If you felt that the No. 6 anime ended without fully explaining everything, you owe it to yourself to read the manga version. This final volume in this adaptation of Atsuko Asano's original novels is much more satisfying than its animated counterpart, bringing us a sense of closure as well as a much more hopeful final scene. It still isn't a perfect, unmitigated happy ending, but there's a sense that such a finale would somehow undermine the base concepts of the series. In any event, the story ends on a positive note after wrapping up most of the dangling plot threads, making for a very satisfying read.

The story picks up right as Rat and Shion are exiting the ruins of the Correctional Facility. Rat, as you may recall, has been gravely wounded, and Shion's basic first aid will not be enough. He needs actual medical help, and Shion is determined to get him to a doctor, no matter that that will mean returning to the city. This is one of the most telling moments of the story, as Shion's cold gaze and harsh demands both frighten Rikiga and Dogkeeper at the same time that they show just how much Rat means to him; for Rat, Shion will become a different person. We saw this to a degree with Safu as well, and her loss has clearly made Shion afraid of losing someone else he cares for. The mad dash into the city itself is indicative of just how well the boys have done their work – no challenges await as they enter the sacrosanct land beyond the gates.

The city itself is in chaos, something that is frightening to see. Kino has drawn the crowd scenes so that they are a veritable Where's Waldo of citizenry. People of all ages and walks of life are crammed into the panels, giving a claustrophobic air to the pages and making the horror of the city's initial reaction – shoot them down – even more upsetting. The panic itself is largely caused by Yomin, who has been fomenting unrest since Shion's flight from No. 6. He has whipped everyone up into a fine frenzy through his fearmongering about a mysterious disease that he says the authorities are withholding the vaccine for. This, of course, is the parasitic wasp issue, and every so often we see it claim a member of the throng. More importantly, we learn the truth behind it, and that is easily one of the worst facts about No. 6 to emerge. It brings up the question not just of man's inhumanity to man, which we saw through the officials' treatment of Rat back in volume one, but also of man versus nature. Generally those stories play out as if they were written by Jack London, in “To Build a Fire” style. Asano's approach is much less rugged but still striking. It conceptualizes the earth as a mother goddess figure, but a much harsher one than most of us are familiar with. We were introduced to the concept of Elyurias several books ago, but here she is fleshed out and fully explained. The earth does not exist, her mythology tells us, for humans; humans exist on earth at her sufferance. It is an interesting concept, and one which is at odds with No. 6's entire philosophy of existence. With this information (and more besides; you wouldn't want me to give too much away) we can see Shion and Rat's relationship in a new light, that of two complimentary halves of human existence who must both give and take in order to restore an ordered world. This realization plays into the more hopeful ending of the book, which in turn bookends the story with the two characters in both a verbal and a visual way.

No. 6's final volume manages to be uplifting at the same time that it is taking vast swathes of pages to essentially just explain the truth about both the city and the story's world. It rarely feels like info-dumping, and Kino's art provides the human interest to Asano's more scientific prose. While it does not end on any sort of firmly conclusive note, it does give us the impression that the world will move on even though we are no longer privy to it. While it is sad that we won't get to see more, there also isn't a burning need to know the future – things look like they will turn out just fine. After the tumultuous past few volumes, that feels like a promise that we can live with.