a rather distinctive Japanese accent that has gradually lessened as she got older, with her accent sounding more British as an adult. Noodle regularly switches back and forth between English and Japanese in conversation, speaking in a regional dialect called Osaka-ben in her native tongue. As a child, Noodle's speaking voice was louder and higher pitched, but has since softened and mildly lowered as an adult. Fictional history Noodle was born in Osaka, Japan on 31 October 1990. Noodle first came to Gorillaz in 1998 shortly after their original guitarist and 2-D's ex-girlfriend Paula Cracker was removed from the band’s lineup for having an affair with Murdoc Niccals in the bathroom of Gorillaz' fictional headquarters at Kong Studios. As a result, the band was left without a guitarist, which led them to run an advertisement in a newspaper in search of a new one. Later the same day, a FedEx crate arrived at Kong Studios, and a Japanese girl leaped out and began playing a very loud solo on her guitar. After shredding on her guitar, she spoke a single word to the trio; "Noodle", which would then become her nickname. In 2003, Noodle visited Japan in an attempt to uncover her past after being haunted by disturbing nightmares while on tour. She regained her lost memories in a restaurant after hearing the trigger words "ocean bacon". She coincidentally met with her mentor, Mr. Kyuzo, who was working as the head chef in the restaurant. Kyuzo helped her make sense of her lost memories and revealed to her that she was a participant in a top secret government supersoldier project, and was trained with a specialty in musicianship, mastering many weapons, languages, and musical instruments, with a distinct forte in the guitar as a result of the program. He disclosed to her that out of the 23 children created for the project, she was the only one to survive and the others were all killed by the government when the project was scrapped, with Kyuzo shipping Noodle to the United Kingdom in a FedEx crate after wiping her memory clean. Kyuzo purposefully sent Noodle to Gorillaz as he believed she would be able to perform relatively obscurely. After this revelation, she was suddenly able to speak English after not having any knowledge of the language for years. Following this, Noodle returned home to Kong Studios to begin writing rough demos