Madlax (マドラックス) is a 26 episode anime series that was produced by the Bee Train animation studio. It is licensed in North America by ADV Films.

Story

The story revolves around the lives of two apparently unrelated people: Madlax, a mercenary and assassin with seemingly superhuman skills, and Margaret Burton, a young girl living a peaceful life. While Margaret lives in the seemingly peaceful country of Nafrece, most of Madlax's work takes place in Gazth-Sonika, a country plagued by civil war. The plot is also influenced by Enfin (or Enfan or Anfan, though En fin roughly means "in the end" in French), an amazingly powerful criminal organization.

At first glance, the series bears similarity to Noir, another anime created by Bee Train. Both the main characters are female, and their character designs are similar both physically and (to a degree) mentally. Also, the opening sequence is very similar to Noir's, and the series composer of Noir, Yuki Kajiura, composed the music heard in Madlax.

Many of the episodes' themes seem to be commentary on how people are affected by war. For example, episode 3 is about a prominent politician, Gwen McNichol, who hires Madlax so she can assassinate him. This will bring suspicion to his political (and, due to the civil war, military) enemies and bring closure to his life, which for the past 13 years had been dedicated to fighting against the opposing force, who murdered his wife.

Another aspect of the plot that ends up developing great importance is the fact that Margaret Burton holds the much coveted book "Secondary", which contains a strange language that has strangely effected many of those exposed to it.

As a side note, the Apple Darwin Operating System [1] [2] [3] and several famous scenes of Hong Kong [4] appear throughout the story.

Phrase of mystery called repeatedly "Yanmarni(ヤンマーニ)"

To call repeatedly the phrase of the mystery "Yanmarni(ヤンマーニ)" in insertion song "nowhere" (FictionJunction YUUKA) that hangs by the battle scene of hero's Madoraccs, it is acknowledged as "Yanmarni(ヤンマーニ)" animation between fans. However, Yuki Kajiura is declaring, 'It is not said, "Yanmarni(ヤンマーニ)"' with BBS on the WEB site that she has managed. Viewers of large majority only hear it , saying that "Yanmarni(ヤンマーニ)". It is only, in a word, your own mishearing.

Openings and endings

Openings:

• Hitomi no Kakera by FictionJunction YUUKA

Endings:

• Inside your Heart by FictionJunction YUUKA

External links

• TV Tokyo Madlax Page (japanese)
• AniDB entry
• Anime News Network: Anime Encyclopedia: Madlax