Noir Anime Review

Noir
Nowaru
ADV Films
Complete Collection - 7 discs
650 mins. - 26 episodes
$49.98 (2011) 4-disc
$89.98 (2008) Thinpak
$89.98 (2005)
$29.98 (2003) Vol. 1-7/ea.
$44.98 (2003) Vol. 1 w/t-shirt
ISBN 702727195525
Japanese/English Audio - English Subtitles
Director - Koichi Mashimo
Studio - Bee Train

Synopsis: Mireille Bouquet is a skilled assassin living in Paris.  She is drawn to a young Japanese girl named Kirika who possesses an item from Mireille's past - a pocket watch.  Kirika has amnesia and can't remember her past, but possesses uncanny fighting abilities.  The pair are besieged by a group of hitmen and dispatch them with minimal effort.  They form a partnership with Kirika returning with Mireille to Paris.  Mireille searches for the killers of her parents and Kirika searches for her lost past.  The pair begin taking jobs under the codename "Noir".

Mireille and Kirika - the pair who contract assassinations
 under the codename "Noir"

They are a formidable team with deadly skills and an impeachable killing record.  The secret of both their pasts is well-kept and has cost countless lives over the years.  In their travels they encounter another deadly assassin named Chloe who claims to be the true Noir.  A secret organization is uncovered which dates back for centuries and are known as Les Soldats, French for 'the soldiers'.

Mireille in a shootout with underworld henchmen

Mireille and Kirika kill their way across Europe uncovering the secret past of the Soldats yet never finding any definitive answers.  Sometimes the past is best left forgotten, but is doomed to be repeated.  Kirika is a blank canvas and a seemingly natural born killer.  Mireille struggles with the demons of her past which come back to haunt her.  Chloe appears as an antagonist at first yet has a deep spiritual kinship with Kirika.  Will she be swayed to join the Soldats?

The watch Kirika possesses when she meets Mireille.  What is its link to Les Soldats

Chloe was raised by a woman named Altena who wants to change the Soldats. Is she manipulating Mireille and Kirika as pawns in her game?  Will the two women find the answers they seek even if it destroys them?  Mireille has promised to kill Kirika once they uncover the truth.  The relationship of two killers can be ephemeral at best.  One thing is certain - it's going to take a lot of killing to uncover the secret of Noir.

Mireille ponders the watch which belonged to her dead parents

Pros: Great music - both opening and ending themes plus the background music, interesting story premise - ancient organization operating in the shadows, decent ending, some good episodes with intriguing drama/mystery, high point of the 'girls with guns' anime genre, lots of action (although practically no blood)

Chloe - the deadly assassin who claims to be the true Noir

Cons: Bland characters, exceedingly slow-paced plot (particularly in the middle of the series), animation style is simple, original 7-disc release by ADV was excessive and just milked people for their money (seriously, an entire disc for three episodes!), Mireille wears the same impractical clothes throughout the entire series

Who is the true Noir?

Mike Tells It Straight: I watched Noir and can easily say it's the epitome of the 'girls with guns' anime genre.  Koichi Mashimo is a prolific anime director with many series under his belt (Sorcerer Hunters, .hack//Sign, Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE), but may be most well-known for his 'girls with guns' trilogy (Noir, Madlax, El Cazador de la Bruja) and assassin-themed Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom.

Chloe returns home to Altena.  What is her secret link to Les Soldats?

The series has plenty of action - gunfights and the girls killing dozens of Les Soldats henchmen (plus some highly skilled female assassins).  Oddly it shows very little blood and no gore.  Maybe that's a sign of the times when it was produced (2001) where television series were geared for a broader audience (mindful of younger viewers).  Series today are much more graphic in their violence which I theorize is due to the increased gore in video games.

Mireille is not afraid to kill people while wearing an impractical micro-mini skirt

Despite the action the series can be excruciatingly slow-paced and the characters are very bland.  The animation was decent yet the character designs were overly simple.  It's guilty of a lot of 'talking mouth' and gradual camera pans on unmoving faces (both tricks to keep animation budgets down for TV series).  The only saving grace to the story was the gradual reveal of the mysteries surrounding Les Soldats and both the girls' pasts.  Each episode progressed the story and led to a final confrontation.

Chloe gets the briefest moment of downtime.  She harbors an
intense fascination for Kirika

The last few episodes and the ending were pretty decent.  I'm a bit ambivalent on recommending this series.  Don't get me wrong, it's a solid show and can be engaging.  It just felt really long and I got bored at points.  It won't stop me from checking out Mashimo's two follow-ups (these are not sequels, but both are standalone series). Stay tuned for upcoming reviews and please leave your comments about the show!

Final showdown between two friends?

TO BUY and Recommendations:

Kite Uncut Special Edition Anime Review

Kite Uncut Special Editon
A Kite
Anime Works-Media Blasters
Movie - 1 disc
45 mins. Edited Version
60 mins. Uncut Version (w/hentai)
$24.99 (2012) Blu-ray
$29.99 (2009) w/Kite: Liberator
$19.99 (2009) Remastered
$29.99 (2008) w/Mezzo Forte Uncut
$24.99 (2008) w/Mezzo Forte
$29.95 (2006) w/t-shirt
$24.95 (2006)
$34.95 (2004) Uncut Speical Edition w/t-shirt
$29.95 (2004) Uncut Special Edition
$29.95 (2002) Director's Cut (Uncut)
$24.95 (1999)
ISBN 631595008227
Japanese/English Audio - English Subtitles
Director - Yasuomi Umetsu
Studio - Green Bunny/ARMS

Sawa looks like your average schoolgirl who never blinks

Synopsis: An innocent-looking teenage schoolgirl is really a deadly assassin.  Her name is Sawa and she uses a signature gun with exploding bullet shells.  She kills at the command of her guardian, Akai, a corrupt police detective who runs an assassin business on the side.  He often investigates the crime scenes of Sawa's assassinations and hides any evidence.  His partner is Kanie, an ugly man with bug-eyes and a nasty looking facial scar.

Akai is a corrupt cop and Sawa's "guardian"

Kanie uses an assassin named Oburi who is the same age as Sawa.  The two meet and quickly form a bond based on their similarly traumatic young lives.  Sawa's parents were murdered and Akai was the investigating detective.  He took her in and gave her a pair of earrings filled with blood from each of her parents.  He trained her to be a killer and turned her into his sex slave.  The two older men are truly evil.

Sawa uses a special gun with explosive bullets

Can Sawa and Oburi escape their damaged existence or are they beyond hope?  They are both frighteningly good assassins, but can they outsmart two sly old foxes to win their freedom?  Who killed Sawa's parents?  Is she too desensitized after years of emotional and physical trauma to resist her psychological captors?

Oburi is another young assassin who uses the same type of gun

Pros: Extreme action scenes, hardcore sex scenes (in the uncut versions), Sawa is very hot, her and Oburi make a great pair, neo-noir stylings complete with correspondingly jazzy soundtrack, haunting and mature

Sawa takes on some bodyguards in a botched assassination attempt

Cons: Thin plot, Akai and Kanie are truly disgusting, underage graphic sex scenes (in the uncut versions), bittersweet ending, the sex scenes could be offensive or the lack of sex scenes could be offensive (depending on what you're looking for)

Sawa falls for Oburi's pretty boy good looks

Mike Tells It Straight: Kite is an anime cult classic combining the two extremes of gory violence and explicit sex.  Sawa is a schoolgirl assassin with a traumatic past.  She is exploited mentally and sexually by her "guardian" Akai in this brief psychological thriller.  She meets fellow young assassin Oburi and the two start to fall in love as kindred spirits.  They are caged birds trying to gain their freedom with both their lives at stake.  It's a bittersweet love story filled with violent action.  This is what the edited version delivers to you.

Yep, they're in love

The real and uncut version of Kite is much darker and features incredibly graphic sex scenes between Akai and Sawa.  Quite a few versions have been released with various amounts of editing.  The remastered edition and anything not labeled uncut all have the various sex scenes removed.  These edited versions have a brief shot of Sawa topless and only hint at the sexual abuse she suffers at the hands of Akai.  The uncut versions have much more explicit scenes where Sawa has sex with both Akai and Kanie.  The original version has scenes of Akai molesting an extremely underage Sawa (also basketball girl briefly appears with Akai and Kanai).  Needless to say these scenes were very controversial and caused the various edited versions.  Not to mention Sawa is a 'college student' in the American version, but she's wearing a high school uniform so you do the math.

Only Superman can stop bullets with his hands

I originally watched Kite many years ago and it caught me completely off guard.  What is interesting about this feature is Green Bunny, the hentai animation studio, co-produced it.  First off, hentai is Japanese animated porn and Green Bunny has created a few noteworthy titles (Midnight Panther, G-Taste, Words Worth).  The animation quality of the sex scenes was surprisingly good - much better than your average hentai.  It was shockingly explicit with many scenes of visible penetration.  What starts out as a teenage assassin story suddenly segues into porn before a violent conclusion.   

She kept her socks on

The sex scenes seem to mask the fact Kite's plot is not very good.  I watched the edited version and had more time to consider the story without the distraction of the full-penetration scenes with Sawa.  The action scenes aren't particularly imaginative and the characters are lackluster.  I think the uncut version with the sex scenes puts Kite on another violently creepy and erotic level.  A major plot point is omitted in the edited version when Oburi is forced to watch at gunpoint while Sawa has sex.  It definitely pushed the envelope and deserves cult classic status.   

You won't see this scene in the edited version (btw, that's basketball girl)

Don't watch Kite if the underage sexual exploitation is offensive (and it is just plain graphicly offensive).  Watch the edited version if you don't want to see the hardcore sex scenes, but like the girls-with-guns genre and violently gory action scenes.  Get the uncut or director's cut version if you want to see the hardcore sex the way the show was originally intended.  Since there are so many different releases be particularly aware of the length of what you are buying.  The edited version is 45 minutes and the unedited is 60 minutes.  Umetsu and Green Bunny/ARMS followed up Kite with a similar feature called Mezzo Forte and eventually a sequel called Kite Liberator.  I've also heard Kite will be an American major motion picture with Samuel L. Jackson attached as of this blog post.  We'll see if it gets released and how different the story will be.  I guarantee the sex scene will be left out ;)

TO BUY and Recommendations:

Darker Than Black Season One Anime Review

Darker Than Black Season One
(Darker Than Black: The Black Contractor)
Funimation
Complete Collection - 4 discs
625 mins. - 26 episodes (25 + 1 OVA)
$49.98 (2011)
$69.98 (2010)
$29.98 (2008-2009) Vol. 1-6/ea.
$39.98 (2008) Vol. 1 Starter Set
ISBN 704400074592
Japanese/English Audio - English Subtitles
Director - Tensai Okamura
Studio - Bones/Aniplex

Synopsis:  Ten years ago a section of Tokyo transformed into a horrifyingly unstable terrain where the laws of physics cannot be trusted and mysterious apparitions haunt the streets.  The site was dubbed Hell's Gate and a similar site manifested in South America was called Heaven's Gate.  When the Gates appeared the stars and moon were blocked out and replaced by a set of artificial stars.  These stars are linked to beings with strange powers called Contractors.  Each star represents one specific Contractor and glows brighter when their power is used.  In this way the activities of a Contractor can be monitored.  When the Contractor loses their life then the star falls from the sky.  A new star appears whenever another person gains powers.

Strange phenomena occur within the Gates

Contractors were once humans, but now follow a different set of rules.  They have incredible psychic powers including flight, power over the elements, body-switching, explosions and many more.  The power comes with a price as each 'contract' requires a 'payment' - something the Contractor is compelled to do after using their power.  The 'payments' are just as diverse as the powers of the Contractors.  They can include eating/drinking specific things, smoking, placing objects in a specific manner, self-inflicting pain on themselves/others, and many more.  A Contractor's 'payment' can be a curse or only a minor inconvenience, but the price must be paid or the Contractor will be adversely affected.

The mysterious Contractor assigned Messier Code BK-201
and codenamed 'The Black Reaper'

The governments of the world have kept the existence of Contractors a secret from the general public.  The Japanese government has surrounded Hell's Gate with a massive wall and a multi-national coalition called PANDORA (Physical Alteration Natural Deconstruction Organized Research Agency) studies the abnormal phenomena inside.  Contractors are completely rational beings and no longer capable of feeling regular human emotions.  They do not know loyalty or morals, but only a strong sense of self-preservation.  Many governments use Contractors as tools to perform espionage or assassinations.  Other groups calling themselves Syndicates also use Contractors, but operate secretly and often counter to government espionage agencies.

Unassuming foreign exchange student Li Shenshun arrives in Tokyo
around the same time BK-201 and the Black Reaper become active

In Tokyo the Public Security Bureau's Section 4 is charged with investigating crimes related to Contractors.  A mysterious, new Contractor nicknamed the Black Reaper has recently been sighted in Tokyo and seemingly involved in many covert ops.  Misaki Kirihara, the head of Section 4, has made it her personal mission to find the Reaper and bring him to justice.  An unassuming Chinese exchange student named Li rents a flat in Tokyo and works odd jobs to pay for school.  He is really the Contractor named Hei, 'The Black Reaper'.

Section-Chief Misaki Kirihara and Detective Yuusuke Saito

Hei works for a Syndicate in a small group with three other individuals:

• Huang - a gruff older man who receives orders (i.e. missions) from the Syndicate and organizes the team's work.  He dislikes Contractors and considers them to be less than human
• Mao - a black cat who can talk and is really a body-switching Contractor only able to possess animals.  His original, human body has been lost
• Yin - an emotionless girl who is another Gate-related entity called a Doll.  She is a medium and can use water to send a spirit form for observational purposes.  Dolls are even less human than Contractors (although no 'payment' is required), essentially having no independent will and only acting on specific instructions

Huang, Yin, Hei, and Mao

Five years ago Heaven's Gate was the site of a massive conflict between Contractors and various governments before completely disappearing.  Hei's sister Pai disappeared in the conflict and he has made it his mission to find her.  He believes investigating Hell's Gate will give him clues to finding her, but dark secrets from his past and the Heaven's Gate conflict are slowly bubbling to the surface.  Why does he keep exhibiting remotely human emotions like compassion and sorrow when they should be beyond his caring?  Various espionage agencies like MI6, the CIA, and Public Security's Section 4 are increasingly present around the Gate.  What is the secret of the meteor fragments?  How does the infamous detective Gai Kurosawa fit into the picture?  Will Hei find his lost sister or will Misaki finally catch the deadly Black Reaper? 

Mao gets hassled by Li's landlady who hates cats

Pros: Great animation quality, nice action scenes, solid characters - especially Hei and Mao, the Contractors' powers and 'payments' are neat, awesome music put together by Yoko Kanno - the first opening theme (Howling by Abingdon Boys School) is now one of my all-time favorites  from an anime, story is perfect blend of suspense/action/comedy, very good dub, I liked how each mission/storyline lasted two episodes, high death count, some romance, this DVD set includes the OVA episode Beneath the Fully Bloomed Cherry Blossoms as the 26th episode (for you obsessive completists out there!)

Hei triggers his power during a fight

Cons: Plot was a bit confusing, certain characters are never fully explained, episodic nature can slow down overall story progression, no primary antagonist or foil, they switched the opening theme song from Howling to a different song halfway through the series

Yin tries on a smile

Mike Tells It Straight:  I kept thinking to myself as I watched Darker Than Black (aka DTB) - 'Why can't X-Men be this cool?  Mutants have superpowers, but it feels like the same stories are recycled over and over again.  Someone needs to break the status quo and bring something unexpected.'  DTB was a breath of fresh air among a cacophony of stale pop culture works.  It has a perfect mix of action, intrigue, comedy, and gravity like many other great, memorable shows.  I found myself looking forward to each new episode, but mostly it was the awesome opening theme song - Howling.  Seriously epic tune and put me in the ideal mood to enjoy DTB every time!

While being held by the Evening Primrose group, Mao worries
they've noticed he's not just a regular cat

The soundtrack was excellent thanks to Yoko Kanno - prolific anime soundtrack composer who worked on Macross Plus, Escaflowne, Cowboy Bebop, Wolf's Rain, and many more.  Visuals were top notch with two well-known studios working together - Bones (Wolf's Rain, Fullmetal Alchemist) and Aniplex (Fullmetal Alchemist, Blood+, Durarara!!).  Character designs were good and characterization definitely shined.  Hei was a cool customer, but he actually had a heart (contrary to how normal Contractors are supposed to behave).  I liked seeing the characters grow as the series progressed.

Hei takes a walk to get some ramen

I found the two-episode story arcs to be a nice change from other full-length series (i.e. 26-episodes) which tend to become episodic in the middle until the buildup to the series finale.  In DTB the first episode set up the story and players with resolution in the second episode.  Rinse and repeat for most of the series.  The only drawback - if you didn't like an arc then you were stuck with two episodes to trudge through.  Overall DTB was a great show and I recommend it highly.  It was serious, but had lots of humorous and touching moments to make you feel for the characters.  I'm looking forward to checking out the sequel.

"Just howling in the shadows!"

TO BUY and Recommendations:

Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom Anime Review

Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom
Funimation
Complete Collection - 7 discs
650 mins. - 26 episodes
$74.98 (2012) DVD/Blu-Ray
$59.98 (2011) Parts 1-2/ea.
ISBN 704400087745
Japanese/English Audio - English Subtitles
Director - Koichi Mashimo
Studio - GENCO/Bee Train

Synopsis: A young Japanese man awakens in a room with no recollection of who or why he is there.  All he knows for certain is someone is trying to kill him.  He exits the room and is confronted by the attacker - a girl wearing a mask.  She tells him "If you want to live, come at me with everything you've got!" before renewing her attack.  The young man manages to survive her attacks and land an offensive move.  The girl is revealed to be named Ein and the top assassin for a powerful criminal organization called Inferno.  Inferno's top assassin is designated "Phantom" and the young man will now be trained to become a killer.  His memory lost, the young man is named Zwei by the man in charge of the "Phantom" project called the Scythe Master.

Ein gives the future Zwei a little motivation to fight back

Ein begins Zwei's difficult training and it is revealed his survival instincts and innate talents as a killer may even surpass hers.  She is an emotionless killer and brainwashed by Scythe Master to be an obedient puppet.  Zwei goes through the same brainwashing, but still clings to the hope of discovering his missing past.  Inferno is a coalition of criminal organizations and continues to grow by adding new groups.  Inferno uses the Phantom to keep their members in line and frighten opposition.  In the event a group refuses to join then Inferno convinces the second-tier members of the group to join by putting them in power after the Phantom eliminates the first-tier.

Zwei is trained by Ein to become an emotionless tool for killing

A high-ranking member of Inferno, Claudia McCunnen manages the Scythe Master and his Phantom project.  She dislikes and distrusts him due to his conniving and sadistic manner.  She plants the seed in Zwei's mind that he is not just a tool, but has individuality.  It leads to his alignment with her instead of blindly following the Scythe Master's commands as Ein does.  Claudia is attended by a tough woman named Lizzie who grew up and joined Inferno with her.  It is revealed Claudia's brother died as a street thug and she is living out his dream to become a powerful member of a criminal organization.  She plans to someday lead Inferno through cunning and manipulation.

Claudia manipulates Zwei

A power-struggle between Claudia and Scythe Master leaves Ein and Zwei on opposite sides.  Two deadly assassins with skills honed to a razor's edge.  Who will dominate Inferno?  Will Zwei regain his lost memory and can he free Ein from Scythe Master's programming?  Even if he can help Ein, will the two be able to escape from Inferno and live a normal life after spilling so much blood?  

Ein and Zwei pose as a couple to stake out a location

Pros: Slick animation style and backgrounds (thanks to Bee Train), nice CG (computer graphics) effects, music is pretty good, loved the evil masks Ein and Zwei wear during jobs, a few interesting plot twists, some fan-service (Lizzie in the first ep and plenty of Claudia throughout), adequately dark ending

Zwei takes aim during a hit

Cons: Predictable and cliche, main characters are totally apathetic and boring, too long at 26 episodes, the head of Inferno looks like a wussy version of Sephiroth from FF7 and is named McGwire, assassins in high school drama, totally lame LA street gang called the "Bloodies" (a play on the actual LA street gang the "Bloods"), the title of the series - why not just Requiem for the Phantom (instead of having Phantom twice)?, Zwei taking in a little girl

Zwei takes in this little girl after she witnesses a hit

Mike Tells It Straight: Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom is based on a visual novel game (i.e. choose-your-own-adventure) called Phantom: Phantom of Inferno.  Seems kind of silly to use the word Phantom twice in each title, but I guess it's consistent.  Requiem was not the first animated adaptation of Phantom of Inferno - back in 2004 (2006 for the US market) a 3-episode OVA (original video animation) called Phantom: The Animation was released.  The game and OVA must have been fairly well-received to spawn a full animated series.

Ein after a particularly hard day at work

Bee Train (the animation studio) helped produce this series and they previously created a pair of very similar, well-known series - Noir and Madlax which focused on assassins (although those two series starred women assassins). The studio is very good at assassin movies and this series is put together very nicely.  The action flows pretty well and the plot kept me relatively interested through most of it.

Scythe Master and his deadly puppet assassins

Unfortunately for Requiem I feel assassin shows are a bit played out in anime - Noir, Madlax, and Golgo 13 (assassin shows in general due to Hitman, Assassins, and The Specialist) have all come before .  They have all come before and Requiem doesn't add much to the genre.  I don't need to see another slow-motion assassination with classical music playing in the background.  The typical anime assassin's personality is completely apathetic and boring.  I get it - killing makes you an emotionless shell, but these are not characters I can form any emotional attachment towards.

Zwei and Ein as creepy puppet killers

If you loved Noir and Madlax then Requiem is a nice return to this corner of the genre (although no girl-on-girl romance thing happening).  I thought it was passable, but too long for a full 26-episode series.  Let's just cut to the chase and have our heart-wrenching death-duel between Ein & Zwei.  The addition of Drei (btw, ein, zwei, drei = 1, 2, 3 in German) was superfluous to the main story.  Decent action, only semi-decent plot, and pretty visuals, but drags on and nothing new conceptually.

TO BUY and Recommendations: