Ack, Busy Busy Weekend

[Bob Schroeck]

... Sorry I haven't contributed to the forums in a couple days. As Offsides and Talienas can confirm, I've been very busy since Saturday morning. I don't really have time to do more than stick my head in now, unfortunately.
Before I duck back out again, I wanted to share a little brainstorm I had this morning. There's an anime that Peggy got really into over the past six months or so, and we blew our way through it as fast as we could afford the DVDs. It really isn't my normal kind of thing, but I got caught up in it, and when it got to the end, I of course was thinking, gee, what would Doug do in that world? So I started a little idea file. It's not very big, and it doesn't have much in the way of a plot, so I can't even say this is a Step in development. But I came up with the perfect title for it -- which I am, of course, about to share.
Now you'll by now be saying, well, dammit, Bob, what the hell anime are you talking about? Well, I'll let you guess that from the title:
Drunkard's Walk: Les Mains Noires, Le Sang Noir



-- Bob
---------
There's no wrong way to eat a Rhesus.

[Foxboy]

Noir, perhaps? It's been a while since I've seen it, so I'll have to re-watch what I have before I can comment further if I'm right.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[classicdrogn]

I saw Noir about halfway through digisubbed before learning it was licsenced, having been lured into it by the music when my nephew gave me the OST. I admit that it's fun in a 'why am I enjoying this?' kind of way, but I really don't see any way for Doug to be involved with the main characters without drastically changing him and or them so it isn't just a matter of him taking down a couple of hitmen on the side while waiting to find the song to get him out of that universe.
Now what I WOULD like to see is a Noir/Black Cat crossover - from what I've read of the Black Cat manga translations the themes are quite similar, and it would be fun to have the two 'world's greatest asassins' meet while folowing up a clue that actually leads to the other's secret organization.
- CD
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[Koryimran]

I can see Doug in Noir. He doesn't have to use his powers what so ever and just be a investigator. Doug just might notice some of the strange things going on and choose to figure out what's going on before he leaves. I just wish I had the money to finish off the series. The last DVD I watched was 3 and I was really into the series.

Shawn Earl

[Bob Schroeck]

Yes, it's Noir, and I was planning on setting it post-end-of-series. I have some ideas about what's going to drive the plot -- Althena's faction still survives, even if she doesn't; and the rest of the Soldats no doubt will have problems with an Althena-groomed Noir that they do not control.
I haven't decided yet whether Doug becomes aware of the vast amount of criminal activity and does the vigilante thing, or whether he just walks into the middle of one of those monstrous gunfights and takes the side of what looks initially like the underdog. All I know is that between field, armor and training, Doug is pretty much invulnerable to small-arms fire, and I have a wonderful mental image of his walking through a hail of bullets more or less untouched to rip the gun out of the hand of a Soldat goon and deck him.


-- Bob
---------
There's no wrong way to eat a Rhesus.

[jpub]

Oh dear lord, not that junk. I *hate* Noir. I tried watching it no less than 6 times, and I was bored, disgusted, and turned off each time.
*PROUD MEMBER OF THE "I HATE NOIR" CLUB*--
Christopher Angel, aka JPublic
The Works of Christopher Angel

[nemonowan]

> All I know is that between field, armor and
> training, Doug is pretty much invulnerable to
> small-arms fire, and I have a wonderful mental
> image of his walking through a hail of bullets more
> or less untouched to rip the gun out of the hand
> of a Soldat goon and deck him.
Well, against your run-of-the-mill Soldat MIB that
would probably work, but I wouldn't try it against
Kirika. I mean, have you seen the things she does
with a gun? After the first two shots missed, she
would probably be able to compensate and bounce a
bullet through the field into Doug's mouth.
It's not as unlikely as you may think: if Noir was
within your cosmology, there would be evidence that
all its high-powered killers are low level metahumans.
Even Mireille (the most "normal" of them) seems to be
able to go into "bullet time", which would make their
reflexes faster than Doug's, I think.
Two more comments based on snippets from other planned
steps that you have posted:
1)
All the "Grand Retour" ceremony is as good a candidate
for a magic ritual as Utena's Duel Game. I wonder just
what kind of duties and powers it imposes on the newly
anointed Noir?
2)
If Doug has any objection to Kirika and Mireille's
relationship (what with them sleeping in the same bed
and all), he'd better keep them to himself. If he
tried to pull the same stunt on Mireille that he pulled
on Sana-chan's Rei, he'd immediately get introduced to
Kirika's aforementioned mad gun skillz. ^_^
NN

[Bob Schroeck]

---

Oh dear lord, not that junk. I *hate* Noir. I tried watching it no less than 6 times, and I was bored, disgusted, and turned off each time.

---

Yeah, I know. It's an acquired taste, and Peggy made sure I acquired it.
Don't worry, I won't drag Paradox there with me.


-- Bob
---------
There's no wrong way to eat a Rhesus.

[Bob Schroeck]

---

Well, against your run-of-the-mill Soldat MIB that would probably work, but I wouldn't try it against Kirika. I mean, have you seen the things she does with a gun? After the first two shots missed, she would probably be able to compensate and bounce a bullet through the field into Doug's mouth.

---

True, the front of Doug's helmet is his point of maximum vulnerability. No, I was expecting Doug would end up semisorta on their side. (He's dealt with professional assassins before, and given the way he views his own profession, he's not going to be slinging any mud.) In fact, one thing I wanted was to give Kirika a friend who didn't get horribly murdered 25 minutes after she met him.
Of course, this would probably make Kirika a candidate for a "little sister", which could possibly put her in the cast of "Girls, Girls, Girls". Yeek. Can you imagine her with that crew?
(Actually, to sorta steal a phrase from EPU, she and Rei Ayanami would probably have many long lacks of conversation with each other...)

---

It's not as unlikely as you may think: if Noir was within your cosmology, there would be evidence that all its high-powered killers are low level metahumans. Even Mireille (the most "normal" of them) seems to be able to go into "bullet time", which would make their reflexes faster than Doug's, I think.

---

It depends on how literally you take some of the action sequences. It would be interesting if they were on a par with Doug, though; it would make for some wonderful action scenes -- if only I could film them instead of writing them...

---

All the "Grand Retour" ceremony is as good a candidate for a magic ritual as Utena's Duel Game. I wonder just what kind of duties and powers it imposes on the newly anointed Noir?

---

It's a good question, and one I've already been thinking about, albeit not in the explicitly magical sense that you have. I don't have an answer yet, but there's got to be a reason that Althena's s faction had vaguely religious overtones...

---

If Doug has any objection to Kirika and Mireille's relationship (what with them sleeping in the same bed and all), he'd better keep them to himself. If he tried to pull the same stunt on Mireille that he pulled on Sana-chan's Rei, he'd immediately get introduced to Kirika's aforementioned mad gun skillz. ^_^

---

To address this on several levels: one, Kirika is clearly near or above age-of-consent; Sana-chan isn't, by a wide margin. Plus Sana-chan did, in Doug's presence, call Rei her "lover and pimp". This is naturally going to evoke a rather different response than finding out that a 16-year-old and a 19-year-old share a bed. (Which I honestly don't remember seeing at all...) Second, Doug is not a homophobe by any measure. Given that the age issue is a non-issue, he's not going to give it any thought.

NN

-- Bob
---------
There's no wrong way to eat a Rhesus.

[Star Ranger4]

---

Quote:It's not as unlikely as you may think: if Noir was within your cosmology, there would be evidence that all its high-powered killers are low level metahumans. Even Mireille (the most "normal" of them) seems to be able to go into "bullet time", which would make their reflexes faster than Doug's, I think.
It depends on how literally you take some of the action sequences. It would be interesting if they were on a par with Doug, though; it would make for some wonderful action scenes -- if only I could film them instead of writing them...

---

I'd arge that it might boost them into the same general speed range (Ie all well above human norms) but to actually make them faster than doug? *I* Don't buy it. However, I agree that it would be something to *see* "I was an Otaku before those kids came along and changed the meaning of the word."
-- HM "Howling Mad" Wilson to more than one team-mate.
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
That's every ship in Grayson's Navy taking up the cry-
NO QUARTER!!!
-- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children

[nemonowan]

> This is naturally going to evoke a rather different
> response than finding out that a 16-year-old and a
> 19-year-old share a bed. (Which I honestly don't
> remember seeing at all...)
Despite that that part of my post was firmly
tongue-in-cheek, I have a pair of comments:
I'm sure you must have seen many times that there is
only one bed in Mireille's flat, so unless one of them
is sleeping in the bathtub... (note that I said that
they were SLEEPING together, not having sex ^_^)
About their ages, now, do you have any source for them?
Mireille does look - and act - at least twenty-
something, and Kirika looks more like a fourteen year
old (wasn't she in junior high in the first episode?).
On the other hand, it is very difficult to reconcile
their apparent ages with the childhood flashbacks.
NN

[chibipoe]

---

To address this on several levels: one, Kirika is clearly near or above age-of-consent; Sana-chan isn't, by a wide margin. Plus Sana-chan did, in Doug's presence, call Rei her "lover and pimp". This is naturally going to evoke a rather different response than finding out that a 16-year-old and a 19-year-old share a bed. (Which I honestly don't remember seeing at all...) Second, Doug is not a homophobe by any measure. Given that the age issue is a non-issue, he's not going to give it any thought.

---

Big Noir fan here, so I'll be jumping in. But first, I just had to throw in.
By all accounts, whatever her appearance might be, Kirika is(if I interpreted it right) OLDER than Mireille. Not by much, I don't think, but I got the impression she had a year or two on Mireille, at least.
"This hand of mine glows with an awesome power. Its burning grip tells me to defeat you....
Shining FINGER!" -Domon Kashuu, Mobile Fighter G Gundam

[chibipoe]

---

Yes, it's Noir, and I was planning on setting it post-end-of-series. I have some ideas about what's going to drive the plot -- Althena's faction still survives, even if she doesn't; and the rest of the Soldats no doubt will have problems with an Althena-groomed Noir that they do not control.

---

Awwww. No Chloe? This makes me sad.
"This hand of mine glows with an awesome power. Its burning grip tells me to defeat you....
Shining FINGER!" -Domon Kashuu, Mobile Fighter G Gundam

[Bob Schroeck]

---

About their ages, now, do you have any source for them?

---

Yes, we were watching all the supplemental material on the DVDs. We, too, thought Mirielle was in her twenties and Kirika about 14, but apparently Mirielle is only a couple years older than Kirika, and Kirika's age is explicitly given somewhere as 16. I'll ask Peggy tonight if she remembers where on the DVDs that was stated.
And speaking of supplemental DVD materials, have you found the hidden sock-puppet version of Noir on one of the disks? It's on Volume Six. Go to episode twenty-one, act two. Hit up-down-left-right.
There are a lot of Easter Eggs on the Noir DVDs -- including a complete hidden commentary track for two episodes on one disk.

-- Bob
---------
There's no wrong way to eat a Rhesus.

[Bob Schroeck]

---

Awwww. No Chloe? This makes me sad.

---

I know. I have a Spike Jones song called "Chloe" that I so wanted to use on/against her. But the core story is too solidly plotted, and I don't want to disrupt it. Afterwards is better, anyway -- more freedom.

-- Bob
---------
There's no wrong way to eat a Rhesus.

[chibipoe]

---

I know. I have a Spike Jones song called "Chloe" that I so wanted to use on/against her. But the core story is too solidly plotted, and I don't want to disrupt it. Afterwards is better, anyway -- more freedom.

---

Ah well. I have a soft spot for Chloe. (And Mizuno Ami, and Haruka from RahXephon) all are voiced by Hisakawa Aya. So, chew on that mental image.
And you're right, though. Anywhere before episode 10/11(Chloe's debut) is fairly open, and anywhere after that, up until episode 18/19/20 is as well, after that, it gets into the end stretch and steamrolls right into the conclusion.)
Fork!
"This hand of mine glows with an awesome power. Its burning grip tells me to defeat you....
Shining FINGER!" -Domon Kashuu, Mobile Fighter G Gundam