Noir | Anime Review | Pinnedupink.com

Noir

How does an Action packed Mystery anime sound like to relieve boredom? Going by sheer experience and exposure, it's clear that anime of this kind will be one hell of a ride. Whether it'll be an entertaining watch or not will depend on the anime in question and the viewer’s preferences.

Noir is one such TV anime series featuring the genres of Action, Drama, and Mystery. It spans 26 episodes which ran from the 6th of April till the 28th of September, as a Spring 2001 title. The series was produced by Victor Entertainment, licensed by ADV Films and Funimation, and brought to life by Studio Bee Train.

The primary staff behind the anime are Arie Yuuki (Co-Director and Episode Director), Mashimo Kouichi (Director, Sound Director, Episode Director and Storyboard), Kitayama Shigeru (Producer), and Tachibana Masaki (Episode Director, Storyboard and 2nd Key Animation). It is rated PG-13 for Teens 13 years or older.

Noir is an original series and was the first original anime done by director Kouichi Mashimo in collaboration with Studio Bee Train. Their primary focus was an anime focusing on the "Girls with Guns" sub-genre, which was popular at the time. While there were no official sequels, two spiritual successors for the series were produced titled “Madlax'' in 2004 and then “El Cazador de la Bruja” in 2007.

All three series stayed true to the “Girls with Guns” trope, forming a comprehensive trilogy despite the separate TV series being completely unrelated story-wise. In the Summer of 2012, a live-action adaptation of this anime series was produced by TV network Starz and was awaiting its release. Unfortunately, after a two-year-long hiatus commencing in March 2012, the project was ultimately canceled by January 2014.

The story turns to one sunny afternoon in Paris, where Protagonist Mireille Bouquet is spending time in her apartment. Mireille works as an assassin-for-hire, and on this day, she receives a peculiar email from someone named Kirika Yuumura, a supposed young student from Japan. Kirika invited her to "make a pilgrimage to the past" together with her. Initially, Mireille considered this utter email nonsense, but she soon changed her mind when a certain song started playing. This song was one she recognized from her youth.

When Mireille first meets Kirika in person, the two are suddenly ambushed by gun-wielding men without warning or reason. Being adept at her trade, Mireille is more than capable of fending off the assaulters. But strangely enough, amidst the ensuing chaos, she discovers that Kirika is quite adept in such combat situations.

She displays her abilities by taking out several of the assaulting gunmen on her own. Even though she portrayed such proficiency at killing, Kirika seems to lament her inability to feel any remorse for her victims. To make matters worse, she holds no memory of how she came to acquire such skills in the first place and doesn’t even remember her real identity.

Despite the oddity, Mireille sensed some sort of shared history between them and, on this basis, agreed to team up with Kirika. Together, these two girls embark on a perilous journey to unravel the mysteries of their interconnected pasts. They operate under the codename of "Noir," and the dynamic duo's ever-fragile alliance is put to the test as they go about accepting various jobs. Regardless, with each task they tackle together, they are brought closer and closer to the final truth, which will answer the ultimate question of who they are.

Noir is explained pretty well by the “girls-with-guns'' sub-genre, which has a pretty interesting plot concerning an ancient fate. But the story is weak concerning the slow development of the overall show and some dull action sequences.

The first episode itself is both action-packed and exciting, but not much about the story is explained afterward. Almost the entirety of the anime’s first half survives off of subtle hints and some surreal intros. This half can simply be summed up as pretty dull and even confusing to an extent. If the viewer watches this half with hopes of some form of development happening, it simply will not happen, and it would be a challenge to find the motivation to just continue watching at this point. But this show will reward the patient viewers, as the better half of the anime is, in fact, the second half.

At this point, the story gets pretty interesting, with many aspects finally being revealed to the audience, the most prominent being the nature of the secret organization behind everything. Captivating may not be the word to describe it; it is more along the lines of intriguing and entertaining.

The number of characters and amount of dialogue in Noir is fairly sparse. Kirika is amnesiac, reserved, exceedingly introverted, and is almost unable to engage with people. Initially, she is unable to fully come to terms with her own ruthless and cold-hearted lethality. On the other hand, Mireille is extroverted, experienced in her trade, and yet very vulnerable at her core.

Their relationship highlights the series, being tense, fragile, highly credible, enjoyable to watch, and fascinating. When their dynamic is seemingly losing luster, the supporting character Chloe takes the stage. Chloe is enigmatic, straightforward, strangely innocent, has an odd air about her, stirs character relationships just right, and keeps things satisfyingly off balance.

The interactions between the trio, who house very different personalities, never fail to be both tense and electric. Despite being limited, character dialogue is natural, and every word resonates, keeping even unspoken words clear and significant.

The Art and Animation of Noir are similar to that of Cowboy Bebop, artistic and fluid. The character designs are well done and are presented in a widescreen format. Unfortunately, though, this department falls apart in action scenes. The enemies seem incredibly useless and incapable; adding to the issue is the lack of blood in this gunfight-based anime. The impact and damage from gun wounds are almost nonexistent in the scenes rife with action.

The Music and sounds of Noir are exceptionally well done. The Opening theme is "Coppelia no Hitsugi (Coppelia's Casket)" by ALI Project, and the Ending theme is "Kirei na Kanjo (Beautiful Emotions)" by Akino Arai, both of which are pretty good.

The OSTs during action scenes and the moments building up are exceptional and fit the scenes so well. Sadly though, the music is lacking in variety, with the same tunes being played repeatedly. The high pitch in some of them will really get on viewer’s nerves on occasion, but overall this aspect is handled well and is praise-worthy.

Overall, Noir could’ve been a great anime. The biggest thing holding it back was that the plot took too long to be revealed appropriately, making only the second half enjoyable. Other minor weaknesses included some time-wasting techniques as well as constant and pointless flashbacks. The series is full of great gunfights, but the fact that their enemies were so incompetent dulled down the action.

Overlooking all of this, the final two episodes are spectacular and make the overall show a decent to good watch. It's true that at this point, the anime is basically over, but it ends well and climatically. If anime of these genres are your usual cup of tea and you enjoy such action-packed sequences, then Nori will probably be a great watch for you. Noir is recommended for fans of this type, and even if you’re not, it's worth a shot. Just remember the ending makes up for most of its shortcomings and will leave you entertained as a whole.