Noblesse is a Korean Webtoon (Korean comic) written by Jeho Son and illustrated Kwangsu Lee. The webtoon ran from 2007-2019 contain over 500 chapters. The story surrounds Raizel (Rai), a “vampire” who has woken up after 820-year-long sleep and starts his new life as a student in a high school, while tacking a sinister underground organization called the “Union.” The first episode of Noblesse premiered Wednesday October 7.
For all the anime fans that haven’t read the webtoon they are left with a thousand questions. The first episode of Noblesse actually starts off during the second arc of the webtoon. For the anime fans only, they are unable to understand how the characters relate to each other and the premise of the story. In my opinion, Crunchyroll did a poor job in setting up the order of the anime. Many of the anime fans are unaware of the OVA that released in 2015. The OVA Noblesse: Awakening, covers 79 episodes/chapters of the webtoon. Although the OVA is good, it feels a bit rushed and condense. The detail and character development is fast paced and the fans are unable to see the bond that is formed between Rai and his friends. The OVA miss some important details that will be crucial to the plot.
As for the premiere release of the 2020 anime Noblesse, it tries to pick up where the OVA left off. Causing a misunderstanding among the viewers. The current anime covers episodes/chapters from webtoon 80-96. However, the anime leaves a few characters and changes a bit of the story to fit the script of the anime. Leaving the webtoon readers with a bad taste in their mouth. Although the pacing of the anime is slower in comparison to other Crunchyroll Originals, Tower of God and God of High School, it leaves a lot of plot holes.
My overall impression of Noblesse was less than satisfactory. I can only hope the rest of the anime is able to improve from here.