Noir – It was ace!

H

harkins

Adventurer
I promise I won’t do this every time I watch a series but having just completed watching Noir I just need to say things as a kind of therapy.

Guess some spoilerage is likely here so be careful if you haven’t seen it and think you might. Which you should cos it’s fantastic.

So after watching the last seven episodes last night I’ve been a bit glum this morning. My work colleagues keep asking why I’m so quiet today. And I keep replying it’s because Chloe is dead.

I’m gutted that that happened as I’d really warmed to Chloe despite her being a bit nuts. For me she kind of stole the show from Kirika and Mireille.

But despite that slightly disappointing ending I thought it was a superb series. I’ve read quite a few reviews and am surprised to see that so many of them have very little positive to say about it. It gets consistently criticised for being too slow, having too many flash backs, too little dialogue, no blood, plot holes and shallow characters that you don’t care about.

Well I just don’t agree with any of those points. Apart from the last one I can see where these views are coming from but I just feel that these views tell no more than that the writers prefer fast moving blood fests.

The pacing was fine and it kept me hooked. I had to work hard to try and ration it a couple of episodes at a time. Failed last night by watching 7!

The flashbacks never upset me. Yes there were a lot but these were flashbacks to events of massive significance that anybody would think back to regularly. And I think that the regular flashbacks served to give emphasis to the fact that these characters had one sole purpose in life.

As for lack of dialogue, well how chatty would you be with someone you don’t know and when you don’t really know who you are yourself either?

The lack of blood was a bit odd but soon enough failed to register with me.

Plot holes? Find me any story without plot holes. My own life is full of plot holes!

Finally shallow characters you don’t care about. They weren’t at all shallow and I did care about them. I wanted to see them all happy, especially Chloe, but I backed the loser again!

I was a bit shocked when Chloe bust a move on Kirika. I knew she was infatuated with her but just not in that way. Or did I misinterpret that incident?

All in all another great anime (and fan service free!). But are all anime I watch going to leave me feeling a bit numb and dazed afterwards? Elfen Lied had a similar effect on me. Can’t remember the last time a ‘real’ TV programme or film left such an impression.

I apologise for such a incoherent and maybe even pointless post but I feel better for typing it and it would be good to read some of your thoughts on the series.
 
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I've seen about half of it, and haven't really liked it. At the moment it's a bit predictable, and full of Deus Ex Machina's. There have been good moments though. One thing I can't get past is the main charcaters. It's hard to feel empathy for assasins that willingly take on 'jobs' to discover their 'past'.
 
I've found that the internet is a breeding ground for negativity with most of the people who are upbeat about something seeing no need to rant about it in the same way that someone does when they dislike something. Noir is an excellent show. Not my favourite but a solidly good story with a good cast of likeable characters.
 
I don't think Gawyn was having a pop at your coments FatCat. But from the reviews I've read of Noir I know what Gawyn means by the negativity that can exsist on't web. A lot of the reviews were scathing and not what I'd describe as objective - as your opinions were. It just seems angry people are more likely to bother writing reviews.

As for 'predictable' I wouldn't argue with that as certainly in the first half of the series it did follow a pattern in each episode.

Still gutted about the demise of Chloe. Can't they do an alternative ending OVA just for me?!
 
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I'd say it was pretty predictable.

I knew right from the start that Kirika was under going a test because there's no other possible explanation.
One of my main problems with it was that the action scenes were so unrealistic and boring. They're able to shoot their way out of ridiculous situations wielding only pistols and generally without any reasonable explanation.On the boring side they only ever carry out their hits by shooting point blank with pistols. I found that so lazy and uncreative. Munich which is only a two hour film not a 26 episode series fits in at least 5 or 6 different assasination techniques.

Also how old was Kirika meant to be when she killed Mirielle's parents?

I don't know but I don't think you could train a child that young to fire a pistol at people.
 
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To be honest you could sit and think about it for no more than five minutes and totally rip it to shreds.

There were indeed issues regarding their ages.

Real assassins would certainly use long range weapons in many situations.

14 year old girls would probably have more problems with the physical side of fighting full grown men.

Why did the police never show up at any of the very public shoot-outs that occurred?

Why was Kirika wearing the same shoes when she was 5ish as she is when she’s 14ish?

Why did they never encounter any language problems?

Where did Kirika get a passport from to make so many overseas trips? Certainly for the first trip from Japan to France.

How did they get their guns and ammo to these destinations?


But despite all that and much more I suspended my belief in reality for a bit and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Except for Chloe's death of course!!
 
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Sorry!

I did originally cover the ones I thought might give something away. Thought the rest was fairly vague though but I guess I should have been more cautious. I've covered them all now.
 
Due to trying to download it this is one of my 'cursed animes' everytime I tried watching a copy at uni it either crashed my pc or infected with a virus so I will never know the true joy of this series. Yes I would buy the dvd but knowing my luck it'll blow my player and tv up.
 
I’ve still got Noir in my favourite DVD shelf section but the thing about the series that never dies with me is the OST. There are some songs in there which I just love such as Canta per Me, Romance and the opening/ending songs. Everytime you hear Canta per Me you knew some **** was going down, I loved that. If you enjoyed Noir I suggest checking out Madlax, I haven’t seen it myself but I heard it’s from the same people who made Noir and it’s very similar to it, kind of like a polished version according to the grapevine.
 
Nemphtis said:
I’ve still got Noir in my favourite DVD shelf section but the thing about the series that never dies with me is the OST. There are some songs in there which I just love such as Canta per Me, Romance and the opening/ending songs. Everytime you hear Canta per Me you knew some **** was going down, I loved that. If you enjoyed Noir I suggest checking out Madlax, I haven’t seen it myself but I heard it’s from the same people who made Noir and it’s very similar to it, kind of like a polished version according to the grapevine.
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The music is superb. I bought the 1st and 2nd OST's and listen to them a lot.

I've wondered about Madlax. Kind of concerened that it's too similar to Noir and thus haven't bothered with it. In fact it sounds so similar that if it wasn't by the same studio (Bee Train) I would expect there to have been legal action. But now you say it's like a polished version of Noir I might think again.
 
Well that's what people are telling me, it's just like Noir except they've tried to improve upon it in every way they could. Basically more character development, better looking action, better plot etc. But like I said, as I haven't seen it myself I can't really give you my personal opinion.
 
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