Review of Noein: To Your Other Self - Vol. 3

Introduction

Noein hit like a bolt from the blue, a dimension warping anime with a slice of life flavour. The first five episodes were packed with ideas, introduced several fascinating characters and jammed in an expansive story into its runtime, but with the second volume, the narrative began to fall into place, and the characters and major players in the story became clear. Noein has something of an X-Files feel to it with a soupcon of Sliders, all set against the coming of age drama of a group of school friends in the seaside town of Hakodate during summer. With this third volume, the dimension hopping continues, while the reasons behind the strange disturbances begin to be unveiled.

For friends Haruka, Yu, Miho, Ai and Isami, the hardest question has to be what to do over the summer. That, and Yu is stressing over being forced into university by his overbearing mother. Rumours of ghostly apparitions inspire Miho to suggest a `fright night`, but no one is prepared for what phantoms they will see. The gateway across time and dimensions is opening up, and wraith like figures are coming through searching for the Dragon Torque. They need to retrieve it to save their own world from the deadly Shangri-La dimension, but the Dragon Torque just happens to be embodied in Haruka. The weird thing is that Haruka finds one of the strangers, Karasu to be oddly familiar. The third volume of Noein contains five episodes, repeated across two discs for extra soundtrack goodness.

10. A Stormy Night
Haruka`s friends pay her a visit and receive a shock. Yu`s mother is being friendly, positively mellow. It gets worse, as Miho sees a shadow upstairs, and starts on an exorcism. Ai presses Haruka for the truth though, and so it is that the other three friends meet Karasu. There`s trouble ahead, as Atori is still in this dimension and has his eyes on the Dragon Torque. If he can`t get to Haruka directly, he`ll go through her friends, which is why he attacks Yu and Isami on their way home. Meanwhile Uchida and Kooriyama have been recalled to Tokyo. But before they can report on the odd occurrences in Hakodate, they`re pulled off the case.

11. Out Of Sync
Fukuro (Isami`s older alternate) tries to confront Karasu, but can`t attack his old friend and aborts the latest attempt to retrieve the Dragon Torque. This leads the other Dragon Knights to make new plans. In Tokyo, Uchida and Kooriyama realise that their project may have something to do with what is happening in Hakodate. Off the case, they can`t do anything to stop it, so Uchida decides to track down the former head of the project, who just happens to be Haruka`s estranged father.

12. The Battle
A nightmare gives Haruka a vision of Karasu and Fukuro trying to kill each other. It`s a prescient vision as the two friends are now on opposite sides, with Karasu sworn to protect Haruka from those who desire the Dragon Torque. Haruka is determined to stop her vision from becoming reality, but an encounter with a `Time Drifter` proves disheartening. When Fukuro and Karasu do confront each other, Haruka may get there in time, but Atori is ready to take the opportunity to get his revenge, and all the while Noein is watching.

13. The Wish
Karasu is horribly wounded, and Haruka calls her friends for help. The other exiles from La`Cryma also arrive. It`s fortunate, as Karasu`s injuries won`t be treated in a hospital. He needs an infusion of Reiza particles. Soon the friends are searching for a Reiza nexus in this world. At the same time, Uchida and Kooriyama return from Tokyo in their search for Dr Mayazumi, and glimpsing Haruka and her friends heading towards a quantum instability, follow in pursuit. Karasu`s problems aren`t over just yet, as even though the Dragon Knights have been decimated, the survivors are still intent on their mission, and one among them blames Karasu for their setbacks.

14. Memories
An old style phone rings in Haruka`s home, a phone that hasn`t worked since her great grandmother`s time. On the other side is a voice that sounds just like her father, but refuses to recognise her. For Haruka, this phone call heralds the opportunity to change her past for the better. Meanwhile, Yu is becoming exceedingly jealous of Karasu. When he understands just why, he finally begins to understand his feelings. But time is running out for this dimension.

Video

Noein is one gorgeous looking anime, one of the prettiest I have seen. It gets a 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer on these discs, and the image is clear, sharp and unblemished. Made by the same company that created Heat Guy J, Noein takes the blending of 3D CG and traditional 2D animation one step further. The character designs are a step removed from traditional anime, and in that respect the show establishes a style of its own. It has a bright, hazy feel to it, appropriate to the summertime setting, and the animation is fluid and expansive. It looks like a theatrical animation at times. With this volume however, I did think that the animation took something of a hit, with some jarringly inconsistent character designs. The action and effects are still astounding however as demonstrated repeatedly in the episodes here.

Audio

It`s a two disc set, which means that Manga have included the full range of soundtracks once again. Disc one offers DD 2.0 and 5.1 English and Japanese, while Disc 2 offers DD 2.0 English, as well as DTS English and Japanese tracks. As usual I went for the original language. Noein is a show with plenty of action packed moments, which are well represented in the surround track. The music also has a singular style that adds to the quirky individuality of the show. The incidental music has an almost mediaeval feel to it, while the arrival of the Dragon Knights is usually heralded by some ominous choral music. There are no problems with the English dub either, as the voices suit the characters well (although Atori sounds a little stereotypical), and the dialogue flows naturally. I did notice that the Japanese (DD 5.1) dialogue was muffled and indistinct in the effects heavy opening scene of episode 11.

It`s the poorer option once again, with dubtitles gracing the disc. I felt that the quality had diminished somewhat with this third volume; there were more than a few instances of dialogue without captions, or vice versa. One-word responses in Japanese would get sentences of text, and the dubtitles weren`t perfectly synchronised for the Japanese dialogue. To cap it all off, the translation of the dub seems more distant from the Japanese track, so unlike in the previous volumes, the dubtitles were distracting.

Features

The discs come with psychedelic animated menus, with the wormhole motif of many a dimension warping sci-fi show. You can choose from the five episodes from the main menu, but there is no play all option.

Disc 1`s major offering is the On Location: Part 3 featurette the last of the excursions, which sees Director Akane Kazuki and Voice Actress Kudo Haruka (voice of Haruka) visit the seaside town of Hakodate in Hokkaido. It`s a graphic demonstration of why the anime looks so splendid, as the major locations are all taken from real life. It`s impressive just how accurate the anime is, while pervading the story with a fantasy feel. You also get some interviews here that add some background to the process of making the anime.

An added bonus is the From Storyboard To Screen featurette that lasts 18 minutes. In it, you get to compare some finished scenes with the work in progress. Normally this sort of thing would be wrapped up with multi-angle trappings. Here we just get the clips played in sequence. There are clips from various episodes, including a preview of episode 17. With an added touch of irony, those scenes with dialogue get translated subtitles.

You`ll also find a one and half minute long slideshow gallery.

Disc 2 houses the usual Manga trailers.

Conclusion

Looking at the episode synopses, I find once again that they appear eclectic and rather random, much like the first volume to which I had such a noncommittal reaction. Fortunately that is in appearance alone, as this third volume really takes what has come before and builds on it, increasing the energy and suspense, while adding to the story and filling out these alternate worlds. If you`ve been smitten by Noein, then this third volume will be an easy purchase, as it is the best yet. The multi dimension concept is a sci-fi staple, although it`s all in the execution. Sliders eventually vanished up its own wormhole, but there is no such danger in Noein, as each successive revelation just makes the series more tantalising.

The organisation of the Dragon Knights really disintegrates in this volume, although with Karasu having defected, and with Atori and Tobi gone rogue, there was little strength left to them anyway. The surviving members are still after the Dragon Torque, and in these episodes it is Fukuro, the adult other-dimension version of Isami that comes into focus. He`s loyal to the cause and determined to accomplish his mission, but he also has a long standing friendship with Karasu, as well as his own memories of Haruka that increase the tension within him. He steps in when he sees Atori attack his younger self, and is reluctant to confront Karasu, although a confrontation is inevitable.

Aside from the new character focus, this is all pretty much par for the course for Noein. What makes this volume so tantalising is that it begins to fill in the background. We learn that Haruka isn`t just some random girl with the power to affect reality. We also learn that the Mulder and Scully pairing of Uchida and Kooriyama aren`t just skulking around Hakodate for their health. We see the seeds of La`Cryma being sown in these episodes when they are recalled to Tokyo to report to their superiors. They are aware of the disturbances in space-time around Hakodate because their group is responsible for them. The Magic Circle project is researching quantum teleportation, the next big leap in technology. This leads to a discussion of QM theory that put me in mind of one of my physics lectures. The big difference is that I wasn`t being put to sleep. Perhaps my professor should have used anime to describe the principles of Heisenberg as well as Schrodinger`s Cat. What becomes clear is that the man responsible for the initial theory, Dr Mayazumi, is actually Haruka`s estranged father, which provides a reason why Haruka is the focus of La`Cryma attention, and perhaps why she is manifesting such odd abilities.

There`s more Quantum Mechanics in the later episodes, when Haruka tries to save Karasu and Fukuro from killing each other, and when she tries to alter her past. She learns that by observing an event, she makes it real, which makes changing things difficult to say the least. She learns this from a Time Drifter, yet another faction that appears to be interested in events in Hakodate. And all the while, the presence of Noein can`t be discounted, and with the last gasp of this disc, it leaves a cliffhanger that will leave fans waiting on Volume 4 with baited breath.

Still, excellent animation and story aside, there`s something about Noein that just isn`t clicking with me. It doesn`t quite seem to get the tone right, with world-changing events taking place in a small town, the very barriers between dimensions being torn apart, and a little middle-school girl at the heart of events. No one seems to take it all that seriously. The protagonists may be eleven and twelve year olds, but even still, after facing death and destruction, to be concerned about the football team and who is in love with whom, just seems out of touch. An extra dimensional warrior comes forth to protect Haruka, and he`s practically adopted like a pet. The same goes for Atori, who after a world-shaking battle loses his memory and has a change of heart. Pretty soon all is forgiven and he`s part of the gang. I suppose that it is petty to be complaining about a lack of realism in a show with such a far-fetched concept, but I can`t help having a sense of detachment when the characters have such odd priorities.

Noein has its daft moments, but the story is compelling, and develops markedly in this volume, adding to a rich universe, and making the wait for the next volume an eager one. It`s definitely the star in Manga`s 2007 catalogue, but with this third volume, the dubtitles have deteriorated to the point where they distract. So once again I wheel out my 2007 Manga mantra. If English is your language of choice, pounce on this disc. But if you want to watch it in Japanese, consider importing instead.