Best From France

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If the young female assassins from Luc Besson's {|La Femme Nikita|} and {|The Professional|} dressed up in stylish anime, the results would no doubt resemble the highly anticipated new action series Noir. The show kicks off as seasoned Parisian hit woman Mireille Bouquet finds herself in the perplexing presence of Yumura Kirika, an amnesiac schoolgirl whose killing skills are astonishing, and whose missing memory may provide the answer to deadly questions. Not too soon after this union, the two killers learn they aren't just hunters -- they are also prey -- and the saga is set in enigmatic motion. Patience is a virtue with Noir: the mysteries gain complexity while unfolding at a deliberate pace, and the series' first five episodes (featured here) barely scratch the surface, let alone explain much. But the animation's lush look and hip attitude recall {|Serial Experiments Lain|} crossed with {|Cowboy Bebop|}'s genre-bending style, which makes it well worth the plunge. The first release, Shades of Darkness, is available both in a {|single-disc edition|} and a {|Collector's Edition|}, which features the disc, a Noir T-shirt, and a collector box designed to contain the remaining six DVD volumes.