Noir
|
Anime |
| Episodes: 26 |
| Status: complete |
| OST: 3; Noir I, II, and Blanc |
| Dub: not licensed |
| Sub: yes, all |
| Class: Action/Dark |
|
Anime |
| Episodes: 26 |
| Status: complete |
| OST: 3; Noir I, II, and Blanc |
| Dub: not licensed |
| Sub: yes, all |
| Class: Action/Dark |
Nowadays, its seems like you can always find anime that deals with bounty hunters or assassins. Cowboy Bebop has already achieved excellence in that field with its soundtracks, story and characters. However, if that's not exactly what your looking for, or you want something different, Noir is your anime.
The story takes place in Paris, after Mirelle, a paid assassin, receives the message "Make a pilgrimage to the past with me" from a young girl named Kirika, who posses the ability to fight and kill without mercy yet has no memory of who she really is except for the fake life that she woke up to before she met Mirelle. Working under the legendary name of "Noir", the legendary "angel of death" assassin said to have existed in Europe for the last 200 years, Mirelle lets Kirika join her on account that when she finds what she is looking for, Mirelle will kill her. The two women then begin the search for the keys to their own past which soon intervenes with the invisible enemy, Les Soldats.
Noir takes place in modern times, but follows the missions of the two assassins all over Europe in search of info about the legendary organization, Les Soldats that shadow over them. The people that they deal with/kill have their own stories which adds to the feel of ancient Europe. Kirika and Mirelle are also great lead characters because they are detailed and complex, but also very sad. Mirelle has her family killed in front of her eyes, and Kirika is like ghost who feels no pain in killing, and is constantly hurting because of that, as well as the fact that she doesn't really know who she is, since she just woke up to find herself in a fake life with no memories. There is also another assassin, Chloe, that shares the same mysterious aura as Kirika, but is on another side.
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| Mirelle & Kirika | |
There's lots of action, and most fighting takes place with guns, but the chase of it is really cool to watch and the stories that go around everything set a dark feel to it. Kirika also manages to use anything as a weapon in any situation (forks, id cards, sunglasses) which kind makes you feel scared and sorry for her at the same time. The main characters don't talk too much, and almost never about anything other then work, but this is no comedy.
Animation is A+, but what really kills me is the music. Noir just basically creates its own class when it comes to music, cause with all the pauses in between shooting, you need something to fill the void, and mixes of piano and techno music give a very good image. There are some vocal pieces, but they mostly in Italian or Latin I believe. The highlights would have to be Canta per me (sing for me) and any version of Salva Nos (save us) that can be found. There are three soundtracks and remixes of some songs.
This is one of my fav anime, and I even made a site layout for this cause I wanted to do a website for it. I might still do this if I have the time, but my advise it that you check the anime out for yourself. It really blew me away.