Tonight, I am marathoning a classic anime series, Noir. I recently ordered the DVD boxset to replace the horrible bootleg I bought over 8 years ago, and it feels good to finally right that wrong.

When I was a budding otaku, I would spend my Saturdays at Frank and Sons collectible show in City of Industry, CA. Wallscrolls, manga, anime, and figures, all at fantastic prices. I thought I hit the motherlode of otaku goods.

At first, my novice mind was blown away at the discounts over BestBuy and Suncoast. $20-25 for a complete series? Hell yea! I spent an entire paycheck on several series in the span of a few minutes (along with some sweet wallscrolls). Once I got home however, I realized the error I made.

As I sit down at home to watch Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~, I notice that Studio Bee Train produced this series. Ok, good pedigree. Same studio that produced Noir, Madlax, and .hack//Sign. I could use a good spy series today. So, with this in mind, I pressed play…

…and I kinda wished I didn’t.

The series reminds me of a mix between the Bourne Identify, Noir, and The Professional. It begins with a man who’s had his memory erased and his training to become an assassin. Given the name Jaso-er, I mean-Zwei, he is trained by Ein (who strikes more than a little of Kirika Yumura from Noir) and eventually the two will work together for Inferno, an underground group that collaborates with many criminal organizations. Together they are called Phantom, the title given to the top assassin of Inferno.