Noir Vol. #4

By Paul Jacques     November 30, 2003
Release Date: November 17, 2003



What They Say
In a world where no one is what they seem, faith and trust become the key objectives and ultimate goal. Driven by the machinations of the mysterious Chloe, Altena and an all new crime family, Kirika and Mireille must fight for their lives both at home and abroad as the action explodes across the globe. Yet even as the mystery surrounding the origins of Noir slowly begins to give up its clues, the two assassins find themselves being driven apart, both by conflicting emotions and by conflicting goals. The survival of Noir is at stake in the fourth tension-filled volume of NOIR.

The Review!
Four more episodes of intrigue and death.

Audio:
Perfect Dolby surround sound reproduction on both the English and Japanese sound tracks. I alternated the sound track between each episode, no problems detected.

Video:
Clean, crisp and widescreen- what more do you need?

Packaging:
The front cover has Chloe, Mireille, Kirika and Shaoli. The rear has four stills, one form each episode, with a single montage of a sad Kirika and a feisty Mireille. The four page fold out insert concerns itself with the musical aspects of series, and lets face it NOIR’s OST are some of the best music ever to reach our ears, so it’s worth a read. The disc itself is printed in the usual style of a black silhouette on a dark background.

Menu:
The menus are presented in slightly off centre angle, giving the feeling of a foreboding corridor. Selection speed was quick and at no time did I have resort to pressing the Root button to get me out of there.

Extras:
The Production sketches are huge, around 80 (I think), so plenty to look through when you have 8 minutes or so. Clean open and close is always welcome. The promos are taken from each of the volumes, so you’re not missing anything here as they are pure “buy this DVD now” form of advertising. Of course the jewel in the Extra’s crown is the interview with Kotono Mitsuishi (Mireille’s VA).

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
In episode 13 primarily we see what life is like when NOIR are not out attending to business. Kirika decides she wants to take up a hobby, painting. And so we see Kirika spending lazy summer days painting (badly) by the river. There she meets an ex serviceman who also likes to paint, and so a friendship develops between the two of them. Meanwhile Mireille finds out that an “old friend” is back in town. This “old friend” has a score to settle with Mireille. Alas, it is only a matter of time before everyone is involved in a life and death struggle. This is a sad episode, as we see what it’s like to be hunted, never knowing peace, never having any friends, always looking over your shoulder.

Episode 14 centers on Mireille, as we meet her Uncle Claude, who is also in the same line of work. We learn a little more about Mireille’s past and how she came to leave Corsica. Of course Uncle Claude knows more than he is letting on, and in the second half of the episode some family truths are revealed. This is a dark episode, and without me revealing too much, it shows just how low and dirty the Soldat’s play their games.

Episode 15 & 16 are a two part story which sees our girls taking a trip to Taiwan in order to undertake a job for the Soldats (Altena to be exact)! Maybe not the best decision, but Mireille is still ticked off from the previous episode, so her judgment is impaired, but she hopes to learn something new from “the enemy of my enemy”. It transpires that the local Triads have killed off a Soldat employee, as they are making a power play to take over. Of course the Soldats are none to pleased with this situation, and have sent Mireille and Kirika to settle the matter. Only the local Triads have their own femme fatale (Shaoli), and she is very good assassin. The odds are so badly against NOIR that Chloe feels it necessary to fly down there and give the girls some backup in the firefight that ensues (plenty of spent cartridges go ching on the ground in this story). At the end we get a small clue as to the relationship between Kirika and Chloe when they confront each other in the warehouse.

Considering this is the mid point, you usually expect some filler episodes to be used to pad out the series, or a flashback clip show for the slow people. You’ll be glad to hear this is not the case. The pace remains fluid, and flows in different directions to reveal something new and unexpected for the viewer.

In summary- Another excellent volume.

Features
Japanese 5.1 Dolby Surround,English 5.1 Dolby Surround,English Subtitles ,Production sketches ,Clean opening and closing animation,Original Japanese promo,Interview with Kotono Mitsuishi

Review Equipment
JVC 28" Pure Flat Wide Screen TV, Pioneer 454 Progressive Scan code free DVD player, Logitech Z-680 THX DD/DTS receiver & Speakers. Secondary equipment, 21” Sony Trinitron monitor, ATI 9700pro & PowerDVD v4, Creative Audigy 2 & headphones