Synduality: Noir – 13 – The World Today

One thing we learn right away is that Kanata is most assuredly not an M. If he was, he’d relish the opportunity to be constantly run down, insulted, and belittled by Mystere, Noir’s bad-tempered alter-ego. But while he’s irritated by Mystere’s constant verbal abuse (she only ever calls him “Hack”) he mostly misses Noir and wants to find out how to get her back.

To that end, he takes her to Maria, who pretends to have uncovered nothing from her investigation while trying to provoke a strong emotional response in Mystere. She confirms that Mystere’s original Master was someone named Pascale. When Mystere leaves and is pestered by Flamme, Maria tells Kanata that she found a black box, but otherwise can’t learn more without the same equipment used to create Type Zeros.

Mystere scoffs at fellow Type Zero Flamme and says both Masters and Magus have become “wimps” in the 20 years since she was last online. But Claudia tells her if the world has gone from being a place where it’s all you can do to survive to a place where you can be “a bit of a wimp” and still go on living, there must’ve been some progress made. Kanata then gets Mystere out of the garage and takes her on a tour of the world today.

That tour is one surprise after another for Mystere, who cannot believe there’s a whole town, open-air market, and water park. She’s also struck by how Magus are for the most part treated equally, and shocked by the fact that humans come in droves to hear Ciel, a Magus sing. She quietly notes that “Master’s Project” wasn’t in vain.

After the show, Ciel shares a shower with Mystere, and tells her that Kanata isn’t just thinking about Noir while interacting with her. She tells Mystere that Kanata is a good person who views humans and Magus equally, and thus deserves a chance. Mystere, perhaps a little to eager to speak to Kanata, runs out into the garage naked and tells Kanata that she may be inadvertently blocking Noir from resurfacing due to her desire to meet her Master again.

Kanata agrees to do what he can to help Mystere learn more about what might have happened to Pascale in the last two decades. He and Ciel take her to the place where he found Noir, only to find the Coffin missing. He then gives Mystere the camera, which dredges up a memory of her and her Master taking photos together.

Certain her Master wouldn’t abandon her, Mystere concedes that she must have died. Kanata apologizes to Mystere, who calls him “Kanata” for the first time before telling him that’s why he’s a hack, then reverting back to Noir. Apparently satisfied that reuniting with her Master wouldn’t be possible, Mystere was able to lift whatever was blocking Noir from awakening.

That said, no sooner do Kanata and Ciel get Noir back home does Kanata mention offhandedly that the fact Mystere didn’t laugh at his mention of Histoire must’ve meant she wasn’t all bad, Mystere reawakens once more, pulls Noir’s coat back over her shoulders and activates its plug-suit like form-fitting vaccum, and orders Kanata to get ready, because they’re going to Histoire. Apparently, she’s remembered the way.

If you enjoyed Synduality: Noir’s first cour, which was a bright and colorful throwback to early 2000’s quirky mecha anime, you’ll enjoy the start of Part 2. Koga Aoi puts on a clinic voicing Mystere (who a lot like a pissed-off Love is War’s Shinomiya Kaguya), but it’s also satisfying to watch her hard edges gradually wear down in the fact of Kanata and his friends’ earnestness.

Now that she can come and go at will, I’m looking forward to going on an adventure with her, and learning more about the Histoire Kanata is so obsessed with. At the same time, we know that Ciel is an operative for Macht, while Tokio is getting into fights with unsavory groups looking for someone, so there’s a lot going on.

Synduality: Noir – 12 (Part 1 Fin) – Back to Black

When a third core coalesces between the towers, Michael and Tokio charge in to take it out, but are instead taken out themselves by a barrage of Ender firepower. That means It’s All Up to Kanata, but between his inexperience and Noir’s ongoing crisis of confidence (insisting she’s a “dud”), things don’t go well.

When Daisyogre loses its blade arm and most of its offensive power, Noir even starts to question whether she’s actually a Magus, let alone one deserving of someone like Kanata (needless to say, she’s underselling herself and overselling Kanata). But then a switch flips suddenly she’s Noir with a Tan, using elite Magus Skills to deflect enemy fire and calling Kanata a hack at every possible opportunity.

Noir’s saucy alter-ego refers to herself in the third person as Mystere, and she makes it quite clear that she doesn’t want to be awake, and would prefer if she hadn’t switched places with Noir, who is some kind of Safe Mode. For all her sassiness and impatience with Kanata, Mystere is also hella good at her job, using a second offensive Magus Skill to Yeet a bunch of beams of light, shattering the core’s armor and blowing it to smithereens.

After the victory, for which everyone praises Kanata, Mystere tells him she’s going back to sleep and doesn’t plan to see him again. I love how Koga Aoi changed up Noir’s voice to make it more natural and more hostile. I also love how Range and Dolce are scouring the battlefield for crystals and end up chased by a surviving Ender. They’ll never learn!

Back at a grateful Rock Town, the victorious Drifters kick back. Michael tries and fails to propose to Maria, how has some wine with Claudia and notes that she’s not old enough to remember the first Silver Storm. Tokio wants to have another heart-to-heart with Kanata, but Ellie and Ange warn him that now may not be the best time.

After two days, Noir wakes up, but she’s still Mystere, and still doesn’t want to be there. In a clever demonstration that this is definitely not the Noir we know, she finally pulls her oversized coat over her shoulders, something Noir would never do. She also informs Kanata that she’s been trying to get Noir back but she isn’t responding.

So as we close the book on cour 1 of 2 of Synduality, Kanata now finds himself with a completely different Magus, and Ciel is ordered by Macht and Schnee to keep observing to determine if Noir or Mystere is the Key they need. Also Tokio apparently knows Macht, and wonders what he’s up to in Rock Town. The big Ender threat is defeated, but there’s clearly more story to tell and more mysteries (mysteres?) to unravel.

This is, again, and as ever, perfectly serviceable and nominally entertaining without being particularly groundbreaking. Above all, it’s well executed, and the production has remained consistently above average. As such, I’m looking forward to Part 2, due to air in Winter of 2024.

Synduality: Noir – 09 – Not So Black and White

While driving through the rain on his way to Traders Nest with a sleeping Noir, Kanata witnesses gunfire outside: a lone Drifter taking out a Coffin that seems to be infected with a parasitic Ender. The pilot than hops out and walks through the rain without a protective suit, which is definitely abnormal.

Kanata continues on his way, and when he arrives at Traders Nest he immediately geeks out at all the stuff that’s for sale, particularly cheap second-hand Coffin components. Noir, borrowing Maria’s words, says that no matter how old they are, men can still turn into boys at the drop of a hat.

While Kanata does look like a boy in a metal candy shop, the pilot who walked through the rain strides in like a full-grown man, his very Noir-y looking Magus in tow. The shopkeeper says word is the guy is watertight and has been piloting a Coffin since the collapse of Amasia and is responsible for Amasia’s collapse.

Rumors also indicate the man knows his way around Magus memory, something Kanata is very interested in. But he’s so excited, he asks the man to talk to him without so much as introducing himself. The man walks off with his Magus without responding, leaving Kanata only with the knowledge that Noir is good at shoplifting.

That would have been that, except they run into the man’s Magus in the food market while she’s buying a ludicrous amount of soy sauce (and Kanata and Noir are admiring real organic bananas). The Magus, named Ada, is a lot friendlier than her master, Alba.

When Kanata describes Noir’s issues, Ada (voiced by Ishikawa Yui) says it’s normal for a Magus to reformat their memory after their previous contract is terminated. Unless Noir is from a lab during the “Amasia period”, Alba may be able to dig deeper into Noir’s primary memory. Noir wants to do this, because she believes there’s more to her than she currently is.

After Ada serves Kanata and Noir real coffee, Alba returns from an errand and grudgingly agrees to lend his know-how to potentially help Noir. The process will take some time, though not a full day, and Noir will be in Sleep Mode for the duration. Kanata need only stay by her side during the reboot.

The parasitic Enders pick this time to attack Traders Nest, and a trio of Magus-less Drifters are too weak to handle it, with one of them losing their life without much fanfare. Alba sorties with Ada and tells the remaining two Drifters to buzz off so he can do his job.

Ada unleashes “Ignition”, her Magus Skill, and incinerates all of the parasitic Enders in one fell swoop. Among the derelict Coffins is one from Amasia, so Alba checks it out, but insists on doing it alone while Ada stays in their Coffin.

When Noir comes to, Alba and Ada learn that Noir has no abnormalities, and that no further memory data exists within her system. However, they also learn that she’s essentially been operating in a constant state of overdrive. While it explains why she sleeps so much, it’s a little anticlimactic that that’s all we learn about her.

Noir apologizes for still being a “dud”, but of course Kanata doesn’t feel that way about her. If she doesn’t have any old memories, they’ll just have to keep making new ones, and snapping more photos along the way. In private, Ada makes mention to Alba of a “black box” within Noir that they could not open or decipher, so some mysteries yet remain within her.

Synduality: Noir – 06 – The Ciel’s the Limit

Unexpected bad weather sends Kanata, Noir, Tokio and Mouton to Baccarat Nest. If Desire was the nest of lust, Baccarat is the nest of greed: everything can be wagered or staked. Tokio gives Kanata his share of their most recent Drifter earnings and proceeds to literally lose his shirt (and almost his underwear) gambling. Kanata and Noir look around, and eventually hear the voice of a songstress Noir recognizes as Ciel.

Noir introduces Kanata to Ciel, who can tell cares about Noir, and even teases him by asking if he loves her (he’s not ready for that question). Noir also reports there was nothing on the camera Ciel fixed, so Ciel uses it to snap a photo of Kanata and Noir, to commemorate the moment.

Kanata and Noir then bump into the man in the black mask and his sleepy Magus Schnee, and Kanata proceeds to lose all his money as well. At the same time, Range and Dolce arrive at Baccarat still sore about losing the Maguses they captured, only to find one of them, Ciel, is right in front of their noses.

Range grabs Ciel and Dolce slaps a restraining collar on her; he claims her as his property since she signed her deed over to him, even though he tricked her into thinking it was a consent form to ride his Carrier. Since this is Baccarat Nest, there’s no law firm she can run to…but fortunately, she has allies in Noir and Kanata.

When Range sees the demand for winning Ciel’s deed, he assigns himself a bookie and starts taking entry fees for a battle royale, the winner of which gets the deed. While Kanata is broke, Noir pawns her beloved camera, confident she and Kanata will win. They proceed to use what they’ve learned in the field to make quick work of the other opponents.

Range and Dolce again turn the tables by announcing that they themselves will be in the second round of the battle, accompanied by three henchmen coffins. Gotta love how cartoonishly nefarious they are, especially Dolce with her Ojou-sama laugh.

The man in the mask decides to enter the battle in order to even the odds, having taken a liking to Kanata and Noir. When Kanata asks his name, he says he’s not ready to give it, so Kanata just calls him Kurokamen, or Black Mask.

Mask and Schnee deal with the three henchmen, leaving Kanata and Noir to battle Range and Dolce. Kanata powers through Range’s barrage of insults, but Daisyogre runs out of ammo, he and Noir end up with Range’s gun pointed at their coffin’s head.

That’s when Noir starts to convulse, as if in pain, then take on ethereal form and leap out of Daisyogre. Her clothes and hair turn black (i.e. Noir), and she rains a massive thunderbolt down on Range and Dolce, whose skeletons are visible as they’re electrocuted, adding to their whole Looney Tunes vibe.

The baddies are vanquished once more, and with Kurokamen classily bowing out, Kanata is the winner of Ciel’s deed. Just when I thought Ellie would now have to contend with two AI waifus back home, Kanata cancels his contract with Ciel, rendering her free to continue wandering the world looking for the Master of her dreams.

Before they part ways, Noir takes the camera Tokio bought back with winnings (no doubt betting what was left of his and Mouton’s clothes on Kanata) and snaps another picture to commemorate her and Kanata’s new friendship with Ciel. All’s well that ends well.

There remains absolutely nothing groundbreaking or original about Synduality: Noir, but I don’t think it’s trying to be either. It’s just trying to be an entertaining episodic action/adventure anime with tinges of comedy and romance and bright, fun characters, vehicles, and locales. No excessive brainpower is needed, which works out just fine for a Monday evening.