Noir

On a sunny afternoon in her Paris apartment, assassin-for-hire Mireille Bouquet receives a strange email from Kirika Yuumura, a young student from Japan, inviting her to "make a pilgrimage to the past" together. Initially thinking the email is nonsense, she changes her mind when it begins playing a song that she recognizes from her youth.

Upon first meeting each other in person, the two are suddenly ambushed by gun-wielding men. While Mireille is capable of fending off the assault, she discovers that Kirika is quite adept in combat situations after she takes out several gunmen on her own. Despite her proficiency at killing, Kirika laments her inability to feel remorse for her victims. In addition, Kirika apparently has no memory of how she came to acquire the skills she possesses or even of her real identity.

Sensing shared history between them, Mireille agrees to team up with Kirika, and together, they embark on a journey to uncover the mysteries of their pasts. Operating under the codename "Noir," the duo's fragile alliance is tested as they begin accepting jobs, each one bringing them closer to the truth of who they really are.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Yuumura, Kirika Main

Kuwashima, Houko Japanese

Bouquet, Mireille Main

Mitsuishi, Kotono Japanese

Chloe Supporting

Hisakawa, Aya Japanese

Altena Supporting

Tarako Japanese

Gleone, Silvana Supporting

Touma, Yumi Japanese

Havul, Milosh Supporting

Seki, Toshihiko Japanese

Belladonna Supporting

Oosaka, Fumiko Japanese

Minister Song Supporting

Tanaka, Kan Japanese

Galle, Christian Supporting

Arakawa, Tarou Japanese

Shutong, Yun Supporting

Ikeda, Masaru Japanese

Kitayama, Shigeru Producer

Mashimo, Kouichi Director, Sound Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Kawatsura, Shinya Episode Director, Storyboard

Tachibana, Masaki Episode Director, Storyboard, 2nd Key Animation

Reviews

Aug 16, 2007

YourMessageHere

Recommended

There are a handful of things that truly stand out from their peers. Sometimes, just occasionally, a series manages to do everything perfectly, pull together all the strands that things before and since have tried and failed to do. Fullmetal Alchemist is one example from the fantasy field; Ghost in the Shell another among postcyberpunk sci-fi; Azumanga Daioh an example from slice-of-life comedy. And, among the fairly niche girls-with-guns proto-genre, Noir is another.

Noir isn't remarkable in its premise, in fact it's quite a patchwork of worn ideas; an amnesiac who is unsure whether her amazing combat abilities or complete lack of remorse ... is more peculiar teams up with a wronged and vengeful assassin to search for the truth about both of their pasts, and they find more than either of them bargained for. Take one part Luc Besson, mix in equal parts HKBO and spy thriller and a pinch of memory loss, and add anime. As the song says, though, "it ain't what'cha do, it's the way that'cha do it"; none of these various concepts are inherently bad, they each have the potential to be interesting, and Noir fulfils it all. The structure of this 26-episode series works as a perfect blend of the overarching plot and episodic formats, in that almost every episode our heroines have someone new to kill, somewhere new to do it and something new to factor into how they do it and how they relate to one another, but each episode a little more is revealed to them about the power behind the shadows - the pacing is slow, but perfect. Not a single episode is filler or side story, the plot is all. It also keeps you guessing, maintaining the atmosphere of mystery superbly; every new piece of the puzzle being put in place changes the picture a little, goalposts shift and new questions need answering. Noir's story is complex, meaty, demanding of attention and, in the final analysis, highly satisfying; this is by far and away the best assassin flick or secret society yarn I have ever seen, and I don't just mean anime.

The cast is small, and dialogue is fairly spare. Kirika Yuumura, Japanese schoolgirl and amnesiac, is a very reserved, very introverted girl, seemingly all but unable to engage with people. Her initial inability to fully come to terms with her own ruthless, cold-hearted lethality is a feature that her business partner, experienced Corsican assassin Mireille Bouquet, does not share. She is a much more outgoing person, yet in some ways much more vulnerable; their relationship is tense, fragile and fascinating. Terrific acting from Kotono Mitsuishi and Houko Kuwashima does a fantastic job of giving the interactions between these two a highly credible, extremely watchable air. Even this excellent dynamic cannot hope to last 26 episodes, though - so, just when you think it's going to get stale, up pops the knife-hurling, child-voiced Chloe. A completely enigmatic character straight from left field, she shakes up these relationships just right and keeps everything nicely off balance. Aya Hisakawa's ingenuous voicing, her straightforward attitude and her innocence bring her a marvellously odd aura, and scenes between these three very distinct characters are tense and electric. All dialogue seems natural, though scripting is, as mentioned, sparse, but every word resonates, and often what is not said is as clear and significant as what is.

The show adopts a very stylised-realistic look, with marvellous European locations and stylings, keeping things interesting, but art style and actual depiction imbuing the world of Noir with an empty, distant air to almost everything that fits the tone of the show perfectly. Character design is a similarly muted but stylised affair; no super assassin ninja suits or rainbow hair here, most characters, protagonists or enemies, simply look like everyday people (Chloe is once again an exception, with her maroon hair and billowing cloak - but that merely makes everyone else more ordinary). Mechanical detail like guns and computers are very detailed and accurate to reality, although some things such as cars are, while adequate, not quite up to the rest of the series' standards. It all contributes to a sense that this is something that really could be going on somewhere out there right now, a sense that I have never felt as strongly with any other anime. In a way, this seems a perfect candidate for live-action adaptation; but the fact that it is animation, in full control of the look of its world, is one of Noir's most subtle and brilliant tricks. Visually, perhaps at odds with its name, Noir is colour-drenched, from the opening credits to the gorgeous watercolour backdrops, but beautiful and bright though the world might be, it only goes to reinforce the darkness and evil that can dwell inside people. Its characters look like everyday people, but they are stylised enough that the amazing feats of agility and skill they accomplish seem like achievable ends, fully in keeping with the world around them. The sense of a visually familiar world is so well evoked that once the backstory begins to become clear, it slots right into the gap between constructed and actual reality with consummate neatness.

Action choreography is another thing that contributes to Noir's sense of credibility. Most episodes of Noir climax with a gunfight; such a sense for creating gunfights that, working within the stylised reality the visuals provide, are believable, yet remain inventive and exciting, I have never seen with such consistency. Not all are as good as each other, but action in noir is entertaining at worst, and at best among the best fight scenes I have ever seen. The lightning-lit, rain-soaked battle across the rooftops of Paris in episode 20 is nothing short of brilliant. One factor that makes them so enjoyable is held in common with numerous other aspects of the series; they are designed in such a way that what you don't see is as important as what you do. Like blood. While at first glance, the lack of any actual visible blood almost seems counter-intuitive, it ends up seeming a lot more real than the red-steeped approach the subject matter more usually elicits; a truly skilled hitwoman kills cleanly, surgically, without mess. The deaths of opponents, crumpling like automatons, also quietly reinforce the idea of an organisation whose influence is great enough to render people nothing more than its puppets, to be used and discarded.

Noir is not among the best-known anime, but by far the best-known aspect of the series is its soundtrack. While she had composed a couple of anime soundtracks previously, Noir's musical score is essentially the thing that catapulted Yuki Kajiura into the eye of anime OST fans, and on lists of the best anime soundtracks ever, Noir is rarely out of the top ten. By blending electronica, operatic grandeur and solemn church music, Kajiura created a unique sound that for me she has so far never bettered. The haunting massed choir chants, soaring, prayer-like Latin vocals and intricate, piercing violin and expressive piano solos are some of the most evocative, atmospheric music anime has ever known, truly a masterpiece. The opening theme, by Ali Project, is also excellent. Anyone interested in the musical side of anime should acquire and watch this series.

Indeed, atmosphere is something that Noir does phenomenally well. The engrossing story, the excellent visuals and the superlative music all conspire to connect the viewer much more deeply to Noir than mere dialogue could. You get a powerful sense of the lonely, isolated, doom-laden feelings that the characters experience; it's splendid minimalist storytelling of the highest calibre.

Obviously, Noir isn't for everyone. The slow pace and frequent flashbacks will frustrate some. The unremittingly serious and generally bleak tone will fail to appeal to some. The lack of any comedy or more than very occasional and mild fanservice will repel some. The spareness and minimalism will alienate some. The realistic setting will fail to interest some. The lack of explicitness and reliance on implication will confuse some. My experience also suggests that this series does not suit marathon viewing well, being more fitted to watching each episode individually. None of this, however, stops Noir from being a truly excellent series in all respects, worthy of the highest praise. Among its peers, Noir remains a series that exemplifies what outstandingly high quality even a story that, at root, revolves mostly around women shooting people can attain.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Aug 23, 2009

GeneralCox

Mixed Feelings

Warning does contain Episode 1 spoilers

Story (3/10)

The initial premise of the story is actually very good, Kirika wakes up one day not knowing anything apart from a name - Noir, a pocket watch, a , and a school uniform and ID. Oh and a great skill in assassination. She contacts Mirelle, another assassin with whom she makes a pact to find out who this Noir is and what has been controlling their lives. Being a big fan of mafia and spy movies, the premise sounds great, but from an early stage I could feel this early promise slipping through some horrific sub-plots and plot gaps. ... For example the first thing that Mirelle asks Kirika is about how she found out about her (With Kirika being in what I'm guessing is Japan and Mirelle working in Paris it’s a fair question) to which an answer is never given, thinking we will overlook this as Kirika has amnesia and probably knew in the past I let this first one go.

Secondly, Mirelle promises to kill Kirika when she's done helping her find out about her past since she knows her face, a huge matter of importance for an assassin. However this secret identity swiftly goes out the window by the third episode which has the pair assassinating a crime boss in broad daylight at a party with hundreds of guests without a disguise. Then a couple of episodes later they are worried about a crime boss having seen their face again, consistency is something that this anime is severely lacking in.

Thirdly, I guess I should clear up that this is most definitely a girls with guns anime, not anything realistic or assassin related, men in this anime are confined to the same fate as the red shirts in the original star trek, even when the pair are in a position where it seems unlikely that they could at least not be injured, the incompetent men seem to be able to spray everything around them, even after just taking out their previous target with some nifty sharp shooting. This left any conflict in the anime a joke, you could have scripted in generic mass of men with guns, somehow surround/capture one of our heroines, other heroine kills everyone without breaking a sweat.

All this is actually quite sad, because once you get past the dull storylines and into the proper story (about episode 18), the story suddenly begins to live up to itself. The last 8 episodes merit a much higher score on their own than when included with the previous 17 episodes, with the story actually getting down to the nitty gritty stuff and making headway. Unfortunately this comes far too late in the anime, with over half of the episodes done very poorly, the scoring has to be way down. This could have made an excellent 12 episode anime, with the events until the 18th episode could be summed up in at most 4 episodes in terms of any actual story and scene setting.

Animation (7/10)

The animation is pretty good actually, the backgrounds are especially impressive, Paris looks like Paris and Corsica looks like Corsica. The animation style is typical early 00's so looks slightly dated now, but there’s no problem with that, as it does not hinder the story telling.

My main gripe with the animation is the lack of blood in the anime, not that I think any anime should be smeared in huge amounts of blood, but it does look bizarre when someone is injured and holding there arm like its bleeding, only it’s not... also anyone killed just seems like they are having a lie down, this is further impressed by Mirelle’s flashbacks from her childhood which contains characters with blood, it seems odd to have it there for one scene and then not for the rest of the anime, again consistency is the main problem.

Sound (9/10)

The sound is another very good part, the soundtrack has won the composer some acclaim, and the title track is really good, however a slight few of the scores really grated on me, especially the tata one (you’ll know it when you hear it), managing to be the most irritating noise in the animation and usually came on in scenes which really would have benefited from the same excellent music in the rest of the anime. Apart from that gripe, the characters are often silent through thought and the music played at these times usually does well to add to the mood of these scenes and enhance the understanding of the characters. The other good point with the sound, is the pronunciation of the French and Italian words in the animation, which is spot on. Recently I have cringed at Japanese attempts at English (Revy in Black Lagoon's English for example), and it’s really refreshing to hear them get it spot on.

Characters (8/10)

I only consider Mirelle and Kirika to be main characters in this anime rarely do any of the other characters which are introduced last more than one episode. The exception to this being Chloe and Altena, of whom I consider to be main supporting as they do not get enough character development on the whole to consider them main characters.

Both of the main characters are well written, and the way in which both of the characters feelings are portrayed throughout the anime, lets you into the characters well and you can actually see their pain about what has happened to them. My main criticism on this point is again going back to consistency, with some of the characters reactions to various situations changing throughout the course of the anime where there has been no character development which would influence them in these situations.

Both the main and supporting main characters could also perhaps have done with a greater look into their pasts, for Kirika – what happened before she got amnesia and ended up in Japan with Mirelle – what she did between leaving Corsica and living in Paris (although this is briefly touched on). For there to be such a small group of main character in a long anime series, it would be expected to investigate all the major time periods that build up the characters into who they eventually are in the present time, which is done to an extent, but at the end I was still looking for more answers about the characters.

Enjoyment (3/10)

Unfortunately this ended up a bit of a slog to watch. The story telling for the first episodes was terrible, and it also took me a while to connect with the characters and by the time I did understand them more, the bland scripting of the first episodes had reduced me to not really caring too much what happened to them and eventually, it was a case of watching because I had started.

Overall (6/10)

There is a very good anime here screaming to get out, the decision to run for 26 episodes was a huge mistake in my opinion, with more than half the episodes being below par in terms of storytelling and enjoyment. As put in the story section, this would make a great 12 episode series, without detracting anything from the story itself. However if you like girls with guns, don’t mind a bit of Character Shielding and can put up with some crass storylines, you’ll be treated to a very good closing sequence with an ending which is the envy of much better told stories.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Aug 25, 2008

Rampant

Not Recommended

There are a multitude of things that mark an anime as particularly terrible. Bad music, medicore art, clumsy and slow reactions, clumsy and slow emotional reactions, a cumbersome plot, a repetitive plot, an immature plot, and cheap attempts at thrilling the viewer are all bad things that Noir accomplishes remarkably well! Not a single episode of this is 'filler' because every episode has the same clumsy plot execution and, at least in almost every episode, a bad shootout, and, sorry to spoil a bit, nearly every shootout involves one of the two messing up in some manner and barely getting saved, but not, of course, ... without an absurd pause to allow the barely getting saved to occur. If you want a deep plot with great characters and any intellectual thought, then avoid this series at all cost. If you want a series with exciting action scenes, then avoid this series at all costs. The only reason I finished this was because I am a dumbass.

As to the art, every character has unimaginative hair, a facial structure that is blocky, and utterly lifeless eyes. The music is repetitive like few other series. My assumption is that the creators of the series thought this would be a good way to indicate when you should be excited, but all they do is further ruin nearly every episode of the series with the same already obnoxious music.

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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