s these droplets. Is the stuff on their skin supposed to represent their lives…
YH: …up until now?
YK: Maybe What could it be? It makes me wonder what awaits them next. Is that what the image meant? And here at the end, they’ve matured.
YH: This gives me goose bumps every time I see it!
YK: Doesn’t it?
YH: I love when they face each other here…
YK: And… Tada!
YH: Yeah, yeah, seriously!
YK: So we’re in the other side of the rainbow.
YH: Right, right! Isn’t that cool?
YK: Isn’t it? About No. 6’s logo. It resembles an eye.
YH: It’s like an eye?
YK: It’s like the eye of a cow, a spider, or a bee.
YH: Like a cow’s eye… Right.
YK: When they announced that No. 6 was going to be made into an anime, they also opened the official site at about the same time.
YH: Right, right, right.
YK: You could download a free wallpaper then.
YH: Eh?! Really?
YK: You could change the hues to your liking. I downloaded that and set it as my desktop background that very day.
YH: Wow!
YK: I hadn’t even auditioned for the show yet, but I really liked it.
YH: Oh, that’s right! You had already read the original novels.
YK: I’d read them. Isn’t Safu here adorable? [on the ferry]
YH: She’s cute!
YK: She went, “Ehe he he!”
YH: “Ehe he he!”
YK: She was being honest to her feelings.
YH: Yeah, uh-huh.
YK: And the way she swung her legs around… My, my… Doesn’t that little chime come up a lot? [in reference to the chime after Shion and Safu exit the ferry and enter the station]
YH: Yeah, it does. That’s because they’re under watch.
YK: Right. It really gives the feeling that this is No. 6. The horn that went off toward the beginning of the scene was from a water-bus.
YH: Yeah, yeah, uh-huh.
YK: We’re in a different scene now, but supposedly that is the main form of transportation in No. 6.
YH: Isn’t it peaceful here?
YK: Although it has a progressive feeling about it, the model for the setting is actually Amsterdam!
YH: Where was Amsterdam again?
YK: Germany? Where is it? Is it in Germany?
YH: Germany?
YK: Huh?
YH I never really hear much about Amsterdam.
YK: No, it’s in Holland! Holland!
YH: I never paid much attention to it.
YK: It just hit me. It’s in Holland. It’s Holland.
YH: Holland?
YK: Holland.
YH: Holland…
YK: It has tulips and fields with windmills.
YH: Oh, okay! I got it now.
YK: Uh-huh. That’s what inspired this town. It’s called the Capital on the Water.
YH: Aren’t the names used here unique? Like Shion and Safu?
YK: Right! The names are unique.
YH: Yeah.
YK: Yeah and upcoming names like Dogkeeper match their jobs.
YH: It matches their descriptions.
YK: There’s Yoming, Lili, and Karan. We’ll get to see a lot of unique characters. Jeez, Safu. That may have been really important to Safu, [the birthday sweater]
YH: I know, I know!
YK: but Shion is like, “That’s what I said, huh?” That’s so him.
YH: It’s cute.
YK: He didn’t mean to be hurtful.
YH: He-- He’s a good guy.
YK: I’m sure he said what he felt at the time.
YH: In the cut where the two were standing next to each other, it felt realistic the way Safu looked slightly taller than him.
YK: It’s showing how girls mature a little quicker than guys. Shion’s rosy cheeked. [after blowing out the candles]
YH: Shion is so adorable in this scene!
YK: Isn’t he? Twelve years old, eh? Wouldn’t he be in the sixth grade?
YH: What did you do then?
YK: I was an elementary schooler! I think most people are.
YH: Good point, good point.
YK: I remember when I was first told to voice a twelve year old. I had already read the novels.
YH: Right, right.
YK: So I had figured that there would be scenes from when he was twelve. Originally I thought they’d have different voice actors play those roles. But ultimately, we did the voices for Episode 1.
YH: Right.
YK: We wound up voice acting for their younger versions. Any thoughts on it?
YH: I-- Well, the main thing I remember…
YK: Yes?
YH: …was when I visited the recording studio for the very first time. Child-version Shion and Nezumi were on the screen.
YK: Right, uh-huh.
YH: But when we auditioned, the picture of them was fairly large. So when I heard they were twelve, I was at a real loss. I remember asking you, “What should I do?”
YK: Yeah, I wasn’t sure what to do.
YH: I know, right?
YK: Well, to a certain degree, there wasn’t much difference from when they’re older.
YH: Yeah, uh-huh.
YK: But since they’re twelve years old, it’s not like they’re super young.
YH: Right.
YK: When I think back on when I was in the sixth grade, I don’t think I talked too candidly or childlike. I focused on the acting, trying to not make it sound forced.
YH: Right.
YK: This scene is pretty memorable. [when Shion leaves Safu’s house]
YH: Isn’t it?
YK: Safu gave him a little kiss and then the umbrella got blown away.
YH: Yeah, uh-huh.
YK: And didn’t Shion’s reaction match his personality perfectly?
YH: He wanted to know why she did the same thing as his mother.
YK: Right, exactly. According to what I’ve heard…
YH: Okay, uh-huh.
YK: In a later episode, we get to see another maternal-like kiss.
YH: Right, right, right.
YK: I asked the director right quick what role kisses play or represent for Shion and the series No. 6 as a whole. If the director participates in one of our audio commentaries, I’d like him to share his explanation.
YH: Yeah, I’d love to hear about it!
YK: And this is the Moon Drop.
YH: There it is.
YK: It isn’t a bar!
YH: Right, right, right! When I first heard its name, I thought it sounded like a bar.
YK: Uh-huh. And then there’s how it cries. You know, it’s kinda strange to think that a building can cry. I was curious what animal made that noise. My trivia here says that whales were integrated into the sound. I guess it has a lot of different animals in it.
YH: So why does it cry?
YK: Yeah. That’s part of the mystery. This is only eleven episodes long, so I wonder if they’ll squeeze everything in.
YH: I can’t help but wonder.
YK: I’d like everyone to think about what could be making that noise as you watch the show. Now you can hear it.
YH: This is it!
YK: Amazing!
YH: That’s the cry.
YK: The water droplets on the window are impressive!
YH: It’s amazing!
YK: It’s wonderful. And this is the scene where Shion screams out.
YH: Here he goes. Yeah…
YK: And he runs out of breath.
YH: Yeah, he does. He did right there, right? It’s where the “Aah!” went weak.
YK: That’s the spot. He screamed until he ran out of breath.
YH: I like how he screamed until he ran out of breath.
YK: Mima said,
YH: It looked like it felt good.
YK: “Kaji, you looked like you really enjoyed yourself. It was great.” During the rehearsal, I screamed with my mouth wide open facing the sky, just like in the show. I put all of my energy into screaming, “Ah!”
YH: You were facing up then too, weren’t you?
YK: We were really in sync.
YH: Yeah.
YK: And now for Shion and Nezumi’s first encounter. This started everything! Everything starts with this.
YH: Right. Everything starts here.
YK: It got the ball rolling. If Shion hadn’t opened the window…
YH: None of this would have happened.
YK: Nope. And if the storm hadn’t come, none of this would have happened.
YH: Yeah, it wouldn’t have.
[Don’t move.]
YK: What a powerful line!