Noein 1
In a wasteland, a giant ring takes shape, then a rather odd looking ship with some chanting humanoids of some sort on it appears. Some guys in black capes fight it in the sky, with one called Karasu taking it down quite easily with his powers.... shifting scenes, a girl sees that man on top of a chapel while a blue "snow" falls to the ground... a girl, Haruka, wakes up from that dream and heads out to school in Hakodate, waking up her lazy mother on the way. In Haruka's class at school, a meganekko, Miho, tells her classmates about some ghosts that have been appearing recently. After the teacher arrives one of the boys in the class, Isami Fujiwara, asks if he could get a date with her during summer break. Nope ;) But while everybody else has a good laugh, Haruka looks at one boy sitting silently... After class Miho suggests to Haruka, along with another one of her classmates, Ai, that they have a little kimodameshi, "test of courage", and search for those ghosts. And Isami's coming, too. He seems to be a bit scared... Isami wants Yuu to go as well, but Yuu's got to go to cram school. Seems recently that he hasn't been getting along well with anybody.
Near the school, a man and woman, Uchida and Koriyama, are gathering information on some odd activity. As Haruka passes by with her friends they suddenly lose the signal... Yuu sits at home studying all alone. His mother, quite the strict parent, is making him go to cram school so he can get into a private middle school. Study first before anything -- no playing with friends, no nothing. In fact, she suggests he not see his friends at school anymore... Haruka's mother is a completely different story, very much easy-going about things as Haruka says she's going to go ghost hunting with friends... Haruka once again has a dream about that man and the blue "snow" around... now night, Haruka goes to meet Yuu after he gets out of cram school. While they talk Haruka mentions running away from home... Haruka was the one who suggested they do that and go to Tokyo -- she wanted to live with her father since she had a fight with her mother. Yuu knows it'd probably be pointless since they'd get caught, but... otherwise he'd be stuck in this city forever. He wishes he could be an adult so he could leave... he then says he's feeling odd...
Suddenly the sky turns red and that blue snow falls on Haruka. The man we saw earlier, Karasu, appears and tries to take a golden choker that appaears around Haruka's neck -- the "Dragon's Torque" -- but he disappears and things go back to normal before he does... The next day Ai and Haruka speak in the park -- Ai heard a story about some ghost with a black cape appearing in the shopping district. Haruka saw it.. Kuriyama appears, seemingly wanting to see if he can get Ai and Haruka to talk, but Ai takes Haruka and runs away, thinking him a hentai of some sort. Haruka doesn't think so, though.. Koriyama calls up Uchida to see how things are going. The data's been analyzed and there's no doubt -- there's an "irregular" around.
That night, Fujiwara throws a tennis ball against Yuu's window to get his attention. Yuu says he's going to cram school, but he goes with Fujiwara and meets up with Miho, Ai, and Haruka to do some ghost hunting in a graveyard. Miho seems very excited, while Fujiwara's quite the opposite. Yuu doesn't get to stay long since his mother drives up and takes him away, very much disappointed in him. Miho, Ai, Haruka, and Fujiwara continue their ghost hunt, but Haruka seems to have her mind on Yuu. Ai teases her a bit about it ;) As his mother drives, Yuu asks her to stop... more like demands she stop, once again saying he feels odd... Back at the graveyard Haruka sees the blue snow once again... Miho and Fujiwara approach that spot and their flashlights go out... something's there... a ghost!? It's a human of some sorts, and he grabs onto Fujiwara's leg, giving him the scare of his life....
They make a getaway to the road but the man Haruka's been seeing in her dreams appears and chases them. Haruka runs off in a different direction since she knows he's after her and they meet in a graveyard. Haruka says she knows him... Yuu then comes running to Haruka's defense with a razor blade, demanding an explanation from the man. The man realizes something... he says it's impossible for Yuu -- he can't save Haruka. But who is he? He is Yuu. A giant ring forms around the area like we saw earlier...
I have to agree with BluWacky on this one -- certainly a good start to Noein. Though I wasn't looking forward to it quite that much, I'm definitely hooked now. Probably the best animation of this season so far, along with an interesting cast of characters... character design isn't exactly my preference, but I suppose I like it. Haruka's cute enough. And if she and Yuu get a bit closer over the course of the series... I'm a sucker for those kinds of stories ;) Ahem...
Aside from that, many things to be explained after this first episode plotwise, so it's got my interest in wanting to know the reasons behind all that's going on. For some reason after watching Noein, I'm somewhat reminded of Fantastic Children, so that's probably a good sign. Looking forward to watching more -- I believe I'll be picking this one up to blog.
btw, no OP this week so I'll be doing the usual OP/ED thing next week. eufonius (sang ED to Futakoi and Futakoi Alternative) is doing the OP so I'm expecting it to be decent :)
As I've told you before I'm SO glad that you've decided to blog this series. I loved the first episode but I rely heavily on you and BluWacky to understand what's going on. Keep up the great work!
I can't wait until someone subs this one. It was the show I was most looking forward to this season. I haven't heard anything bad about it yet so that's always good.
It's funny that you mention it reminds you of Fantastic Children for some reason because that's exactly what it reminds me of. And that is a good sign since Fantastic Children was...well...fantastic. =P
Great entry.
God. Just watched it(was in hospital when i came out ><),and I went "WOW!! OMFG!!!". I *WILL* definately follow this.