DVD Corner

Noir- The Complete Series DVD Review

“Noir” starts out promising, but falls apart as the story progresses.

“Noir” is a 26 episode anime series that revolves around a young assassin amnesiac student named Kirika who can’t remember her past and an assassin named Mireille who also has a mysterious past. Wanting to know about who they are, the two decide to work together to discover clues about their past and form Noir- a duo of assassins who take on jobs. Plots in the series involve: jobs to assassinate terrorists, a former KGB agent, the mafia, a revolutionary, corrupt criminals, a traitor, a mysterious group called Les Soldats trying to assassinate Noir, Kirika trying to remember her past, Mireille’s shady uncle, a woman named Chloe who calls herself the True Noir, Mireille trying to find out who murdered her parents and who they were, and Lady Altena.

Unless you’ve never seen an anime series before, female assassins seem to be a beloved plot device/concept for anime and I have to say it’s becoming quite tiresome to see (even if this series predates many of the assassin centric series). I wouldn’t have an issue with the assassin angle had the show worked, but unfortunately, the series doesn’t work as a whole. The show starts off well enough with nice pacing, a clear story, and some exciting butt-kicking action. As more secrets are revealed and the Les Soldats story arc comes into play, the show becomes bogged down by convuluted plots filled with rituals, councils, blah, blah, blah. By the time the series finale rolls around, you won’t likely care what happens because you will be so burnt out on the story by then.

Video/Audio:

The widescreen picture quality is a bit fuzzy. This series has a more classic traditional animation style to it than the usual stylistic anime series we are used to seeing.

This set contains English and Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1 audio tracks. This is a very loud show that sometimes suffers from irritating techno music. The English dub is generally solid and the Japanese track is equal to (if not better) in terms of voice acting and sound quality.

Extras:
* Trailers for “Eden Of The East: Paradise Lost,” “Darker Than Black,” “El Cazador De La Bruja,” “Evangelion 2.22,” “Dragon Ball Z,” “Soul Eater,” “Hero Tales,” “D.Gray-Man,” “Gai-Rei-Zero,” “Black Butler,” “Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood” “Peacemaker,” and Funimation.com
* Commentary on episodes 15 and 16 by the English ADR director and 4 voice actresses. Expect lots of pats on the back and joking around. The usual.
* Textless opening and closing songs.
* Kirika music video.
* 4 Japanese promos.
* A 25 minute interview with 4 English voice cast members (Monica Rial, Shelley Calene-Black, Hilary Haag and Tiffany Grant). They talk about their opinions on the show, casting, difficulties in voice acting, etc.

* “Noir- The Unsoled Story”- A Noir short with sock puppets. Don’t ask.
* 2 interviews with Shelley Calene-Black and Monica Rial who vice Mireille and Kirika. They mainly talk about their careers and work.
* An interview with Hilary Haag and Tiffany Grant.
* Interviews with Japanese voice actresses Houko Kuwashima (Kirika), Kotono Mitsuishi (Mirielle), Tarako (Altena), and Aya Hisakawa (Chloe). They answer various questions about their characters, the series, voice acting, etc.

November 9, 2011 - Posted by nicklyons1 | DVD review | Noir- The Complete Series DVD Review