Noein: To Your Other Self

Noein: To Your Other Self
A promotional poster for Noein.
Genre	Adventure, Romance, Science fiction
Anime
Directed by	Kazuki Akane, Kenji Yasuda
Studio	Satelight

Noein: To Your Other Self (ノエイン もうひとりの君へ, Noein: Mō Hitori no Kimi e) is a science fiction anime television series directed by Kazuki Akane and Kenji Yasuda and produced by Satelight. The series is 24 episodes long.

The English version was produced by Manga Entertainment. In North America, the series was released on five Region 1 DVDs, the last released on September 18, 2007. In the United Kingdom, the first three volumes were sold individually, while the last two can only be purchased as part of a series collection.

The Sci Fi Channel (United States) began airing Noein as part of its Ani-Monday programming block on June 18, 2007 at 23:00 Eastern Standard Time. The show moved to midnight on October 2, showing back-to-back episodes. The Australian public broadcaster's digital-only ABC2 started broadcasting the series on 21 August 2007 at 19:30.

Plot summary

Fifteen years in the future, a violent battle using fictional technology takes place between two "timespaces": La'cryma, a possible future of our own universe, and Shangri'la, a dimension intent on the destruction of all space and time. The key to stopping Shangri'la's invasion is a mysterious object known as the "Dragon Torque" (竜のトルク, Ryū no Toruku). A group known as the "Dragon Cavalry" is sent through space and time to find it. In the present, twelve-year old Haruka and her friend Yū are contemplating running away from home when they meet a member of the Dragon Cavalry named Karasu. He believes that Haruka has the Dragon Torque and appears to be Yū from fifteen years in the future.

Concept

Noein employs a conception of time as a dimension that resonates with other "timespaces." Haruka's Dragon Torque, which affects this relationship, takes the shape of an Ouroboros.

Noein makes use of several interpretations of quantum physics, particularly Hugh Everett's Many-Worlds Interpretation, which views the universe as branching off into an infinity of possible states of varying probability. It also draws from the Copenhagen Interpretation, which suggests that an observer or measurement is important in determining the decoherency of the probability. In the anime, Haruka possesses "supreme observer" status in the multiverse, thus enabling her to determine the sole outcome of an event just by "observing" one of the possible futures of the event.

In one episode, Uchida candidly explains to her bodyguard Kōriyama the paradox of Schrödinger's cat, whereby a cat is ambiguously suspended (exists in a "superposition") between life and death until observed. This act of measurement forces the cat's existence to "collapse" into one of the two possible states. She also mentions Albert Einstein's famous remark, "God does not play dice."

While the Many-Worlds Interpretation implies a divergence of timespaces, the anime also includes a possible future in which timespaces converge, an end the series' chief antagonist, Noein, works to accomplish.

Characters

Hakodate (the Present Timespace)

Note that Hakodate, the main Present Timespace setting of Noein, is a real city, in the Hokkaido Prefecture of Japan, and its many features of its appearance were replicated with uncanny detail in Noein. A special feature of the DVD-Vides series goes through this matter extensively.

• 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, although she had previously seen him on a church steeple.

Initially unaware of her status as the Dragon Torque, Haruka realized this when she was threatened by Atori, activating her powers. She was attacked several times by the Dragon Knights, but was rescued by an angered, almost crazed Karasu. The two of them were whisked back to La'cryma, where Karasu was tortured and Haruka was imprisoned. She was horrified to find that that timespace's Earth is a postapocalyptic wasteland, and that the scientist presiding over her was her former best friend.

When Shangri-la attacked, Haruka was almost drowned to harness her powers, but she was rescued by an exhausted Karasu, who returned her to earth. With his help, she continued to evade the remaining Dragon Knights, but later willingly went with Noein if he spared Yū and Karasu.

Haruka was horrified to find that Noein is yet another version of Yū, who still loves and longs for her in a very warped, insane manner. Along with Yū, she denies that Noein is the same as Yū or Karasu, and destroys his power. She and Yū return to Earth together, after Karasu promises her that she'll see him again – in fifteen years, when Yū is grown.

Some months later, we see that Haruka is anticipating Yū's return on vacation, and that she regularly emails him. But she glances over at the church steeple, remembering Karasu.

Haruka has a deep, almost supernatural bond with the Yūs from both Earth and La'cryma. Both of them can apparently hear her when she is in distress, even when she is in another timespace. Yū is initially angry that Haruka is so fond of the blunt, tormented Karasu, unaware that this is because both of them are her beloved Yū, and that she loves them in the same way.

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 Yū's mother, but their friendship eventually started to fall apart when Yū'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 Ryōko and Kyōji to try and stop its activation.

Voiced by: Kenta Miyake (Japanese), Steve Kramer (English)

• 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 and go to a Tokyo junior high. As a result, he has little time for anything but studying. He initially tries to run away with disastrous results, and later has a blowup with his mother. Once the pressure is relieved, he realizes that he needs to take the exams because he has no special talents.

Yū initially doesn't want anything to do with La'cryma and the Dragon Knights, because of Karasu's contempt for him and Atori's crazed behavior. But he reluctantly gets involved, eventually teaming up with Karasu to save all timespaces – and Haruka – from Noein. When confronted by the monstrous version of himself, he disowns Noein and destroys his power.

As the series ends, we learn that Yū is in Tokyo, having passed the exams. He comes home for vacation sometimes, and talks to Haruka constantly over email.

He appears to be physically weak and isolated, and he has the same angsty, doubting personality as Karasu – a fact that seems to irk the older version of himself. But he does have a very deep friendship with Haruka, and eventually realizes that he's in love with her. They even seem to have a psychic bond, since Yū hears Haruka thinking of him in another timespace.

There are other Yūs in other timespaces, some of whom lose their Haruka. Some of them remain as they are, but others changed radically because of Haruka. One of them, Karasu, becomes depressed and nihilistic, but is recognizable as Yū; Noein, on the other hand, is crazed and evil to the point that Yū disowns him.

Voiced by: Fujiko Takimoto (Japanese), Yuri Lowenthal (English)

• Miyuki Gotou (後藤　美有樹, Gotō Miyuki) is Yū's mother. At the beginning of the series, she is very strict about Yū's school work. Later, it is revealed that she wanted Yū to be just like her sister who had passed away and was very successful at everything before her death. After she pushes Yū as far as to run away with 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 Yū'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, and one of her best friends. She is an expert in soccer, and she has a crush on Isami that doesn't initially seem to be reciprocated. When Isami gives Haruka the same gift he gave Ai, Ai becomes briefly angry that she's shown no special affection.

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 is a respected scientist – Lady Amamiku – who attempts to use Haruka to save La'cryma, and still close to Isami.

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. Yū and Isami are very close, with Yū's angsty, doubting nature offset by Isami's laid-back personality.

Isami is also friends with Ai, who has a hidden crush on him. Isami doesn't seem interested at first, since he seems to prefer older women like his teacher. However, there are some hints that he may be growing interested in Ai by the end.

In one future timespace, Isami 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 Yū 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, Yū, Isami 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. When Atori shows signs of relapsing into his prior psychotic behavior, Miho starts sobbing and threatening to not speak to him, which restores him to normal.

In one potential 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, and brings her back to reality. Apparently this future is not ahead for Miho.

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.

She initially is irritated by Kōriyama's attitude and occasional sexually-charged joke. But apparently she grows to find him attractive, and in the final episode she rushes to embrace him after he is shot.

Voiced by: Sayaka Ohara (Japanese), Cindy Robinson (English)

• Kyouji Kooriyama (郡山　京司, Kōriyama Kyōji) is Ryōko's partner, acting as her driver and bodyguard while she researches quantum phenomena. He doesn't understand the bulk of Ryōko's work, asking for simplistic explanations here and there, but he sticks around her anyway.

He does get to shine at the very end of the series, when timespaces are converging and a corrupt corporate leader refuses to let Ryōko stop it. He shoots Kōriyama, only to find that he's unaffected because "apparently there's a me that doesn't get shot!" Kōriyama remains unhurt after the timespaces separate.

Voiced by: Keiji Fujiwara (Japanese), Richard Epcar (English)

La'cryma

La'cryma exists as a timespace 15 years into the future. There, all beings were transformed into quantum beings at a macro level due to an incident that occurred in the past. A group, known as the Dragon Knights, exist to protect La'cryma from invasion from Shangri'la and to enter into other timespaces to find the Dragon Torque. There were originally more members, but it is suggested that they dissolve into nothingless from being in a timespace for too long, the timespace's way of rejecting them. Each Knight has access to various weapons formed from their 'layze' (apparently their bodies in quantum states can be transformed for a limited period of time), known as Spin Weapons.

• Karasu (カラス) is Yuu in a future timespace, La'cryma. However, though his mission was to find the Dragon Torque, Haruka, Karasu had a alternate reason as he removed his pipeline to remain in our timespace as Haruka's protector. In his timespace, he failed to save Haruka from death, and thus swore to protect the Harukas of other timespaces from anyone or anything. His devotion is such that even torture and mortal injuries cannot stop him; he even briefly goes mad when she is about to die, triggering the memories of his Haruka's death. As a result, he brutally kills one of the other Dragon Knights and smashes open a dam, screaming "Go! Hell calls you!" He even fights his oldest friend, Isami/Fukurō, almost to the death rather than allow Haruka to be harmed.

He is also irritated by the Yuu of our timespace, seeing him as weak and indecisive, although it seems that he despises Yuu for his own inability to save his Haruka. They are actually very similar, with a psychic bond to Haruka, a desperate need to keep her safe, and a tendency towards angst and doubt. Karasu apparently still whittles.

After invading Shangri-la with Yuu, Karasu destroys several of Shangri-la's ships, but is horrified to find that his nemesis Noein is actually another version of him. He assists Yuu in disowning Noein's existance, destroying his power and freeing La'cryma.

It is not entirely clear what happens to Karasu after Noein's destruction; by disconnecting himself from the pipeline early in the series, he condemned himself to fade out of that dimension, which would kill him. In the final scenes, he transforms into Yuu after speaking to Haruka, suggesting that he may have merged with Yuu.

Like all Dragon Knights, Karasu's body has been radically altered on a quantum level – when he is injured, the inside of his body shows silver, and he bleeds blue raizu particles. His spin weapon consists of several black whip-like threads that he can control. With them, he is able to create shields, grab distant objects, and cut through most anything. He has also been seen using blasts of built up energy. The spirals on the arms of dragon knights can also become swords, Karasu and Fukurou are seen using this weapon while fighting in episode 12 for a short while. Karasu is the Japanese word for crow.

Due to the fifteen years that have passed, and the strain of his life in La'cryma, Karasu is not immediately identifiable as Yuu. While Yuu looks like an ordinary young boy, Karasu has pallid skin, silver hair that falls over his face, and dresses in a huge black cloak. Despite these differences, his eyes are the same as Yuu's, and Haruka sees the resemblance between them.

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. Unlike the tormented Karasu, Fukurou managed to keep his sense of humour and laid-back personality, and his motto seems to be "Don't worry about it." Being Karasu's best friend, Fukurou failed the mission to kill him when he was declared a traitor deciding to aid Karasu. However, Noein killed Fukurou 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. Fukurou's spin weapon appears to be simple energy blasts. He is also one of two 'birds' seen transforming his body into a large quantum beast to fight the invaders from Shangri'la, claiming that he's not ready for their world to end just yet.

He seems to find our timespace less painful than Karasu, looking fondly on Ai, Yuu and his younger self, and admonishing Yuu and Isami to "stay friends." Like Karasu, he looks very different from his younger self – tall, muscular, with a long brown ponytail and only one eye (presumably lost in a gang war in his teens). Fukurō is Japanese for Owl.

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. His mental stability can be questioned, since he seems bizarrely homicidal and violent. 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 when he intervened in Karasu and Fukurou's fight, becoming completely innocent and seemingly harmless. He first thinks that Miho is his little sister and rushes toward her saying "Sara! Sara!", which initially scares Miho; when she denies that she is Sara, Atori lapses into confusion. Deprived of his prior hatred, he even admonishes his former enemy, the fatally injured Karasu, for sleeping when "the little girl is crying," and defends all of them from Kosagi's attacks.

Miho and Atori 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. Atori's spin weapon seems to be based in lightning attacks. He can charge and release large blasts. He is also one of two 'birds' seen transforming his body into a large quantum beast to fight the invaders from Shangri'la; in Atori's case, he blocks a circle that allows Shangri-la ships to enter our timespace, and apparently dies when the circle collapses.

Atori is a tall, skinny man with bulging purple eyes, dark lips, and a long point of blond hair that hangs over his face. We never see Atori's alter ego in our timespace. Atori is Japanese for Finch.

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 causing Karasu's betrayal, seeing her as nothing more than a item. Her wanting to understand forces Kosagi to cuts her pipeline so she can stay to see Karasu die. Kosagi's spin weapon appears as a bow-like device bursting from her right arm and can fire energy blasts. Kosagi is Japanese for Egret.

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 with Atori, but allied with Karasu. Tobi has not shown any spin weapons, though it is assumed he has one. Tobi is Japanese for kite.

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. Isuka's spin weapon consists of him charging energy into his fists and unleasing a blast of energy shaped like a fist towards his target. Isuka is Japanese for crossbill.

Voiced by: Kenta Miyake (Japanese), Steve Kramer (English)

• Kuina (クイナ), the leader of the Dragon Knight Squad and only member to remain on La'cryma. He had feelings for Kosagi, but his affections were not returned. Eventually, his body decayed to the point of using mechical protestics and a face mask to cover his eye and later most of his head. Prior to the series, Kuina realized La'cryma was a lost cause and had decided to ally himself with Noein to enter Shangri'la. However, due to Haruka's power increasing and Kuina's own body disintergrating, Noien refused to fulfill his end of the bargin. Kuina's obsession with reaching prompts him to take Haruka there to force Noein to honor their deal. However, his body is rejected by the timspace and he disintegrates. Kuina has not shown any spin weapons, though one may assume that, as a Dragon Knight, he possesses at least one. Kuina is Japanese for Rail.

Voiced by: Rikiya Koyama (Japanese), Richard Cansino (English)

• Amamiku (アマミク), La'cryma's Ai, works as a medical officer in the Dragon Cavalry base until she was arrested for allowing Haruka to escape back to her timeline.

Voiced by: Saeko Chiba (Japanese), Dorothy Elias-Fahn (English)

• 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. Lily strongly resembles her mother, but is more suspicious.

Voiced by: Kaori Nazuka (Japanese), Lara Cody (English)

• The Haruka of the La'cryma dimension is never seen in the present, only in flashbacks. Karasu later explains that she sacrificed her life to save La'cryma – and him specifically – by becoming a part of a giant computer that was made to defend against Shangri-la. This suggests that she may have had powers similar to this timespace's Haruka.

Though she never appears, Haruka hears a ghostly phone call asking her to take care of Yuu/Karasu. And we briefly see the La'cryma Haruka in flashbacks. Some of these show her as dying inside a glass tube, while one (as Karasu was being tortured) shows a tall silver-haired girl from the back.

Shangri'la

• Noein (ノエイン) – pronounced /ˈno.iːn/ in English and /no.ˈe.in/ in Japanese – is another Yuu in another timespace, and the eponymous antagonist of the anime. He initially appears just as a floating mask over a spectral body, who appears occasionally to destroy the Dragon Knights, and "rescue" Haruka.

After watching Ms. Yukie, Haruka, Isami, and Ai die in a car accident (Miho absent due to being at a wedding), 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 he lost Haruka in many other timespaces, and that each timespace was filled with pain, death and sorrow. As a result he decided to converge every timespace to stop all the pain and sorrow, creating Shangri'la as a result of a ideal paradise.

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. Unable to cope with this, Noein lamented "Who am I?" as faces emerged from his body and overwhelmed him, killing him.

Noein barely even resembles a human being anymore. He looks like an emaciated, semi-nude, albino version of Karasu, but his body is gelatinous and can sprout more appendages and change its shape. He is still clearly in love with Haruka, but his insanity makes it a twisted love.

Voiced by: Kazuya Nakai (Japanese), Richard Epcar (English)

• The Others are the residents of Shangri'la. They all were originally residents of other space-times who desired to live in Noein's world, discarding their bodies and now exist merely as coinciousness that serve Noein. They appear to be able to take a limited form of a metallic dragon/seahorse shape with one ribbon like arm that ends in a hand.

Other

• The Time Drifter appears only to Haruka as an old man with a wide-brimmed hat that covers most of his upper face with the exception of one eye. He gives both cryptic (though often useful) advice and warnings to Haruka. Near the end of the series he transforms into the Ouroboros.

Voiced by: Steve Kramer (English)

List of episodes

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#	Title	Original air date	First English air date

Theme songs

Opening theme:

• "Idea" by Eufonius

Ending theme:

• "Yoake no Ashioto" (夜明けの足音) by Solua

External links

• Official Noein website (English)
• Official Noein website (Japanese)
• Anime News Network Noein page
• Noein Review at Anime+ Podcast