Kidou Tenshi Angelic Layer

Story:

A young girls moves to Tokyo to live with her aunt, and on the way gets involved in a new sport that is gripping the nation. This journey chronicles her journey through this new world that she has discovered. I personally enjoyed the story, especially the ending.

Animation:

Animation is nice. To me the style fits what this anime is supposed to be.

Sound:

The music is nice, I enjoy both the opening and closing themes. The Japanese voice acting is done very well. I have not heard the dub, so i can't say ... anything about that.

Characters:

Overall the characters are good. Since this is not a particularly long anime, there are many that just show up for an episode or two, but there is a solid core throughout the show. There is not any of them that I particularly dislike.

Overall:

To me this is an enjoyable anime and pretty cute.

I have a feeling I would've liked this one a lot more when I was younger. It's a CLAMP series, meaning that the things you've come to expect with a CLAMP series are present here; for better or worse. Definitely didn't lean TOO far into inappropriate territory as some of their other works though, which I appreciate. It's a very cute and simple show. Very good character designs, especially the angel dolls. Its connection to a certain other CLAMP series was also an interesting surprise. Though, you can totally watch this without having seen the one its loosely linked to, no problem. I do appreciate ... how the show seemed to be respectful of your time. Every battle starts and ends in the same episode, which I appreciate (Yu-Gi-Oh could never!). I think only 2 episodes didn't have a battle in it, so the majority of your time will be spent watching fights. I would've enjoyed spending a bit more time fleshing out the characters in-between fights, though. I do think the main storyline between Misaki and her mother is a liiiiiiiiiittle silly, but it didn't completely ruin the experience for me. Apparently it was even more nonsensical in the manga, so I'm glad the anime went to lengths to try and fix some things. All in all, a short, sweet, simple time.

6.5/10

CLAMP are amongst the most famous old-school mangaka artists in Japan. They have produced many known titles and have created many all time classic characters. Sadly, the thing that makes their stories so interesting is the same that eventually bogs them down. They rarely develop and if they do, it is usually rushed and in the final parts of the story. That is seen as a hook for most who keep watching in hopes of something good to happen, only to be eventually disappointed most of the times with stories which have catchy themes and potential for greatness but are otherwise ruined in the name ... of cute characters doing silly stuff.

I won’t lie, cute sells. So does taboo romance, a thing CLAMP throw around in their stories all the time. Most of my interest in works like RG Veda or Card Captor Sakura was about finding out what the outcome of all those kinky relationships would be. Plot? What plot? Who cares about that? Gimme cute characters in kinky relationships!

And this is eventually what makes Angelic Layer to be one of their least good works. The story is again two lines long, the characters are static as usual… but there is no kinky romance to make up for it! Yes, it sounds pretty lame saying such a thing but trust me, most of the appeal CLAMP stories have is their characters’ weird sexual preferences. And this particular title has almost zero. It has just a “normal” kiddy romance with the only twist being a possible triangle that never escalated into a cat fight. No catfight = no romantic triangle. Well that ruined most of the appeal!

Even the concept of the story isn’t very interesting. It is basically proxy battles around a children’s fighting game, which is not very violent or exciting. The battles are somewhat done nicely, with basic choreography and high octane music. But they are all so… bloodless! No fatalities, no dismemberments, not even shred clothes most of the times. Some say it is just a show for kids but I say I had Jumaru levels of violence 4 decades ago which, guess what, was also a show for kids. If you happen to have watched the similar Plawres Sanshirou, a much older and yet much more action-based series, you will understand what I mean. The robots there were shred to pieces, oil was spilling around, they needed maintenance, they had upgrades, they needed basic programming based on martial arts! Those were some really damn entertaining proxy battles! Angelic Layer on the other hand is just Barbie the Wrestler serving tea to Ken.

Furthermore the story doesn’t even try to explore its own concept. The Angels are supposed to be fighting dolls that move through their master’s brainwaves. Plus, it is stated several times that they resemble their masters’ in behavior. If they had bothered to show the dolls having emotions or a bit of free will outside of battles, I would have liked all this mess a lot more. Imagine Misaki’s doll saying or doing anything she is too afraid to say or do by herself. Imagine the same for everyone else, having his or her doll being the expression of their real inner selves that they can’t show directly. But nooo, they are just mooks. They play no part in the story whatsoever. They are not even characters! Just dolls their masters play with, like middle aged otakus.

And that is how they wasted the only thing that could have made this anime great. The dolls are just… dolls. Their only purpose is product placement. And, hello, is it me or are almost all dolls females dressed in skimpy outfits? Was that some sort or attraction for plamo fans? I’m sorry, we have Queen’s Blade and their peripheral titles for that. That does it; Jumaru, kick the living shit out of them!

Outside the battles, animation and music are plain average. The setting is somewhat futuristic and the characters are cute but it ain’t something worth remembering. The story is as I said, a typical CLAMP one. A good premise that goes nowhere. It’s just a girl who is looking for her mother and, oh, just starts playing a game with dolls for fun and, oh, wins all the time against pro players despite being a rookie and, oh, a friend of hers likes her and, oh, the champion in the game so happens to… be her mother. Like, what are the odds of that happening.

Overall, this is quite the passable title, it has zero replay value and has nothing you can’t find way better elsewhere.