Noir (anime)
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Noir
ノワール (Nowāru)
Genre	Neo-noir
TV anime
Director	Koichi Mashimo
Writer	Ryoe Tsukimura
Studio	Bee Train
Licensor	ADV Films Madman Entertainment Dybex
Network	TV Tokyo, Bandai Channel
Other networks: Anime Network Canal+ La sexta VIVA Animax
Original run	April 6, 2001 – September 27, 2001
Episodes	26

Noir (ノワール, Nowāru^?) is a Japanese animated television series directed by Koichi Mashimo and written by Ryoe Tsukimura. The Bee Train production aired on TV Tokyo from 6 April 2001 to 27 September 2001, totaling 26 episodes.

The series follows the story of two young female assassins who embark together on a personal journey to seek answers about mysteries from their past. While at first they seem to be only vaguely related to each other, there are clues and hints given throughout the series that there are more than meets their eyes. During the course of the series, they are lured into more and more traps by a secret organization named Les Soldats ("The Soldiers" in French).

Noir has been compared to Luc Besson's Léon and Nikita,¹ and the heroic bloodshed films of John Woo.²

Plot

See also: List of Noir episodes and Fictional settings of Noir

The series follows the story of two young female assassins, the Corsican Mireille Bouquet and the Japanese amnesiac Yumura Kirika, who embark together on a personal journey to seek answers about mysteries concerning their past. While at first they seem to be only vaguely related to each other, there are clues and hints given throughout the series that there is more going on behind the scenes than at first glance.

In their journey to learn more about Yumura's lost memories and her connection to Bouquet, the two form an alliance and begin performing assassinations under the code name "Noir." During the course of the series, they are lured into more and more traps by a secret organization named Les Soldats ("The Soldiers" in French). Les Soldats are a secret organization that has been a part, yet separate group of humanity. It is this hidden group that created and once completely controlled the deadly duo "Noir." Each time that Les Soldats soldiers are sent to kill Bouquet and Yumura, it is considered a test as to whether or not the young women are suitable to carry the title "Noir."

Characters

Main article: List of Noir characters

The main characters; clockwise from top: Altena, Chloe, Kirika, and Mireille

Noir has a small cast of characters. Mireille Bouquet and Kirika Yuumura are the protagonists and appear in every episode (except for one). Mireille is a young woman whose family was murdered when she was a child. In the present timeline of the series, she works as an assassin. Kirika is a teenage girl with amnesia; the only things she remembers are the word "Noir" and her killing skills. At the beginning of the series, Kirika sends Mireille an e-mail with the message "Make a pilgrimage for the past with me."

Altena and Chloe are the primary antagonists of the series. Chloe is the top assassin of the Soldats, and she is fiercely loyal to Altena, the woman who raised her. Altena is a high-ranking member (a high priestess) of the Soldats, and because she wields so much influence, there is much opposition among other Soldats members to her methods. Both Altena and Chloe seem to know of the shared past between Mireille and Kirika.

Production

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A particular aspect of Noir which warrants attention is the painstaking effort taken by the production crew to realistically portray and describe the real world.^{citation needed} In animated filmwork, realistic portrayal of the real world is something very difficult to achieve.^{citation needed} Noir production crew successfully achieved this feat: the sightings, sceneries, landscapes and landmarks of Paris and other places around the world (Corsica, Sicily, Switzerland, New York, Middle East, Taiwan), various models of firearms and the sounds of them being fired, facial and non-verbal expressions of the characters, background music, dress and costumes, and many more.^{citation needed}

Music

See also: List of Noir albums

The music in Noir is often the most commonly commended aspect of the series, praised for its uniqueness and creativity by mixing a blend of techno, opera, and French-flaired music. It has also been noted as having influenced viewer perceptions on analysis of the series. The battle scenes are intensified by the powerful music which accompanies them. Memorable tracks include "Salva Nos" and "Canta Per Me", which are played in almost every episode.

The series composer for all music except the opening and end themes is Yuki Kajiura, who is accompanied by primary vocalist Yuriko Kaida, secondary vocalist Yuri Kasahara, and Kajiura's band See-Saw. Yuki Kajiura is also the composer for several other anime series (including Bee Train Productions of .hack//Sign, Madlax and El Cazador de la Bruja) and videogames (Xenosaga Episode II and Xenosaga Episode III), which have a similar musical style. The opening song, "Coppelia no Hitsugi" (Coppélia's Casket), is written and performed by Ali Project,³ and the ending song, "Kirei na Kanjou" ("Beautiful Emotions", along with its piano-only BGM version), is by Akino Arai.³

Design

Style

Despite the gunplay and a sizeable body count, Noir features no gore and very little blood. Originally a simple consideration for network TV, the DVD release remained bloodless.^{citation needed} It is said this makes the death of many suited agents less troubling, becoming faceless "stormtroopers", popularly termed 'mooks'.^{citation needed} However, in limited instances, main characters such as Kirika display blood, perhaps to show their humanity.^{citation needed}

Influences

The anime is reminiscent of two prominent films by French director Luc Besson: Léon and Nikita.¹ The amnesia suffered by one of the main characters resembles the story of the protagonist from Robert Ludlum's novel The Bourne Identity.⁴ The acrobatic scenes of gun-battle display the heroic bloodshed style seen in John Woo's films.²

Reception

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In 2001 Noir was ranked #2 of the top 10 Anime of the year by Newtype Magazine.⁵ Outside Japan, Noir has been well-received, due to its unusual plots and stories which have a strong European style and flavor.^{citation needed}

Trivia

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (September 2008)

• In the series Mireille owns a plant which Kirika takes care of. This is most likely another reference to the movie Leon in which the main protagonist Leon always carries a plant around as a referral to his life without "roots in the ground".
• Months before ADV Films released the first volume (Noir Vol. 1 Shades of Darkness), a unique ad compaign started where there were one page ads on several anime magazines, notably on NewType USA, asking "What is Noir?" with a silhouette of Kirika in front of a question mark. The ad provided a link to the website whatisnoir.com (no longer active). This is different from the current site Project Noir.
• In the first volume of NewType USA, a promotional disk for Noir with the first episode was released as an extra for the magazine.
• There are 7 volumes in the American release. In each volume, a hidden message can be found on the back of the DVD booklet that comes with each volume, with the use of 3D glasses or with a pair of red shaded glasses that was packed in with Volume 1 of the anime.
• The title with the French words at the bottom under a line resembles the title of the game SkyGunner.

References

External links

• Official website (ADV Films)
• Official website (JVC) (Japanese)

• Noir (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• Noir at the Internet Movie Database
• Noir at TV.com
• Noir at EX anime
• Noir at THEM anime