Reviews Anime / Noir

Anime Noir - A Murky path

Hearing that this was one of the Newtype magazine's top-rated series of 2001, I was prepared to be blown away. Ancient conspiracies, complex and troubled leads, thrilling gunfights - this must be the series I was waiting for!

Mild disappointment awaited, sadly. The first episode, setting the stage for the protagonists to meet and establish themselves, was somewhat underwhelming. While the intrigue of a professional assassin adopting an amnesiac gunfighter apprentice remained steadfastly appealing, the promise of tense firefights and gripping plots swiftly wore away as a fun but not exceptional gunfight in the first half of the episode gave way to the second half's tea-party and exposition. While not bad, per se, the stilted pacing and slow to develop characters make this a series which requires patience.

Pacing is Noir's Achilles Heel. For the first four episodes, the formulaic escapades of our AntiHeroes as they receive contracts, give exposition and a shoot-out designed targets which test our Anti Hero's skills stink of filler. Being a few missed gunshots shots away from being BoringInvincibleHeroes, the tension of these gunfights vary wildly, from fairly dull to downright tense. Flashbacks are frequent, repeating the same frames of animation in at least once an episode to drive home character histories and stretch a thin animation budget. Filler episodes of dubious quality abound litter the script, with only a few standouts.

After episode 5 the plot starts forth and character development flows with the series Myth Arc, slowly building intrigue at a languid pace. Tensions build, intrigue blooms and conspiracies begin to unfold. The pace is still relaxed, but new character introductions help to keep the series from stagnation. By the time the last seven episodes roll around, the series is in high gear for its tense finale.

Noir is not a bad series - once it had found its direction it became rather enjoyable, if not stellar. Despite the promise of girls and guns, this is a thinking person's series, a slow meditation over anything else. Refreshingly devoid of inane fanservice, and solid characterization, Noir will endear itself to a methodical viewer. While too slow for some tastes, there are worse animes on the market for fans of the Da Vinci Code

Anime Its director's magnum opus; fulfils most of its high ambitions

Noir is a highly complex and chequered tale of four young women living far beyond the law. Take one Complete Monster, two Type V anti-heroes, and one Type IV anti-hero, put them in a dark but fundamentally idealistic setting, and what do you get?

The answer is a subdued and oddly kinetic and compelling masterwork or near-masterwork. The art and especially music are lush and gorgeous, the characters sympathetic despite (and, in the end, possibly because of) some of the horrible things they get up to, the plot compelling if at some points workaday. The thematic layers are unexpectedly rich, and the show gets didactic at times, but is respectful towards its characters and its audience in doing so.

Pros:

• Character designs (even the Magic Skirt being in full force is understandable given the nature of the series).
• Plot, once it gets underway.
• Complex character motivations and interactions.
• Chloe. Chloe is basically a teen drama queen of a sort that a lot of us have dealt with in our lives placed into exactly the sort of situation that's liable to completely destroy a human soul. She's far and away the show's most gripping and tragic character (and all of the show's main characters as well as a lot of the supporting ones are very gripping and tragic indeed).
• The soundtrack by Yuki Kajiura, the work that made her famous. Blends classical, traditional, pop, and art-song techniques perfectly. Highlights include the Italian canzone Canta per Me, the eerie ocarina piece Corsican Corridor, the powerful and tragic Himitsu, the Ominous Bagpipes of Le Grand Retour, the deliciously creepy Ode to Power, the mellow piano-based Solitude by the Window, Salva Nos (the setting of a portion of Latin Mass that underscores the gunfights), and (in one part of episode 23 that is one of the highest points of the show and which comes together extremely well on other levels as well) In Memory of You, a Spanish-guitar piece of the absolute first water.

Cons:

• Dodgy pacing for the first ten or so episodes.
• Amorality of many of the characters may be difficult for some viewers to stomach.
• It's undeniable that Noir is didactic at times, and it's enjoyable insofar as the viewer can get into that and be willing to appropriate its message.