There are only a few anime out there that set out to screw with your mind right from the very beginning. With a wildly different art style and dimensional shifting/time traveling plotline, Noein is easily one of the most confusing shows to get into right out of the gate. Directed by Kazuki Akane and Kenji Yasuda this 24 episode series focuses on the lives of some school children and futuristic warriors from a realm known as La'cryma.

Right from the very beginning you can tell that this series is going to be different. The art style is very fresh and reminded me of FLCL though to be fair Noein probably has more in common with Heat Guy J which is another of Kazuki Akane's series. Everything has a dramatic sketchy appearance to it and characters move in lively ways instead of like you'd expect them to. Facial expressions are another area where this show instantly makes an impression. At first this radically different art style threw me for a loop but as I became accustomed to it I actually found it very appealing.

Right from the outset there are two main characters to this twisted tale; Haruka and Yu. Haruka seems like your typical teenage girl with a close group of friends and a mom who cares about her deeply. Yu is kind of the opposite mostly thanks to his mother. Instead of being allowed time to hang out with his buddies his mom forces him to cram for school so he can get into Tokyo. All work and no play eventually make Yu go crazy and leave home; but that's just the start of it all.

Rumors begin to circulate among the school about ghost sightings and naturally Haruka's group of friends wants to get a glimpse of these spectral beings. While a lot of anime goes down this road, in the case of Noein its characters actually encounter something. Ironically it isn't quite a ghost, but in some ways it's not quite human. Clothed in a black robe and hooked onto a blue wire this being startles the group of amigos and eventually vanishes. What was it? Who was it? What did it want? These are questions that naturally go through your head when you see this but trust me when I say that things only get worse for Haruka and company from here on out.

As they escape posthaste from the graveyard where they saw this "ghost", Haruka separates herself from the rest and encounters another specter of sorts. Covered in the same black robes and featuring the same blue line this figure's long white hair and intense glare are more than imposing. He begins to mutter something about the Dragon Torque and moves to grab Haruka when Yu jumps in with a pocket razor.

His efforts are pointless though because this white haired man has powers beyond anything that should exist in our world. Another of these black robed people arrives onto the scene and actually begins to fight with the white haired one. These supernatural forces collide and result in time freezing for Earth. Oddly enough though Haruka is still able to observe the events in frozen time and once things clear it's finally get some questions answered.

The men in black robes are actually dimensional and temporal travelers from a place called La'cryma. Something called Shangri-La is threatening their world so they have set out to find something called the Dragon Torque (Haruka) to help save it. Teasing tidbits are dropped at the beginning but we eventually learn that Yuu is actually one of the robed men named Karasu. Things get more muddled as the show goes on but it's an intriguing kind of bewilderment; not a frustrating one.

The "Birds" from La'cryma travel to our dimension, which is fifteen years in their past by means of a blue lifeline that acts as a gateway of sorts. Filled with imagery of and Ouroboros and ripe with musings about quantum mechanics Noein is not only different in design but in concept. There's a lot of meaning in just about everything that you see and it doesn't hurt that the action is very intense. I'm definitely interested in seeing where this series goes after these five episodes though with a plot shrouded in mystery it's often hard to gauge how the payoff will be for being a viewer. For now this receives a recommendation but we'll see where it leads to in future volumes.

There's just something about seeing anime in anamorphic widescreen that makes the experience seem like so much more. With the recent production date Noein is truly a work of art both in design and presentation on DVD. The wildly different style that it's presented with makes an impression but it's the virtually flawless transfer that seals the deal. The color palette is vibrant with great contrast and very little grain to cloud things. Despite some slight aliasing here and there thanks to the computer generated effects this is one of the most impressive shows that I have seen in a while.

The standard in anime seems to include stereo version of an English and Japanese dub. Noein goes beyond that and includes a 5.1 selection for both languages as well. The quality is top notch with a decent channel spread and use of the appropriate speakers when need be. This is a slower show with a lot of dialogue so in most circumstances the rear channels don't kick in but once the action starts they remind you that they are there. English and Spanish subtitles are included on this disc.

Keeping up with the "better than most" presentation by Manga is a decent collection of extras. On the weaker side of things some previews, textless animations and original Japanese promos are present. Next up is a pair of alternate openings and a very personable feature involving the director (Akane) and voice actor for Haruka (Kudo Haruka). The two take a trip to Hakodate as they talk about some of the inspirations behind the series and a little bit about the idea itself. Lasting roughly 15 minutes this feature was easily the best on this disc and in the grand scheme of things better than what other anime offers. It was nice to see such a personable behind the scenes look at the series from a certain point of view. Since this was also labeled "Part 1" I'm looking forward to future installments of it.

Manga has been doing a lot lately to impress me. Tactics has become a new favorite series of mine and judging from this first volume, Noein looks like it could follow suit. The concept is imaginative, the design is unique and the story entertains you while it picks your brain. If the upcoming volumes can maintain the pace and intrigue that these five episodes had we could be looking at an intelligent and fresh anime.

The presentation of this disc also helps out the recommendation with top notch aesthetics and a decent collection of bonus content. Check it out if you're looking for something original but if you're skeptical wait until the second volume comes out and see how it fairs.

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