Summary: Mireille Bouquet is a mercenary firearms assassin, always operating alone under the codename "Noir". Her solitary modus operandi is set to change forever when she gets contacted by a Japanese school girl, Yumura Kirika. Suffering from amnesia, Kirika seeks help to remember her own self, but demonstrates she hasn't forgotten her training - frighteningly superior skills with guns. By producing an object of Mireille's own haunting past, Kirika convinces Mireille to take her back to Europe. Together they investigate the truth of an organisation that ruled the European underground for the past millennium, how their lives are affiliated to it, and discover the real meaning behind the codename they bear.
Let me get straight to the point: the grandest, most inescapable, aspect of this production is the music. From the peaceful town centre to the serene countryside to the engagement in "nerve wrecking" fights, scene after scene gets mated with musical themes that set the mood perfectly, even when the visual direction may sometimes fail. The pan-european scores pair up so well one could almost use this anime as a tourism vehicle for Europe. Half the time I was "watching" just to listen to the melodies. Kajiura Yuki has earned many fans, me included, for demonstrating music can have the magic to save the day.
Sad to say this almost makes other aspects pale by comparison. Not to say Noir's worth is to serve as a mere music video. Rest assured the story is nicely written, and planned well to uncover the historical truths in intriguing stages. The ending is actually conclusive
and satisfying. But, you have to
wait - the beginning starts off with a series of filler missions just to show the assassins' prowess, doing little to advance the story. Only with subsequent gigs involving the organisation they are after - Soldats - do events and the things they do start to become increasingly meaningful and weave smoothly into the story. Your patience will be tried, and
rewarded with dark and tragic moments. The biggest problem I have with the characters, though, perhaps being traits of assassins, is the lack of connectable emotions. Even when they
cry. Many a times call for you to reach your hand out to them but it simply feels too distant.
Now, if there is one thing that Bee Train is inadequate at, it certainly has to be combat scenes. This is essentially a title chock full of fighting; bullets and knives saturate the air; injury and death abounds. Yet the direction and choreography for the fighting moves and tactics completely fail to communicate any "heat of the action". The (named) assassins are apparently commissioned by God Himself to carry out the Deathly Art of standing still and slow, eliminating opponents with such idle ease. There are hardly any slow motion scenes, yet I can't help but wonder sometimes if I was watching
The Matrix; how else can a pair exterminate an entire gang surrounding them in
open space while
avoiding all their bullets? If you have ever played the game
Diablo, recall those glorious moments when your armour rating is so high that the monsters squeeze you in the middle and bash away without hitting. That's exactly how it is. Or should the HR department of gangster corporations re-evaluate their recruitment policies for competent gunmen? For an anime that doesn't rely on super-powers but actual real life weaponry, it almost made it. An action title this is not.
It is possible to lace combat with motion while maintaining the "winners" are superior (e.g.
Macross;
Gundam 0083), but Bee Train is not up to animating such. Possibly more of the budget went to the musical direction, thereby shrinking the technical limits the animation team could achieve. (Note: this deficiency in fact continues to plague their future titles which I haven't reviewed.)
As long as you don't demand highly animated combat with boat loads of situation awareness, you will be able to forgive the fighting flaws. And more importantly, you will enjoy the journey Mireille and Kirika embark on (although I can't say the same for the characters themselves
). Even if you aren't into "girl power" or the mystery organisation theory, at least buy the OSTs.
Overall Rating: 8/10
Magnificent music; nicely wrapped story package
Idle combat; unbelievable skills; under-used beginning