Noein: To Your Other Self anime review

My first ever official review, of one of my favorite anime, Noein (AKA Noein: To Your Other Self).

Since I'm a bit new at writing proper reviews, I'm just going to sort this out into sections.

As I rewatch the series I may add some updates.

Initial thoughts
Noein is a sadly rather obscure science-fiction anime, where a young girl named Haruka discovers she is being hunted by mysterious figures known as the Dragon Knights/Cavalry. I'm just going to say up front that this is one of those series that you'll probably either love or hate. And I love it.


Story
The official story description is as follows:

"Fifteen years in the future, by high-level scientific power, a violent battle takes place between Lacrima, that protects humanity, and Shangri-La, that plans the annihilation of all space-time. The key to stopping Shangri-La's invasion is a mysterious object known as "the Dragon's Torque." A group known as the Dragon Cavalry is being sent through space and time to find it. In the present, twelve-year old Haruka and her friend Yuu are contemplating running away from home when they meet a member of the Dragon Cavalry named Karasu (Crow). He believes that Haruka has the Dragon's Torque and claims to be Yuu from fifteen years in the future."

The story itself can become quite confusing at points, and all the quantum physics technobabble only confounds it further. There sadly is quite a bit I wish had been explained or explored further, but you'll get a complete story nonetheless. The finale, while perhaps somewhat, anticlimactic, was good (I admit I did have to look it up to fully understand it). Noein's story is, however, ultimately enjoyable, and while I was admittedly a little lost at points, is one of my favorites, being a love story of sorts, albeit not exactly a romantic one.


Tone/Themes
(Some possible, mild, vague spoilers)
It's sweet, dark, cute, creepy, and epic all at once, and I personally find such mixed moods appealing. A lot of the show is characterization, sometimes feeling more like a slice of life anime, but there's plenty of plot advancement so it never gets too slow. Thankfully, there's lots of awesome, stunningly animated battle sequences, along with some highly unsettling, uncanny-valley-ish foes (the Destructrons, in particular), which make the show still worth watching if you don't care for all the characterization or slice of life bits. There's also some mood whiplash, though done very well in my opinion.

One of the later episodes, in particular, is significantly more depressing and darker than any of the preceding areas, along with far more realistic violence and blood (which I should add, is only very rarely used for normal humans, so even if you're used to blood in other series, you may find it a bit startling to see that much of it in that episode). The show also succeeds in making the (admittedly sometimes annoying) children characters very endearing, although I wish the series had focused more on the Dragon Knights, as I felt like they were the real stars of the show. As I previously stated, Noein is a love story of sorts, but not particularly romantic (if I recall, not one kiss in the entire series, sorry romance fans), with the nihilistic Karasu's devotion to Haruka being sweet and heartwarming, but also broken and desperate, for reasons which I won't spoil.

I should also note that while it didn't really bother me too much when I first watched the series, in retrospect and upon rewatching a bit, whenever Haruka uses her powers, it frequently ends up being little more than a quantum deus ex machina. I still love the series and and still recommend it, but if you like a water-tight narrative with no holes or excuses, it may be a little jarring. Honestly I wish they had gone all out with her powers and had her use them more towards the end.

There is a ton of quantum physics in this (which apparently isn't exactly fully accurate, but it's forgivable), and it can be a (literal?) headache sometimes, but it certainly does feel like science fiction. Noein also heavily uses the "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" trope, but it's no complaint (Shangri'La has a heavily mystical, eerie feeling to it, but it's never stated to be magic or occultic or anything like that, though Noein himself seems to be a god in everything but name).

If you want to get an idea of the show's mixed tones, watch the official opening ( youtu.be/CyvRzFf_uIc ) and then watch the alternate, unused, significantly creepier opening concept included in the DVD's special features ( youtu.be/i0e2-18xfpk ). Be warned that had I seen the latter first, I probably wouldn't have started the show in the first place.


Characters
The series has two sets of characters, the children (along with their families, teacher, and a scientist and her bodyguard) in the present, and the Dragon Knights/Cavalry, a group of bad[bleep]-as-he[ck] warriors from a possible future. There is a lot of characterization, so you understand the characters pretty well in general. Haruka, Karasu, and Atori are among my favorite animated characters. While some of the children are annoying, they all get some development (save Miho, though she is made useful by her interactions with a certain character whom I won't spoil), and Yuu and Haruka are enjoyable enough (the former is quite wangsty, but you can't really blame him, and he gets over it). The Dragon Knights are all awesome, with Karasu and Atori being my two favorites. Karasu is stoic, epic (voiced in the dub by Crispin Freeman, so no surprise there, and just listen to that lei motif: youtu.be/4irh6Wl5mBo ), and intensely devoted to Haruka, perhaps to the point where it would not exactly qualify as sane, and Atori is a psycho-electro madman (but understandably so after his backstory is revealed) who actually gets a surprising amount of development. The villain, the titular Noein, is ominous, threatening, creepy, seemingly omnipotent, and shown to be utterly mad, yet never seems to lose his tranquility. With so much focus on the characters, this anime thankfully has an excellent cast of them, and you really get the feeling of knowing some of these people by the end.


Sound
Hikaru Nanase composed the OST, and she does not disappoint. Noein's soundtrack mainly alternates between simple, happy, light-hearted tracks and more grand, epic, Latin-choir-filled battle themes, along with some very well done lei motifs (Karasu's, in particular). The dub is by no means bad either. Speaking of which, I only watched the dub in its entirety, so I'm afraid I can't yet compare it to the sub (I do suspect at least one scene was changed between them, and I know Tobi was changed from a boy to a girl in the English dub). I personally listen to the OST to relax fairly often, and it's one of my favorites.


Animation
Noein's animation style, done by Statelight, shifts around a lot, though each style looks pretty good. The choreography of the battle sequences is exceptional, and is one of the best parts of the show. The battle in episode 12 takes a page from a certain infamous Naruto battle (having not watched Naruto, I can't remember what episode it's from), giving the combatants a very sketchy, flowing feeling, but it works very, very well. The characters are quite expressive, and bonus points to both La'Cryma and Shangri'La, one feeling very after the end and broken and hopeless, and the other feeling very tranquil and beautiful, and yet ultimately possibly being humanity's most hellish future. It should also be noted that the animation team went to some impressive lengths to recreate the real-life town of Hakodate.


Parents (PG-13-rated section)
(Some mild, vague spoilers, also note that this is for the dub alone as of this writing)
Noein is actually pretty clean as far as anime go.

• One very quick sarcastic mention of sexual harrasment and Ai briefly accusing two different adults of being pedophiles (they aren't, by the way) are about as bad as it gets. Other than that, there is absolutely no innuendo or suggestive dialogue as far as I can recall, again making it a very clean anime.
• A depressed child is often has a box-cutting knife with him, but he's never shown nor mentioned cutting anything other than his fingernails harmlessly (though a certain insane character does grab the child's hand and plunge it and the knife inside himself, though it fails to harm him due to his inhuman abilities).
• There is occasional language, but nothing you probably wouldn't hear in a modern PG-13 movie.
• Episode 7 contains a non-explicit view of Haruka's bare back and hips, but it's not graphic or detailed at all (I highly doubt that scene was intended for fanservice) and is over extremely quickly (like half a second or two). There are some bath scenes but they are extremely non-graphic and very tame and thus really aren't a concern, otherwise there's pretty much no fanservice (some of the La'Cryma characters have tight spandex-like suits, however). 
• The majority of the violence is in the fantastical, over the top battles between the Dragon Knights, which are along the lines of DBZ combat, with massive energy attacks and so on.
  
  • The show does have some decapitations (but due to Dragon Knight physiology, their bodies are made of a metallic material so it's not gorey; however one episode briefly, but startlingly, shows a human child's severed, bleeding arm) and stabbings, but really aren't too bad (some Dragon Knights can even regenerate themselves, so that makes the battles feel somewhat less violent).
    
  • One episode (22, for the record) contains a knife fight and violence between regular human beings, and some surrounding episodes have a bit more blood or violence between normal humans.
    
  • Blood is occasional but never copious (the Dragon Knights bleed human blood sometimes but more often leak Reizu, a light blue liquid), and isn't even shaded typically so it doesn't look realistic. Additionally, two different Dragon Knights literally fall apart and break into recognizable pieces, however it's not gorey so much as it is creepy.
  • The only time blood is copious is in the final episode, where certain extremely inhuman monsters bleed large amounts of red blood, along with their eyeballs bursting out.
    

• A church is shown (however, this is due to the the animation team literally trying to recreate the main town setting based on a real life location), and Shangri'La has a somewhat mystical feel to it, plus the Dragon Knights appear to have some sort of afterlife, but pretty much everything is chalked up to superscience and quantum physics, so there's really nothing magical (an Ouija board is briefly used however).
  
• The previously mentioned episode 22 also has some realistic depictions of attempted suicide, so you might want to skip it with younger viewers.
• There's also quite a bit of creepiness, with some very grotesque, uncanny valley creatures.
• While it's not heavily gone into, humanity has become all but extinct in the future, and many dimensions have been destroyed entirely.
  
• Lastly, there is a bit of drinking (two parents get drunk in one episode) and one character smokes almost constantly.

As far as anime (that aren't directed at children) go, it's quite tame.
Also note that the outtakes bonus feature contains heavy language and highly suggestive dialogue, however as that is not part of the actual show I do not count it.

Suggestive dialogue: 1.75/10
Violence: 6/10
Gore: 4.5/10
Fanservice: 1.8/10
Complexity: 7.9/10

I think the minimum age to watch this should be 11-13 depending on the child, and younger viewers may want to skip episode 22 (the darkest and most realistic in the series). Amazon puts it as "Unrated, suitable for ages 13"

Overall
While there are several aspects I wish the series had done differently, ultimately the whole outweighs its parts, and Noein is among my favorite series. If you want a sweet but dark story, lots of quantum physics, a good soundtrack, truly amazing battle sequences, or are just looking for something with a unique feel and memorable characters, try it. If you live for fanservice, gore, complete explanations of everything, crystal clear plots, or strong romance, you should probably look elsewhere. Like I said, it's a hit or miss thing, so you'll either love or hate it by the end.

My scores:

Review Score: 8.7/10
Personal Score: 9.7/10

While not perfect, I still love this series, and I do recommend it.

+Incredible battles
+Some endearing characters
+Karasu, Atori, and Noein are all just awesome
+Good music ranging from simple and relaxing to epic and ominous
+Excellent animation, albeit frequently shifted in style
+Virtually fanservice free!
+Tame as far as anime (that aren't intended for a younger audience) go
+Bittersweet unconventional love story
+Mood whiplash done right
+Good for rewatching
+Great dub (though I suspect it may have left out/changed some stuff)
=A lot is open to interpretation
=Tons of technobabble and quantum-y stuff
=Very heavily character-driven and loads of characterization
-Frequent use of Deus Ex Haruka
-Inadequate explanations at points (I think the sub may do a better job, but I have yet to watch it)
-Confusing sometimes (or often, if you don't pay enough attention)
-Too much slice of life (although it does endear the child characters) and not enough Dragon Knights
-Ending is a bit hard to understand initially (but not incomplete, thankfully)
-Child characters (excluding Haruka and Yuu) can be annoying, especially Miho