TG ER ere aS oR a t GE A SI Ae Re SSE ay A ae a March 19, 2003 Culture Anime Reviews Released BY: ADV Films Running Time: 100 minutes Le noir, ve mot designe shops ae Lees deun vi ‘se bis oe Low mains @oires prt gent | ta paix des nowvemun-nds Tointsine te wien cho destin. et eS Shades of Darkness Released BY: ADV Films Running Time: 125 minutes http://otherpress.douglas.bc.ca Nick Hogg Op Game Guy It’s been awhile, but all your old friends are back, Excel, Hyatt, Lord Ilpalazzo, and Nabeshin. Just like a sweater, fresh from the dryer, Volume 4 is fresh, warm, and comfy. Returning to their tried and true formula of being absolutely absurd, excel saga shines like that quarter that always distracts you for hours. As usual the video quality is superb, and the two-chan- nel dual language audio is the best it has been. The only exception to the audio is the fact that ADV has changed the English voice actress for Excel. While the acting for Excel is still good, it’s not up to the level of the previous actress, Jessica Cavaello. But there is an easy remedy for this problem: if need be, watch it in Japanese with English subtitles, I suggest this option for this volume. The DVD menu has really had a drop in quality. It is just a simple picture menu with little anime animation and episode selection. I’m disappointed on the whole with the lack of effort on ADV’s part in the construction of these menus. As for the extras, they are very minimal, with the usual production sketches, and a fake trailer for a fake show. Finally the odd insert we get inside the DVD this time is a construct an Excel face, with several sets of eyes, mouths, eyebrows, and noses, so you can make any Excel you need to. Some of you might remember the plot that was starting to brew; well someone forgot to put the coffee in the There are no giant robots, demons, space battle ships, magical girls, or anyone charged with the fate of the world in this production. Now you're wondering why I’m even watching this; it’s simple. And so is Noir which is about two female assassins who call themselves Noir. They get paid to kill people, but it’s in the execution of this that makes Noir what it is. The audio track in Noir is amazing. They have 5.1 sur- round sound, for both the English and original Japanese tracks. Video quality is exactly what you expect from an anime that’s barely a year old; it’s clean and clear. The menu consists of the “Noir Hallway’—a very stylish per- spective view menu, easy to navigate, but odd nonetheless. With the episode count at five on the disc, the extras are a little thin with clean open and close animation, along with Japanese promo spots and a sketchbook. Also an interest- ing note on the promos, this show is another one of my 1:45a.m. specials on Thursday morning. That should be hint enough that this isn’t for the young for the sensitive. The story isn’t quite that simple. We have an assassin, Mireille, who is contacted by an unknown young girl, Kirika, who has lost her memory and knows something from Mireille’s past. They end up being followed to a meeting site by people who are trying to kill Kirika, but the other press machine because the only plot is that of the writers stalling as they try to come up with one. For those of you who were disappointed with the complete lack of every- one’s favorite civil servants, this volume, is chalk full of them. There is a new addition to the city’s protectors—a new android character, a smaller, younger android version, and their very creepy creator. In classic Excel Saga fashion, some of the funniest characters are the ones with the least amount of screen time, this scientist is no exception, and he has this really creepy habit of being anally punctual, like crashing through building windows at the last second. One of the funniest things in this volume was the episode with the T-10,000 robot made by Ilpalazzo. To disguise it from onlookers, Excel and Hyatt, dressed it in a panda costume. So we have a giant panda robot ripping apart the city while everyone comments on how cute it is. But we have more of the same from Excel Saga, it’s not quite as fresh as it used to be, but it’s not too far gone that it would cause food poisoning. At the end of the day, we have one hilarious disc that doesn’t take a lot of brainpower to enjoy. It has been a long while since we saw a new Excel Saga, but it has been well worth the wait, and while it’s not quite something com- pletely different, it still has a lot of entertainment value for your anime budget. luckily she is some kind of deadly assassin. The pair quick- ly dispatches a large group of armed men in a silent, styl- ish, and very brutal scene. The two decide to search ou their pasts and join forces using the Noir. What is Noi you ask. It’s the code name for extremely efficient assassins throughout the ages. No one knows who they are, but they always get the job done. From there we get what looks to be mission-based episodes, but in the third episode a hint of Noir being the hunted, appears and throws an interesting, devolving plot line into the mix. The thing that sets Noir apart from other anime is th sheer amount of style each episode has. First is the lack o dialogue; it does a very good job of portraying a story with| minimal use of words. All the fight scenes are beautifull done, with great lighting effects, no dialogue, and blarin techno, Latin opera music. The brutality of these fights i surreal in its nature. Noir is a very different stylish, late-night, anime. It ma not follow what most would call regular anime conven- tions, meaning this will most likely appeal to non-anime fans as well as anime fans. There is nothing fancy or weir in Noir. It’s simple, with a small cast, well-written stories, and some of the best gunfights I have seen in a long time. © page 10