Noir - Cloaks & Daggers (Vol. 6)

Rating:
Summary: The End is Near
Review: All I can say is, this is by far the best Noir dvd yet. Now for people who haven't seen the series yet, that doesn't signify anything important. But for those of you who have seen the series, you know that its consistent excellence makes it one of the best animes to be released this year.But Cloaks and Daggers takes it up another notch. Its DVD's like this that seperate the good animes from the great ones.
As Kirika's past becomes clearer with each passing incIdent, we are left with a disgrunted Mirielle and a confused Kirika. In the first episode of the disk, the Soldats send their best, the Knights of Paris, in an attempt to finally eliminate Kirika and Mirielle. What happens towards the end of that episode, and carries into the next one, is nothing short of shocking. As Kirika's past finally becomes clear, Mirielle is forced to live up to her promise to kill Kirika. What happens you will just have to see. Chloe is present, as always, and her past becomes clear alongside of Kirika's. We also get more insight into Mirielle's history and the reasons for why her family were killed. After the first episode and a half are done, everything has pretty much gone to hell, and the series begins its spiral to its climax. The next two episodes are classic, especially Journey's End. Whoever has seen Kenshin, then just imagine Kirika going Manslayer. That's the best way I can explain it without ruining it. I have to say, throughout the series Chloe has been my favorite by far, but Kirika is quickly gaining on me. Considering the basic insignificance of Mirielle's skills compared to those two, she may have been forgotten in the mind of some viewers. That would be a mistake, however, as we learn in this DVD that she has just as much potential as the other two.
All in all, undoubtably the best DVD so far, and it should be considering we are winding down to the end of the series. I'm still a little ticked they decided to release the series in 7 volumes instead of 6, but I can't complain too much. If this DVD is any inclination of what we can expect in the final 3 episodes, then we are in for one spectacular ride.

Rating:
Summary: HERE'S THE WINDUP
Review: In Volume 6 of Noir, we start to finally get some answers to some of the enigmas of the show. Episode 20 explains the origins of the Soldats. It turns out that the organization's founding had nothing to do with what it has become in the present. The Soldats actually formed to right the wrongs against the poor and the weak. In other words, it was a sort of secret society to bring justice to the world. Over the centuries it had basically become a corrupt and Mafia-like organization that has nothing to do with its spiritual origins.

In the second episode, we learn who killed Mireille's parents finally and also the secret past of Kirika. I won't reveal the secrets but let's just say Mireille's and Kirika's relationship will never be the same.

Episode 22 deals with Kirika's journey to confront her fate at "the Manor", the home of the powerful Soldat named Altena, who seems to have been controlling the fate of Noir the whole series. Kirika comes to a mountain village where everyone seems to already know the fate she herself is not aware of.

The last episode on the disk shows Mireille as she strives to make sense of what her next move will be. She is offered an alliance with the Soldats but to seal the deal she might have to hurt someone she cares for. Everything is being set up for a powerful finale on Volume 7, the last of the series.

This was the most powerful volume of Noir I have seen. Of course, the reason is that a lot of the threads of the plot come together in dramatic fashion. There is nothing worse than a revealed past to kill a friendship.

Also, finally Kirika takes a leading role. Usually, she says very few things and seems to be a wandering waif, but here she really is put through the ringer and steps up to some big acting chores. In fact, I began to see the series as a tragedy during this volume. Kirika, Mireille, and Chloe have had their lives destroyed, their youth taken away, and any chance for a normal life claimed by the Soldats when they were children, Before they were old enough to make the right decisions. All because The Soldats believed in the inherent evil of Man. Seeing these characters reap what they didn't sow is heart-rending.

The voice actors are incredible, and also the soundtrack by Yuki Kajiura is first rate. The entire production is epic and majestic. There is a moment in a rainstorm as Mireille runs after Kirika, out of breath, wanting to speak to her after the revelation of a horrible secret, with gentle piano chords in the background, that is as poignant and poweful as anything I've seen on film, whether it be anime or live action. Highly recommended. Beautiful and divine series.

Extras include an interview with the Japanese actress that plays Chloe, Production Sketches, and clean open/closes.



Rating:
Summary: Just When You Think You've Got It Figured Out...
Review: This set of episodes starts out with a bang (literally) as the focus shifts entirely to the internal politics of the Soldats and the role set aside for Kirika by one of the factions. Altena has been using her position of power to bring about Le Grand Retour, which signals the recreation of a team of assassins know as Noir. One of these is Chloe whose styrange, ambivalent appearances are in contrast to the more 'predictable' relationhip between Kirika and Mirielle. The other of the pair is slated to be Kirika. But there are great forces at play in this drama. As the viewer will quickly become aware, nothing is exactly what it seems.

The stresses of this conflict begins to fray the edges of the bond between Kirika and Mirielle, revealing that their feelings are stronger than earlier appearances. During the series, Kirika has changed from a lost waif to a woman in conflict with her ability to form human contact. As such she has developed a strong reciprocal attachment to Mirielle. While the program has studiously avoided anything that addresses sexuality, a case can be built that Noir is a classic example of Yuri anime. Certainly, Director Koichi Mashimo has left this aspect as ambiguous as possible, creating in interesting dramatic tension.

These episodes are fraught with this kind of layered meaning. On the one hand we see a political struggle for power in an illicit organization. But it also takes the form of a personal purification and initiation ritual where the morbid and menacing take on almost religious tones. Kirika, whose characteristic short skirt suddenly is traded for monastic robes is the incarnation of this conflict - unsure as she is of her true identity until consciousness is forces upon her with a hammer blow. For the viewer, the plot becomes intense and intricate.

It is unusual to describe a story with as much violence as Noir contains as a 'delicate' drama, but the writing and art build a finely grained aesthetic experience which is way out of the ordinary for a series that started out much like any 'girls with guns' story line. Noir has consistently emphasized dramatic values rather than violence, even when the one plays against the background of the other. Noir has consistently pushed the limit of what anime as legitimate theater with a great deal of finesse. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Just When You Think You've Got It Figured Out...
Review: This set of episodes starts out with a bang (literally) as the focus shifts entirely to the internal politics of the Soldats and the role set aside for Kirika by one of the factions. Altena has been using her position of power to bring about Le Grand Retour, which signals the recreation of a team of assassins know as Noir. One of these is Chloe whose styrange, ambivalent appearances are in contrast to the more 'predictable' relationhip between Kirika and Mirielle. The other of the pair is slated to be Kirika. But there are great forces at play in this drama. As the viewer will quickly become aware, nothing is exactly what it seems.

The stresses of this conflict begins to fray the edges of the bond between Kirika and Mirielle, revealing that their feelings are stronger than earlier appearances. During the series, Kirika has changed from a lost waif to a woman in conflict with her ability to form human contact. As such she has developed a strong reciprocal attachment to Mirielle. While the program has studiously avoided anything that addresses sexuality, a case can be built that Noir is a classic example of Yuri anime. Certainly, Director Koichi Mashimo has left this aspect as ambiguous as possible, creating in interesting dramatic tension.

These episodes are fraught with this kind of layered meaning. On the one hand we see a political struggle for power in an illicit organization. But it also takes the form of a personal purification and initiation ritual where the morbid and menacing take on almost religious tones. Kirika, whose characteristic short skirt suddenly is traded for monastic robes is the incarnation of this conflict - unsure as she is of her true identity until consciousness is forces upon her with a hammer blow. For the viewer, the plot becomes intense and intricate.

It is unusual to describe a story with as much violence as Noir contains as a 'delicate' drama, but the writing and art build a finely grained aesthetic experience which is way out of the ordinary for a series that started out much like any 'girls with guns' story line. Noir has consistently emphasized dramatic values rather than violence, even when the one plays against the background of the other. Noir has consistently pushed the limit of what anime as legitimate theater with a great deal of finesse. Highly recommended.