Anime Noir

[Darkness]

Well, I haven't seen any threads on this one yet. Anyways, I stubbled onto this one a couple of weeks ago and I like it. I have to admit it is kinda nice to watch an anime that's more on the "could possibly happen" side of things. Plus, the music isn't too shabby either. I think that this would be a good anime to get the non-watchers started off with. [color=red][b]If you've seen it, do you agree? Why or why not? Also, what would you believe is a good starter anime?[/color][/b]


That's me, trying to bring more people to the light!

[BabyGirl]

[color=deeppink]I do not like Noir >.>;

I watched the first two DVDs until I was absolutely bored out of my skull. I couldn't bring myself to watch any further episodes for fear of seeing the same sequence and hearing the same music five times in every half hour of the series. I think that they sorely underestimated the intelligence of their viewers by how many times they repeated certain scenes and flashbacks...agh.

I realize that this is just the way the show is, especially at first, but I just couldn't take it. Foreshadowing never really snags my intrest, anime or otherwise, it only serves to irritate me.

I liked the characters, though, they were rather fun.[/color]

[Japan]

Noir was ok. I only got to see the first episode though. From what I saw, it was pretty good. The music was alright and the characters well thought out. Though this anime is pretty cool, I don't think that is is a good starter anime. It is rather confusing at first and like babygirl said, you would get annoyed of it pretty fast....heh

[Gettles]

I'm a big fan of Noir but I have to agree with Japan 86 in that it is not a good starter. The chacters are well thought out and the plot is good. The problem lies in the first 9 episodes which have some major problems with paceing. The series does pick up in a major way with the introduction of Chloe who also brings about the main plot of the show. But still I doubt that would be a good series for someone just getting into anime.

And Babygirl, I would reccomend taht you give the next disc a try as those problems that you mentioned start to improove with less flashbacks and one of the best and most popular chacters in the series is introduced in that disc(Chloe in "The True Noir")

[Darkness]

Then what about the second part....What would you all consider a good anime to present to the sceptic?

[DeadSeraphim]

Pokemon. No I'm joking, though that could be a starter for younger ones. I'd either show them Akira or Blood or VhD or I'd ascertain which anime they'd like best by their tastes. If you like romantic soppy stuff you not going to enjoy Dragon Ball Z as much as someone who relished constant battles and action.

If you were to bring a person over into anime, a sceptic, the best thing to do would be consider their own tastes and work from there. It would be stupid to bring a hater of violence in with the movie Sin.

[Heaven's Cloud]

[color=indigo]I always was of the opinion that Noir was better than most anime but not as good as some. The animation and frame work was well done and there are only a few scenes that have the stationary ?anime hold? where they flash back and forth between two identical frames. I think that the dubbing on this anime was exceptional; actually I really think this is every bit Cowboy Bebop?s dubbing equal. The music for the series was very well written, but it seemed as though they didn?t write enough music for the series so you end up hearing the same song over and over again. I thought that the plot was good at first but it deteriorated towards the series finale?it almost seemed as though they were trying to make it more complex than it needed to be.

Overall I thought it was a fun series to watch but I wish I hadn?t purchased it.
[/color]

[AzureWolf]

[quote]I thought that the plot was good at first but it deteriorated towards the series finale?it almost seemed as though they were trying to make it more complex than it needed to be.

Overall I thought it was a fun series to watch but I wish I hadn?t purchased it[/quote] How is that possible? You wished you hadn't bought it?! :twitch:

Anyway, I'm interested as to how they were trying to make the series more complicated. They certainly didn't succeed, as Noir is the simplest, yet most elegant anime I've seen.

As for the music, yeah, for some reason, they did have 2 CDs for the series, but the second one wasn't used until the second half of the series. I liked the killing music though. How could you get tired of that? I didn't get tired of the repetition, either. Isn't repeating the same music a trend within every anime? :therock: Can you name any series that doesn't recycle music?

EDIT: Oh, and about Noir being a good first anime. Definately no. It just isn't American enough to be accepted easily by the cynical anime-hater. It certainly will not calm any stereotypes people have of anime either.

[BabyGirl]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Darkness [/i]
[B]Then what about the second part....What would you all consider a good anime to present to the sceptic? [/B][/QUOTE]

[color=deeppink]Absolutely not. It will only create a greater skeptic.

I think most people need to be eased into anime by more mindless shows like, as CrH said, Pokemon or DBZ. To them, confusing shows will only support their claims that anime is 'stupid'.

If it's an older skeptic, someone who would appreciate gritty, thoughtful anime, Cowboy Bebop is a good one. But not Noir, definitely not.[/color]

[Semjaza]

All I know about Noir is that I saw it at Target (they have a fully marked Anime DVD section now, surprisingly) and I thought the cover art was cool.

I'm glad I didn't bother with it after these comments heh.

[Darkness]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Semjaza Azazel [/i]
[B]
I'm glad I didn't bother with it after these comments heh. [/B][/QUOTE]

It may not be the greatest, but it's worth watching. As for Pokemon being a good starter, BG, I hope you were kidding.

I guess you would have to really see what the person was into in order to pick the appropriate starter, but I thought Noir was good because it has a realistic quality to it. No mechs, evil mages, or people falling down when they're stunned by something. It could be acted out by real people and not be cheesy or carried by special fx. Most of us are all true anime fans, where anything peeking curiousity deserves a look, but the non-fans need something simple that isn't little kid cartoonish (like pokemon). That's what I think is good about Noir.

[pbfrontmanvdp]

I thought this anime was great. I mean i see why most people here think its boring, but i like these types of animes that arent all focused on action. This had a great story line and the action was really good later on in the series.

You gotta buy the 3rd DVD on to realize that Chloe makes this whole entire series great. Shes probably my favorite female anime character as of right now. Just the whole idea of her using throwin knives as her main weapon is a first to me. Plus the last DVD was extremely good. The ending was pretty obvious but the 5 min aftermath was kinda a shocker to me. I enjoyed this anime.

[DeadSeraphim]

Yes I was kidding. What do you take me for??? I personally haven't seen Noir, as I have a penchant for the dark and violent, but if you were to bring someone in on this, 'human-like' show you may have to step them up gradually. Of course its all hypothesis.

To clear things up the only three movies I've brought my friends into anime with are Ghost in the Shell, Blood and Sin. I myslef was brought in on the whole series of Bublegum Crisis Tokyo 2040. Each showing made a different reaction in my friends, and it proves that no one anime can be the perfect starter. Though, if I had to, I would nominate Digi9mon for that honour.

[Ani_Freak]

[color=darkblue]I have to agree with some of you in the fact that NOIR is not a show for the first time anime viewer. I found NOIR to be a fairly decent show, despite the fact that it begins too slow just showing the two girls killing people episode after episode. But then again, that's what the series is about, assasins.

I found the animation to be pretty good, most than many anime out there. One thing that kept me watching was the music. I love music, and even though "repetitive", it's still very good music, and it adds up to the series. Think of it, how many times do we hear from episode to episode, the song "B.T." and "Key of the Twilight" from .Hack//SIGN?

For a suggestion to a person that has never seen any anime, I would give them Ghost in the Shell, Robotech, Ninja Scroll (movie, no series), Please! Teacher or Real Bout High School, depending on the persons tastes.[/color]

[Heaven's Cloud]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by AzureWolf [/i]
[B]How is that possible? You wished you hadn't bought it?! :twitch:

Anyway, I'm interested as to how they were trying to make the series more complicated. They certainly didn't succeed, as Noir is the simplest, yet most elegant anime I've seen.
[/B][/QUOTE]

[color=indigo]I guess that I really didn?t write what I meant. I guess my main problem was that they ended up putting too much emphasis on the Soldats and seemed to place the bond between Marielle and Kirika on the backburner. I felt that the creators spent too much time trying to explain what the Soldats were and how they tied into the plot and didn?t devout enough time to the main question that the story poses: ?Will Marielle kill Karika??[/color]

[pbfrontmanvdp]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Heaven's Cloud [/i]
[B][color=indigo]I guess that I really didn?t write what I meant. I guess my main problem was that they ended up putting too much emphasis on the Soldats and seemed to place the bond between Marielle and Kirika on the backburner. I felt that the creators spent too much time trying to explain what the Soldats were and how they tied into the plot and didn?t devout enough time to the main question that the story poses: ?Will Marielle kill Karika??[/color] [/B][/QUOTE]

I thought the whole point of the anime was to "Take a pilgrimage to the past". I thought the whole thing was supposed to be about the soldats and how it intertwined with why they are who they are. The only thing i thought the show didnt really get into a lot of depth about was Altena's character. [spoiler] I thought they would have emphasized more of what her purpose was and how she become part of the soldats. All they kept saying about her is that she was responsible for the ritual. [/spoiler]

[BabyGirl]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Darkness [/i]
[B]It may not be the greatest, but it's worth watching. As for Pokemon being a good starter, BG, I hope you were kidding. [/B][/QUOTE]

[color=deeppink]Tehe, nope.

If someone has never seen anime, they're not going to know how horrible Pokemon really is in comparison to the better series out there. All truth be told, I started watching Pokemon for the cool animation style and later found out that this was called 'anime'. It hooked me I guess, so it could work for someone else, especially younger viewers :whoops:[/color]

[AzureWolf]

[quote]I guess that I really didn?t write what I meant. I guess my main problem was that they ended up putting too much emphasis on the Soldats and seemed to place the bond between Marielle and Kirika on the backburner. I felt that the creators spent too much time trying to explain what the Soldats were and how they tied into the plot and didn?t devout enough time to the main question that the story poses: ?Will Marielle kill Karika??[/quote] Well, I agree with pbfrontmanvdp about what the main idea was, but I have to add, there wasn't much emphasis on Soldats at all: it was the entire concept of the pilgramage that dominated the entire series. Kirika and Mirielle's relationship never was hindered when they brought them in. In fact, I dare say the relationship between the two became more interesting when Chloe entered.

Also, (spoiler is about "Will Mirielle kill Kirika?") [spoiler]there was really only one point where you could actually doubt whether Mirielle would kill Kirika, but the rest of the time (and even then), it was pretty obvious, don't you think? C'mon, you knew she couldn't kill her after all they've been through![/spoiler]

[Gentle]

[COLOR=deeppink][SIZE=1]I never actually saw Noir but it was ok, from the clips and info that I found on it. It's not one of the best animes out there but atleast it's out there. Plus, if someone never actually saw it, they'd think it was some type of yuri because of the character's positions on the covers and various wallpapers people make of them. If I got the chance I might take a glance at what it is just because here, you only get about 5 different shows and something different would make me happy.

You can't set someone to a starter anime. Different people like different things and that's just how it goes. Noir wouldn't work at all since someone would probably be confused and hyper perky people just wouldn't be able to sit and watch it at all. Persons like romance, angst, horror, suspence, or maybe action and adventure. There's no real anime you can just sit in front of them and expect it to grow on them.

But if there was, then I'd say maybe Sailor Moon, Tenchi Muyo, or DragonBall Z/GT. They're how some started themselves and easy to see and find.[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[Gettles]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Gentle [/i]
[B][COLOR=deeppink][SIZE=1]
You can't set someone to a starter anime. Different people like different things and that's just how it goes. Noir wouldn't work at all since someone would probably be confused and hyper perky people just wouldn't be able to sit and watch it at all. Persons like romance, angst, horror, suspence, or maybe action and adventure. There's no real anime you can just sit in front of them and expect it to grow on them.

But if there was, then I'd say maybe Sailor Moon, Tenchi Muyo, or DragonBall Z/GT. They're how some started themselves and easy to see and find.[/COLOR][/SIZE] [/B][/QUOTE]

Well, your right about the fact that you can't really choose a "starter" anime, as diffrent people have diffrent tastes. But on the other hand, using something like Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, or Tenchi might not be the best idea's themselves as you might not want to go with a series that is so full of anime steriotypes as that might only further drive in the idea that every show is like that.

And about Noir being a yuri, well its hard to say. At times the show does hit at the possibleity of that but overall, it pretty much stays pretty neutral on that idea.

[AzureWolf]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Gettles [/i]
[B]And about Noir being a yuri, well its hard to say. At times the show does hit at the possibleity of that but overall, it pretty much stays pretty neutral on that idea. [/B][/QUOTE] O_o Yuri? How is it a Yuri? [spoiler]If it's about Chloe, then you are partially wrong[/spoiler]. If it's about the two main characters, you are [B]way[/B] off.

[Gettles]

Actually the relationship between Merille and Kirika could be argued either way, one major arguement that it is a yuri is in [spoiler] Kirika's letterto Mirille in I beleve episode 23.[/spoiler] but on the other hand, you can argue against it, pointing out [spoiler] Mirille telling Kirika to avoid getting too close to others after that Czech guy is killed in the attempt on Kirika's life.[/spoiler] Either way though, I think that wether or not the two are like that is not important and really such things are not important considering the tone of the seires.

[AthenAltena]

Has anyone here ever heard of Noir? If so, what do you think about it? I own the entire series and am one of the biggest Noir Sarus' (monkies) on the web.

It may be kinda gratiutiously violent and somewhat slow, but the action sequences and relationships between the girls are golden. Thoughts?

[AzureWolf]

Interesting. "gratiutiously violent?" As I recall, I didn't see any blood or any excessive violence. They kill, they finish. It wasn't like they were dangling severed heads or something.

"Relationships" can bear the wrong connotation, if you ask me. Some people always think something is going on just because it's a show about two+ girls.

[AthenAltena]

Well, the relationship between the two are a lot more obvious in the japanese. I admit, Noir is slow, but the main reason I kept watching it was because of Kirika. She's such an interesting character, and at the end when she turns "black" (with slit pupiled eyes and an emotionless expression) she seemed to become even more intriquing.

As for all the questions left unanswered at the end, those are pretty frustrating. In a way Kirika didn't find out who she was, but became a stronger person in the process. Kirika actually matures quite a bit during the series, and it is very evident in the last episode.

Chloe is my favorite next to Kirika, simply because of how mysterious and childlike she is around Altena.Chloe, however, would not have worked with Kirika as Noir, since in episode 24 she was willing to kill Kirika to save Altena, and a Noir could not place another person before their other half.

By the way, did you know that the director of .hack//sign and Noir are the same person? The same is true for the person who did the music. Both soundtracks are awesome imo.[list]
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