The DVD version was released by ADV Films in North America and the United Kingdom and by Madman Entertainment in Australia and New Zealand.

The peace of the newly born, their black hands protect.The series follows the story of two young female assassins, the Corsican Mireille Bouquet and the Japanese amnesiac Kirika Yuumura, who embark together on a personal journey to seek answers about mysteries concerning their past.

In their journey to learn more about Kirika's lost memories and her connection to Mireille, the two form an alliance and begin performing assassinations under the code name "Noir."

Each time that Les Soldats soldiers are sent to kill Mireille and Kirika, it is considered a test as to whether or not the young women are suitable to carry the title "Noir".

Unlike its spiritual successors Madlax and El Cazador de la Bruja, Noir is mainly about reality's criminal underworld while the later two are about supernatural events.

[citation needed] The Soldats' Council are the people who disagreed with Altena's decision to bring back the True Noir by means of a ritual called the Grand Retour.

According to the director Kōichi Mashimo, he envisioned Noir and Madlax as part of a trilogy exploring the girls-with-guns genre, and soon after the release of the latter, he confirmed having plans to produce the third installment,[16] which would later become El Cazador de la Bruja.

[18] After considering several compact pistols, including the Walther PPK and the Glock 26, for Kirika's personal sidearm, the Beretta M1934 became the weapon of choice, because of its "classic, European feel" that suited the premise of the series' story.

[34][35] The third soundtrack, called Blanc dans Noir (〜黒の中の白〜, Kuro no Naka no Shiro, English: White in Black), was released on November 7, 2001.

[36] All music is composed by Yuki Kajiura, except where indicatedA possible live action feature based on the anime series has been planned for development by the cable television network Starz.

[37] Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert (Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena: Warrior Princess, Legend of the Seeker) are the executive producers for the project.

[38][39] In March 2012, Starz CEO Chris Albrecht commented that production has been put on hiatus as he states in an interview, "We're in a bit of holding pattern with Noir.

"[40] Then in December of that year, two new writers, Cyrus Voris and Ethan Reiff, were announced to have joined the project and were undertaking re-writes of Jablonski's scripts.

"[47] In a review of the first DVD compilation by ADV Films, Jeremy Conrad of IGN lauded the series for being "stylistic", stating that "It oozes style", and for its "extremely cool" fight choreography and "great" shootouts, saying that "What Noir does right is its action."

He lamented repetitiveness in action sequences and excessive reuse of scenes especially in early episodes as well as the absence of blood in light of the show's high body count.

He named the "tendency for repetitiveness" of its first half as the soundtrack's "only real flaw" and praised the pieces "Salva Nos" and "Canta Per Me" as "stand[ing] among the all-time great anime themes".

About the English version, he commented that the "casting choices fit and match up well against the original performances" and that the "script stays tight enough to avoid garnering any accuracy complaints".

Lau's only criticisms was the lack of blood, as well as the slow pacing of the series, but concluded overall that "The cream of action-drama anime has just gotten sweeter and creamier with Noir.

The slow pace and sombre mood of the plot might turn off some people, but those who stick with it will be rewarded with brilliant action scenes and awesome chicks with guns.