Synduality: Noir – 24 (Fin) – Forward Together

Noir is the only Magus not shut down by Wiesheit’s order because she’s technically not a Magus, and never was. First inhabiting Mystere’s body and now the late Ciel’s, Noir was little more than data with no body of her own. But now she embraces her status as neither human or Magus, but … just Noir. And she’s not going to let Weisheit win.

Noir leads Kanata to where Mystere is located, and Tokio and Macht switch to manual mode to keep Weisheit busy. When he does manage to get a lase blast off, Mystere puts up a shield that protects Daisyogre, then shows up inside the cockpit to join the Dud and the Hack and complain about being woken up and then having to save their sorry asses.

Noir and Mystere team up, with the latter guiding the former to sense all of the nanomachines Weisheit has launched, and use them for their own purposes. A Dual Magus Skill ensues, firing off a beam that’s bigger and stronger than Weisheit’s Magus-less coffin can withstand. He’s first pinned to the wall of Histoire, then falls through it to float free into space.

Weisheit asks Histoire if civilization can be restored without Magus, and it replies that it can. However, when Weisheit calls Magus “unnecessary”, Histoire takes exception. Whether Magus are necessary or unnecessary is up to the choices humanity makes. In the grand scheme of things, Histoire makes clear that humanity can achieve a more efficient recovery with Magus by their side.

This is apparently a world Weisheit doesn’t want to live in anymore, so he drifts off and waits for his oxygen to run out, and remembers when Ciel first sang to him. For a brief time before his ideals became twisted and prejudiced, he didn’t seem to mind her as his Magus.

Mystere sends Kanata and Noir back down to earth in an escape pod, insisting she stay behind to send the signal to reactivate all Magus on earth, as well as to fulfill her master’s dream. Now that she’s here in Histoire, there’s much to do, but she has all the time in the world. Both Kanata and Noir promise they’ll return to her someday. Back down on earth, Ange, Dolce, and all the other Magus wake up, much to their partners’ relief.

With that, things return more or less to the status quo in Rock Town. Maria continues to test rockets of her own design while Ellie and Ange look on. Claudia and Flamme pay their respects to Mystere’s master, Pascale. Macht and Schnee become Drifters, rescuing Range and Dolce from certain death. Tokio travels the world with Mouton, confident the next generation of Drifters will pick up where they leave off.

And then there’s Kanata and Noir, who search for the materials needed to build another spacecraft that get take them back to Histoire and their friend Mystere. They were able to defeat Weisheit’s backwards, solitary, ultimately self-defeating philosophy. Kanata continues to strive to be the best damned Drifter he can be, while Noir is now aware of who and what she is and determined to stick by Kanata’s side.

Just a couple of bright-eyed dreamers, fixing their gaze to the starry sky, keen to return there and be reunited with their friend. Truly a Eureka Seven for the 2020s in style and scope, Synduality: Noir provided steady, consistent, slick-looking sci-fi entertainment brimming with heart and optimism. Not a bad deal at all.

Synduality: Noir – 23 – Flight to the Final Dungeon

With his boss having abandoned him and the rest of Ideal, Nacht believes Tokio comes to gloat, but he’s not. Instead, he offers his hand in friendship and alliance once more, so that Nacht can get the answers he seeks from Weisheit, and Tokio can kick the twerp’s ass. Both Schnee and Mouton seem relieved the old friends are back on the same side again.

On the eve of Kanata’s big spaceflight, Ange shoves Ellie into his room and she ends up landing right on his bed. It was her Magus’ intention that Ellie both show and tell Kanata how she feels on what may be his last night on Earth. Instead, he sits beside her just to pick up his space shuttle toy and spout some facts about space, like a total dweeb! Nonethetless, he’s her dweeb, and she entrusts him with her favorite doll for his trip, telling him to bring it along with himself back safe and sound.

Noir, who is now beloved throughout Rock Town not just for saving them time and again, but carrying on the late Ciel’s musical tradition, is given a hero’s godspeed. She asks Mam to take a picture of her with all her friends, and when she looks upon the picture she smiles warmly. She wants to get Mystere back so she can return to this place that has become her home, and these folks who have become her family.

The actual launch of the spare space shuttle actually goes off without a hitch; leave it to the arrogant villain not to destroy the good guys’ means of following him. While a bit rushed, there’s still some moments that convey the awe and grandeur of space, such as the sight of the sun rising over the horizon, as well as the gradual approach of the absolutely massive Histoire space station. Maria left out the fact that Kanata & Co. would have to crash land in the station.

Once there, Kanata is sufficiently impressed and amazed by Histoire, which is one massive archive of biological and technological information. The station is a means of reviving any species of plant or animal that goes extinct, as well as any technology lost to war, disaster, or other mishap. It’s also the ultimate base of power for someone to mold the world to their liking, and since Weisheit arrived first with the key (Mystere), Histoire recognizes him as its master.

Kanata/Noir, Tokio/Mouton, and Macht/Schnee confront Weisheit, who confirms that part of his Grand Cause is to eliminate all Magus, which he later declares “give him the creeps” and whose mere name makes his “skin crawl.” By working together, the three opponents manage to claim one of his formidable coffin’s arms, but by then Histoire has finished preparations to implement his dastardly plan: sending a shutdown signal to every Magus on Earth.

Even Mouton and Schnee aren’t immune from this signal, rendering Tokio and Macht’s coffins inoperable. The only Magus who doesn’t shut down is Noir. It isn’t explained why (at least not yet); perhaps it’s because she is from Histoire. In any case, she’s still awake and functioning, seething with anger, and vows never to forgive Weisheit for the terrible things he’s done. Hopefully she and Kanata will be enough to beat him, save Mystere, and throw his big awful master plan in the dumpster.

Synduality: Noir – 22 – For the Not-So-Great Cause

Weisheit wants Mystere’s black box in the worst way, so he sends a huge assault group led by Macht. Macht is eager to step out of Tokio’s shadow and believes in his boss’ “great cause”, but throughout all of this Schnee has seemed worried about her lord going down this path. She’ll never voice her objections as she feels it wouldn’t be her place, but it’s all in her facial expressions, and MAO’s pained, almost mournful voice.

Weisheit also wants the assault team to destroy the spaceship the enemy has rebuilt. Wait, what spaceship? The dang space shuttle Maria rebuilt from materials scavanged from Carthage. There’s also a brand new linear catapult. This strained credulity for me for some reason. To be less generous, it’s dumb as hell.

Building and maintaining coffins and simple rockets is one thing, but a space shuttle and catapult? With Maria’s fly-by-night team? It should’ve taken months, if not years. Instead, boom, here they are, ready for a test launch with Kanata as the space monkey.

But hey, this is a show that heavily features gussied up rock-em-sock-em robot fighting, so it’s fine. We get a big dumb battle that’s oddly bloodless; Ideal looks like a highly-trained and conditioned military force. You only show up to Maria’s base if you’re ready to kill some people. On the other side, Kanata & Co. have experience killing monsters, but fellow humans and Magus?

Say they’re not killing anyone. It still seems highly unlikely you’d be able to get off enough perfect shots that all of the Ideal coffins and carriers are simply disabled. The utter lack of visceral danger even with all this heavy machinery and weaponry flying around makes the whole enterprise feel toothless. Then again, this is not Gundam.

For all of their gumption and Home Alone-style traps, Team Rock Town doesn’t have anything that’s a match for Weisheit’s coffin once he joins the battle. He’s so fast even Mouton’s “Overclock” Magus skill that lets him virtually stop time for himself can’t track him.

He swoops right down the catapult and into the hanger, and Maria is just chilling in there on her rig with a machine gun (the cutaway to her is woefully under-animated for some reason; her mouth doesn’t even move as she speaks for part of it). Obviously, her attempt to defend the shuttle is futile against Weisheit’s top-of-the-line rig.

Weisheit looks ready to kill her, but Mystere saves her by drawing attention to herself. Weisheit launches a bunch of robo-tentacles (because of course) that string her up in midair and cause a great deal of pain, before he shuts her down and brings her aboard. He later tells Kanata that her ego has been purged, so now she’ll be an obedient marionette.

Weisheit then hops into the cargo bay of the space shuttle, hacks into it, and launches it, which is pretty gutsy, considering it hadn’t even been tested yet and a lot of Maria’s past rockets went boom. But in launching up to Histoire in orbit, he abandons his entire Ideal team, and they don’t seem particularly happy about it.

Macht is ready to obey Weisheit’s final order to kill Macht, but Schnee stays his hand by deactivating his cockpit, embracing him from behind, and asking him if this is really what he wants to do. In doing so, Schnee has finally defied her Lord, for his own good, and her’s.

He admits to her that the day Licht asked him to join him in leaving Ideal, he considered leaving with Schnee. But even if he had, that probably wouldn’t have greatly altered Weisheit’s grand plan. Macht just seems like one more sucker like the rest of Ideal, that their boss stepped on so he could reach Histoire all by himself.

There’s also the whole matter of Weisheit’s plan to create a world without Magus, which even Macht didn’t know about and doesn’t seem to be much of a fan of it. All of the other Ideal pilots seem to have Magus partners, so I doubt they’d want that world either.

He seems to be the only one who seems to hate and dehumanize Magus, while most everyone else considers them valuable companions, even equals. Unfortunately, he’s also the only one on a shuttle headed to Histoire, and possibly gain the means to make his twisted, prejudiced world a reality.

Here’s hoping that second shuttle that was behind the first works, so Kanata, Noir & Co. can go rescue Mystere. Heck, maybe Mystere will even stop calling Noir a dud if they manage to save her.

Synduality: Noir – 21 – Chant du Ciel Noir

While Mystere heads off to Carthage with Maria for more Histoire research, Ellie and Ange support Kanata as he works to get DaisyOgre back up and running. Noir, meanwhile, seems aimless, even moreso than usual. She’s having trouble accepting her new Ciel-sourced body. You could call it Magus survivor’s guilt.

When she discovers that she can charge up her camera with electricity just like Ciel did, my thoughts immediately turned to what else she can do that Ciel could? As she passes by holo-signs of Ciel’s canceled show, she encounters a little girl with bouquet of real flowers meant for Ciel. When the girl sings in her idol’s absence, Noir joins in, singing Ciel’s song in her own voice (i.e. Koga Aoi’s voice, which is lovely).

Tokio returns and stops by to say hi to Kanata and explain how he tried infiltrating Ideal to get his friend Macht out of there, only to fail. Kanata throws back Tokio’s own lessons back at him, telling him it’s not about what you can do, but what you want to do. Tokio, who probably feels bad about what he did to Kanata, asks him to punch him. Kanata’s first blow is a love tap, but when egged on, he launches a haymaker that makes Ellie and Ange “yeep.”

Then Noir shows up and tells Kanata, and everyone else there, that she “wants to sing.” Earlier Ellie told Kanata, who was worried about Noir, that all he can do is keep supporting her. Well, everyone ends up supporting Noir by helping to prepare her debut concert. Tokio reprises his White Mask persona as her MC, while Ellie, Ange, and others help spread the word about the show.

When the concert starts there are only a handful of people there, but both before the start time and when she spots her in the crowd, a surprisingly nervous Noir is clamed down by the little girl with the flowers, her first fan who got the ball rolling. Noir sings confidently, and word outside the venue starts to spread until it becomes a packed house.

Noir ends the show with the last song Ciel wrote, “Your Song,” a song she had only performed for Kanata before she passed away. When Noir really starts getting into the song, the spirit of Ciel is projected beside her and they bring the house down with a stirring duet. This is Synduality at it’s sweetest, guileless, and most heartwarming best.

I’ve made clear that Synduality really scratches that nostalgic, early-00’s Eureka seveN-ish itch, and after all that dark, brooding drama in Amasia, it’s just so satisfying to get a more fun cooldown episode that also delivers significant and compelling character development for its titular character.

This concert was a chance to honor Ciel’s memory and sacrifice, lit the way forward for Noir, and demonstrated the tight-knit community that’s so worth fighting for. Synduality knocked it out of the park with this charming-as-hell outing. It also gave Koga Aoi the chance to flex her angelic pipes, something I’m never going to be mad about.

Synduality: Noir – 20 – A Better Way

Synduality takes a pause in its present-day narrative to tell two separate stories of yore. First up is a recording of Pascale both telling and showing Kanata, Mystere, and Noir the story of how she, a child of Amasia, went up to the surface to explore the real world with her Magus by her side, soaking everything up.

She didn’t believe Magus were merely computational dolls, but had the potential to become just as “real” as humans. She carried a journal containing a list of things she wanted to do, from tasting real grass to smelling the real sea and witnessing a real rainbow, all with her companion, student, and friend Mystere in tow.

When they located a signal up in space, Pascale had Mystere hack into it. On the same carrier wave Mystere used to access Histoire, Histoire send a signal back: Noir. Pascale never told Mystere, but Noir wasn’t just her safe mode alter-ego, but an independent entity, eager to learn and absorb information, albeit with no body of her own.

Pascale was pursued by Ideal, and in one scuffle, she is seriously wounded. Rather than give Mystere or Noir up, she has Mystere return to her unconscious safe mode in the museum where Kanata would find her several years later. The recording of Pascale regrets that she had to lie to Mystere, but urges her to see through the dream they shared of reaching Histoire. Mystere is understandably emotional, wanting so bad for the recording to be interactive.

As for Kanata, Pascale asks him to take care of her “girls,” and he fully intends to. But first, they locate Pascale’s grave under a great tree, and pay their respects. It’s then when Noir runs her hand down her chest and suddenly asks, “Where’s Ciel?”, heartbreakingly unaware that Ciel sacrificed her life so she could live. Like Mystere with Pascale, Noir lost someone precious to her in Ciel, but must keep moving forward.

The second story, is that of Macht, told while he and Schnee are just chilling in the present day. Macht, Licht, and Weisheit were all elite Coffin pilots given equally elite Magus. Weisheit got Ciel, whom he immediately started to treat and use as a mere tool, while Licht and Macht formed more human bonds with Mouton and Schnee, respectively.

Weisheit decided that the only way to reach Paradise, i.e. Histoire, was for all the youths to rise up against the adults who were administering them. That meant dirty work had to be done, and Weisheit had Ciel do a lot of it. Macht fell in line, as he believed in Weisheit’s dream, but Licht didn’t, and was imprisoned and marked for elimination.

There’s a clear parallel between Pascale and Licht/Tokio in that neither got much out of staying below ground in what remained of Amasia. They also felt that Magus were more valuable as friends and companions than as mere tools or weapons.

When Mouton sprung Licht, Macht had one more chance to choose a path: to go with Licht to the surface, or remain with Weisheit. We know which he chose, but judging from Schnee’s consistently forlorn tone both in the past and the present, you get the feeling she wishes he’d chosen differently.

Even so, once her “Lord” made his decision, she dedicated herself to him until the end, and he started donning his black mask. That mask symbolizes both his embracing of Weisheit’s darkness, and averting his eyes from the reality that it’s not too late to change his (and Schnee’s) path. He can still side with the good guys.

Synduality: Noir – 19 – Guiding Light

On their way to Old Amasia, Ellie and Ange detect DaisyOgre and find Kanata sitting in the rain with Ciel’s lifeless body in his arms. It’s understandable that he’s not in the best emotional state, but Ellie tells him that whatever is wrong with Ciel, the lives of Noir and Mystere also hang in the balance.

They track down Alba, who determines that Ciel’s Master tried to format her and wipe her memory, but she was able to refuse the format and reboot thanks to the plugin she had Kanata activate. Refusing a reboot is death for a Magus, and it seems Ciel chose death rather than lose who she was. Alba can’t bring Ciel back, but her Type Zero body could be used as a host for Noir.

I honestly still don’t have a clue what Tokio/Licht is up to, or what he’s trying to gain by continuing to interact with Macht and Schnee. Perhaps he wants them to team up with him and Mouton to bring Mr. Weisheit down? Again, I have no idea. I just know that Weisheit pours out some wine in Ciel’s honor, as she exceeded his expectations to the last.

Alba tells Kanata that Noir and Mystere might not last another day, so he has a choice to make: accept Ciel’s death and allow Alba to transfer Noir to her body (which could very well be Ciel’s wish), or hesitate and lose all three Magus. As he recalls all the sides Ciel showed him, he wonders if they were all lies, until he finds Noir’s camera. The images convince him they weren’t all lies. Ellie said as much to him: Ciel loved him, and couldn’t bear forgetting who he was or becoming his enemy.

Kanata decides to give Alba and Ada the okay to transfer Noir into Ciel’s body. Ellie takes his hand to support him as they stand and watch the technicians work. It doesn’t take long for them to hit a snag: while the connection has been made between the bodies, Noir’s consciousness appears to be “stuck.” Kanata tries talking to the unconscious Mystere, in hopes of getting Noir’s attention.

But it’s not Kanata’s voice, but Ciel’s form who ultimately guides Noir to the beacon of light in her dreamscape that represents the path to her new body. This must be a small remnant of Ciel’s personality that remained just long enough to save Noir and Mystere, for once Noir starts heading to the beacon, this Ciel avatar smiles then vanishes, her work complete.

The transfer is successful, and Ada cuts the connection between the bodies. Mystere is the first to wake up, and seems to be her usual prickly self, with her talk of Hacks and Duds. But Noir wakes up shortly after, not knowing whether to tell Kanata “Thank you,” “Sorry,” or “Good Morning.” Kanata simply says “Welcome back,” and Noir smiles.

We have Noir and Mystere finally facing each other then the flesh, but their separation also triggers a stored message from within Mystere. It’s a projection of her old Master, presuming Kanata to be the new Master of “her two girls.” Ciel died so that they could live. Now comes the living part.

Synduality: Noir – 18 – Songtress of the Sky

When Ciel reports to Weisheit, she plays things cool, but it was clear from the start that she remains conflicted. It’s all over her face, and Weisheit, who was apparently her Master all along, would doubtless be able to see it too. Why else would he shove the captive Kanata in her face and tell her he’ll be eliminated if he can’t find a use for him.

After awarding her a necklace with what I assume to be the crest of Amasia, he sends her off to relax, and she ends up crossing paths with Tokio, AKA Licht, AKA White Mask. If there’s any doubt about his loyalties, it’s eliminated when we see him and Mouton fixing Kanata’s Coffin. Ciel doesn’t remember Licht or Mouton were with Weisheit in the past, because she no longer has those memories.

Mouton says Weisheit always liked to “play with his doll,” and when he inevitably gives her the choice of killing Kanata in exchange for her freedom, it occurs to Ciel that all of this has happened before. Weisheit reformats her and wipes her memories, then presents himself as her ideal master. But she feels there’s no escape from the cycle. She’ll always follow his orders because she always has.

…That is, until now. Kanata reminds her of her dream to sing for as many people as possible. She tries to tell him following Weisheit’s wishes makes her happy. He tells her if that’s the case, why she looks like she’s crying. Then she tells him about the endless cycle she’s stuck in, and he tells her it’s messed up and unforgivable, which is is. Then he tells her he’ll save her. He’ll break the cycle.

Kanata takes her hand and walks out into the corridors. As he does, Ciel considers if she’s doing exactly what her master predicted by turning against him and going with Kanata. Even if that’s the case and this ends the way all her past lifetimes have ended, she’s going to live this one to the fullest. They board Daisyogre, and Tokio leads him to a lift back to the surface.

As they make their escape, Ciel has Kanata give his consent to create a ring she wears on her pinky which will “keep her safe.” She then asks him to be her master for real, which consists of him placing his thumb on her throat chip. They’re surrounded by Macht and Ideal Coffins, but Ciel keeps her pinky promise to Kanata and sings her new song. And when she sings here, it neutralizes all of the other Coffins.

When Weisheit sees that Ciel has made her choice, he activates the necklace he gave her, which he can use to remotely reformat her. Once that’s done, his first order for her is to kill the man she loves. Only the order goes ignored, because the reformatting never takes place. The ring her contract with Kanata made blocks the reformatting. But it also apparently knocks her out, perhaps permanently.

After getting Kanata out of Ideal HQ, it looks like her plan was to prevent any further resets, even at the cost of her life. It stands to reason her Type Zero body could then be used to separate Noir and Mystere. If that’s true, it’s a noble but tragic end for Ciel, the Magus songstress who fell for a human.

Synduality: Noir – 17 – Et Tu, Ciel?

Kanata’s dreams of finding Histoire are suddenly in tatters as Noir’s refusal to fade away has caused a critical fault in her and Mystere’s Magus body. When Maria can’t help, Kanata tracks down Alba, and Ada, who also can’t help him, at least right now. That’s because the only way to save both Noir and Mystere is to transfer one of them to a second, un-contracted Type Zero body. The only place to find one of those? Amasia, where they were built.

Ciel accompanies Kanata on the dangerous trip to the ruined metropolis, and he continues to not suspect the slightest thing amiss about her. He’s so at ease with Ciel, in fact, that she’s able so serenade him asleep, which gives her time to report the situation to Macht. I love how harshly her HUD illuminates her face, revealing the treachery Kanata can’t see in her face.

Macht and Schnee return to Ideal HQ to find Mouton there, preparing to respray Tokio’s Coffin. Schnee hasn’t and won’t forgive Mouton (AKA White Sheep … or Goat) for abandoning Her Lord, but the way he remembers it, her master stayed behind by choice. Now Licht Alter, whom we’ve known as Tokio, has returned as the Prodigal Son. Macht assures him he’s no longer weak. The two act an awful lot like estranged brothers, with Macht having previously looked up to Licht, but no longer.

Kanata wakes from a distressing dream where both Noir and Mystere say goodbye and fly away from him, and finds himself alone in Ciel’s carrier. He follows the sound of her haunting song reverberating through a network of tunnels carved into a seaside cliff. It’s a song she hasn’t finished yet, but pinky promises Kanata that he’ll be the first to hear it when it is. Her expression when they board Daisyogre suggests she won’t be able to honor that promise.

Their approach of Amasia, which we know to be Ideal HQ, belly of the beast, is handled with all due majesty and awe. Larger and more complex than any of the Nests scattered throughout the lands, the fact it is largely ruins serves as a monumental symbol of the cost of hubris. They descend into the industrial sector, but are unable to find any spare Type Zero bodies.

Their movements don’t go unnoted, as sensors detect an intruder in the sector. Macht prepares to intercept, while Weisheit tells Licht he can eliminate the intruder as a test of loyalty. Macht gives Kanata one last chance to surrender Noir so Ideal can save her and Mystere, but Kanata won’t do that. Then Macht joins the fight, chases Kanata, and does all he can to make it look like he’s actually trying to take him out.

Daisyogre is disabled, but Kanata isn’t ready to give up yet. He exits the coffin and calls for Ciel, only to find her cockpit empty. The next thing he knows he’s being shocked and collapses to the ground, able to catch a glimpse of his attacker: Ciel. When he asks why, she says with a devastatingly flat tone that she was on the other side all along.

Nakayama Masato’s score throughout Synduality has always been clutch, but never more so than here, as an Zimmer’s Interstellar-esque somber organ-led theme plays the episode out and the screen cuts to stark white-on-black end credits.

Things have gone from bad to worse for young Kanata, and I can’t any light at the end of the tunnel yet. But again, none of this is a surprise; it was a only matter of when, not if, he’d discover Ciel’s treachery. If he ever sees Rock Town again, I don’t know if even the cleanest Ellie will be able to cheer him up.

Synduality: Noir – 16 – Part of the Family

Kanata & Co. are back in Rock Town none the worse for wear, while Tokio AKA “Licht” has gone off to, I suspect, reckon with his former family. While conscious, Noir has come to the conclusion that Kanata will be better off with Mystere, because she makes him stronger, like a Magus is supposed to do. No matter how many times she hikes up her coat, it falls off her shoulders.

Kanata believes the self-repair program will be complete in five days, but he’s mistaken: it will only take two days. Not only that, but when the program is complete, Mystere will completely take over the body Noir has controlled throughout the series, and Noir will disappear. All her memories, gone in a poof. Mystere asks her if she truly accepts this, and Noir gives her the logical line.

Noir has totally bought into the fact she’s a “dud”, the useless opposite of Mystere. But even though she accepts her death as necessary, she wants to do one last thing, on her own, for Kanata. After Ciel makes her and Kanata dinner, Noir goes to Ellie and Ange and asks them to teach her how to cook. Ellie … doesn’t really cook either, so it’s up to Ange-sensei to steer them right.

But first things first: in order to procure fresh meat and vegetables from Michael, Noir must deliver his entire inventory of green bell peppers, which he hates but the rest of the town love. Something else the town loves? Noir. Her pepper delivery is also a method of demonstrating just how beloved she’s become. From Ma’am and the merchants to the bar staff and Maria, everyone has accepted her as a true Rock Towner, and they appreciate her and Kanata helping to protect them.

Ange’s cooking lesson is genuinely heartwarming, with her, Noir and Ellie having a blast together. Each time Noir interacts with people this week, she has a photo taken to commemorate the moments. No photo hit me more in the feels than a softly smiling Noir flanked by brightly smiling Ange and Ellie. None of the people in Noir’s photos know she considers these to be the last photos they take with her.

Kanata is so surprised Noir is cooking that he can’t help but loiter outside the kitchen, worried about her cutting or burning herself, until Ciel tells him to sit back and, well, let Noir cook. Both Kanata and Ciel find the resulting dish to be delectable. Believing she was finally able to do something for Kanata, Noir proceeds to keel over, shocking her two friends.

As her body starts to slowly transform into Mystere, Noir explains how she’s a “bad Magus” who hasn’t been helpful. But Kanata tells her he doesn’t care about that, he’s just happy to have a family again, thanks to her showing up in his life.

His words, spoken to Noir in such a delicate state, end up interrupting the transfer. Noir starts to weep, because she no longer wishes to disappear, and fights against the transfer, causing her to basically crash, leaving Kanata and Ciel to fear the worst.

I’m not ready to accept that we’ve seen and heard the last of Noir, but if ever there was and episode that showed how much she meant to everyone, and that she’s not a dud, and that she would be terribly missed if she were gone, it’s this. Hopefully Maria can fix her and Noir and Mystere can come up with some kind of alternative to one of them being consigned to oblivion.

Synduality: Noir – 15 – Carthage Power & Light

Thanks to Ciel’s duplicity, we know what awaits Kanata and Noir/Mystere in Carthage, but she does her best to hide her guilt on the preceding road trip. Noir mistakes a crab for an Ender, beats Kanata at chess, and sleeps with the rest of the girls in one carrier while Kanata sleeps alone in the other, and never the twain shall meet.

Only when they arrive at the derelict Tunis spaceport does Mystere emerge from Noir. The radar facility simply needs a jump, but once there’s power Mystere is able to fire it up and scan the area. There’s a contact on the scopes, but it’s incoming, which can’t be a good thing. Sure enough, it’s Kurokamen AKA Macht with Schnee, who destroy the radar dish with a shot from their cannon.

Kanata and Mystere head out in Daisyogre to investigate, and when he spots Kurokamen’s white Coffin. They meet outside their respective coffins in a tense standoff in which Kanata isn’t sure what’s going on at first. Thankfully, Kurokamen makes it clear: he wants Kanata to hand Noir over, without a fuss.

Kanata does make a fuss, and justifiably so. Schnee points out they could have killed him and taken Noir at any time, but his honor precludes him from such barbary. Instead, they’ll do it the proper way: an old-fashioned duel, only with rock-em-sock-em robots.

While Macht’s Coffin may be able to fly on its own, Mystere gets Kanata to realize he can use a fallen smokestack as a ramp to leap onto the flying carrier that brought black Coffins as Macht’s backup. Macht’s boss thinks he’s going too easy on Kanata, and he is: Macht will follow orders, but is doing everything he can to not kill him.

When Ellie and Ange see that it’s no longer a one-on-one duel, she joins the fight, distracting the Black Coffins while Mystere tags in for Noir and uses her Magus Skill to blast a hole in the earth. Daisyogre descends into subterranean complex where there’s still power, and find a foreboding metal hatch that says “ALICE.”

The next we see Macht and Schnee, their Coffin is being engulfed by flames; Kanata and Mystere ignited a bunch of rocked fuel beneath them. Unfortunately, Schnee is able to disperse the flames with an icy Magus Skill. Their Coffin is still in business, and as Macht grudgingly prepares to deliver a fatal blow to Kanata’s cockpit, his blade arm is smashed away by the gunshot of another Coffin.

It’s not Ellie, but Tokio, who has arrived in the nick of time. Mouton, whom Schnee seems to know well, successfully hacks Macht’s Coffin and deactivates Schnee and Macht’s dynamic cockpit. This allows Tokio to open the cockpit and confront Macht head on.

When Tokio removes Macht’s mask to reveal the same color eyes he has, my first thought was “whoa, Tokio, AKA Licht, must be Macht’s brother.” That’s a great soap operay twist and also explains why Tokio has such a rad butler; if Licht (“light” in German) and Macht (“power”) are brothers, Licht’s the rebellious one who went off to live the Drifter lifestyle.

Schnee manages to get back control and retreat with Macht, so the immediate threat of losing Noir is over. But Tokio chases after him, saying goodbye to Kanata in a way that sounds like a final one. As Ciel says, there’s no escaping “Ideal”, the organization Macht and Schnee work for.

So, the cats are out of the bag: now Kanata knows Kirokamen is after Noir, and there’s a lot more to Tokio than he previously knew. The cat still in the bag? Ciel managed to keep her cover.

Macht and Schnee likely try to nab their Key to Paradise again soon, and probably won’t be wearing kid gloves next time. But the fact they don’t really want to hurt Kanata leaves open the possibility both they and Ciel could rebel against their nasty boss.

Synduality: Noir – 14 – Living Life Boldly

Maria tests a rocket for Mystere to confirm that the 10,000-meter altitude limit is still in effect after 20 years. Launching a rocket ain’t cheap, but Maria waits until after the failed test to ask why they’re conducting one. Mystere is light on details, but she believes Histoire to be up in the sky, whether in orbit or on the Moon. As for why an effigy of Kanata is tied to the rocket, well, that’s just Synduality’s patented goofiness.

Mystere and her Master Pascale were able to briefly hack into the Histoire network once, decades ago, and because the signal came from beyond the atmosphere, that’s where she believes Histoire to be. But her memories are still being restored; she demonstrates how she can now switch between herself and Noir at will, and it’s while Noir is awake that she enters a self-repair mode.

Mystere hasn’t stopped calling Kanata “Hack”, but she does believe she can mold him into someone capable of locationg Histoire with her. So she begins an intense training regimen, insisting that he push himself to his physical and mental limits. Mystere then reveals their destination: Carthage, where there may be surviving equipment for observing heavens beyond the atmosphere.

Even during down time, Kanata is eating and drinking all the muscle-building protein he can, and he proudly presents Ellie and Ange with his new six-pack. But during drinks at the bar, Ellie notices something “off” about Noir. Spending the night with her sister, she’s getting vibes that Noir is sad and feels out of place ever since Mystere returned.

Like everyone else besides Kanata himself, Maria knows all about Ellie loving him, but while it’s easy to say she’s projecting her own insecurities on Noir, the bottom line is, if she considers Noir a friend and wants to help her, then the only thing for it is to accompany her/Mystere and Kanata to Carthage.

As soon as Ciel learns where Kanata and the “Key” are headed, she reports it to Macht, who confirms that they’ll be meeting him there to take Mystere/Noir from him. Ciel sneaks back to Kanata’s to find Mystere awake. Unlike Noir, Mystere can tell Ciel is conflicted, but assures her she doesn’t intend to pry.

She only gives Ciel some advice: Humans and Magus can only ever be friends at best, and the time always comes when they have to part ways. With that in mind, she urges Ciel to live life boldly for today, right before switching to clueless Noir Mode.

Ciel joins Mystere and Kanata on their trip to Carthage by lending them her Subaru carrier, and Ellie arrives with Ange and her own carrier, a wrinkle I’m sure Ciel doesn’t love. Then again she can’t very well tell Ellie why it’s best if she stayed home. As for whatever Tokio and Mouton are up to, they discover via hacking that Kanata is in danger. Knowing that, I imagine they’ll be headed that way too, just in case there’s any trouble.

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.