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Noir (TV).


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Baka...



Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 98
Location: Edmonton. Alberta Canada
PostPosted: Fri Jul 15, 2005 2:08 pm Reply with quote


Noir (TV)

Source: Original (by Ryōe Tsukimura)

Demographic: Seinen

Animation Studio: Bee Train

Genres: action, drama, mystery, psychological

Themes: assassins, conspiracy, crime, espionage, Europe, factions, girls with guns, secret organizations

Plot Summary: Mireille Bouquet is a professional assassin, and a very good one at that. But when she follows up an E-mail from a young Japanese girl named Kirika Yumura, inviting her to take "a pilgrimage to the past", her life becomes even more dangerous than it already is.

Now, with a haunting melody invoking the memory of an event long past, Mireille and Kirika decide to work together to find the truth about a thousand-year-old organization that has controlled both of their lives since before they were born. And the only clue in their search, the only thing Kirika remembers about herself, becomes their working codename: a name designating an ancient fate, of two maidens who reign over death—Noir.

Air Date & Platform:
April 6, 2001 (Friday)
Available on: Pending

Episode Count / Runtime: 26 episodes
----------------------------------

Just a quick question. I bought the whole noir series before viewing any episodes.. I've watched up to aroudn the 3rd dvd.. and its just boring beyond belief. Could someone tell me when... and if this series gets good?

[EDIT: Added Encyc. info and other fancy stuff. -TK]
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Iria51



Joined: 05 Aug 2004
Posts: 138
Location: San Antonio, Tx
PostPosted: Fri Jul 15, 2005 2:33 pm Reply with quote
It all depends on what you mean by "good". The series has it's share of intrigue and action, along with a pretty good story. As a suggestion, I would try renting something first before buying the whole series, that way you won't have to guess if you'll like the series or not.
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Tony K.
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Joined: 18 Nov 2003
Posts: 11443
Location: Frisco, TX
PostPosted: Sat Jul 16, 2005 3:05 am Reply with quote
Baka... wrote:
Could someone tell me when... and if this series gets good?

The last 3 volumes.

And I agree with you, the first half is pretty boring. One assassination per episode or two, a little chit-chat about the pocketwatch with the super repetitive playing of its music, and then the two of them go back to their apartment to water their plant, drink tea, and smile at some of the things in their lives that they consider to be cute or silly.

However, once they get into depth with the whole Soldats thing and introduce Cloe, the story is much more entertaining from there to the end, at least it was to me.
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angel_lover



Joined: 22 Apr 2005
Posts: 645
Location: UK
PostPosted: Sat Jul 16, 2005 5:51 am Reply with quote
Tony K wrote:
However, once they get into depth with the whole Soldats thing and introduce Cloe, the story is much more entertaining from there to the end, at least it was to me.

I thought the earlier episodes were better, very poignant and quite believable. Once it really got into the Soldats thing with Chloe spoiler[the sour-faced creepy knife-throwing pseudo-lesbian ice-maiden] I thought it just got a bit stupid.
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Tony K.
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Joined: 18 Nov 2003
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 16, 2005 11:35 am Reply with quote
The first 8 or so episodes felt too episodic to me. I don't mind episodic, but I expect fun or entertaining character development to take the place of story, a la Bebop or Champloo.

You could argue the earlier episodes were more realistic. However, they were so realistic that they bored me. I usually like to watch anime for something not so real and for elements I don't expect to see in real life.

Granted, there are some anime I really like that retain that sort of nitty-gritty realism, but I suppose it's all dependant on the presentation too, like, the absence of blood = not realistic.
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Diedrupo



Joined: 15 May 2002
Posts: 58
PostPosted: Sat Jul 16, 2005 12:34 pm Reply with quote
Baka... wrote:
Just a quick question. I bought the whole noir series before viewing any episodes.. I've watched up to aroudn the 3rd dvd.. and its just boring beyond belief. Could someone tell me when... and if this series gets good?


If you haven't liked the show up til now, you probably won't like it ever.
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Chiroptera Rex
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Joined: 08 Mar 2005
Posts: 262
Location: The Batcave, Gotham City, Wisconsin.
PostPosted: Sat Jul 16, 2005 12:38 pm Reply with quote
I recently purchased this series to finally see if it does get any better after the first five episodes. I finished watching "The Cold Blooded Killer" two-parter last weekend and I should get into the fifth DVD sometime soon.

Overall, the series is pretty good. I love Cloe. When she first swoops down on that guard in "The True Noir", the first thing I thought of was Batman. And I do love it how spoiler[she takes out Shaoli at the end of the second part of "The Cold Blooded Killer" and calls her a, "poisionous insect", which is exactly what Altena called Shaoli in the previous episode.] She has a warm side to her that is just not evident in Mirielle. Miss Bouquet seems to me to be a very cold person. Kirika has shown some interesting depth for someone who has no idea who she is. I love "Season of Hell" where she meets the artists/legionairre. That was a very poingnant episode.

The series is definitely not one of the best I've seen so far, but it is enjoyable, even if there is no blood.
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Mohawk52



Joined: 16 Oct 2003
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Location: England, UK
PostPosted: Sat Jul 16, 2005 3:27 pm Reply with quote
Should have used those spoiler[] inserts a bit more there me thinks. I first rented "Noir" and yes it is a bit slow at the beginning but that gives the viewer time to get to know the main characters a bit more. The assination profession is a rather cold way of life. One can't be warm hearted in such a profession if one is to be any good at it, in other words stay alive. Merriell acts a bit cold to Kirika because she is a bit wary of her still at that point in the story. Report back when you have finished it and tell us then if you still think it's boring. I went and purchased the whole series and both OST CD's after seeing the conclusion. That should tell you how much I thought of it then. Wink
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Chiroptera Rex
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Joined: 08 Mar 2005
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 16, 2005 4:09 pm Reply with quote
Mohawk52 wrote:
Should have used those spoiler[] inserts a bit more there me thinks.


Me? Where else do you think that I should have used spoiler tags? I looked my post over and I don't think that I gave anything away that is not in a spoiler tag.
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Tony K.
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Joined: 18 Nov 2003
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 16, 2005 4:35 pm Reply with quote
Well if their being cold is the reason they're so boring, then their reputations fit them to a T.

Not that I disliked the characters, but come on. If they're so cold to begin with, what more is there to understand in the beginning other than the fact that Mireille doesn't trust Kirika and that there's some mysterious connection between the two of them?

They could've at least made some well written assassination filler while slowly uncovering Soldats.

And don't get me wrong, I still gave the series a Good rating because of the second half of the series. It's just that the first half didn't seem to do much for me, and I would hate for other viewers to be turned off by that and possibly miss, what I feel, is the better part of the series.
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v1cious



Joined: 31 Dec 2002
Posts: 6229
Location: Houston, TX
PostPosted: Sat Jul 16, 2005 5:03 pm Reply with quote
angel_lover wrote:
Tony K wrote:
However, once they get into depth with the whole Soldats thing and introduce Cloe, the story is much more entertaining from there to the end, at least it was to me.

I thought the earlier episodes were better, very poignant and quite believable. Once it really got into the Soldats thing with Chloe spoiler[the sour-faced creepy knife-throwing pseudo-lesbian ice-maiden] I thought it just got a bit stupid.


belivability might be pushing it a bit. spoiler[i'm pretty sure you can't assasinate someone with a dinner fork, or run through like 10 bad guys without getting hit once.]
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coolerimmortal



Joined: 22 Aug 2003
Posts: 522
PostPosted: Sat Jul 16, 2005 8:53 pm Reply with quote
I hear a lot of praise for this show, but personally, it just made me angry. Why? It's a very small thing: They show that damn flashback Mierelle has to her family's death somewhere around a million or two times throughout the extent of the series. Sure, every 20 or so times they showed the flashback, something new was added, but the amount of times we had to endure that same scene complete with identical music was just...ridiculous.

Aside from that, the series felt quite predictable to me. Really, I can't see why everyone likes it so.
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Chiroptera Rex
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Joined: 08 Mar 2005
Posts: 262
Location: The Batcave, Gotham City, Wisconsin.
PostPosted: Sat Jul 16, 2005 9:22 pm Reply with quote
I was downright po'ed when I saw the first five eps a few years ago. I just did not like this anime at all. A few people on here have enjoyed it though so I thought that I'd watch the series all the way through to see if it ended well.

You're absolutely right about the flashback. It is incredibly annoying. Adding a bit every time they showed it was equally annoying. They could have shown the entire flashback twice and been done with it.

The beginning of the series had some good moments, but there were times when things turned wholly unbelievable. There are even moments in the middle eps that just don't work well, but it's not a bad series. I probably will always have problems with the scarcity of blood in this series. spoiler[The silliest moment is in "The Black Thread of Fate" when Kirika slices the man's neck open with her student ID. The "slash" is super cool, but there was no blood or cut shown on the neck. The only thing that the viewer sees sliced is the earing that the man is wearing. It was almost like he died because she destroyed his favourite piece of jewelry.]

The music does repeat itself a lot, but for the most part the music that they repeat are the battle pieces which are excellent so I have no problem with hearing them over and over again.
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Kisuke



Joined: 16 Jul 2005
Posts: 10
PostPosted: Sat Jul 16, 2005 9:32 pm Reply with quote
This show follows the 16th law of anime to the extreme. If you don't know what I mean look up the laws of anime. I especially hated when Kirika (I think...) was about to be assasinated but the only one who had a chance didn't friggin use a gun. The only friggin person the whole damn show who could have actually killed one of them DIDN'T HAVE A FRIGGIN GUN! What the hell is that. Oh and that flashback thing too. Really annoying after the fifth time. Haven't watched too much past that. So sad, looked very promising.
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Lord Van



Joined: 15 May 2004
Posts: 70
Location: Savannah Ga
PostPosted: Sat Jul 16, 2005 10:24 pm Reply with quote
I saw the first two dvds and I was bored to tears. However, I loved the soundtrack. It's the only anime that I dislike but own the soundtrack to.
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