List of Noir characters

nihongo|"Noir"|ノワール|Nowaru has a small cast of characters, and it primary follows the two protogonists Kirika Yuumura and Mireille Bouquet. Other characters, except Chloe and Altena, usually only appear in a single episode.

Main characters

Kirika Yuumura

nihongo|Kirika YuumuraThe email Mireille receives from Kirika in episode 1 romanizes her surname as "YUUMURA" (with two U's). In addition, the [http://www.projectnoir.com/characters/kirika.shtml Noir official English website] also use this naming convention.] |夕叢霧香|Yūmura Kirika is a schoolgirl who has lost all memories of her past, knowing only that her true name is Noir. It is not known whether her real name is Kirika Yuumura, as the only thing that links her to this name is a student ID card with her photo and that name on it. She meets up with Mireille in the first episode with an offer to make a pilgrimage to the past. Before dying, Mireille's mother asked Kirika to take care of Mireille. She is an excellent markswoman and uses a Beretta M1934, but can also use a great variety of mundane objects as well. Kirika's theme music is 'Canta Per Me', Italian for 'Sing for Me'.

Mireille Bouquet

nihongo|Mireille Bouquet|ミレイユ・ブーケ|Mireiyu Būke is a Corsican woman born into a powerful crime family, Mireille and her uncle are the sole survivors of a brutal attack on her family. The reason behind the murder of her family was that her parents refused to have Mireille raised by the Soldats to become Noir. After her family's murder, she would later be trained by her uncle to become an assassin. Already a well-established assassin, she receives an email from Kirika with an attachment of a familiar melody. She agrees to work with Kirika because of a watch that Kirika has which is identical to one her father had. However, she tells Kirika that once the truth is revealed, she would kill Kirika. Ironically, the codename Mireille chooses to work under, after teaming up with Kirika, is Noir, assuming the role that her parents wished for Mireille not to have. Mireille uses a Walther P99, a modern firearm developed in the 1990s. Mireille's theme music is 'Corsican Corridor' and 'Salva Nos'.

=Chloe=

nihongo|Chloe|クロエ|Kuroe is a mysterious figure that appears about halfway through the series, she claims to be the True Noir (her name may be significant, given the similarity in pronunciation between "Chloe" and "Kuroi", the Japanese word for black). Though she is about Kirika's age, she is extremely skilled as an assassin, a quite remarkable fact since she uses throwing knives instead of using guns. Chloe is very faithful to Altena and works for the Soldats, enjoying a position of considerable authority. She was witness to the murder of the Bouquet family by Kirika, an event which caused her to look up to Kirika. There are also strong suggestions later in the series that Chloe's feelings for Kirika are actually romantic. Chloe's theme music is 'Secret Game' (in addition to the instrumental song 'Chloe').

=Altena=

nihongo|Altena|アルテナ|Arutena is a motherly figure who is high-ranking in Soldats, who seems to be working for "Le Grand Retour" (The Great Return). She resides in a place called "The Manor" which is a vineyard run with medieval technology. The Manor is between the border of France and Spain, and is a "forgotten place" to the world. (This is possibly inspired by the microstate Andorra.) She was orphaned during a war and was raped by a soldier. This trauma led her to believe that if excessive love could destroy, excessive hate could perhaps save. Altena's theme music is 'Lullaby'.

upporting characters

Les Soldats

Les Soldats (French for "The Soldiers") is an organisation which has a central role in the story. According to Altena, "Les Soldats" was founded by a group of people about a thousand years ago. They had survived a great war which had cost the lives of numerous people. The first members of "Les Soldats" swore to protect the innocent and defeat evil. Both Altena and Chloe are members of this organisation.

It is revealed in the anime that "Les Soldats" was responsible for the killing of Mireille's family, and also for the chase attempting to kill Mireille and Kirika during their quest. Altena's fraction of the organisation is striving for an event known as the "Grand Retour" ("The Great Return"); however, a conflict has arisen between Altena and the very core of "Les Soldats", apparently about how to initiate the plan of realising the "Grand Retour". Altena states that "Les Soldats" has been consumed by the very greed it once swore to undo, and her goal apparently is to revert this situation.

Odette Bouquet

nihongo|Odette Bouquet|オデット・ブーケ|Odetto Būke is Mireille's mother, but nothing is known much about her except that she is the spitting image of Mireille. After witnessing the deaths of her husband and son and before Kirika kills her, she asks Kirika to take care of Mireille as she believes they will share the same fate in the future.

Claude Feyder

nihongo|Claude Feyder|クロード・フェデー|Kurōdo Fedē is Mireille's uncle. Following the death of Mireille’s parents, Claude evacuated young Mireille from Corsica in hopes of helping her escape a similar fate, swearing allegience to the Soldats in exchange for Mireille's safety. An excellent assassin in his own right, Claude taught Mireille the killing arts and made her the talented assassin she is in the series. He appears in France and reunites with the now adult Mireille after what seems to be a chance encounter. Claude later reveals that he is under the order of the Soldats to kill Kirika and advises Mireille not to interfere and make the same mistake as her father did - namely, going against the Soldats. However, Mireille was disappointed at the fact that her uncle had associated himself with the Soldats and maintains that the Soldats are her enemies for killing her parents. After Mireille learnt the truth behind the circumstances in which Claude joined the Soldats, she reluctantly shoots him in their confrontation. Moments before their face-off, Claude remarked that Mireille is indeed the daughter of her brother, after seeing that Mireille had inherited much of her father's personality.

ilvana Greone "Intoccabile"

nihongo|Silvana Greone|シルヴァーナ・グレオーネ|Shiruvana Gureōne is also informally known as the "world's most brutal princess". Silvana has purple hair and eyes, dresses mainly in purple and uses a dagger in melee combat. She befriended Mireille in their childhood and taught her a lesson about fear using her dagger. The traumatic experience left a mark in young Mireille, causing Silvana to become the person she feared the most.

Silvana is referred to in the underworld by the title of "Intoccabile" (Italian for "untouchable") after personally executing her own father for breaking the code of silence. She lives peacefully in Sicily just before her grandfather summons her to take control of the syndicate after her uncle Don Greone was assassinated. Silvana quickly learns that Noir is behind the assassination of Don Greone, and takes the contract which contains clues linking to Soldats. After her encounter with Mireille at her manor, Silvana awaits the pair on the island of Sicily.

She fights and tries to stabs Mireille with her own dagger, but it is shot and broken by Kirika. She then takes Mireille's gun but was trembling. Mireille, seeing this, immediately stabs Silvana with her own dagger. Before dying, she gives them the contract and congratulates Mireille for overcoming her fear.

haoli

nihongo|Shaoli|シャオリー|Shaorī is a cunning, professional assassin who uses deadly poisons to kill her enemies. Shaoli was hired by a Hong Kong crime boss named Hong Yiban to fight against the Soldats and Noir. However, when she finds out a Soldats' messenger leaked their information out, she betrays Yiban and decides to join Soldats by killing the mole.

Shaoli later meets Chloe and asks her if she can join Soldats, but Chloe says they do not need her. Angered by this, Shaoli rushs to kill her, but before she could get her chance, she is killed by Chloe.

Remy Brefford

nihongo|Remy Brefford|レミ・ブレフォール|Remi Burefōdo is one of the Council members of the Soldats. After Kirika entered the Manor, he requests that Mireille join them but is rejected. He then gives her the location of the Manor and wishs her best luck. At the end of the series, he is still with the Soldats, and he says to Mireille that Altena's death does not mean anything has ended.

Borne

nihongo|Borne|ボルヌ|Borune, along with Marenne, is one of the two leading priestess among the group of Soldats priestesses who are summoned to the Manor by Altena for the Noir revival ritual.

Borne confronts Altena after the remaining two of the Noir turns against them before the ritual, which was something both she and the priestesses did not expect to happen. After realising Altena's true intentions, she declares Altena a traitor to the Soldats and tries to kill her while her back is turned against her. However, she is pre-empted and killed by Altena instead.

Marenne

nihongo|Marenne|マレンヌ|Marenne, along with Borne, is one of the two leading priestess among the group of Soldats priestesses who are summoned to the Manor by Altena for the Noir revival ritual.

When Kirika and Mireille intrudes the Manor, she wields a longsword and engages the pair in melee combat in the hall. Marenne dons a suit of metal platings underneath her robes which makes her impervious to gunshots aimed at her torso. She was eventually taken down by Kirika who threw a dagger aimed at her unprotected neck.

Minor characters

President Hammond

President Hammond is a corrupt business man who does not spend much time with family, which later leads to divorce. Noir was hired to assassinate him when his daughter visits. When Hammond is killed by Kirika, his daughter's birthday present falls to the floor.

Rosaly Hammond

Rosaly is President Hammond's daughter. Before her sixteenth birthday, she decides to visit her father. She encounters Kirika after her father is killed.

Albert Dux

Albert Dux is a ruthless businessman who was hired to assassinate Noir. On the other hand, Noir is also contracted to assassinate him. Dux was killed by Kirika when she fights him and his men in the dark.

Belladonna Lily Woman

Not much is known about her except she is a widow. She meets and contracts Mireille to assassinate Albert Dux, but turns out she was with him. She tries to kill Mireille by using stealth-action, but her presence is discovered, leading to her death.

Yuri Nazarov

Yuri Nazarov is a sole survivor of a Norga massacre. Having witnessed his family's execution, Nazarov decides to spend his life revenging on the Tatar minorities. He has a pet cat named Prince Myshkin, a reference to the novel "The Idiot" by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Noir is hired by a Tatar survivor to take out the former KGB man, but Kirika has reservations about carrying out the job. In the end, Nazarov knows he wil not live much longer, and decides to be killed by Kirika. After his death, Prince Myshkhin becomes a stray.

The Three Mafia Saints

The Three Mafia Saints consist of three mercenaries who work under Silvana Greone: Paolo, Dominic and Francesco. When Silvana fights Noir, Francesco was killed by Mireille. Later, the remaining two fight Kirika, and eventually they were defeated.
Paoloanime voices|Hisao Egawa|Charles Kennedy
Dominicanime voices|Hiroshi Kamiya|Vic Mignogna
Francescoanime voices|Katsumi Chou|George Manley-

Milosh Havul

Milosh Havul is a retired member of a Foreign Legion. Kirika happens to meet him near the long riverbank. Inspired by his talents, she decides to start drawing and becomes very good at it. Milosh tells her that he will join the Legion again. When Kirika tries to gives him a parting gift, Milosh is accidentally killed by a mercenary who aiming for Kirika. It is his death that makes Kirika starts hunting the killers.

Judge D'Estaing

D'Estaing is a corrupted court official who was assisting a group of corrupt police officers carry out unlawful acts without fear of legal reprisal. He is targeted by both Noir and Chloe; Chloe, however, tells him that he is being targeted. This makes him attempt to ambush Mireille and Kirika. However, although he was warned by Chloe, he is killed in the end.

General Reimann "NATO Fox"

Reimann is a retired general who now living peacefully in the Swiss Alps. Chloe and another group of hitmen target him, but the hitmen are killed by Chloe. Reimann soon realizes that Chloe is Noir and asks her not to hurt his comrades after his death. Later, the syndicate that is after him is terminated by Chloe.

References

External links

*en icon [http://www.projectnoir.com/characters/index.shtml Official character list] at ADV Films website
*ja icon [http://www.jvcmusic.co.jp/m-serve/tv/noir/chara.html Official character list] at JVC website