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The Story

Mireille and Kirika are still searching for their pasts, who or what exactly is les soldats and what links the two of them together. On this volume, four more episodes play out with the girls going after a former KGB agent, a group of revolutionaries out for revenge after their leader was assassinated by Noir and the Italian mafia.

Good and the Bad

While episodic, the first volume did a great job of establishing a primary plot and gets the audience interested in who Les Soldats are and what link to the past do they hold for Mireille and Kirika. On this volume we learn very little about Les Soldats or the history of the girls.

In the first volume there was tons of action that had me absolutely glued to my seat because I didn’t want to miss a moment. There is action on this volume but not nearly as much. I will give credit though for the battles that was on this volume as all of them were very well done.

The most disappointing thing that I think was lacking from this volume though was the sheer amount of time that could’ve been spent developing the characters more. Kirika and Mireille are obviously very mysterious characters but there is still so much about them that the audience can learn without learning the juicy bits that I’m sure we’ll learn later.

While the first episode of the volume managed to develop Kirika a little and the mini story arc involving Mireille and the Italian mafia managed to develop her and show us a side that we hadn’t seen yet, I wanted more. With more than half the series remaining, I’m aware that the characters are going to be developed later on but this pace of development is certainly a chore for me as an audience member since there’s so much more to learn and it already is starting to feel like there isn’t going to be enough time to figure it all out.

The animation on this series still has a very dated look to it. The colors aren’t nearly as sharp as I have grown accustomed to. It seems unfair for me to rag on the animation of this series though since it is five years old though.

Music

I noticed some drops in audio quality during episode eight. It wasn’t major, just a fading of sound quality but it is little things like this that can really take an audience member out of the moment

The soundtrack itself was great though. I did hear a couple of musical choices in the last two episodes that I had to chalk up as questionable but I forgot to take notes about them and so I’ve already forgotten what they sound like to describe them to you. That just proves that even though the musical choices were flawed, they weren’t bad.

Dub vs. Sub

Shelly Calene-Black and Monica Rial continue to do a marvelous job of carrying this cast. As the only recurring characters of the series, these two had a massive amount of workload when it comes to characterization and exposition but these two have carried it off perfectly thus far.

Extras

Besides the production, clean animations and original Japanese promos there is only one Easter egg on this volume for the audience to find. In the first episode of the volume, hit up, down and left when the old man comes to get his kitten back (around the 10 minute, 55 second mark). You’ll see an extended interview segment with Shelly Calene-Black and Monica Rial talking about their careers.

Overall

I really did enjoy the volume. While the first two episodes of the volume really stood alone in terms of the story, the final story arc did a great job of bringing the audience back to the main point of focus while also managing to show new sides and facets to the psyche of Mireille.

While there is so much more that the staff could’ve done with this volume to make the series more accessible and engaging to the audience, it’s still worth getting through this volume so that you can see the rest of the series.

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Noir Vol. 1: Shades of Darkness

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older