Noir

Pop quiz! What do you get when you cross stylish female assassins with exotic European locations with beautiful animation with rich music score and a good plot? An anime that can't go wrong! That's what!

First off, Noir is a suspenseful and grim anime. The characters never resort to SD mode and there are no characters inserted simply for comedic effect. In short, Noir it can easily end up as your favorite anime, as long as you don't try to marathon it.

After our quick introduction to the two leading ladies, we are plunged into their lives as they accept and carry out assignments. Mireille is the tactician, the ever-cautious assassin who makes up for her poorer combat skills with planning. Underneath the professional and cool veneer lies a very aggressive young lady who is ready to pull the trigger.

Kirika is the polar opposite. You would pass her without a second glance and dismiss her as another gentle and somewhat introverted high-school girl. Underneath the shy exterior is a remorseless and highly resourceful assassin who kills without blinking an eye. Anything that can be used as weapon will be used as a weapon.

The first half of the series is pretty standard "assassination of the day" fare, so it tends to drag a bit. But I feel that this is inevitable and especially important in fleshing out the characters. This is where we learn their strengths, weakness and their reasons for choosing their kind of lifestyles. This is also the part where we see the bond developing between Mireille and Kirika.

The next half of the series moves with a break-neck speed with the introduction of the mysterious Chloe (my favorite!), the cold-as-ice assassin that carries out the bidding of Les Soldats without fail, and the creepy Altena, the power behind Les Soldats. This is the part where things are spiced up, as Mireille and Kirika get ever closer to solving the mystery behind the Soldats and finding the truth about themselves, leading to a climactic finale.

While the creators try to make Noir as realistic as possible, certain things are still glaring. The first thing that strikes is that while people are dying left, right, and center, there's hardly a drop of blood spilled. The wounds are all incredibly clean. The second is what I'd like to call the Rambo element - where there are 100 dudes all totting sub machine guns but their bullets will never hit their targets while a single shot fired by our ladies will drop them immediately. But hey! Who's complaining? They are the main characters. They are not supposed to die! Plus you'll quickly forgive the creators since all fight scenes are beautifully animated and very well choreographed.

And eye-candy lovers will not be disappointed. The backgrounds and scenes are all richly detailed with decent frame rates. I do have a bone to pick with the character's eyes though. They still look rather 'flat' in emotional and close-up shots. The music is easily the most memorable with the beautiful melodies and acoustic that is characteristic of Kajiura Yuki. Tense melodies reflect the insecurities and uncertainty of their lives while pounding techno beats with Latin singing intensify the battle and gives the show a more urgent feel.

Why do I like Noir? Three words: style, style, style. Noir oozes style. It is an original anime that stands out - the perfect anime if you've had too much fluff

For more: Them Anime

Music

The ‘Noir’ series is famed for its hypnotic music with a collaboration of many types of sound such as techno, opera etc. Noir used the sound effects effectively to create the eerie atmosphere surrounding the dark adventures of Kirika and Mirelle. The sound ranges from dark and intense to positive and bright. It does not emphasise a scene but creates it. The celebrated composer, Yuki Kajiura produced memorable songs for the Noir soundtrack such as “Canta Per Me” (Sing for me) and “Salva Nos” (Save Us). The uplifting tempo and opera vocals in 'Canta Per Me' is often used to build the tension and action whereas 'Salva Nos' has a darker tone and is used to enhance the sadness of the plot. Two albums have been released over the period the anime was on-air along with a third album that included exclusive tracks that were not used in the anime.

Reviews on the Noir Music: Amazon , Anime Dream , ANN