8.15.2011

starz adapting japanese anime series noir


Earlier this summer, cable television network Starz announced that it's producing a live-action adaptation of the hit Japanese anime series Noir, a girls-with-guns action drama about two young female assassins who fight a secret society: Starz gives series order to 'Noir.'

The series begins filming in New Zealand this month, and the actors resource website Showfax recent posted the character sheet, revealing some the of story and character changes they've made for the TV adaptation: Live-Action Noir Character Descriptions Listed.
The character sheet describes the show taking place in 1960s Paris, with lead assassin Mireille Dubois (changed from the original Mireille Bouquet) as a 26- to 28-year-old blonde, controlling, female assassin. Kirika is listed as an 18- to 20-year-old Japanese girl who develops amnesia after a fight with Mireille, no longer remembering her training with handler Lance or The Soldats.

The sheet lists The Soldats organization as a "regime [that] is based on the Assassins cult of Islam."

New characters include Smith, an American CIA agent working to gain trust with the KGB as a connection to Mireille. Mireille is also given a fiancé, John Lancaster, an American and a Korean War veteran. The sheet also lists the character of Alice, a model who is John's drug-using ex-girlfriend. The sheet also fleshes out the minor character Yann from the original series.
I'm not familiar with the source material, so I don't know if these changes sound crazy or okay or unreasonable. According t the character sheet, it does look like they plan to keep the character of Kirika Yuumura relatively intact as a amnesiac Japanese teenager. Can anyone tell me if the original series is worth checking out? Noir is slated to premiere on Starz next summer. (Thanks, Jes.)

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