No.6 Episode 1: At First Glance

I've heard that this is supposed to be an older Shion, how he ended up with white hair, we have yet to find out.

Set two years from now, genius "elites" are at the top of the food chain. Shion, being one of these elites, is granted a privileged and care-free life as a result. Today happens to be his 12th birthday which he decides to spend with his classmate Safu and her grandmother. All is well until a certain "rat" crawls into his room during a storm.

HNNNNGGGGHHHH

In other words, she wants to have his babies.

That screaming bit was...interesting...

A boy named Nezumi (literally meaning "rat") sneaks into Shion's room after his screaming fit (which may be his own strange way of showing how much he likes something) directed at the storm. Nezumi then pins Shion to a wall and starts to choke and threaten him. But to his surprise, Shion responds to him with kindness and offers to treat his injuries. Afterwards, Shion discovers that Nezumi is actually an escaped convict. Despite learning this, though, Shion's attitude towards Nezumi does not change. It's pretty obvious here that, despite being a genius, Shion has a few loose screws of his own,

Yeah, choking you.

He'd look more adorable if he wasn't holding a syringe.

It's like nothing phases this kid at all.

 I love this show so far. Unpredictably, the animation is stunning considering that Studio Bones is behind this. As for voice acting, I think that Nezumi's voice is a little too deep for someone his age, I'm guessing they're doing this to contrast Nezumi and Shion's personalities. And while we're on the subject of personalities, I love how Shion isn't the stereotypical shrinking violet shota type and is more on the sweet, yet eccentric side (come on, what kind of sane person smiles and starts asking innocent questions after being immobilized?). Nezumi is a mystery himself since we don't learn much about his background in this episode. I'd also like to know how the two boys end up looking the way they do in the opening and ending sequences (especially Shion). The opening started off robotic-sounding, but I ended up liking it a lot once the singer's actual voice came through. The ending theme is more on the soft, quiet side and, probably, due to the sequence's setting, gave me the urge to go out and play in the snow.So far, this show has me hooked and I'm going to be watching out for it.
I was planning to post a review for Blood-C, Natsume Yuujinchou San, Nurarihyon No Mago: Sennen Makyou, Usagi Drop, and Kamisama no Memo-chou, but since I'm still getting the hang of this whole blogging thing, I'll probably stop here.
This episode gets:

I hope I'm not the only one who thinks of Allen and Kanda when I see these two in their older forms.