The characters are one of the strongest parts of this anime. The main character, Haruka, and her group of friends are so endearing to watch, as we root for them as they deal with growing up and repairing relationships they have with each other and their family. On the flipside, the dragon soldiers, warriors from another dimension searching for a way to save their world, first come off as ethereal, otherworldly monsters, before slowly being humanized as tragic figures.
The story is primarily told from the perspective of the group of kids, as they react to all these supernatural, dimension hopping beings hellbent on kidnapping Haruka, all the while dealing with their own personal issues. The story is told very intelligently, naturally feeding us information and expecting us to piece together the plot. There is alot of dense sci-fi concepts the show tries to explore, but are for the most part conveyed in an interesting and entertaining manner (and honestly aren’t too essential to enjoying the story). While the narrative initially comes off as dense and confusing, it eventually explains and connects every plot beat together in a way that’s immensely satisfying to experience, and honestly got me pretty emotional at parts. I don’t want to deep dive into any specifics, but it definitely kept me engaged and surprised me at every turn.
Honestly, even if the story wasn’t as solid and interesting as it was, I would have still highly recommended this just for the animation and music alone. The animation and character designs are immediately striking and unique, very unlike most traditional anime. The animation is very loose and fluid, making way for both expressive character movement and bombastic fight choreography. The animation leans into its sci-fi elements and supernatural characters hard, making scenes feel unnerving and otherworldly, while also making sure the more grounded segments have an air of realism to them. There is frequent use of CGI that surprisingly holds up, blending mostly naturally with the 2D elements in a way that honestly looks better than how CG is usually composed today.
I have to dedicate an entire paragraph towards the music and sound because it is impeccable. Music, for the most part, is subdued and minimal, often absent from the scene itself. However, when it hits: when the character’s daily lives get interrupted by otherworldly forces, the music drops and swells with some fantastically haunting scores, wonderfully composed by Masumi Itou.
I decided to watch this on a whim and was blown away at how gripping this anime was. The animation, characters, story, and music all come together perfectly to form something definitely more than the sum of its parts. This was one of the most unique shows I’ve ever experienced in all my years of watching anime. Give Noein a shot, and I swear you won’t regret it.
