Taboo Noise are a form of Noise which are artificially made. Unlike their normal counterparts, Taboo Noise will attack both players and reapers at will, unlike normal Noise which will only attack players if brought into battle. They are powerful in comparison to normal Noise and battles against them should be taken with extreme caution.
Appearance
Taboo Noise Symbol
Taboo Noise take on a very monochrome shade of their familial counterparts, being a mix of black, dark grey and light grey. All of their eyes are red, which supports their aggressive nature.
Their Noise symbol is also shaded in a monochrome-like manner, being dark or light grey in color. Unlike regular Noise symbols, which will drift harmlessly when Neku scans, Taboo Noise symbols will charge at him in haste to initiate a battle.
Creation
Unlike regular Noise, which Reapers can create at will, Taboo Noise can only be created using Taboo Noise Refineries. These are shown as a blue noise symbol surrounded by Japanese writing on walls and floors, which can be seen a few times made by Sho Minamimoto in the timeline. Because they are technically "artificial" Noise, this is the only current method known of how they are made. Creating them also requires a high amount of capability, making it impossible for most reapers to make them.
In-Battle
Fighting Taboo Noise are much harder than their normal counterparts. Due to their high resistance to almost all sources of damage, defeating Taboo Noise requires high level pins and good puck-passing work. Puck-passing (in the DS version) or Cross Combos (in the Solo Remix) are important due to the fact that the player without the puck, or not performing a Cross Combo, will deal considerably less damage to Taboo Noise. They are also on the high end of damage dealing within their respective Noise family, which makes them harder to fight against.
It is impossible to escape from a Taboo battle once forced into one.
Story
The Taboo Noise refinery sigil in Udagawa back street
The Taboo Noise play a important role during Weeks 2 and 3; it is revealed at the beginning of Week 2 that something attacked Koki Kariya and Uzuki Yashiro, and Kariya remarks that he believes it is Taboo Noise. Taboo Noise also catch Neku and Joshua by suprise. The Taboo noise that exists in Shibuya are created by Sho Minamimoto. The Taboo Noise refinery also provides him a route to come back for his revenge. Later, a Taboo Noise refinery sigil is found in the Udagawa Back Streets along with Sho Minamimoto attempting to use it. It is later discovered that it was Mr. Hanekoma who taught Minamimoto how to create this noise, thus making Hanekoma a fallen angel.
List of Taboo Noise
Noise #9 - Choirfrog
Noise #14 - Grunge Wolf
Noise #17 - Wall of Grizzly
Noise #23 - Death Metal Mink
Noise #38 - Chaoti Corehog
Noise #41 - Eurobeat Boomer
Noise #48 - Neoclassical Drake
Noise #52 - Trance Rhino
Noise #57 - Carcinopunk
Noise #86 - Sho Minamimoto (Taboo)
Noise #92 - Leo Cantus
Trivia
- In the Noise Report, Taboo Noise have a blue background on the touch screen to notify their status as a Taboo Noise.
- In Ultimate Mode for battle, all Taboo Noise except Leo Cantus will drop a Shadow Matter. This is the only source of Shadow Matter players can get from.