Noir...

Noir...OK, not a Last Exile by any means, but it was still really good.  And although not complex as compared to the Last Exile, I fear far more difficult to explain.  What is Noir?  Well, that was the whole premise of the series, trying to figure it out.  I'm getting ahead of myself...

Noir was another 26 episode anime series by Funimation - rather Americanized by Funimation...Bee Train actually produced the series.

It starts when Mireille, an assassin for hire, receives a mysterious e-mail from Kirika, a Japanese student, to meet for a "journey into the past".  Intrigued, Mirelle meets Kirika and is led to an abandoned warehouse where they are both attacked by force of men - all well armed, and intent on killing them both.  Mirelle's instincts go into action, methodically taking out the attackers one by one, until she finds herself in a bind, where one of the men is ready to finish her off - it is then that we find out Kirika has the same skills, if not better, than Mireille, and ends up saving her life.

The two talk and it is learned that Kirika is an amnesiac, and remembers nothing of her past.  As Kirika contains a watch that once belonged to Mireille's father (her father, mother and brother were assassinated when she was young), Mireille is still intrigued enough to help Kirika solve the riddle of her past - on one condition - once the secret of Kirika's past is known, Mireille will have to kill her - as Mireille is an assassin for hire, she leaves no one alive that has seen her face while on a mission.

To draw out the men who tried to have them killed, they operate under the name Noir.  It seems that Noir is a term well known to assassins...and that at one time there was an assassin operating by this name, that was feared throughout all of Europe...possibly even the world.

In short time, but slowly as the show progresses, the riddle of Noir unfolds, only to be plagued by a new riddle, Les Soldats.

Try as I might to explain the whole thing chronologically, where it was possible to do in my expose on the Last Exile, it cannot be attempted here, without giving all information up front, to make sense of anything.  So just understand, in the show, each episode gives one or two more clues to this, only to be fully unraveled in the last episode. 

During the Dark Ages, after suffering the atrocities of mankind that was seen during this period, a group emerged that swore to never let mankind treat mankind as it had down - this group was known as Les Soldats, or The Soldiers.  Think of them as a religious cult - initially their intent was good, but give them a thousand years and by 2011 they had strayed from the original intent of what they set out to do.

The Soldiers went underground and spread throughout the world - placing themselves in positions of power, gaining wealth, and manipulating leaders.  However, while they were underground, they always had two assassins above ground working for them - taking out political heads of state, or generally, anyone who got in their way.  Again, the original Soldats had good intentions - the assassins initially only took out those who were oppressing the poor and those who could not defend themselves.

By the year 2011 the Soldats had split into two factions - one, power hungry, and serving their own purpose, and the second, a lady by the name of Altena.  Altena wishes to restore the Soldats to their former roots, although she herself is misguided by what this actually is.

When Mireille was young, her parents where ask to give her to the Soldats to be raised and trained as an assassin.  Her father was a high ranking member of the Soldats.  Her parents refused, and a hit was ordered on them, by Kirika - only Mireille survived.  She was taken in and raised by her Uncle Claude, who himself was a trained assassin and taught Mireille the trade.

Mireille and Kirika go on many missions together - 24 to be exact.  Each one unravilling the mystery of Noir and the Soldats.  Several times Kirika saves Mireille's life - however, Mireille still reminds Kirika that she must kill her once the secret is known, because no one survives who has seen her face.  (It is not until near the end that Mireille learns Kirika killed her parents though).

The best episode is where Kirika falls in love with the starving artist Milosh.  Mireille tells Kirika to stay way from Milosh, although she never gives a reason why.  All we know of Milosh is that he is from Czechoslovakia and was in the Foreign Legion.  They meet every afternoon to paint by the river.  Milosh makes note of a limited edition plate (painting) in a store, but he can never afford it, and it is always sold out.  On the night Milosh tells Kirika he has joined the Foreign Legion again and says his last goodbye, she notices the plate in the window is available, and buys it, running after Milosh to give it to him as a going away present.  From behind her, a car pulls out and a hit has been ordered to take her out - as machine gun fire erupts from the car, Kirika survives, but Milosh is gunned down.  That night, Kirika places her painting supplies in the river, along with the plate, as her friend Mireille makes a call and finds out where the hitman is staying.  Needless to say, Kirika has her revenge.  After the death of Milosh, Mireille explains that is why they cannot fall in love.

The second best episode - Mireille meets her Uncle Claude again in Paris.  Although they try to play the family part, Claude is in town to assassinate Kirika.  He requests Mireille to stand out of his way - stating when it is all over, he will take her back to the river where he used to take her when he was raising her. That night, Mireille brings Kirika to Claude's mansion, and meets Claude in his greenhouse.  Mireille says they can't go back to the river together and they both draw their guns and fire - Claude missing and Mireille killing her Uncle Claude.  It is to be noted, that Claude was the better assassin, and he purposely missed Mireille.

And the ending...

So Mireille learns that Kirika killed her parents...but enter Chloe.  Remember, Noir was two assassins?  Well, the whole time you think it is Mireille and Kirika, but it turns out Chloe and Kirika are actually the true Noir, Mireille never was.  Through a series of events, Mireille and Kirika part ways, and Chloe takes Kirika back to the manor, where Altena will officially make them Noir.

Mireille goes back to her old life, but soon is approached by a high ranking Soldat, of the "power hungry" branch.  They fear Altena.  Once she has control of Noir, they know they will be eliminated.  They give Mireille the option - take out Altena and Chloe, or take out Kirika.  Given no choice, Mireille travels to the border between Spain and France, to where the Altena manor is.  There she finds Chloe and Kirika ready to be named the Noir assassins.

Mireille attempts to kill Chloe, but Chloe is by far the better fighter, and has Mireille down in short order.  Ready to kill Mireille, Kirika intervenes, once again saving Mireille's life, but killing Chloe in doing so - which was not her intention.  It is then that Mireille and Kirika make a pact to take out Altena, for they will never be able to live in peace while she is still alive.

(To understand the depth of Chloe's fighting skills, she was sent to Taiwan and took out a Triad assassin - Triad assassins are real people in our world today - they are known by a triangle tattoo between their thumb and forefinger.  In real life, Triads are the most feared of all assassins.  Chloe took out the Triad with one single move)

Mireille and Kirika chase Altena to the basement of the Manor, where there is a well over a lava pit (sounds odd, but he manor goes back to the Dark Ages).  It is there that Altena reveals that by the death of Chloe, that Mireille and Kirika have now become Noir).  For reasons that can't be explained without watching the show, Altena actually asks Kirika to shoot her.  Both Mireille and Kirika realize how deranged Altena is, and both are tired of so much killing - Mireille states "she is not worth soiling a bullet". 

However, Altena then shoots Mireille (wounding her) and threatens to kill her if Kirika does not shoot her (Altena).  As she shoots again, Kirika jumps in front of Mireille and takes the bullet for her.  Altena then prepares to fire again and kill Mireille.  Wounded, Kirika jumps on Altena, knocking them both into the well over the lava pit.  Mireille rushes to the rim, to find Kirika hanging on to Altena, hanging on to the rim of the well.  As Altena falls to her death, Mireille reaches down and grabs Kirika, pulling her to safety.

As they limp out of the manor holding each other up, they meet the four leaders of the other branch of the Soldats - they have been invited to the manor for the announcement of Noir.  Neither Mireille nor Kirika have the strength left to fight them, but everyone knows they are now officially Noir.  Mireille classically uses this to her advantage, and states "...if you fear the darkness, you will stand aside."  For which they do, and let them pass.  As they walk by, Mireille declares in her own way, that her and Kirika will be the Noir of hold...defending the poor and weak from the oppressing strong.

As they disappear into the woods, Kirika asks Mireille, "what are we going to do now?" - to which Mireille answers, "I'm not sure, but first we are going to go back to the apartment and have some tea....and this time, your making the tea!"

It was an awesome ending!!