Noein: Mô hitori no kimi he

I want to agree with the prior review wholeheartedly, but I have to point out that GONZO didn't have anything to do with this series (a notable omission from the staggering number of studios in the credits). The production company was Satelight.

"Noein" is an unconventional looking anime, but the story is rock solid all the way through, and it builds up from a slow beginning into something really wonderful and compelling and unique. It's rare these days to find a show that the creators obviously spent so much time and effort on. The quality of the production is staggering, especially the animation. Highly recommended.

This is an amazing story. Yes the artwork isn't all that much to my taste, though I got used to it after a few episodes, yes there are plot holes, yes it starts slow. I don't care about the above to be honest. The story is gripping, the characters really well developed, I cared for them, though I'm old and cynical. And there are more twists in the plot than in the local roads in county Kerry! Nearly all an entertaining surprise.

It's not a tale for cretins though, it can get nerdy and convoluted, and something which nobody mentioned, it's fairly deep philosophically as well. You can just watch the story and run away with it but there are questions all along the way, important questions. Who or what are we, what is reality, what is illusion, what is perception and what link has it on reality ....also there are great lessons in life: we CAN change, for the better or the worse, regretting the past or fearing the future will ruin your life, be brave, don't give up, so on. I have the feeling there are some references to Buddhism in there but I'm not familiar enough with it to say more. This series I thought was very intelligent, and is not necessarily aimed at teens, on the contrary there is something in it for every generation.

As usual I thought the American dubbing was a disgrace, (what I heard of it, I always watch in Japanese - excellent voice acting there, if clearly shaky subtitle translations) and only Crispin Freeman who dubs Karasu appears to make some sort of effort and have a clue on how it should be played. I'm not sure I could have stuck with more than one episode in English.

Oh yes, and the soundtrack is brilliant.

8 out of 10, and I will watch it again, knowing what I know now, I need to watch it again. Besides I miss the characters already. Minus some bad art IMO in places, this is one of the better series out there, right up with the better known usual ones. I can't recommend it enough if you like to use your brain while watching entertaining TV.

I found this while searching Anime features on Crunchyroll for a long Holiday Weekend...and the short synopsis about a girl, her friends and Quantum Dimension travelers was so off the beaten track I had to give the first episode a try.

It blew me away. Other posters have noted the series delve into Quantum Theory and such, and while there is usually a bit of Handwavium science in most Sci-Fi anime, Noein differs from the usual in that it 'lightly' swings the viewer thru actual light Quantum Theory.

As for the Story itself, it's a Sci-Fi adventure that is one part young adult/Pre-teen coming of age that doesn't dive into the usual anime school age 'soap-opera' formulas. Light hearted and funny at times, and yet it can go into some of the dark raw issues of Growing-up. This part makes it very watchable for kids.

But what makes this story a masterpiece in my eyes, is how the story can appeal to adults. An Adult can watch this story and root for the kid characters while trying to understand where the other adult characters are coming from and why they are the way they are: Yuu's Mother is one poignant case in point. And last, there is the question of the Dimension Travelers themselves.

As for the rest of it, what makes this series work for me is the fact that I could NOT figure out what was going on. WHO were the Dimension Travelers? WHERE or WHEN do they come from? WHO or WHY are they fighting? And WHO is actually on WHOSE side? There is no Prologue explanatory of everything. The Viewer is given bits and glimpses of Who, Why and What as the story progresses, and the Viewer is tasked with putting the puzzle together as things move along. Because this story doesn't follow the usual anime tropes, even a jaded anime watcher can't run thru half an episode and say to themselves: "Okay, I already know what Happens from this point on..."

Oh...and just one artistic shout: The Theme Song/Sequence is simply Beautiful to watch.

This Anime is very enjoyable! The only problem was that I probably wouldn't watch it again because it was confusing and hard to follow.

I also would have liked to learn more about the original characters, and I wish they spent more time developing them, in their own reality.

I also felt like the artwork started to get sloppier on the forth disc...might even get worse haven't finished it. I liked the computer animation but it didn't make up for this. A little bit more detail would have been nice.

Also it seemed like everything was taking place in a really small world. I didn't get the feeling that they lived in the same world as me, and they did. I had a slight claustrophobic feeling.

Overall though it's still one of my favorites.

This sci-fi anime throws up many quantum physics/mechanics concepts and if I hadn't watched it through fan subs with easy to understand footnotes, I would have been really lost in my understanding of the overall setting of this show.

I would have enjoyed this anime more if I could understand the quantum science explanations (I still don't after watching it again), but there is one thing I'm very sure about this show and would like to say to those thinking of watching this anime: the ending is quite satisfying for me. There is no cliff-hanger or anti-climax. The ending has a kind of heartwarming and peaceful feel to it.