Noein

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Noein
ノエイン もうひとりの君へ
(Noein - to your other self)
Genre science fiction
TV anime
Directed by Kazuki Akane, Kenji Yasuda
Studio Satelight
Network
Original run 10-11-2005 – 3-28-2006
No. of episodes 24

Noein - to your other self (ノエイン もうひとりの君へ Noein - Mou hitori no kimi e?) is a science fiction anime television series directed by Kazuki Akane and Kenji Yasuda. The series is 24 episodes long.

The English version is being produced by Manga Entertainment. The first volume was released in the USA on October 17, 2006 and four more volumes are planned.

Contents

[edit] Concept

Noein features the concept of time as a dimension which resonates with other time spaces. Haruka's Dragon Torque (竜のトルク Ryū no Toruku?), which affects this, takes the shape of an Ouroboros.

Noein thrives exceptionally in the many theories of quantum physics. Particularly, it puts forth the concept of Everett's Many-Worlds Interpretation (MWI), which is seen that the universe is branching off into a series of infinite probabilities.

However, Noein also includes the theory of the Copenhagen Interpretation, which suggested that an observer/measurement is important to determine the decoherency of the probability. In the anime, Haruka, the lead character, has the power of "observer-status" in the multiverse, thus enabling her to determine the outcome of an event just by "looking" at the event itself.

Also, in one episode, Uchida candidly explained to her bodyguard Kooriyama about the Schrödinger's cat, whereby the observer only determines the death of the cat when he/she opens the box. She also mentioned the famous phrase "God does not play dice", as quoted from Albert Einstein.

While the Many-Worlds Interpretation suggested the idea of a diverging time-space, the anime also featured a probability where a converging time-space occurs, as has been deliberately induced by the main antagonist, Noein.

[edit] Characters

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
  • Haruka Kaminogi (上乃木　ハルカ Kaminogi Haruka?), in the present timespace, is the protagonist of the anime. In this timespace, she was a typical elementary school student before a ghost hunting trip led by Miho led her to meet Karasu for what she believed to be the first time. During the encounter, Atori attacked Karasu; while watching, she gained a faint awareness of her existence as the Dragon Torque. She is the victim of various attempts by the Dragon Cavalry to use her to protect La'cryma from Noein and Shangri'la.
Voiced by: Haruka Kudō (Japanese), Melissa Fahn (English)
  • Asuka Kaminogi (上乃木　明日香 Kaminogi Asuka?) is Haruka's mother. She is often spaced out; for example, late in the series, she doesn't realize her daughter has disappeared until her whole house vanishes. She was once best friends with Yuu's mother, but their friendship eventually started to fall apart when Yuu's grandmother died; after Haruka and Miyuki visit the past, her friendship with Miyuki re-affirms itself.
Voiced by: Akemi Okamura (Japanese), Mona Marshall (English)
  • Takuya Mayuzumi (黛　拓也 Mayuzumi Takuya?), Haruka's father, 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. He is divorced from Asuka, Haruka's mother, but still maintains a close relationship with Haruka. After learning of the danger the Magic Circle Project poses, he joins Ryouko and Kyouji to try and stop its activation.
Voiced by: Kenta Miyake (Japanese)
  • Yuu Gotou (後藤　ユウ Gotō Yū?), in the present timespace, is Haruka's classmate. He, unlike other students, is being forced by his mother to go to cram school in order to pass a provincial enrollment test. He appears to be physically weak and isolated, but later on he develops deep affections for Haruka and would do just about anything for her.
Voiced by: Fujiko Takimoto (Japanese), Yuri Lowenthal (English)
  • Miyuki Gotou (後藤　美有樹 Gotō Miyuki?) is Yuu's mother. At the beginning of the series, she is very strict about Yuu's school work. Later, it is revealed that she wanted Yuu to be just like her sister who had passed away and was very successful at everything before her death. After she pushes Yuu as far as to run away to Haruka, she comes looking for her son and Haruka eventually uses the Dragon Torque to send Miyuki back in time to where she resolves her worries about her mother never loving her. After this, her attitude to Yuu's studying changes, and she even goes as far as to say he doesn't have to take the entrance exams if he doesn't want to.
Voiced by: Atsuko Tanaka (Japanese), Ellyn Stern (English)
  • Ai Hasebe (長谷部　アイ Hasebe Ai?), in the present timespace, is another of Haruka's classmates. She is an expert in soccer, and she has a crush on Isami. In one future timespace, she is a respected soccer player, but damages her foot to the extent where she has to have it amputated. After becoming depressed, she almost commits suicide by jumping off of the hospital roof, but is saved by Isami. In Karasu's timespace, Ai and Isami are still close.
Voiced by: Saeko Chiba (Japanese), Dorothy Elias-Fahn (English)
  • Isami Fujiwara (藤原　イサミ Fujiwara Isami?) is Haruka's friend in the present timespace. He lives with his brother and grandmother, as their parents both died. He appears to be tough on the outside but has a fear for ghosts, and he is constantly nagging Yuu about being a "mama's boy" and never doing anything but study and go to cram school. Yuu and Isami are very close. In one future timespace, Fujiwara becomes a delinquent after his grandmother dies and is separated from his brother. After a fight with another gang, he ends up losing an eye while trying to protect his friends, who consequently abandon him. With not much to live for, he was about to put a knife in the guy who slashed his eye, before the present timespace's Yuu came along and told him he was the only one who could save Ai from killing herself. In Karasu's timespace he is a Dragon Knight by the name of Fukurou, who decides to help Karasu protect Haruka just before he is killed by Noein.
Voiced by: Kōki Miyata (Japanese), Bryce Papenbrook (English)
  • Miho Mukai (向井　ミホ Mukai Miho?), in the present timespace, is a close friend of Haruka, Yuu, Fujiwara and Ai. Even though she believes in aliens, ghosts and the like, a surprising fact is that she is sometimes right in her theories of alien abduction. She develops a bond with Atori when he loses his memories, who at first thinks she is his sister. In one future timespace Miho is depressed as she has no friends; everyone hates her because she is rich. After spending two weeks locked in her room she develops some sort of psychosis, and does not even recognise her own mother. In the end it is Atori who saves her.
Voiced by: Kaori Nazuka (Japanese), Lara Cody (English)
  • Ryouko Uchida (内田　涼子 Uchida Ryōko?) is a quantum researcher for the Magic Circle Project. Initially, her research involves a lot of chasing after quickly-disappering phenomena and seems fruitless, but after she and Kyouji meet the Dragon Cavalry, she discovers that the Magic Circle Project, if successfully activated, would annihilate all of existence; she is then determined to stop it at all costs.
Voiced by: Sayaka Ohara (Japanese), Cindy Robinson (English)
  • Kyouji Kooriyama (郡山　京司 Kōriyama Kyōji?) is Ryouko's partner, acting as her driver while she resarches quantum phenomena. He doesn't understand the bulk of Ryouko's work, asking for simplistic explanations here and there, but he sticks around her anyway.
Voiced by: Keiji Fujiwara (Japanese), Richard Epcar (English)

[edit] La'cryma

  • Karasu (カラス?) is Yuu in a future timespace, La'cryma. He is a Dragon Knight whose mission was to find the Dragon Torque, Haruka. In his timespace, he failed to save Haruka from death, and thus swore to protect the Haruka in the present timespace from anyone or anything.
Voiced by: Kazuya Nakai (Japanese), Crispin Freeman (English)
  • Fukurou (フクロウ?) is Isami in the same future timespace as Karasu. He also became a Dragon Knight. Being Karasu's best friend, Fukurou failed the mission to kill him when he was declared a traitor. Fukurou was eventually killed by Noein, after Haruka changed the future she saw in which it was Karasu who killed him. Fukurou is a close friend with the future Ai, and expresses his wish to see her one more time as he dies.
Voiced by: Kōhei Kiyasu (Japanese), R. Martin Klein (English)
  • Atori (アトリ?) is another Dragon Knight. Although he seems totally against other Dragon Knights, he's also a loyal knight who tried to achieve the same goal with a different method. After betraying the Dragon Knights in an effort to destroy the Dragon Torque, he cuts his pipeline, thus becoming trapped in Haruka's timespace. Eventually he loses his memory and for a while seems completely innocent and harmless. He first thinks that Miho is his little sister, a girl called Sara. They develop a very deep bond which seems to change his final personality, as he fights to protect the children in Haruka's timespace, even when his memories come back. His real name is Al, and he later reveals that his sister died by stepping on a mine.
Voiced by: Ken'ichi Suzumura (Japanese), Eddie Frierson (English)
  • Kosagi (コサギ?) is a Dragon Knight who turned her love toward Karasu to hatred due to his betrayal. She has hatred for Haruka as well for supposedly turning Karasu against her.
Voiced by: Takako Honda (Japanese), Cindy Robinson (English)
  • Tobi (トビ?) is a Dragon Knight who mastered the technical side of the future timespace. Although he's weak in combat, he's proven to be an invaluable member of the knights. He was one of the Dragon Knights who left La'cryma to fight with Atori.
Voiced by: Ryoko Shiraishi (Japanese), Lara Cody (English)
  • Isuka (イスカ?) is another Dragon Knight who accompanied Atori and Tobi in leaving La'cryma. After removing his pipeline, he remarked that if he would disappear in a peaceful timespace then he would be happy. Fukurou and Karasu travelled to Haruka's timespace to pursue them, and when Atori ordered Isuka to destroy Haruka, Karasu was forced to kill him. Isuka's last words were that he could now be at peace.
Voiced by: Kenta Miyake (Japanese), Steve Kramer (English)
  • Kuina (クイナ?), another dragon knight, fell in love with Kosagi, but his affections were not returned. Eventually, his body decayed and he died due to his obsession with going to Shangri'la, after taking the Dragon Torque there.
Voiced by: Rikiya Koyama (Japanese), Richard Cansino (English)
  • Amamiku (アマミク?), Lacryma's Ai, works as a medical officer in the Dragon Cavalry base.
Voiced by: Saeko Chiba (Japanese)
  • Lily (リリ Riri?) Lily is Miho's daughter in La'cryma and helps Haruka when she asks for a route to the surface, and finds a place for Haruka and Yuu to hide when the Dragon Knights are after them. Miho is blind in La'cryma, so Lily acts as her eyes.
Voiced by: Kaori Nazuka (Japanese)

[edit] Shangri'la

  • Noein (ノエイン?) is another Yuu in another timespace, and the main antagonist in the anime. After watching Yukie-sensei, Haruka, Fujiwara, and Ai die in a car accident, he couldn't bear the pain of losing Haruka. He decided to look for a new Haruka in a different Timespace only to find that every Haruka was making every Yuu suffer in every timespace; she was constantly dying and he could never save her. As a result he decided to converge every timespace and stop all the pain and sorrow.
    However, both Karasu and Yuu come to realize that that Noein is nothing like them, as he had forgotten Haruka and their past. In the end, they both denied Noein's existence, and so he ceased to be.
Voiced by: Kazuya Nakai (Japanese), Richard Epcar (English)
Spoilers end here.

[edit] List of Episodes

# Title Original airdate
01 Blue Snow 2005-10-12
02 Running Away 2005-10-19
03 Pursued... 2005-10-26
04 Friend 2005-11-02
05 And Then... 2005-11-09
06 Dimension of Tears 2005-11-16
07 Important Person 2005-11-23
08 Secret 2005-11-30
09 Crossing Over the Time Barrier 2005-12-07
10 A Night of Storms 2005-12-14
11 Passing By 2005-12-21
12 Battle 2005-12-28
13 Wish 2006-01-11
14 Memories 2006-01-18
15 Shangri'la 2006-01-25
16 Repetition 2006-02-01
17 Doubt 2006-02-11
18 Bad Dream 2006-02-15
19 Recollections 2006-02-22
20 Once More 2006-03-01
21 Illusion 2006-03-08
22 To The Future 2006-03-15
23 The End 2006-03-22
24 The Beginning 2006-03-29

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../n/o/e/Noein.html"
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