Noein: To Your Other Self (Japanese: ノエイン もうひとりの君へ, Hepburn: Noein: Mō Hitori no Kimi e), also known simply as Noein, is a Japanese science fiction anime television series directed by Kazuki Akane and produced by Satelight. The series has 24 episodes which make up a complete storyline. The English version was produced and dubbed by Manga Entertainment.
Contents
Summary
Fifteen years in the future, a violent pan-dimensional war is taking place between the two dominant "time-spaces" of the universe. These are La'cryma, a possible future of our own world, and Shangri-La, another possible dimension fifteen years after ours, intent on the destruction of all space and time. The key to stopping Shangri'la's invasion and saving reality is a mysterious object known as the "Dragon Torc" (竜のトルク, Ryū no Toruku). La'cryma's elite military force, known as the "Dragon Cavalry", is sent through space and time to find it.
In one possible present, twelve-year-old Haruka and her friend Yū Gotō are contemplating running away from home when they meet a member of the Dragon Cavalry named Karasu, who is a possible Yū from the future. La'cryma believes that Haruka is the Dragon Torque, but Karasu vows to protect her rather than sacrifice her for his home dimension. Other than the Dragon Cavalry, Haruka is targeted by the mysterious Noein, the entity behind Shangri'la who is intent on bringing her into his timespace to end all universes.
Production
Noein is set in the Japanese port city of Hakodate, Hokkaido. The animators took care to recreate the city's buildings, port, and environments.
Characters
Present timeline
Haruka Kaminogi (上乃木ハルカ, Kaminogi Haruka)
Voiced by: Haruka Kudō (Japanese); Melissa Fahn (English)
Haruka is the central protagonist of the anime. She is 12-years-old and was born in Tokyo, but moved with her mother when she was 8 to Hakodate to live in her mother's childhood home. Haruka is a very fast runner and acts very mature for a girl her age.
Asuka Kaminogi (上乃木明日香, Kaminogi Asuka)
Voiced by: Akemi Okamura (Japanese); Mona Marshall (English)
Haruka's 38-year-old mother. She moved with Haruka back to her hometown of Hakodate after her divorce from Takuya.
Takuya Mayuzumi (黛拓也, Mayuzumi Takuya)
Voiced by: Kenta Miyake (Japanese); Steve Kramer (English)
Haruka's 41-year-old father. He is a prominent scientist in the field of quantum physics and one of the founders of the Magic Circle Project, which aims to control the flow of spacetime.
Yū Gotō (後藤ユウ, Gotō Yū)
Voiced by: Fujiko Takimoto and Kazuya Nakai (at age 17) (Japanese); Yuri Lowenthal (English)
In the present timespace, he is one of Haruka's classmates and best friends, and one of the main protagonists of the anime. Yu is 12-years-old, and he, unlike other students, is being forced by his mother Miyuki to go to cram school in order to pass a provincial enrollment test and go to a Tokyo junior high.
Miyuki Gotō (後藤美有樹, Gotō Miyuki)
Voiced by: Atsuko Tanaka (Japanese); Ellyn Stern (English)
La'cryma
Gokan (ゴカン, Gokan)
Voiced by: Fumi Oda (Japanese); Dorothy Elias-Fahn (English)
Member of the Supreme Council.
Enra (エンラ, Enra)
Voiced by: Daisuke Ono (Japanese); Steve Kramer (English)
Member of the Supreme Council.
Taiza (タイザ, Taiza)
Voiced by: Daisuke Kirii (Japanese); Eddie Frierson (English)
Member of the Supreme Council.
Karasu (カラス, Karasu)
Voiced by: Kazuya Nakai (Japanese); Crispin Freeman (English)
Karasu, the Japanese word for crow, is the 27-year-old version of Yū in the future timespace of La'cryma and one of the protagonists of the anime.
Fukurō (フクロウ, Fukurou)
Voiced by: Kōhei Kiyasu (Japanese); R. Martin Klein (English)
He is the 27-year-old version of Isami in the same future timespace as Karasu. Fukurō is Japanese for owl.
Atori (アトリ, Atori)
Voiced by: Kenichi Suzumura (Japanese); Eddie Frierson (English)
A 22-year-old Dragon Knight of Middle Eastern descent and whose name is Japanese for finch, he resembles a tall, skinny man with bulging purple eyes, dark lips, and a long point of blond hair that hangs over his face, as well as gray/silver spirals that almost resemble the bolts on the neck of Frankenstein's Monster.
Shangri-La
Noein (ノエイン, Noein)
Noein Masked Voiced by: Kazuya Nakai (Japanese); Richard Epcar (English)
Noein Unmasked Voiced by: Kazuya Nakai (Japanese); Crispin Freeman (English)
Noein is another Yū from a different timespace where he survived the car crash that killed Ms. Yukie, Isami, and Ai and in which he had to endure watching a bloody Haruka be killed in the ensuing explosion. Unable to bear the pain of losing her, Noein decided to look for a new Haruka in a different timespace.
The Others (あざす, The Others)
Male Others Voiced by: Richard Epcar
Female Others Voiced by: Cindy Robinson
They are the residents of Shangri'la. They all were originally residents of other space-times who desired to live in Noein's world, discarding their bodies and existing as merely a collective consciousness that reluctantly serves as an extension of Noein's will. They appear to be able to take a limited form of a metallic dragon/seahorse shape with one ribbon like arm that ends in a hand. When Noein dies, his minions leave his body to return to their own worlds.
Distribution
Sci Fi began airing Noein in the United States as part of its Ani-Monday programming block on June 18, 2007.
In Australia, Noein was first broadcast on free-to-air-TV on ABC2 (the national digital public television channel) from 7:30 pm on Tuesday 21 August 2007, and concluded on Tuesday 29 January 2008. Repeat airing began from 6:00 pm on Sunday 26 August 2007, and concluded on Sunday 3 February 2008. Repeats began again, airing double episodes from 12:30 pm Sunday 10 February 2008, and concluded on Sunday 11 May 2008.
In the Philippines, TV5 started its broadcast on November 10, 2008.
In Italy, Rai 4 started broadcasting the series free-to-air on September 30, 2012.
Home media releases
Manga Entertainment originally licensed the anime in the North America and UK/Ireland territories, while Madman Entertainment has licensed it for Australia and New Zealand. The series was released on a total of six discs. In 2008, Manga re-release the series in a complete box set. On July 25, 2015, Funimation announced their license to Noein and re-released the series on Blu-ray on January 12, 2016. Anime Limited have acquired the series for a UK release.
Music
The two original soundtracks are composed by Hikaru Nanase.
Noein Original Soundtrack Vol.1 / LACA-5460
Noein Original Soundtrack Vol.2 / LACA-5491
Opening Theme:
"Idea" performed by Eufonius
Ending Theme:
"Yoake no Ashioto" (夜明けの足音) performed by Solua