In Depth
Altena's Chess Game
Kirika's Gun
Gunshots (ep. 26)
"...daisuki na Mireille..."

Fanfiction
Noir's Rebirth: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Miscellaneous
Noir: FAQ
Noir Dub: My Opinions

Noir Dub Track: My Opinions
By Illusion

This page will basically contain my opinions on ADV's dub on Noir. I will be fair and open-minded, and even though I always prefer the original Japanese version, I know a good dub when I hear one. This page will be updated as I view more dubbed episodes.

American Cast
Kirika Yuumura: Monica Rial
Mireille Bouquet: Shelly Calene-Black
Chloe: Hilary Haag
Altena: Tiffany Grant

Entry: One
Date: 8th January 2003
Viewed: 1 dubbed episode
Thoughts: My first complaint about the dub is Kirika. She sounded as if she was suffering from an awful throat disease and was about to collapse and die any minute. Also, her voice sounded very weak and lacking emotion. I noticed this especially during the scene when Mireille went to Kirika's house and Kirika begged Mireille to help her discover her past. She seemed very unconvincing and it seemed to be more said in a tone of "You gotta help me. Please. C'mon." as opposed to Kuwashima Houko's heartfelt cry of "Mireille! Help me please! I don't know what else to do!" Obviously those weren't the exact words used by the two voice actresses, but the tone in the voice exudes those feelings. (Also, in the Japanese version Kirika cut in before Mireille finished her sentence indicating a feeling of urgency, while in the dub Kirika waited till Mireille finished speaking.) To be fair, Monica's voice does suit the character of Kirika, she just needs to come through more strongly and put more emotion into her words. 

Moving onto Mireille, I felt Shelly Calene-Black did a fine job with her and couldn't be more pleased with ADV's choice. Despite many people's complaints of Mireille not having French accent, there are numerous reasons why this is so. First of all, Mitsuishi Kotono didn't put on a French accent for Mireille and while people may argue that this is because the Japanese find difficulty in portraying accents other than their own, I am very glad she didn't. I couldn't stand to listen to Mireille with a dodgy French accent, whether in Japanese or English. Secondly, as Matt Greenfield pointed out on the AnimeOnDVD homepage, Mireille is Corsican, not French and she, being a professional assassin, would be expected to speak all other languages she learns fluently. It is rather safe to assume that Kirika and Mireille communicated in English during the series, as the e-mail that Mireille received from Kirika was in English, and after all English is the international language of business. We also assume that at their time of meeting Mireille did not know very much Japanese and Kirika did not know much Corsican, so the easiest thing to do was to communicate in English.  You can check the AoD page for more of Matt Greenfield's comments on the Noir dub, but for now we will get back to discussing the general quality and accuracy of the dub. As stated before, I quite like Mireille's dub and although I will forever treasure Mitsuishi Kotono's job with Mireille, I find that I can stand to watch Shelly Calene-Black in the role as well.

However, I definitely do not like the new pronunciation of Mireille's name. ADV claims that they are simply pronouncing in the way it should be pronounced (i.e with a Corsican accent), but it's something that I cannot get used to. The Japanese pronounced it "Mi-re-i-yu" (use Japanese syllable pronunciation), while in the dub it's pronounced "Mu-Reel" making it sound like "Muriel", a name I really hate (blame the crappy Australian movie, Muriel's Wedding). I suppose that it just takes getting use to, but after hearing and using the Japanese pronunciation for nearly 2 years, I have a certain attachment to the original way of saying things.

Now to some more positive stuff. I was extremely pleased to see that ADV left the Japanese schoolyard chatter in Japanese! I'm talking about the scene where we first see Kirika and she is saying goodbye to her friends at the school gate. It's rather beautiful as this is also when we first hear Canta Per Me starting up and the background chatter integrates into the song so that it's almost part of the scene itself. ADV made a good move here, and Matt Greenfield also commented that they left it alone because it's all just incoherent mutter to a foreigner like Mireille anyway. I am also super pleased that they translated the Japanese text preview screens instead of just replacing them with English ones. There have been some complaints about the vertical subtitles as they are hard to read, but as long as the previews screens are left alone, I'm happy. However, ADV translated the text on the intro and ending sequences, but the original screens will probably be included as an extra when the release comes out (like with Excel Saga), so it's not really a problem.

The final area I want to cover is the all important translation. In general, the dialogue remains true to the original, although some lines were altered to make them sound more natural and also match the mouth flaps. A particular adaptation that I am quite happy with is the scene where Mireille first receives the e-mail from Kirika. In the Japanese version she says "A pilgrimage for the past? What nonsense is that?", while in the dub she says, "A pilgrimage for the past? Eh, whatever. This is stupid." A nice improvement on the line. ^_^ On the other hand, another line that I liked in the original was changed into something less effective. The scene where Mireille talks to Kirika in Kirika's house, she says (in the Japanese version) "Firstly, my job is to kill people, not save them. Secondly, I work alone and I intend to keep it that way." In the dub, however, it's changed to "Let's start, with the simple fact that I kill people for a living. I'm not in business to help you. Then, there's the fact that I've always preferred to work alone, and I intend to keep it that way." The same message is sent across, I know, but the choice of words have less impact. This could have been because they were trying to match the mouth flaps, so small changes like this aren't that big an issue for me. Overall, the script is top-notch.

Chloe and Altena have yet to make a real appearance, so no comments on them so far. But I really wonder if Nene and Asuka can pull it off. I'm also very curious to whether ADV is going to give people from other countries accents. Is Intoccabile going to have an Italian accent? Will Nazerev have a Russian accent? Will the Heartless Assassin have a Taiwanese accent? (How they're going to pull that one off is beyond me). We'll just have to wait and see, but so far the dub seems watchable, and it doesn't make me cringe which is the important thing.

Entry: Two
Date: 31st March 2003
Viewed: 5 dubbed episodes
Thoughts: I thought the dub would get better as I got used to it, but I think I may be wrong. I'm not even sure if I can continue with this column anymore as I am finding it very difficult to make myself watch the dub. I don't think I even watched the first 5 episodes properly in dub form, but I'll discuss the small parts I skipped to. First of all, the thing about this dub that annoys me the most is the fact that both Kirika and Mireille's voices are so soft! Kirika especially is almost inaudible and it becomes a chore to try and listen to what they are saying without having to turn the volume right up. Kirika is still sounding like she's on the last strands of life, which is completely wrong. I understand that ADV are trying to reflect the quiet and fragile nature of Kirika, but they don't have to make her sound dead! And then there's Mireille. In the Japanese version, Mitsuishi Kotono provided Mireille with the strong, confident character that one would associate with someone who regards herself as one of the best in the profession. Not rude and boastful, but just someone who was in control and knew what she was doing. However, in the dub, Shelly doesn't seem to evoke that image. Mireille's voice is too soft and gentle. I think Shelly could have done this role rather well, all she had to do was make Mireille's voice more forceful.

The side characters were probably the most well done. However, the accent ADV gave Vanel made me laugh. Not because it was necessarily bad or anything, but because I completely did not expect it.

I'm sorry, I really tried to like this dub as I would have liked to think that ADV did a good job with this one. The main problem with it is that fact that the characters are not played properly. The casting is fine, the script is quite good, but the acting is not strong enough. I hope Chloe and Altena are played better.