Noir (2001– )

Two beautiful female assassins travel the world accepting assignments to kill various culprits, and at the same time, having deadly traps set against them by their own employer.

Stars:

Houko Kuwashima, Kotono Mitsuishi, Shelley Calene-Black

Cast

Series cast summary:
Houko Kuwashima	...	Kirika Yumura (26 episodes, 2001)
Kotono Mitsuishi	...	Mireille Bouquet (26 episodes, 2001)
Shelley Calene-Black	...	Mireille Bouquet (26 episodes, 2001)
Monica Rial	...	Kirika Yumura (26 episodes, 2001)
Jason Douglas	...	Additional Voices (26 episodes, 2001)
Aya Hisakawa	...	Chloe (12 episodes, 2001)
Hilary Haag	...	Chloe (12 episodes, 2001)
Tarako	...	Altena (11 episodes, 2001)
Tiffany Grant	...	Altena (11 episodes, 2001)

Storyline

Noir is a tale of assassins, in particular one named Mireille Bouquet, a contract killer who receives a message from a young girl with no memory about herself, but is an incredibly efficient killing machine. The story takes us on a pilgrimage to the pasts of both girls, which leads them to Paris, France, and someone is trying to stop them...

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Plot Keywords:

france | assassin | anime | amnesia | corsica | 

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Genres:

Action | Animation | Thriller | Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Official Sites:

DVD Vision Japan review VICTOR ENTERTAINMENT INC. [jp] (japanese)

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese English

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bee Train, Victor Entertainment, ADV Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

25 min 25 min (26 episodes)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

At the beginning of Episode 2, "Daily Bread", during the brief scene when Mireille and Kirika are window shopping, one of the stores has the name "Bee-Train". Bee Train is the name of one of the companies that produces the show.

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Goofs

On a few occasions, when Mireille reads something, she reads from left to right. But when Kirika reads the same thing, she reads from right to left - even when it is shown that the text she's reading is in western writing.

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Quotes

Kirika Yuumura: Love may kill people... but hatred cannot save them.

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Connections

Version of Noir

User Reviews

if 'La Fem Nikita' were anime...

... then this series would be it.

the story centers on Mireille and Kirika. Mireille is the sole surviving daughter of a Corsican crime family and has become an assassin to pay the bills. Kirika is an introverted Japanese girl with no memories of her past and an inexplicable talent for extortionary violence. (you will *never* look at schoolgirls the same way again after you've seen Kirika in action!)

they adopt the codename 'Noir' and set to business taking bids from gangland for contracted assassinations, developing a reputation as killers to be particularly feared.

but as the story goes on, both girls come to realize that the name 'Noir' has history all it's own: a dark legacy that links both Kirika and Mireille together in ways that could never have imagine...

look past the obvious hyper-cute character designs (both Mireille and Kirika are *very* easy on the eyes), mind-blowing action sequences and a soundtrack that absolutely keeps the adrenaline pumping, you'll find things very rare in anime of this genre: a story with an actual purpose and very well-written characters.

'Noir' is anime that ain't anime. if you get the chance to watch any episodes, grab it.

you won't regret it.