Noir is the first original anime by director Kouichi Mashimo and studio Bee Train, which focused on the "Girls with Guns" sub-genre. It was later followed by two spiritual successors: Madlax in 2004 and El Cazador de la Bruja in 2007. Together, they are considered to be a Girls with Guns trilogy, even though the three TV series are unrelated story-wise. A live-action adaptation of the anime series

Noir is the first original anime by director Kouichi Mashimo and studio Bee Train, which focused on the "Girls with Guns" sub-genre. It was later followed by two spiritual successors: Madlax in 2004 and El Cazador de la Bruja in 2007. Together, they are considered to be a Girls with Guns trilogy, even though the three TV series are unrelated story-wise. A live-action adaptation of the anime series produced by TV network Starz was planned to release in the summer of 2012. But following a two-year hiatus starting in March 2012, the project was canceled in January 2014.