Noir - Shades of Darkness (Vol. 1)
In Paris, professional assassin Mireille Bouquet meets emotionally shattered  Kirika Yumura: neither woman can remember her past, but they're both  extremely good at killing people. (Kirika doesn't even look--she just points  the gun and fires and her victim falls.) The two women form a partnership as  "Noir," but after a couple of murders for hire, they realize someone is  trying to killthem. The mysteriousSoldatsseem to be  everywhere, so it's kill or be killed. The only recurring characters inNoirare amnesiacs, who are essentially blank slates and therefore not  very interesting. Director Kouichi Mashimo may set a new record for repeating  footage in an animated series--some shots crop up three times in a single  episode, including portentous images whose significance is more apparent than  real. The result feels like a watered-down combination ofGunsmith  CatsandSerial Experiments Lain. (Rated 15 and older: violence,  grotesque imagery)--Charles Solomon