Noodle (Gorillaz)

Noodle (born October 31, 1990) is a fictional member of the virtual band Gorillaz. She provides the guitar as well as some main and backing vocals for the band. She, like all other Gorillaz members, was created by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett.

Fictional biography
At the age of ten, Noodle arrived on the Gorillaz' doorstep in a FedEx crate, in immediate response to the ad they placed for a guitarist in NME. She could not speak any English beyond the word "Noodle", thus earning her the alias. She quickly got settled in England with Gorillaz, and was accepted as the fourth member of the band.

In Rise of the Ogre, it is revealed that during the band's hiatus in November, 2003, Noodle went back to Japan to find out the truth about her past after being haunted by strange nightmares while on tour. Upon her return to Japan, Noodle regained her memory after hearing the code-phrase 'ocean bacon' at a restaurant. There she coincidentally met with her creator/mentor, Mr. Kyuzo, who was working as the head chef in the restaurant. Kyuzo helped her make sense of her lost memories: Noodle is, in fact, part of a secret government super soldier project, trained specially as a musician. As a result, she is a master of many weapons, languages, and musical instruments, with a specialty in the guitar, both as a musical instrument, and a weapon. Out of the 23 children created for the project, Noodle was the only one to survive; the others were all destroyed by the government when the project was scrapped. It is widely believed that Gavin Larson and Max DeVeaux the Squid was behind the project's demise.

Mr. Kyuzo had smuggled her to safety in England after reading the aforementioned ad placed by the other three Gorillaz members in the NME.

Noodle regained the ability to speak English, along with her memories, and was the first member of Gorillaz to return to Kong Studios after their failed international tour. She was alone at Kong Studios for nearly six months; during that time she composed the majority of the Demon Days album as a response to the chaotic cultural climate at the time. Her composition of the album crafted a specific message, as opposed to the debut which was composed by Murdoc and 2D, which had a grimier, more spontaneous sound. Despite her quiet nature, she became the most vocal of the band when it came to describing the album.

"El Mañana"
In March 2006, the Gorillaz video "El Mañana" was released. In the days preceding the release of the video, cardboard boxes were found in the Kong Studios lobby. The boxes soon moved to Noodle's room, and each day, her room was shown to be more and more packed away until the room was entirely barren. At the same time, the windmill island from the "Feel Good Inc." music video appeared outside of Kong Studios on the website's splash page. Shortly before the release of "El Mañana", the windmill was seen flying away.

The video is a continuation of the "Feel Good Inc." video, once again depicting Noodle on the windmill island, although she appears to be much older in the "El Mañana" video than when she is shown in the "Feel Good Inc" video. The video concludes with the helicopters bombing the crashed windmill. Two days after the video's release, cracks appeared on the walls of Noodle's room on the website (which spread to the ground floor lobby) and the clock on her wall labeled "Armageddon" (the only piece of furniture left behind) gained a fourth hand, and fell to the floor. The cracks grew to the point that part of the roof collapsed, exposing the outdoor sky. Near the end of the month, more boxes were found in the Kong Studios lobby, one of which was labeled "DedEx". They disappeared after the lobby was destroyed.

In the book Rise of the Ogre, Murdoc reveals that the "El Mañana" video was indeed "staged" and that Noodle is still "alive". It was stated by Murdoc that Noodle had been planning to leave after Demon Days. According to Murdoc, Noodle is in the Maldives "chilling out", though that was the interview before receiving a transmission from Noodle.

Trapped in Hell
When the Gorillaz web site still allowed visitors to tour Kong Studios, a radio could be heard in the basement, broadcasting a distress call from Noodle. The message was printed as an epilogue in the Gorillaz book, Rise of the Ogre:

'Murdoc! Russel... Is anybody there?! It's me, Noodle... Is there anybody there! You need to reply... Helllloooo! Come In... It's Noodle ... I've found the missing code... They're coming!... (quieter) The reception here is really terrible ... (Back to normal volume) MURDOC! ... Murdoc, you got to get the combin...! Come in! They know where you... Mur ...You must get out! ... It's coming from BENEATH the building! You have to get out! ... Murdoc, hurry before it's too late. MAYDAY ...MAYDAY ... Murdoc! COME IN GORILLAZ!' —Transmission from Noodle (In the epilogue of Rise of the Ogre)

According to a interview with Q Magazine, Murdoc found that Noodle had fallen foul of another attempt to take his soul, this time a group of spirits who had taken advantage of Russel's spirit-channelling capabilities. Armed with an ancient spellbook, he set off into the underworld, but failed to find her.

Plastic Beach
On January 22, 2010, Murdoc hijacked the online NME Radio and Yahoo! radio broadcasts to promote the new Gorillaz album, Plastic Beach. The bassist claimed that Noodle was never rescued after the "El Mañana" video, and that his supposed rescue attempt was a drunken delusion. With Russel's whereabouts still unknown, he and 2D have been working on the third album with the help of a Noodle cyborg constructed from Noodle's DNA from the windmill wreckage. However, due to the improbability of anything Murdoc says and the fact that only DNA was gathered, the status of the real Noodle was in question. It has since been confirmed that the real Noodle is alive. Recently, Murdoc has called Noodle his greatest asset.

Noodle is confirmed to be alive in an exclusive new Gorillaz video for the single On Melancholy Hill. In the video, a luxury cruise ship (called the "M. Harriet") is being bombarded by torpedoes coming from pirate WW2 Corsairs  flying overhead. A crew member rushes over to cabin 13 to warn Noodle (who is sitting,wearing an Oni Mask) that the ship is under attack by pirates and to take her to the lifeboats. Noodle walks over to her briefcase and opens it, revealing a Thompson Machine Gun. She then passes the confused crew member and heads out to face the pirates. She kills one of the pirates, but the other drops a bomb on the ship, sinking it. Noodle is seen floating out to sea in a lifeboat which is later picked up by the now-giant Russel. Murdoc has since posted on his twitter page that he was surprised to see the real Noodle alive and is claiming to be on his way to retrieve her.

Character appearance
For the Demon Days album, Noodle was seen with a notably different look, no longer sporting her trademark radio hat as well as having a noticeably more feminine fashion style and lighter skin tone. She was also noticeably taller with thinner legs, and occasionally seen sporting a monkey named Mike. In the video for "El Mañana" she has green eyes, which contradicts the previous videos where her eyes are seen: "19-2000," "Rock the House," and "Dare." In these videos she is depicted as having black eyes with no irises or pupils, much like 2-D, but this difference is likely due to the fact that the pan of the video was zoomed entirely on her eye, making the green noticeable. Most of the time, though, Noodle's eyes are closed or covered by her hair.

In Phase One, her hair was completely black, and she was always wearing her helmet, except for select live performances. During Phase Two, Noodle's hair became purple tinted and somewhat longer, covering her eyes.

According to the original promotional booklet, Noodle was sixteen as of January 2006. It was confirmed by a Gorillaz e-mail sent out on Halloween that she was born on that day, October 31, in 1990.

In On Melancholy Hill, Noodle is seen wearing red lipstick and her body is noticeably more matured with her height and body structure. She is also seen wearing a white and green Oni mask.

Underneath the Oni mask is a large, dark bruise on the right side of her face. It is not stated yet where she may have gotten this bruise.

Throughout the video she is seen fighting for her life against pirate jets until she leaves the ship in a life boat. After this, she is unexpectedly picked up by a now ultra-giant Russel Hobbs, emerging from the sea.

Character personality
Noodle is the only member of Gorillaz, besides 2D, who demonstrated any type of vocal talent.

During Phase One of Gorillaz, Noodle could only speak Japanese, with the exceptions of her bandmates' names and small words such as "duh" or "yeah", and Russel had translated for her; but she had done vocals in English: the chorus for "19-2000" and backup in several tracks in the first album. She also did an alternately Japanese and English vocal narration for the track "Left Hand Suzuki Method", originally from the G-Sides album...

It was not until Phase Two with the Demon Days album that anyone actually heard her fluently speak English conversationally.

Noodle is a fan of Miyazaki movies. She enjoyed Spirited Away and got inspiration for the "Feel Good Inc." video from Castle in the Sky. According to the bio presented during Gorillaz' appearance on MTV Cribs, her listed interests are Johnny Thunders and Richie Sambora.

Also, on her computer in Kong, it is shown in the file '23_facts' that she is interested in that number. This file also has a reference to Prince. In Rise of the Ogre many pictures of Noodle include her holding a guitar in her left hand, showing that she is right-handed. However, in pictures for the Gorillaz Bite "Search For A Star", she can be seen holding a pencil in her left hand, perhaps implying that she, like 2D, is ambidextrous. This is further supported in the On Melancholy Hill music video, where in which she is shown firing her Thompson machine gun in a left-handed fashion.

Voice actors
There are several people who make up the identity of Noodle, they include former Cibo Matto vocalist Miho Hatori and Talking Heads' Tina Weymouth, who both had provided singing vocals for Noodle on the first album; Haruka Kuroda, an actress who provides Noodle's speaking voice (i.e. in interviews, etc.); and Rosie Wilson, who performs Noodle's lead vocal in "DARE". Her guitar portions have been provided by whoever plays guitar on a given song, including Simon Katz, Simon Tong, and Damon Albarn.

Guitars
Noodle is most often seen with either a yellow telecaster or a fictional, generic red guitar. She also has an acoustic guitar which is seen in "Feel Good Inc." and "On Melancholy Hill."

Cyborg Noodle
Cyborg Noodle is the newest fictional member for Gorillaz created for their album, "Plastic Beach". In the storyline, she was created by the band leader, Murdoc as a replacement for the band's original guitarist, Noodle, whose whereabouts were allegedly unknown. She was created through the use of cybernetic prosthetics as well some DNA samples of Noodle that were salvaged from the wreckage of the flying windmill island which was destroyed in the "El Mañana" music video. Aside from her built-in knowledge of musical instruments and theory, Cyborg Noodle also has a vast knowledge of weapons, fighting techniques, as well as basic skills, much like Noodle. Unlike the original Noodle's reserved and calm nature, Cyborg Noodle was programmed by Murdoc to take even the riskiest tasks without hesitation by any means necessary; making her in some ways a robotic mercenary. She seems to malfunction in "Stylo", but later repairs herself, as seen in "On Melancholy Hill".

Appearance and personality
The cyborg replica retains all of Noodle's physical characteristics and mannerisms but not her memories or tastes. It is also trained to obey Murdoc's every command. The cyborg gave an interview for the tabloid magazine Us Weekly, in which it reveals that it prefers pop music, unlike the original Noodle's "rock-chick" style. It also claims to enjoy the Twilight films and their starring actor, Robert Pattinson. This further tells of the incomplete nature of the cyborg, as the real Noodle would have rejected both as "False Icons", in accordance with the ideals she spoke of in Rise of the Ogre. Cyborg Noodle appears in the music video for the Plastic Beach track "Stylo", where it has been shot multiple times, and shuts down shortly after firing upon a police car. The cyborg survives, and Murdoc explains in the "Plastic Beach Experience" video that she is in constant need of charging whenever not being used. In the documentary that comes with the Experience edition of the album, Jamie Hewlett refers to the cyborg as "Evil Noodle".