I rewatched Volume 4 of Noir in the post-Onna! “marathon of watching and reading things non-stop so I don’t have to talk to people” fest. It’s quite good. And remarkably bad.

Let’s get the plot complication stuff over quickly…the first two episodes are designed to make Mirielle and Kirika seem more human. I think. In the first episode of the volume Kirika befriends an ex-mercenary turned painter and takes up painting herself. Mirielle warns her away from befriending anyone, but Kirika persists, with tragic results. In the second episode, we learn yet another little piece about Mirielle’s past and, if we are not entirely clueless, will come to realize that this is not just “making Mirielle seem more human” but really a hint that her past is quite relevant to the story. Think about it – Kirika has no past and we never, not really, try and figure out who she is. But little by little Mirielle’s family, and their fate, keep popping up, over and over and over….

In any case, this attempt by Mirielle to recreate an old relationship fails in a slightly more tragic way than Kirika’s attempt to make friends. In Kirika’s case, the guy is killed more by circumstance than anything else; in Mirielle’s case, she actually pulls the trigger and kills her beloved uncle.

The second two episodes are ridiculous. I love them, but if they were disappeared the story as a whole would not suffer one iota. A Chinese Tong sends a irresistably goofy assassin to take out Noir, (she kills with poison nails…and wears a fashionable leather jacket, all at the same time!) with predictable results. This is the mini-arc in which we see Kirika’s magic bullet shield on full – she kills about 40 people and not one of them manages to so much as graze her with a scathing look.

But, let’s let that all go and talk about the Yuri. In Volume 4, where Kirika obsesses about a guy and Mirielle about her uncle? Why, yes, now that you mention it.

This one was easy – watch Mirielle react to Kirika’s new hobby. Neutral, a little amused. Then watch Mirielle react to the cause of the new hobby…open jealousy, baby. I never noticed it the first time, but Mirielle spends the entire rest of the episode *bristling* when she thinks about Kirika spending time with that guy. Great voice acting from Mitsuishi Kotono there – she sounds deeply irked and bitchy. ^_^

Then we have the other half of the equation – Mirielle returns with the news that her uncle is in town, yay! Kirika would, assumably, be annoyed, yes? Something to take away from the well-oiled machine that is Noir? Nope. She’s pleased as punch that Mirielle has regained this link to her past. Why – because she can see how happy this has made Mirielle.

Now add those two little things up. They equal a relationship. Not, perhaps one between lovers, but certainly one between people who care, a lot, for each other.

Now, Bee Train has already said about Noir that if you see Yuri, it’s there. I choose to see a relationship that is beginning to leak past professional into personal.

And because, for some reason I cannot fathom, some people like Chloe, I’ll also mention her stalking Kirika to Hong Kong as a sign of her obsession about the other girl. But I strongly feel that the vibe is one-way. While it’s clear that Chloe sees Kirika as her perfect future partner, I don’t get the sense that Kirika even sees Chloe as a an existence, really. Her mind is on her partner *now*. And from my perspective, it stays there…except in the bits where they brainwash her. But I’m getting ahead of myself. ^_^

Ratings:
Art – 6, it’s horribly inconsistent from scene to scene
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Music – 9
Yuri – 5

Overall – 7 and a great way to pass a gloomy Sunday afternoon. On par with a decent kungfu flick. ^_^ There was something terribly important I wanted to say here, but now I’ve forgotten what it was. Oh well.

Just as a reminder, it’ll be a short week for Okazu, since Otakon is coming up on Thursday. I’ll have my computer, and there’s a small chance that I’ll be updating, but no promises! ^_^

Okay, so despite the fact that my life is nearly 100% Maria-sama ga Miteru right now, I thought I’d move off it for a sec, and harken back to the golden days of yesteryear, when yuri anime existed, and women who carried guns ruled the small screen. That’s right, its time for Noir. (You can use the search feature up on the top of the page to find my reviews of Volumes 1 and 2, because I’m too lazy to look them up for you. Just stick in the word “Noir” and the links’ll be the top ones.)

In this third volume several significant things happen. For one thing, the gradual character development of the second volume is left behind, and the sense that something important is looming just ahead is notched up several, erm, notches. The character Chloe is introduced in this volume and, most importantly, in Episode 10, one of the faceless henchmen actually gets *wounds* when he is shot! And here I have been saying that that never happens. Wrong again, Erica.

Before I comment on Chloe, let me first mention Altena. Altena was a completely wasted character. For someone who got so much build-up through the series, they really never *did* anything with her. She was supposed to have been the other Soldats branch, supporting the “pure,” ritualistic Noir, as opposed to the crime syndicate assassin-for-hire Noir, but they really never managed it. Bee Train has improved at stroy writing since this anime, so I won’t beat it to death, but really, Altena was a waste. Which is a shame, ’cause she might have been cool. (Not as cool as Inccontabile, who I still think would have made a better adversary.)

And then there is Chloe and her spork. (Damn you Dreiser, for destroying my brain with that image!)

Chloe is meant to be creepy and cool and scarily ubercompetent. And fandom seems to agree, overwhelmingly. But I think she’s pretty boring, myself. In the Volume 3 liner notes, we learn that of the four major characters Mirielle and Kirika were created by one woman, Chloe by another and Altena by a third. The three characters designs were integrated for the story. I don’t think it worked, sorry. Chloe would be great in say, ./hack‘s The World, but in France, she seems utterly ridiculous. I realize that I am in a minority of one when I say that Chloe and Kirika together as a couple would not only be horribly unsexy, but utterly, mind-numbingly boring. And don’t get me started on that cape. LOL And it’s a damn shame, because as everyone knows, Chloe’s voice is done by the utterly fabulous Hisakawa Aya, for whom I have nothing but the most immense respect. She does her best to bring some depth to this role, but its a doomed effort, since Chloe really just doesn’t have any. I will say for Chloe that in this volume, at least, she gets some modicum of personality – and we get the glimmer of Chloe’s genuine desire to be paired wth Kirika. So that works whether I like it or not. ^_^

Be that as it may, Volume 3 starts to pick up the action a bit from the slightly slower and more melancholic Volume 2. In general, it’s a great set of episodes, with a hint of the “40 versus 1” that will come in the future, in which Kirika can stand in a open space and not be shot by the several dozen men shooting at her, while she takes them down with a bullet each. Totally realistic. ;-)

Ratings:

Art – 7 (Chloe’s face is often uneven and the people stand out as really bad in front of lovely detailed backgrounds.)
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Music – 9
Yuri – 6

Overall – 8

Watching Noir is like the old potato chip tagline – you can’t watch only one. It simply *begs* for a 26-episode all night carbohydrate and alcohol-laden marathon. Great, goofy, henchmen-slaughtering fun.

I spent some time this weekend rewatching anime that I own, but haven’t yet reviewed here. It was edifying, let me tell you. There were some things that were great and some less so. I decided to start the week off with a reasonably strong entry. ^_^

Noir Volume 2, *feels* like a second volume. The art is significantly less good than the first volume, the plot sort of drops off a bit in favor of character development (sort of) and the use of repeated footage begins to grate. But otherwise it’s excellent. ^_^

On the positive side, the characters do become more than just ciphers. Despite myself, I was feeling a little for Mirielle and Kirika as they faced what, for them, were major life crises – Kirika’s lack of knowledge about herself and Mirielle’s past trauma coming back to haunt her.

We also get a glimpse of Mirielle in bed in the nude, which has carried Yuri fans for some time, as there is only one bed in the room. It would take a strong woman, so we rationalize, to sleep in the nude with someone with whom you are not sleeping. ;-) In fact, I think it’s a bit early for them, but hey, yuri goggles go a long way to building character development. ^_^

Geographically, we go from New York City to (the wildly improbable deep woods and high mountain passes) of New Jersey to sunny Sicily. For this alone, the “Intoccabile” arc is worth it. But this arc is worth watching, in general. I think Intoccabile would have made a much worthier opponent than Chloe and it was a damn shame we used her up so soon.

This volume also gives the viewer glimpses into a Kirika who is exactly as she appears – a young woman, apt to fall for a cute kitty or a good sob story. I liked that. It gives her more depth than most people assume she has. And Mirielle gets a chance to gently gloat about her superior knowledge of Russian literature. ^_^

So, yes, the second volume has problems – notably the art and repeated footage issue (and the no-wound thing, which plagues the whole production), but as far as giving the characters some three-dimensionality, this volume is fairly crucial – and actually not a bad watch.

Ratings:
Art – 5
Music – 7 (Salva Nos playing as they run through NJ’s bamboo forest is, to me, priceless)
Character – 8
Story – 7

Overall 7

Not as strong as the beginning, or the end, but a must for fanfic writers. ^_^