Japanese Anime
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In the world of anime, girls and guns seem to match rather well. Noir is the newest anime to hit our shores that follows the classic formula of �girls have guns, girls shoot bad men, viewers enjoy the show.� Is there anything to separate Noir from the bevy of girls-with-guns anime already available? Yes and no, but mainly yes.
Mireille is a hired assassin, a woman capable of dealing death to multiple goons at once without feeling a scratch, but right from the start of the show she is greeted with the mysterious Kirika, the adorable killing machine dressed up as a schoolgirl. Kirika is on equal (maybe even favorable) footing with Mireille in terms of skill sets, though Kirika has no idea how she became so talented in the ways of death. The two women partner up together when Kirika shows Mireille a link to her past, an etched pocket watch that plays a song that haunts Mireille (and soon the viewer). From here, they take on assassin jobs under the moniker �Noir� and try to solve the riddles of Mireille�s past and Kirika�s present.
Noir is certainly an entertaining show (when the footage is new, that is - more on this later), and the storylines, while very episodic at this point, keep your attention. The classic traits of the �film noir� style (no escape from the mean streets, loneliness, and death) in which the show is named after are present in Noir in the lead characters� veiled pasts and (traditionally solo and lonely) macabre profession. Film noir�s style of complex composition and dreadful atmosphere is fully realized in Noir through fantastic shots of Kirika�s killing style (hanging a man by his own necktie), morbid locales (Mireille�s favorite place to visit, the cemetery), and other stylistically pleasing shots and settings.
