Noire (ノワール Nowāru), also known as Black Heart (ブラックハート Burakku Hāto), is the Console Patron Unit (CPU) of Lastation and deuteragonist of the Hyperdimension Neptunia franchise. She represents Sony PlayStation home consoles, referenced through her appearance in both forms, her processor units, and some of her dialogue.
Due to the Neptunia series revolving around different universes and dimensions, there are multiple Noires throughout the series though all of them retain more or less the same personalities and core aspects regardless of the setting.
Other Appearances
Games
Hyperdimension Neptunia: Producing Perfection
When the idol group known as MOB48 appears, Noire and the other CPUs take on the role of idols to reclaim their lost shares.
Hyperdevotion Noire: Goddess Black Heart
Noire serves as the title protagonist.
Hyperdimension Neptunia U: Action Unleashed
Noire appears as one of the playable CPUs.
MegaTagmension Blanc + Neptune VS Zombies
Noire is a high school senior who stars as the Teacher, a Parasol Agent and various Zombies.
Cyberdimension Neptunia: 4 Goddesses Online
Noire is a beta tester and appears as a Black Knight alongside an NPC based on her Goddess Form.
NepNep☆Connect: Chaos Chanpuru
Noire is a supporting character who had been corrupted by Chaos Energy and as an obtainable card.
Super Neptunia RPG
Noire is a supporting character who had lost her memories in an alternate Gamindustri.
Neptunia Shooter
Noire is the third boss of the game and a playable character.
Neptunia Virtual Stars
Noire, along with the other three goddesses become virtual idols to save planet Emote.
Neptunia x SENRAN KAGURA: Ninja Wars
Noire is one of the ninja goddesses who have mastered Compa Style in Heartland.
Dimension Tripper Neptune: TOP NEP
Noire appears as a wingmate.
Neptunia Game Maker R:Evolution
Noire is the president of the game maker Lastation and one of the First Makers.
Neptunia Riders VS Dogoos
Noire is one of the playable riders.
Drama CDs
Moshi Megami ga Yome Dattara LoveLove Shichau Kamo Shirenai.
On the Moshi Megami ga Yome Dattara LoveLove Shichau Kamo Shirenai. drama CD, Noire wakes up in the morning and takes notice at her husband sleeping and decides to wake him up. She notices how cute his sleeping face is and begins to poke his cheeks until he wakes up. She tells him that she's going to make breakfast after she gets changed so he should come down after he gets ready for work. As she tries to get changed, her husband tries to take a look but she scolds him for it due to her thinking it's embarrassing.
Her husband comes down sooner than expected and hugs her from behind while she's cooking. She states that she won't be able to cook if he's holding onto her like that, but when he refuses to let go she threatens to stab him with the kitchen knife which ends in him obeying her request.
When Noire finishes preparing his breakfast, her husband begins to immediately eat the food given to him. She asks him if the food is delicious based on how he's eating it because she before they got married she didn't do too much cooking so she wasn't really confident in her abilities. When he says yes she becomes happy at being complimented on her cooking by the one she loves.
After her husband finishes eating and begins to leave for work, Noire tells him to do his best at work and asks him if he'll be back late. His answer saddens her a bit but when she s confronted about not wanting to be alone she immediately become defensive, saying there are lots of things to do even when he isn't around. However she then admits to the truth of being lonely if he's not there.
As he gets ready to go to work Noire reminds him that they forgot to do the goodbye kiss and when she gives it to him he begins to hug her and not let go. She gets flustered and begins to scold him for messing around with her in the entrance hall instead of going to work.
~Yukemuri Onsen Satsujin Jiken in Planeptune No Maki~
Megami-Tachi Ga Soine Shite Kurechau CD
On the Megami-Tachi Ga Soine Shite Kurechau CD Situation CD, Noire awakens after having fallen asleep in the middle of working late at night and assumes "he" is asleep by now. She decides to get some more rest and leaves the rest of the work for later.
Noire tries to sneak into the room carefully to avoid waking him, but is surprised to see that he is actually awake despite always going to sleep before her. He requests that she sleep with him due to being unable to sleep by himself, but Noire refuses multiple times. However, she eventually gives into it and just gets into bed with him. Due to the small size of the bed, Noire suggests that they buy a bed of a larger size, but he says he likes it the way it is and begins to touch her.
When he finally falls asleep, she takes notice at how delighted his expression is. She then begins to think about how even though she prefers it when he's quiet and obedient, his mind is full of perverted thoughts. She also begins to wonder why she fell for such a person. Since he's sleeping, she decides to take revenge on him for earlier by poking his face.
After poking him for a while and taking pleasure in his displeased expression, she realizes that now she is the one who is awake and cannot sleep. She looks at his face again and sees how happy he looks, wondering if she looks the same when she's sleeping with him. While she is unsure of what kind of face she makes when she sleeps with him, she does now that she always has a pleasant sleep with they're together. She kisses him and begins to say how she loves him more than anyone else in the world, and that she can only say those words at times such as this.
He awakens and says that he was only pretending to be asleep, and Noire becomes extremely flustered and immediately tries to cover up what she said before by writing it off as her reciting the lines a heroine said in an anime she watched and that those words weren't directed towards him. She further states that the kiss she gave him was a complete accident caused by her twisting and turning in her sleep. He then begins to hug her and she demands that he stops messing around and get some sleep.
Megami To Tsuitachi Sugosu CD
Anime & Books
Hyperdimension Neptunia: Megami Tsuushin
In Volume 1, Noire is one of the few goddesses who is used to life in Gamindustri instead of Celestia. Being competent as usual, Noire makes less mistakes than Neptune when keeping the peace in Gamindustri. Her adventures include:
- Assisting Blanc for Christmas
- Helping out the New Year Celebrations
- Taking down ASIC with Neptune
- Learning to swim to impress her sister, Uni.
In Volume 2, the candidates are introduced. Uni's relationship with Noire is a bit strained but it improves. Other adventures, Noire took part of consists of:
- Stopping the R4 Show run by ASIC
- Teaching counterfeit goddesses what it means to be goddesses
- Trying to form an idol group with the other goddesses
In Volume 3, Noire has a much smaller role than previous volumes. Her adventures includes:
In Volume 4, Noire sees Neptune off as she travels back in time. Later, she and Neptune discovers the "Demon Lord"'s identity, Rei Ryghts. Afterwards Noire and the other goddesses spends the last half of the volume befriending Rei Ryghts and the consequences of it.
Other adventures include:
- Investigating a series of bikini thefts.
- Defeating ASIC in Dreamcass Island as Aragami
Hyperdimension Neptunia: The Animation
Hyperdimension Neptunia The Animation: Hello New World
Chou Jigen Game Neptune: High School
Non-Neptunia Appearances
Touch Shot! Love Application
In Touch Shot! Love Application Noire makes an appearance in the game as part of a custom skin that can be used on the main character's yPhone. The skin features both her and Uni from Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2 and uses their Gamipics as part of the icons on the protagonists phone while the wallpaper of the phone is taken from the official wallpaper from Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2 that features both Noire and Uni.
Mugen Souls Z
In Mugen Souls Z as part of the Overwhelming Game's Triple Goddess Costume Set downloadable content, the player can obtain equipment that can allow Peons to dress up and resemble Noire. This DLC pack includes, Noire's entire Clear Dress outfit, her hairstyle, her face, and a portrait of her.
Adventure Quiz Kingdom
Noire appears alongside the other CPUs and CPU Candidates as part of the Hyperdimension Neptunia: The Animation collaboration.[1]
Million Arthur
Noire is part of various collaboration event gachas alongside other characters in the Neptunia franchise.[2][3][4]
High School DxD New Fight
Noire, alongside other characters make an appearance as part of a collaboration.[5]
Trillion: God of Destruction
Noire and the other CPUs appear in a DLC event, where she and the other CPUs get accidentally sent to their world.[6]
Aura Kingdom
Noire's costume, along with other goddesses, were made available as part of a collaboration.[7]
Ange Vierge
Noire is part of the Cyberdimension Neptunia: 4 Goddesses Online collaboration event gacha with the other goddesses.[8]
Gun Gun Pixies
Noire appears as a guest character in Gun Gun Pixies.[9]
Azur Lane
In Azur Lane, Noire, along with the other goddesses are one of the obtainable ships as part of the "Visitors from Another Dimension" collaboration.[10]
Spelunker World
Players can dress up their character as Noire as she appears in Cyberdimension Neptunia: 4 Goddesses Online by equipping the corresponding head and body gear.[11]
Houkai Gakuen 2/Guns Girl Z
In Houkai Gakuen 2 CN as part of crossover, player can obtain Black Heart Sword, Noire badge, Noire's 4 Goddesses Online outfit and herself as a playable character through crystal gacha (and also the first playable character in the game featuring custom second eye style).[12] The player can also awaken the sword and badge to unlock animated main menu background which she can initiate a random line of dialogue.
Date A Live: Spirit Pledge
In Date A Live: Spirit Pledge, Noire, along with the other goddesses appear as one of the playable spirits and as a sephira as part of a 2-part collaboration, with her debuting in the second part.
Shachibato! President, It's Time for Battle! Maju Wars
Noire is a playable employee as part of a collaboration.
Senran no Samurai Kingdom
In Senran no Samurai Kingdom as part of a collaboration, Noire is a playable character along with other goddesses.[13]
Sangoku Taisen Smash!
Noire is a playable unit as part of a collaboration.[14]
Artery Gear
Noire Appears as part of the Megadimension Neptunia VII collaboration alongside Neptune and Nepgear.[15]
Musical Themes
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| Name | Game | Description | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Gushing Broken Pipe | Hyperdimension Neptunia | Black Heart has her own theme composed by Kenji Kaneko that plays during her boss battles. Much like the majority of the music in the game, it is a rendition of the main theme of the game Neptune Suite. | |
| Sham Cold Girls | Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2 | The duet song for Noire and Uni on Hyperdimension Neptunia Duet Sisters Vol.2 | |
| Mission! -Cool Lady's Will- | Noire's solo on the Hyperdimension Neptunia Duet Sisters Vol.2 album. | ||
| Sham Cold Girls_Remix | A remixed version of Sham Cold Girls released on the Hyperdimension Neptunia Share Complete Discs set. | ||
| Noire's Theme | Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory | Noire has her own theme composed by Nobuo Uematsu's Band, the Earthbound Papas. It first plays when Noire and Neptune use the CPU Memory to turn into goddesses and access Hard Drive Divinity (HDD). It plays again when fighting the six Black Heart duplicates made by Rei. | |
| With Confidence | One of Noire's character songs on the Hyperdimension Neptunia Shugo Megami Character Song CD Vol.2 album. It is preformed by her human form. | ||
| Goddess of Victory | One of Noire's character songs on the Hyperdimension Neptunia Shugo Megami Character Song CD Vol.2 album. It is preformed by her goddess form. | ||
| With Confidence (idol dance ver) | Hyperdimension Neptunia: Producing Perfection. | It is a remixed version of With Confidence. | |
| Fly High! (idol dance ver) | Noire's version of Neptune's song. | ||
| Dear... every day (idol dance ver) | Noire's version of Blanc's song. | ||
| HP ∞ LOVE Power (idol dance ver) | Noire's version of Vert's song. | ||
| Mira Infinity | The final song unlocked in Hyperdimension Neptunia: Producing Perfection. It was later released on the Hyperdimension Neptunia Share Complete Discs set with both a solo version and a group version with the other CPUs. | ||
| Dreaming At Full Power | A bonus song for that was only available on the Hyperdimension Neptunia Share Complete Discs collection. | ||
| Shikkoku no Sustain | Hyperdevotion Noire: Goddess Black Heart | The opening song for Hyperdevotion Noire: Goddess Black Heart. | |
| Black Brave | Hyperdimension Neptunia U: Action Unleashed | Noire and Uni's theme which plays whenever either transforms. | |
| Mosou 4tune | Megadimension Neptunia VII | The opening song for the Hyper Dimension Neptunia G arc. Noire sings this with the other three Hyper Dimension CPUs. |
Creation and Development
Black Heart's Next Form
Tsunako states that Black Heart's Next form is equipped with several devices including something that looks like a Head Mounted Display, and sports characteristic partially rounded parts. The back design has a sailor-style collar that ends up emphasizing the design of the hip line. She says the design changed a bit in the final version.[16]
Etymology
Noir/noire is the French word for the color black. This can easily correlate with both her appearance which consists of mostly black and other dark colors and the fact that her divine name is "Black Heart". The color black was possibly chosen for her name due to black being the base color to every PlayStation system after the PS1. The only exception to this is the unsuccessful PSX which was entirely white.
Trivia
- Noire constantly says she "only does everything", referencing PlayStation's old slogan, "It only does everything."
- Noire shares a striking resemblance from Azusa from K-On! and even makes references to her and it's implied that she had learn to play the guitar from watching K-On!
- She also resembles Kooh from Pangya, a golfing MMO game.
- The diamond that Ultra Dimension Noire wears on her bow is a reference to the Sony Computer Entertainment Logo.
- In the 2011 popularity poll, Noire earned first place, beating out both Neptune and Nepgear, the two main characters in the series as of the time of the poll (Noire would soon become the main heroine in her own spin-off title).[17]
- In the 2014 popularity poll that was won by Blanc, Noire earned the fifth place, losing to Blanc and Neptune among others.[18]
- In the first game, Noire (as Black Heart) makes a reference to Sailor Moon by saying, "In the name of Basilicom, I will punish you!", but she deems it not a good catchphrase and continues to think of a better one.
- Noire hates being called an assistant. This is shown in a DLC event when MAGES. calls Noire an assistant, who in turn screams really loud at MAGES., saying that she's not an assistant. This is most likely a reference to Kurisu Makise from the visual novel/anime Steins;Gate, who shares the same voice actress as Noire in the Japanese version.
- She was the only goddess not to imply that she played video games. Although she can be found with the occasional game controller or device, such as the Wii remote in the manga, or at the beginning of Re;Birth3.
- Black Heart was the only goddess whose hair received a re-style between games. Starting with Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory and after, she is shown with her hair in pigtails.
- In Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory, the anime, along with the former's remake, a running gag involves Neptune or another character falling from the sky and landing on Noire, much to her annoyance. This gag also makes a return in Hyperdimension Neptunia: Producing Perfection when a small monster lands on a top of Noire after she cleared out the dungeon.
- In the first three games, Black Heart's Japanese voice is either much higher than Noire's or is mostly the same, while the other CPUs gain deeper voices after transforming. Since Producing Perfection, Black Heart's voice became deeper. In later games and in the anime, Black Heart's voice has become deeper over the years and it has got a more consistent pitch starting by the remakes.
- Ultra Dimension Black Heart's Processor Unit resembles the design of the original PlayStation.
- Not counting characters that had different voice actors in the anime, Noire is the third character to have a new English voice actress, the first two being 5pb. and Vert.
- Due to a voice actor strike, Erin Fitzgerald, the original voice of Noire, left Idea Factory before the dubbing of Cyberdimension Neptunia: 4 Goddesses Online started, so Idea Factory replaced her with Erica Mendez as Noire's new English Voice Actor.[19]
References
- ↑ ソーシャルクイズRPG「冒険クイズキングダム」がTVアニメ「超次元ゲイム ネプテューヌ」とタイアップ企画実施(Japanese). Kayac(June 27, 2013). Archived from the original on July 10, 2013.Retrieved on September 27, 2022.
- ↑ 『拡散性ミリオンアーサー』×『超次元アクション ネプテューヌＵ』(Japanese). Square Enix(2014). Retrieved on July 17, 2022.
- ↑ 『拡散性ミリオンアーサー』×『新次元ゲイム ネプテューヌVII』(Japanese). Square Enix(July 8, 2015). Retrieved on September 26, 2022.
- ↑ 『乖離性ミリオンアーサー』×『新次元ゲイム ネプテューヌVIIR』のコラボイベント開催中！(Japanese). PlayStation.Blog(September 15, 2017). Archived from the original on July 15, 2024.Retrieved on July 17, 2022.
- ↑ ハイスクールDxD NEW FIGHT 6月5日(金)ゲイムギョウ界女神パネルガチャ販売開始！(Japanese). Marvelous Inc.(June 5, 2015). Archived from the original on June 9, 2015.Retrieved on July 26, 2022.
- ↑ 魔壊神トリリオン｜追撃の巨大コラボ!! トリリオン×ネプテューヌ(Japanese). Compile Heart(2015). Archived from the original on October 13, 2015.Retrieved on July 17, 2024.
- ↑ 幻想神域×超次元ゲイムネプテューヌ コラボ特設ページ(Japanese)(February 2017). Archived from the original on February 28, 2017.Retrieved on May 12, 2022.
- ↑ 【コラボ開催】ネプテューヌシリーズ「四女神オンライン CYBER DIMENSION NEPTUNE」×アンジュ・ヴィエルジュ～ガールズバトル～コラボ(Japanese). Sega(May 12, 2017). Archived from the original on May 15, 2017.Retrieved on July 18, 2022.
- ↑ https://www.compileheart.com//ggp/chara/?page=14
- ↑ Azur Lane's collaboration event with Hyperdimension Neptunia will start from January 26. RPG Site. Mist Network(January 22, 2018). Retrieved on November 9, 2022.
- ↑ Idea Factory International on Twitter(July 27, 2018). “Time for more Neptunia in the Spelunker World x Neptunia collab! Dress up as Vert and Noire in @SquareEnix and @TozaiGames ', @spelunker_world for the PS4 until 8/9 @ 0:59AM PDT!”
- ↑ 崩坏学园2x海王星联动(Chinese). miHoYo. Archived from the original on September 25, 2021.
- ↑ 「戦乱のサムライキングダム」にて「超次元ゲイム ネプテューヌ」とのコラボキャンペーンを開催！(Japanese)pp. 1. MYNET(June 30, 2021). Archived from the original on June 30, 2021.Retrieved on July 6, 2021.
- ↑ 【さんすま】ネプテューヌコラボ情報まとめ(Japanese). さんすま攻略wiki. Altema(July 14, 2022). Retrieved on July 14, 2022.
- ↑ アーテリーギア-機動戦姫- on X(Japanese)(March 27, 2024). Archived from the original on March 27, 2024.Retrieved on March 27, 2024. “◤コラボ決定◢ 『#アーテリーギア』×『#新次元ゲイムネプテューヌVII』コラボの開催が決定🎉 ゲイムギョウ界の守護女神、華麗に登場！ コラボ記念キャンペーン 1 @arterygear_jp をフォロー 2 このツイートをRT 抽選で10名様に【結晶石×1800】をプレゼント🎁 #アテギア #ネプテューヌ”
- ↑ xizro345(June 27, 2014).Shin Jigen Game Neptune VII announced! (coming to PS4). NIS America Forums. Archived from the original on November 5, 2015.
- ↑ キャラクター人気投票企画「ゲイムギョウ界大選挙！！」結果発表(Japanese)pp. 1. Compile Heart(October 2011). Archived from the original on October 22, 2011.Retrieved on May 13, 2022.
- ↑ ゲイムギョウ界総選挙｜超次元ゲイム ネプテューヌ(Japanese)pp. 1. Compile Heart(December 2014). Archived from the original on December 25, 2014.Retrieved on May 13, 2022.
- ↑ Fitzgerald, Erin(July 1, 2017).Erin Fitzgerald on Twitter. Twitter. Archived from the original on March 18, 2021.Retrieved on December 13, 2020. “This is true. Sorry guys. I stand in solidarity with getting all games on SAG contracts.”
| CPUs | |
|---|---|
| CPU Candidates | |
| Supporting | |
| Minor | |
| Makers | |
| Generals | |
| Antagonists |
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| Non-Neptunia | |
| Other | |