Location: Drinking sake casually while strolling from rooftop to rooftop in Seireitei
Noein: Towards your other self -
11-15-2010, 06:25 PM
Quantum Physics and deep thinking in my anime? Yes please...
Genres/Sub-Genres: Action-Adventure, Romance, Sci-fi, Psychological, Drama
Rating: 9.125/10
Episode Count: 24 ~22 Minutes/Per
I saw people talking about this is my other thread, and I just had to make a review about it, because Noein has to be one my most favorite and underrated series out there, as not many people know about it. Noein employs the use of several interpretations of Quantum physics, namely Hugh Everett's Multi-world theory which is an infinite number of branch universes living parallel to each other, each with their own struggles and such. Also, they employ the Copenhagen theory - whereby simply observing an instance happening, you confirm its existence thus making it a reality. They use these two theories in the show quite frequently, and will even discuss them in detail. I found myself pausing when they showed TL notes, as they were quite extensive and in nice detail. But hey, at least they wrote about it so it doesn't leave you in the dark, and even people who do not understand it at all will firmly grasp it by the time the anime is over. That being said, enough backstory and here is the plot.
Haruka is an average girl just living her own life with her friends. She and her friend Yuu think about running away together, because they like each other and their lifestyles hinder them a lot. In the act of contemplating if they will run away or not, they meet a member of the "Dragon Knights" called Karasu, who has came from a timespace that is fifteen years into a possible future, where they're fighting an invasion from a timespace called Shangri-la. It is revealed that the only way they can preserve their own timespace is to hunt down a girl who possesses an ability called "The Dragon Torque" which is actually "Supreme Observer Status" which enables Haruka and her reality be the sole judgement of an outcome in every single one of the multi-verse (pretty potent power). However, Karasu (claiming to a be a future Yuu) does not intend to hurt Haruka or bring her back for his own timespace, La'Cryma. Instead, he will try to protect her from his fellow Dragon Knights, and from the entity behind Shangri-la itself.
The plot is completely unique as far as anime I've seen thus far, and is quite excellent when they get into the meat of it in the anime. You will have to sit through some early episodes with her and her friends, but it builds future plot so it's not wasted time. This leads me to my overall rating of 9.5/10 on plot.
One of the first Bad Guys, a Dragon Knight named Atori
First I'll discuss the soundtrack yet again, as this is a major drawing point for myself. I thoroughly enjoyed their entire soundtrack, and is composed by Hikaru Nanase, famous for her composing work for the anime Chrono Crusade, CANAAN, Ichigo 100%, and Scrapped Princess. She does great again in this series, making the soundtrack sound more like a feature length animated film instead of an anime. They have such songs as [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] and [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]. Aside from those, I will give a couple more examples then discuss the opening and ending. You get such songs like [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] and [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]. Needless to say, the OST continues like this through the entire show and they place expertly well. The opening, [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] by Eufonius is very spacey-ish feeling, and creepily fits the show, once you watch it. The ending, [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] is very light hearted and shows that Haruka just wants to live a normal life, which is pretty much denied to her the entirety of the series. Overall, I'd rate the OST and OP/ED a very rockin' 9/10.
Next, I'll discuss animation. It starts out typical like normal for most anime, but the animation shines in the fight scenes, in my honest opinion. Some may content with me and say the fight scenes sometimes look low-budget or some such, but I think they look amazing, and remind me of Birdy the Mighty Decode, and one of the more recent episodes of Legendary Heroes. It's so fast paced, they animate it more like the graphics are distorting, giving the fight a super-speed type of feeling. When the action sequences are going down, the animation is superb. The rest of the time, it looks like any other anime. A good thing to note, is the city they reside in called Hakodate, in Hokkaido. The Staff did an excellent job of keeping the city geographically accurate, where buildings should be, how the city layout is easily very realistically portrayed. Overall, the animation gets an 9/10 from me.
Lastly, I'll discuss voice acting. The cast does an excellent job of giving the characters depth with their tone of voice and how they act in the show, especially Atori (one of my favorites). Haruka is voiced over by similarly named Haruka Kudou, known for her roles in Honey and Clover as Hagumi Hanamoto, or Sayu Yagami in Death Note. Ai, one of her friends, is Saeko Chiba, again known for her work in Dokuro Mitsukai in Dokuro-Chan, Azmaria from Chrono Crusade, and Birdy Cephon Altera from Birdy the Mighty. Karasu is voiced by Kazuya Nakai who has contributed in shows such as Mugen in Samurai Champloo, Date Masamune in Sengoku Basara, and Shizuka Doumeki from xxxHolic. His fellow Dragon Knight Atori is voiced by Kenichi Suzumura, his famous works including Lavi in D-Grayman, Shinn Asuka from Gundamn Seed Destiny, and Shin'Ichiro Isumi from Hikaru No Go. Again, it goes without saying they hired out a decent cast. I can easily stamp this rating a 9/10 because of how they pull it off in the show.
Summary and writer's notes: I would suggest this to anyone wanting some romance mixed in with their very deep plot, as the relationship between Yuu and Haruka is ultimately the playing factor in many aspects towards the end. Also, the other dimension in La'Cryma is totally awesome, with that post-apocalyptic feeling to it, and Shangri-la is just plain creepy. Noein, being an actual entity and his plot that even goes further than what I mentioned make this a light thinker and a deep thinker at the same time. Even the side characters, like the Journalists, were complete Bros. This is probably one of the main four anime I've seen more than three times, just because when I lose internet or I'm somewhere where I can access internet, I usually have some form of anime on me, and this is generally one of them. It's easily placeable in my top 5 anime of all time. The only gripe I had again was it did get slow in one spot, but then again like all good anime it picked back up. Another highlight of the series was a complete ending, and that is very rare. It was pretty solid and left me with that 'hole-feeling' after finishing it, trying to find a new anime to fill that void. I hope you enjoy/enjoyed it as much as I have. Happy watching!
Format Watched In: MKV 480p. I'd imagine 720p and 1080p would look only a slight bit better, but maybe not much to be noticeable.
Languages Watched In: Japanese With English Subtitles
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I agree this was a pretty good albeit mostly unknown anime.
I would like to add one thing concerning the Quantum Physics though.
Although many of the theory's they use to describe the events and environment are based on real theory's, they should not be taken as Gospel.
I think it's a great way to get ppl interested in Quantum Mechanics however great liberty is taken with the theory's used in this anime.
"Rectitude carried to excess hardens into stiffness; benevolence indulged beyond measure sinks into weakness."
Date Masamune
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Yes yes yes....and YES! One of my favorite Sci-fi type anime. I pretty much agree with all your points, the scores, and overall opinion. I have to re-watch this someday soon...
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Location: Drinking sake casually while strolling from rooftop to rooftop in Seireitei
11-16-2010, 02:09 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by digritz
I think it's a great way to get ppl interested in Quantum Mechanics however great liberty is taken with the theory's used in this anime.
It is an anime, though. Can't expect it to be truly faithful unless you just aim at making the anime itself about Quantum Mechanics and theories, with little to no background. Schroedinger's cat was explained for the observer theory, and I felt that was pretty decent of an example. But yeah, they did take liberties, but that's just how it had to be.
Noein: Towards your other self -
11-15-2010, 06:25 PM
11-15-2010, 07:07 PM
Linear Mode
