NoaIzumiAnime Review: Burst Angel
May 22nd 2009 19:59
All culinary student Kyohei was looking for was a part-time job. But when a mysterious woman with criminal connections hires him as a personal chef for her team of mercenaries, he gets sucked into a world of gunfights, mechas, intrigue, and monsters. Soon, he finds out that his employer is on a collision course with RAPT, the corrupt organization out to take over Japan. Tokyo is about to explode.
The very first scene of Burst Angel has the main character, Jo, in her mecha Jango, and she’s fighting this demony-looking mecha, with lots of guns and explosions and other cool stuff. The scene is unexplained, and remains so until episode 21, where the scene is placed chronologically. But even though the viewer doesn’t know what’s going on, or who Jo’s fighting, or even who Jo is at this point, it’s still thrilling to watch. This scene is a good analogy for the series as a whole. You may not know where you are at some points, but it’s still a fun ride.
Burst Angel centers around four distinct characters (whom Bubblegum Crisis fans will recognize right away). Jo is the fighter who doesn’t talk much (Priss), Meg is the more sensitive one with not-as-good fighting skills (Linna), Sei is the mysterious leader (Sylia), and Amy is the young computer genius (Nene). Their personalities develop over the course of the series, especially Jo’s. Her past is unknown, but hints are dropped through the course of the show, and her full story and connection with RAPT is revealed in the climax.
The emotional center of Burst Angel is the relationship between Jo and Meg, who knew each other in New York before Sei hired them. Their precise relationship has been the subject of much debate among Burst Angel fans, whether they’re simply good friends or “good friends”. In any case, it’s obvious that they care very much about each other. Meg often gets jealous over Jo, and Jo only gets truly angry at an enemy when that enemy has kidnapped or hurt Meg (which happens quite a bit here. Meg’s a sweet girl, but a rather incompetent back-up.). Jo is the character that grows the most over the course of the series, and Meg is the main reason why.
Storywise, Burst Angel is rather muddled. The series sets up a number of mysteries, which are generally solved, although personally, I would have liked to have learned more about RAPT. Pieces are revealed over time, including Jo’s connection, but they never go beyond the two-dimensional “conspiracy to take over the world”, in this case through the use of monsters and giant robots. The various plot arcs (Burst Angel tends toward multiple-episode stories; only a quarter of the episodes are stand-alones.) borrow from every action cliché in the book. Meg and Jo go undercover at a girl’s private school, a Yakuza enforcer (and friend of Kohei’s) is betrayed by his mentor, a rogue car is terrorizing the highways and has to be stopped. However, even if you have seen these stories before, and even if the series doesn’t explain everything, it entertains, and does a mighty good job of it.
A couple of final notes: Burst Angel joins Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, and Trigun in the sci-fi/western sub-genre (Meg often wears a cowboy hat, everyone has a gun, and Jo is the girl equivalent of the Man with No Name); and the music deserves a special mention (Jo has this Spanish guitar piece for whenever she goes into action, and the opening and closing themes are among the best in anime).
Great moments: The look on Jo’s face when she holds her Desert Eagles for the first time (episode 14), and “Time to leave your Mom’s basement, dude!”
Geeking out: Adding to the Old West theme, the mecha Jango is named after the hero of a cult spaghetti Western, Django (mecha Jango looks a little like he’s wearing a cowboy hat and spurs, and he’s transported in a box that looks like a coffin, another ref to the movie); the rogue car episode was done in both versions of Bubblegum Crisis.
Extras: Some real meaty ones. Voice actor and director commentary on six episodes, radio drama, textless opening and closing, interviews with the creators, and mini-artbook inserts with every DVD.
Easter Egg: In the fourth DVD, click on Extras, go to Commentary for "Showdown in Osaka”, hit the Left arrow button and Enter, and you’ll get a bonus (and hilarious) commentary track for the episode “Slingin’ Oil”.
Summary: As they say, if you like this sort of thing, then this is the sort of thing you’ll like. If you go for strong women, guns, and mecha, then go for Burst Angel. Grade: A minus.
Age rating: 15 and up. Bloody (and sometimes gutty) violence, fan service, nudity, a fair amount of cursing (for anime)
The very first scene of Burst Angel has the main character, Jo, in her mecha Jango, and she’s fighting this demony-looking mecha, with lots of guns and explosions and other cool stuff. The scene is unexplained, and remains so until episode 21, where the scene is placed chronologically. But even though the viewer doesn’t know what’s going on, or who Jo’s fighting, or even who Jo is at this point, it’s still thrilling to watch. This scene is a good analogy for the series as a whole. You may not know where you are at some points, but it’s still a fun ride.
Jo, Sei, Meg, and Amy
Burst Angel centers around four distinct characters (whom Bubblegum Crisis fans will recognize right away). Jo is the fighter who doesn’t talk much (Priss), Meg is the more sensitive one with not-as-good fighting skills (Linna), Sei is the mysterious leader (Sylia), and Amy is the young computer genius (Nene). Their personalities develop over the course of the series, especially Jo’s. Her past is unknown, but hints are dropped through the course of the show, and her full story and connection with RAPT is revealed in the climax.
The emotional center of Burst Angel is the relationship between Jo and Meg, who knew each other in New York before Sei hired them. Their precise relationship has been the subject of much debate among Burst Angel fans, whether they’re simply good friends or “good friends”. In any case, it’s obvious that they care very much about each other. Meg often gets jealous over Jo, and Jo only gets truly angry at an enemy when that enemy has kidnapped or hurt Meg (which happens quite a bit here. Meg’s a sweet girl, but a rather incompetent back-up.). Jo is the character that grows the most over the course of the series, and Meg is the main reason why.
Meg and Jo
Storywise, Burst Angel is rather muddled. The series sets up a number of mysteries, which are generally solved, although personally, I would have liked to have learned more about RAPT. Pieces are revealed over time, including Jo’s connection, but they never go beyond the two-dimensional “conspiracy to take over the world”, in this case through the use of monsters and giant robots. The various plot arcs (Burst Angel tends toward multiple-episode stories; only a quarter of the episodes are stand-alones.) borrow from every action cliché in the book. Meg and Jo go undercover at a girl’s private school, a Yakuza enforcer (and friend of Kohei’s) is betrayed by his mentor, a rogue car is terrorizing the highways and has to be stopped. However, even if you have seen these stories before, and even if the series doesn’t explain everything, it entertains, and does a mighty good job of it.
A couple of final notes: Burst Angel joins Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, and Trigun in the sci-fi/western sub-genre (Meg often wears a cowboy hat, everyone has a gun, and Jo is the girl equivalent of the Man with No Name); and the music deserves a special mention (Jo has this Spanish guitar piece for whenever she goes into action, and the opening and closing themes are among the best in anime).
Great moments: The look on Jo’s face when she holds her Desert Eagles for the first time (episode 14), and “Time to leave your Mom’s basement, dude!”
Geeking out: Adding to the Old West theme, the mecha Jango is named after the hero of a cult spaghetti Western, Django (mecha Jango looks a little like he’s wearing a cowboy hat and spurs, and he’s transported in a box that looks like a coffin, another ref to the movie); the rogue car episode was done in both versions of Bubblegum Crisis.
Extras: Some real meaty ones. Voice actor and director commentary on six episodes, radio drama, textless opening and closing, interviews with the creators, and mini-artbook inserts with every DVD.
Easter Egg: In the fourth DVD, click on Extras, go to Commentary for "Showdown in Osaka”, hit the Left arrow button and Enter, and you’ll get a bonus (and hilarious) commentary track for the episode “Slingin’ Oil”.
Summary: As they say, if you like this sort of thing, then this is the sort of thing you’ll like. If you go for strong women, guns, and mecha, then go for Burst Angel. Grade: A minus.
Age rating: 15 and up. Bloody (and sometimes gutty) violence, fan service, nudity, a fair amount of cursing (for anime)
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