Ask John: What is Noir?

Question:
Have you seen the anime series called “Noir?” What is this anime story about? Who are the voice actors? What is your opinion on this new series.

Answer:
Noir, taken from the French word meaning “black,” as in “film noir,” like Double Indemnity, The Maltese Falcon and Blade Runner is a current action anime TV series that premiered on April 6th and is scheduled to run for 26 episodes. It’s an action-drama about two female assassins, the professional killer Mireille and the amnesiac high-school girl Kirika who exhibits a sympathetic innocence yet kills with machine-like efficiency, searching for Kirika’s true identity and the identity of the mysterious organization that wants them both dead.

Mireille’s voice is provided quite effectively by Mitsuishi Kotono, perhaps most recognizable as the voice of Misato Katsuragi, and Kirika’s voice is provided by J-pop vocalist Noriko Kuwajima. The story and script are credited to Ryoei Tsukimura, perhaps best known for El Hazard; the beautiful character design is by Yoko Kikuchi, who showed hints of this quality of character design in the Arc the Lad TV series, and animation direction is supervised by Koichi Mashita, who has worked with gun carrying girls before with the Dirty Pair OAV series. The wonderful, ethereal and techno inspired soundtrack was composed by Yuki Kajiura while the wonderful opening theme “Copperia’s Coffin” is performed by ALI Project, and the ending theme, “Beautiful Feeling,” comes from Arai Akino’s latest CD Kouseki Radio. American fans may recognize Arai Akino as the vocalist for the Outlaw Star ending themes, and “Voices” from Macross Plus.

Noir is simply one of the absolute best shows of the year, placing second to only Chikyu Shoujo Arjuna as the 2001 anime TV series to impress me the most. The production design, including vehicle and weapon design, background design, and character design are all quite nice for a TV series. The story is tensely plotted and well written to be mysterious without being simply underwritten or obscure. The cinematic style of the show is effectively restrained to be elegant and stylish in the fashion of French cinema. The music is simply stunning, complementing the action wonderfully and standing on its own quite well. The action choreography is violent and adult, yet not excessive or superficially gratuitous.

Partially because Noir is so recent, I haven’t heard any rumor of a Western license for the show yet, but given the show’s exceptional quality, easy accessibility for Western audiences, and positive buzz in the fan community, this is a show that I foresee being imported in the next year to two. For the time being, there’s always fansubs and the official Japanese website. AnimeNation will be carrying the Noir soundtrack when it’s released later this month, and we can accept special order requests for import VHS or DVD copies of the episodes, which will debut on July 25th in 13 two episode volumes.