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Does Noir have to do with Madlax, and which did you prefer?

"Madlax are more realistic in comparison to the predictable, Hollywood-style gunfights in Noir "

spoiler[In the end, when madlax goes "I can't be killed" -mode and starts to literally dodge bullets, its totally realistic right?]

I am not trying to convince the Noir partisans to like Madlax. But the fact remains that I didn't like Noir because I thought it was badly drawn, repetitive, predictable, and had annoying characters. Nothing is going to change my opinion that Madlax is a vast improvement over its predecessor.

The main difference is that Madlax has a more focused plot as opposed to the meandering and frequently episodic storyline of Noir. The action scenes in Madlax are more realistic in comparison to the predictable, Hollywood-style gunfights in Noir where Mireille and Kirika mow down dozens of machine gun-wielding assassins who always manage to shoot near their feet. Madlax herself and Margaret Burton are rounded characters who undergo development in the series while Mireille and Kirika remain one-dimensional killing machines throughout, and unlikeable ones at that. Madlax also has interesting and sympathetic male characters, which Noir entirely lacks. I think it's obvious where I am going with this: Madlax is the better series of the two IMHO.

Boomer wrote:

The main difference is that Madlax has a more focused plot as opposed to the meandering and frequently episodic storyline of Noir. The action scenes in Madlax are more realistic in comparison to the predictable, Hollywood-style gunfights in Noir where Mireille and Kirika mow down dozens of machine gun-wielding assassins who always manage to shoot near their feet. Madlax herself and Margaret Burton are rounded characters who undergo development in the series while Mireille and Kirika remain one-dimensional killing machines throughout, and unlikeable ones at that. Madlax also has interesting and sympathetic male characters, which Noir entirely lacks. I think it's obvious where I am going with this: Madlax is the better series of the two IMHO.

I knew it was only a matter of time before a discussion like this would come up. People keep quoting about how Madlax bears some obvious similarities to Noir and follows a plot in the same direction, but many of the posts here disagree. You've gotta think though, they almost mirror each other in terms of characterisation. Mirelle is obviously like Madlax, Kirika is obviously like Margaret Burton, and Altena, in some ways, bears a resemblance (at least in looks) to Limelda Jorg. Or it's just that their eye shapes match exactly.

legendfunk wrote:

Boomer wrote: The main difference is that Madlax has a more focused plot as opposed to the meandering and frequently episodic storyline of Noir. The action scenes in Madlax are more realistic in comparison to the predictable, Hollywood-style gunfights in Noir where Mireille and Kirika mow down dozens of machine gun-wielding assassins who always manage to shoot near their feet. Madlax herself and Margaret Burton are rounded characters who undergo development in the series while Mireille and Kirika remain one-dimensional killing machines throughout, and unlikeable ones at that. Madlax also has interesting and sympathetic male characters, which Noir entirely lacks. I think it's obvious where I am going with this: Madlax is the better series of the two IMHO. I knew it was only a matter of time before a discussion like this would come up. People keep quoting about how Madlax bears some obvious similarities to Noir and follows a plot in the same direction, but many of the posts here disagree. You've gotta think though, they almost mirror each other in terms of characterisation. Mirelle is obviously like Madlax, Kirika is obviously like Margaret Burton, and Altena, in some ways, bears a resemblance (at least in looks) to Limelda Jorg. Or it's just that their eye shapes match exactly.

Having a similar theme and having been created by the same studio, Madlax obviously bears more than a passing resemblance to Noir. Yes, most, though not all of the characters do parallel each other although Kirika always struck me as being a boring, uninteresting version of Rei Ayanami from NGE. For me at least, Madlax is Noir done right: a cut and polished diamond compared to a newly mined rough stone.

Noir was kinda corny and went over-the-top WAY TOO MUCH.

legendfunk wrote:

Noir was kinda corny and went over-the-top WAY TOO MUCH.

Again, I have to point out: and Madlax doesn't do this? Come on.

Key wrote:

legendfunk wrote: Noir was kinda corny and went over-the-top WAY TOO MUCH. Again, I have to point out: and Madlax doesn't do this? Come on.

Oh, Madlax is most definitely over-the-top. But Madlax offers a plausible explanation for whereas Noir just expects you to buy that enough training can allow for such feats. And in both of them, virtually nobody on the planet has heard of kevlar.

HitokiriShadow wrote:

Key wrote: legendfunk wrote: Noir was kinda corny and went over-the-top WAY TOO MUCH. Again, I have to point out: and Madlax doesn't do this? Come on. Oh, Madlax is most definitely over-the-top. But Madlax offers a plausible explanation for whereas Noir just expects you to buy that enough training can allow for such feats. And in both of them, virtually nobody on the planet has heard of kevlar.

This is exactly the point I was making earlier. Madlax does not take the characters' abilities for granted and takes the trouble to provide an explanation for them instead of giving the finger to the viewer.