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A dimensional war is being lost. The dimension of La'cryma
is fighting to save the earth but is loosing to the Shangri-la
dimension. Their last hope lies fifteen years in their own
past with Haruka and the recovery of the Dragon Torque...
Volume
Two of Noein: To Your Other Self continues this
rather superior slice of anime. I warn you now that if the
show interests you for god's sake do not start with this disc,
buy Volume
One first. This is a show which gives up its
secrets slowly, start here and you will be completely lost.
Noein is the name of the main character, whose desire to change
the past by merging dimensions drives most of the narrative.
Having confused the audience with the first episodes, by throwing
the viewer straight into the story without an explanation,
the following four shows allow some pause to flesh out the
characters and solidify the plot.
Episode
six, Dimension of Tears, and Haruka has been taken
fifteen years into the future to the dimension of La'cryma,
which exists in a possible future, a bleak dystopian land
which is at war with Shangri la. We quickly discover that
La'cryma is actually underground, hiding from the monster
infested surface, which, of course, means that the first thing
that Haruka does, when she can, is head for the outside for
a Charlton Heston Planet
of the Apes moment.
Important
Person, episode seven, and the focus fluctuates back to
the present day and the future. Older Haruka explains to younger
Haruka what has happened to their world and the importance
of the Dragon Torque in the ongoing struggle. Meanwhile, Karrasu
refuses to believe that he cannot save Haruka as he had failed
to do when in younger times when he was known as Yuu. Isami,
Yuu and Ai believe that Haruka has been taken by aliens so
chant in an effort to get her back. Yup, like that's gonna
work.
Episode
eight, Secret, and if you weren't confused by now you
should be. Like I said this is a very dense narrative, blink
and you will have lost the thread. Haruka is returned to her
own time by Karrasu, unfortunately this makes him an enemy
of both La'cryma and Shangri La. The show still contains a
strange smorgasbord of magnificently intricate CGI sequences
and some almost sub Hanna Barbera characterisations - it's
an odd mix really.
Episode nine, Crossing Time, and Karrasu finally tells
Yuu who he really is, but things don't go as he had hoped.
Karrasu's inability to save Hauka time and again has driven
him to the edge of insanity and he has nothing but contempt
for his younger self.
Extras
on disc one consist of an image gallery and the second segment
of the On Location with Voice Actor and Director featurette,
where they generally troll around the city of Hakodate showing
you how they had used real locations in the show. Strangely
enough it's a very nice travelogue and it's quite a weird
experience to see them cut between the anime sequences and
shots of the real place. Ok, so it was outside the remit of
the piece, but there were some historical oddities that remained
unexplained, like the Old Russian Orthodox Church. Overall
it's a playfully informative twenty minutes of your time.
Disc two has some, watch once, trailers as an extra.
The only real difference between the discs is the audio options
as both contain the same episodes. Disc one comes with English
and Japanese stereo of 5.1, leaving the DTS versions to disc
two. The problem is that the show is just as good in stereo
as neither the 5.1 nor DTS really do much with the soundscape.
I have to admit to still hating the menu system on the Noein
discs, although they are pretty, they are also pretty difficult
to read. But this is a minor quibble in a show that is turning
out to be a real gem.
Charles
Packer
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