Kidou Tenshi Angelic Layer, Selector Infected WIXOSS Recommendations
If you like on you may like the other :
• Both deal with avatar based fights
• Both deal with fighters inner stuggles
• Wixoss is way more dark but the spirit is similar.
Battles using avatars/ alter egos being controlled by young girls/children in a tournament style competition. The protagonists are both young girls who are missing their parents and enter into the game as complete novices, but seem to hold great potential to be champions.
SIMILARITIES: both feature an almost predominantly all-female cast (with just 1 or 2 minor supporting male characters, all of whom are quite likable) battling in fantasy game tournaments with vague rules (i.e never explaining the exact rules of the game to the viewer, just showing the battles and you get a vague idea) using miniature female avatars as their companions in battle (in Angelic Layer, the Angel Dolls. in WIXOSS, the LRIGs) required to win or even just play the game for them.
in Angelic Layer, the avatars have personalities somewhat "shaped" or "projected" upon them when they are created that reflect their owners and never
speak, but in WIXOSS they are their own pre-existing independent selves with minds of their own and are able to speak to their selectors, however in WIXOSS the LRIG is still in some way usually reflected psychologically or has something in common with the girl commanding her.
both shows despite having all-female casts, have little-to-no no gratuitous yuri/shoujo ai fanservice (almost no straight fanservice either). i really like yuri/shoujo ai but i have no interest in watching it in shows that feature middle-to-high-school age girls so this can be a positive or negative for you, but i view it as a positive which is why i bring up this similarity.
Angelic Layer does have some minor fan service because it's a CLAMP show, but this is very subtle and tame and not very frequent (even in the beach episode, which has to be one of the least gratuitous beach episodes i've ever seen. WIXOSS has no beach episode).
each girl in both series has a serious and heartfelt reason for battling, although the protagonist of WIXOSS takes some time to find her own reason as seems to be a common trope in "magic and wish granting shows aimed at girls" for some reason. however, unlike abominations such as GRANBELM (which might appeal to fans of both shows, however i did not like it, but make up your own mind if you watch it) the WIXOSS protagonist has a proper character development plot arc with a meaningful change in her personality and the plot direction once she finds it.
DIFFERENCES: in Angelic Layer, the MC's beginning desire for winning the battles comes mostly out of enthusiasm and idealism, and is encouraged by those around her who she makes friends with, rather than being the victim of dark circumstances becoming even darker, as in WIXOSS.
despite being in a niche sub-genre of the same battling anime tropes, WIXOSS is a complete deconstruction of that genre, whereas Angelic Layer, despite having many unique similarities, is the opposite and not a critique of the genre in any especially notable way besides a few of the usual "CLAMP" touches.
both shows are incredibly tonally different, with Angelic Layer having a mostly light hearted, positive and carefree attitude to the concept, with rivals frequently becoming friends and hanging out or helping each other, or reconciling after battles. WIXOSS quickly devolves into the opposite of this.
in WIXOSS, the opposite is the usual case, with some rivals becoming even worse or more twisted towards each other and doing more nefarious things as the show goes on.
still friendship plays a very large theme in both anime and in WIXOSS the nuances of friends vs enemies is explored in a lot more fleshed out, adult manner, especially due to the dark secrets behind WIXOSS which can cause even more negative reactions, emotions and behaviors from the cast. Angelic Layer always tends to lean into themes of reconciliation, WIXOSS has both themes of allies and friendships battling *against* the situation of antagonization they're put in at a much higher level.
if you want an anime that will make you feel good even if it has some tragic moments and backstories, watch Angelic Layer. if you want something dark and angsty (but not gratuitious with its angst-- most of it drives the plot) then watch WIXOSS. and if you are the kind of person who can like both moods or appreciate them, then you will probably like both shows.
also SHORT WARNING: WIXOSS S1 runs for 12 eps and ends on a complete cliffhanger, so make sure you have access to S2 for continuation of the series. Angelic Layer on the other hand is about 24-26 eps (probably due to being an older anime) and contains a complete story within it.
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