Sometime in the future, terrorism in Japan has become commonplace, and the police have become almost as brutal as criminals. A member of the Special Security Force known as Angel, is the best of the best, stopping at nothing in her fight for justice.
Things get interesting for Angel and her partner, Raiden, when they begin investigating a series of murders in which the victims were known criminals, killed in very unpleasant ways. This trio of killers known as Hunters, is a group of psychics that have banded together to hunt down the lowest scum in the city and bring them to justice.
After a couple of encounters between the cops and the psychics, two of the psychics begin to think that maybe they're not the good guys after all; but the third prefers killing to morality. Augmented by cybernetics from a mysterious source, this third hunter heads out on a killing spree, with the Special Security Force as the first target.
Even with help from the other two psychics and her newly cyborged partner (after an unfortunate accident), Angel is going to have her work cut out trying to find the rogue psychic and the organization behind the Hunters.
Nenhum episódio encontrado.
Comentários
Voivodian
Angel Cop at a surface level is in extremely poor taste; snuff p*rn of fanatical communists, mind r*ping, not so subtle Japanese nationalism, muscle woman tiddy and an infamous rant that would bring down the full wrath of a certain anti defamation group. Beyond all the crazy rants and nihilistic shock value however, are clearly the creative minds of very politically conscious and well informed people. Sure the conspiracy thriller is ridiculous and utterly overshadowed by any Oshii political thriller. Like Oshii however, it is all tied to very very relevant and to use a meme; 'redpilled' geo/political discourse. No better example of this is seenin the closing monologue about Japan's true status in the world and relating it to 'being another Kuwait'. Genuinely intelligent and deep, far moreso than many acclaimed philisophical/art anime out there.
This is indeed the type of message too dangerous for societal elites and the commercial mainstream; the only way it could of slipped past the censors? You guessed it: by also being a hyperviolent retro anime ova. Angel Cop delivers amazingly on this front. In addition to the things already mentioned, we get:
- The infamous Angel Cop headshot
- Cool helicopter and powersuit designs, true staples of a cyberpunk diet
- Enough firepower to fill out a sweet IMFDB page
- Golgo 13 expy with even broader shoulders and somehow even less emotions (see:personality)
- Glam rock psykers
- The handcannon that breaks your arm and calls you banana
- The absolutely beautiful MangaUK dub.
- Last and not least, Angel is one SASSY action heroine!
Yes, Angel Cop is easily up there with 'terrible' ovas like MD Geist, Apocalypse Zero and Battle Royale Highschool as an unapologetic, absolutely badass and awesome action anime. Essential MANime viewing. Also a much more intelligent anime than it looks; quite a biting critique of the potential neo imperialist mechanisms of foreign investment capital and strong themes on state sponsored terrorism/destabilisations.
AnnoKano
The golden era of the 'Original Video Animation' or 'Original Animated Video' is a time which is remembered fondly by many anime fans. Beginning in the early to mid nineteen eighties, the age of the OVA continued right until the end of the millennium, and throughout the years produced some of the finest animation to ever come out of Japan; from its earliest classics like 'Top wo Nerae!' to works like 'Rurouni Kenshin: Tsuiokuhen' and 'FLCL' in its twilight years. The format can even boast 'Legend of the Galactic Heroes' among its ranks, an anime that is often touted as the greatest ever made. But noneof that matters, because we don't remember OVA format for the less-commercialised or more creative and experimental nature it tended to produce. No, we remember the OVA for the veritable smorgasbord of ridiculous trash it spawned in the late eighties and early nineties, and then charitably brought to Western shores by companies like Manga Entertainment and Central Park Media and now providing entertainment for drunken anime fans the world over. Today we will be taking a closer look at one of the less terrible examples of this bygone era; the delightfully offensive (or just offensive) five episode spectacular that is 'Angel Cop'.
Angel Cop is the story of a special branch of Japanese police officers, known as 'Special Security Agents', remarkable because it is neither a contrived acronym nor a portmanteau. The role of the 'Special Security Agents' is somewhere between a police force, a counter-terrorism unit and a band of superheroes. They operate within the context of the Japanese police force, but without unnecessary burdens like the judicial system or human rights laws to weigh them down. Naturally, all their members have almost superhuman abilities. This is in contrast to some of the other characters, which I will discuss later.
Throughout the OVA, the Special Security Agents are involved battling against a conspiracy; the nature of which depends on the version you watch. If you choose to watch the dubbed version (which you would, since that is the whole point of watching bad 80s OVAs) then they are battling against the Red May, a communist terror organisation which is actually a front for a greedy capitalist government... as you can imagine, it makes absolutely no sense at all and clearly wasn't intended to be a work of political intrigue.
But not making any sense at all is hardly a surprise when you take a complete production and introduce radical changes to the storyline, just because you are worried that some people might be offended about a couple of offhand remarks that some could choose to interpret as 'anti-Semitic'.
If you choose to watch the fan subbed version of the original Japanese version, you'll find that the story of a communist terror organisation that is a front for a corrupt government is itself a front for a story about a Jewish Zionist domination conspiracy... This also goes some way to explaining the use of so many Judeo-Christian references and imagery in an anime without any clear connexion to religion whatsoever.
Naturally when the show was brought to the West, the licensing company decided that racist conspiracy theories and anti-Semitic tones would not go over well with audiences. Not wanting to waste this otherwise wholesome story filled with violence, gore and sexual imagery they decided to change the story completely for the dubbed version, and then, for good measure, inserted random swear words into every second line. The result is, to put it simply, so fucking stupid that I don't understand how the piss they come up with this fucking shit.
The title refers to the main character; a woman named 'Angel' but described as a 'total bitch' in her own terms. Naturally this aspect of her character changes over the course of the show and by the end her character has made the transition from cyberpunk feminist icon to bawling blob of moe; by which I mean she actually hesitates before blowing her own partner's brains out in order to kill a genetically enhanced psychic military experiment. Yes, you read that right.
Analysing most of the cast in any real depth would be a waste of time. With only a few exceptions, all of them are entirely one dimensional and completely uninspired. Furthermore, describing their qualities would involve investing more time into the characters than the time the creators invested in their screen time. Developing them is unnecessary because we've seen them all so many times before, and since they're not gonna last why even bother trying to give them any depth?
At the end of the day, Angel Cop is all about the action; and that's okay, because that is all we really wanted in the first place. It comes thick and fast, it comes in a variety of forms and it's never too repetitive or sporadic for us to ever really notice the ludicrousness of the actual story. It manages to delve between the reality of the relatively near future and the realms of science fiction and fantasy without seeming discontinuous or out of place. The animation, while not "good" by any means, is functional and only in the last episode does the shoddy workmanship start to become obtrusive.
The same cannot be said for the soundtrack, which is often so inappropriate it is a curiosity. The defining moment of this is the very first time the ending theme plays, which is so inappropriate that one cannot help but laugh. Additionally, on several occasions the action scenes -which are quite violent and bloody- will be supplemented with light hearted, optimistic music. The purpose of background music is to complement the image on screen without becoming a distraction, but in Angel Cop the contrast between the two can become so stark that it actually leaves you feeling puzzled.
However to be fair to Angel Cop this is not always the case; nor is the music exceptionally bad. It mainly uses a combination of harder sounding electronic music for action scenes, with more surreal sounding music to enhance the more paranormal or mysterious aspects of the show. The backing music for the action is fit for purpose but unremarkable, while the paranormal music is repetitive, clichéd and quickly becomes irritating. On all accounts, the soundtrack is the worst thing about Angel Cop, with the exception of the highly offensive original storyline.
Having explored every aspect of Angel Cop, we can conclude that it is not exactly a work of quality. The story is riddled with clichés, and the plot is a total mess. The cast consists entirely of hackneyed stereotypes. The animation is unexceptional, if not outright bad, and the soundtrack is so unsuitable for the task at hand that it's actually humorous. As a production, Angel Cop is completely uninspired and poorly made.
But to see it for what it really is, would be to miss the point entirely. You are not watching Angel Cop because you expect it to be good, but because you expect it to be bad. A very special kind of bad, to the point where it is almost self-conscious, where there is no other objective than producing trash lower than the level of the lowest common denominator, and doing it unreservedly and unashamedly. And from there, it is simply a matter of providing creative licence to the art of translation and making the cheapest voiceover possible, before you've transcended both bad and good; to produce something that is so bad... it is good.
lawlmartz
"Unless you want a .45 caliber lobotomy real fucking back, you better tell your friend over there to put the fucking knife down." - Angel I have returned once again, from the gratuitously ultraviolent era of anime past... the 80s OVAs! For those who aren't yet in the know- the 80s are now famous for having produced some of the most outrageous, over the top bloody, gory, and violent anime ever. Back when you had to get anime on sketchy bootleg VHS tapes that cost $40 a pop just to see an animated titty. Back when blowing heads off and turning characters into meat fountains waschic. This turned a series of widely varying in quality and appeal anime into cult classics.
Titles like Violence Jack, Genocyber, Mad Bull 34, Wicked City, and our very own Angel Cop will forever be remembered for their contribution of an obscenely ridiculous plot with dubs to match.
This is not to say that Angel Cop is by any means a good anime, no matter what the underground following says.
Sound and Voice Acting: 6
The dub is not as hilariously bad as it was described to me, but decidedly hilariously average, and probably even a good quality production for the time. Sure, there's a few memorable one liners that sound like something someone from another planet who'd studied only extremely dated euphemisms and idioms from 20 years before this anime was even made would say... or just ad libbing. I did once read about the ADR director that worked for Central Park Media at the time- named "One Take" Tony Scorlietti. He had a thing for making every character have a thick NY accent and cursing as much as possible. SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT... PIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSS!
Sometimes it felt like Tourettes Guy was the scriptwriter for this series, no lie.
Artwork and Animation: 8
What was decidedly above average was the art in this OVA. Its contemporaries Violence Jack and Mad Bull look like ASS in the animation department. They're straight up terrible. Angel Cop, surprisingly, looks really nice. It's fluid for the most part, and the animation of the characters and their models are fleshed out and not recycled over and over, or with horrible drops in detail level. Angel Cop keeps the gore level high, and there are some pretty squishy, grotesque killings. Cool factor +2 for disgusting displays of viscera.
Characters and Story: 4
The characters are as follows: Robocop, Impossibly Badass Female Supercop, Steve Perry mixed with Steven Tyler, complete with an enormous 80s glam rockstar-do, Doll Girl, Dick Tracy, and Arnold Schwarzenegger with boobs and psychic powers.
Do with that as you will.
The story is a snoozer, and I didn't even care enough to go back and listen to what was supposed to be happening, and it didn't much matter. What matters is that a psychotic psychic bitch named Lucifer is going on a rampage for some suits who want to turn Japan into a nuclear waste pit, in the vein of Fallout. "When kids start growing two heads, you don't think people will notice that shit?" Dick Tracy says.
So, in order to stop the suits, their psycho test subject has to be subjugated to reveal the really poorly planned get rich quick scheme behind the murders. It's up to Angel and her partner Robocop to shut that shit down... and totally annihilate everyone in their way. Yay for drama. Yay for murder.
Enjoyment and Overall: 7, 6
While not nearly as crazy or funny as Mad Bull, nor as graphic as Violence Jack, Angel Cop falls somewhere in the middle. The dub is classic Central Park Media, and worth watching for that alone, but the actually decent visuals are a plus too. Imagine if Mad Bull had half the budget of Akira, and you've got something in the ballpark of Angel Cop.
There's also an unintentionally hilarious scene where a guy gets shot multiple times because another character can't aim with the other hand that basically makes the OVA.
This is must-see TV for 80's OVA fiends like me, or anyone who enjoys a short romp in the realm of the bloody ridiculous.
Kamezuki
“Angel Cop” is a six-episode sci-fi action thriller OVA from the late ‘80s-early ‘90s. Its story has a strong anti-American and anti-Semitic slant, and the way in which it progresses is dull and confusing. Even the Japanese version is filled with redundant, cheesy dialogue, and while some of the characters stand out, it’s basically due to how they look and they are mostly one-dimensional personality-wise. This series is touted as having a lot of graphic violence, but I found that the violence pales in comparison to that of similar “ultra-violent” OVAs both in amount and quality. The story is riddled with exposition dumps that consistof racist and xenophobic conspiracy-laden diatribes. There are also some inconsistencies in the writing, making it difficult to follow. Two of the characters have similar names (Ichihara and Tachihara), so I had trouble distinguishing which was which sometimes. Although this OVA is supposed to be full of action and violence, it plodded along at a snail’s pace in the earlier episodes, and it was kind of difficult to watch.
The violence itself is not as graphic as I thought it was going to be. There are maybe three or four truly graphic scenes, but the rest of it is mostly just characters getting shot, exploding, or getting their heads crushed in a split second. The most excruciating scenes are where people have been given truth serum and are being interrogated, with lots of torture to get them to talk (why do they need to be tortured if they’ve been given truth serum in the first place??).
The dialogue is supposed to be infamously bad in the dub, but the sub, which I watched, also has redundant and corny lines. One of the characters often says stuff like “what” and “don’t touch me!” in English, for instance. There’s also a scene where a Japanese cop asks a French cop if he speaks Japanese, and he just responds, “Oui.” There are a few silly exchanges like that throughout the OVA. Also, the long diatribes are exhausting to digest and sit through.
There is an attempt at character development for the main character, Angel, but it comes off feeling unnatural and forced. The rest of the characters don’t receive any development, unless you count the two “reformed” psychics, whose decision to help the protagonists all of a sudden doesn’t feel natural, either.
Regarding technical aspects, the animation is okay, but it declines in quality in the later episodes. There are frequent flashing lights. The character designs, while unusual, are decent and largely memorable. The voice acting is average. The background music consists mostly synthesized organ-type music, but it tends to fit the scenes that it’s in. The sound effects are okay, but I’ve definitely heard the same exact effects in other anime, so they’re not unique to this series. A good word to describe the ending theme is “discordant.” It caught me off guard, and it’s certainly unique, but I didn’t like it.
As for potentially objectionable content, the aforementioned racist and xenophobic streak in the plot will probably offend some viewers, as will of course the violence. There is some nudity and some revealing clothing as well, particularly towards the end.
Overall, while the plot does progress somewhat logically and gets from point A to point B, it doesn’t do a satisfactory job of it. All of the elements highlighted in this series — the violence, the cyberpunk aesthetics, the geopolitical conspiracies with corrupt politicians — are better handled in other anime. Not recommended.
literaturenerd
This is my 10th year anniversary re-review! Back in 2014, I joined MAL to communicate with other anime fans and to write short, comedic reviews as a means to vent stress. I was attending medical school at the time and during practical exams you must think fast and write fast, so writing 30-minute blitz reviews was good writing practice for me. One of the first anime that I ever reviewed for this site was Angel Cop. Since the 1990s, Angel Cop has had an infamous reputation among older anime fans. This is due to its astoundingly awful dub and for embodying the spirit of ultra-violent,schlock OVAs from the height of the video rental boom in Japan. Flash forward 10 years and I’ve ended up on a completely different career path. Fortunately, I found something that I really love doing and it just so happens that I have a job where I can typically relax on the weekends. This means that I now have more than 30 minutes when I want to write a new review. It’s definitely going to take a wee bit longer than that to adequately summarize my feelings towards this anime and provide background information explaining it. Angel Cop is very much a product of its time and it’s important to understand the context in which it was made to fully appreciate this lump of insanity. Strap yourselves in folks, if you’ve not heard of this anime then you’re in for a ride!
I’m not even sure where to begin with this series. I’m someone who passionately loves terrible anime, so Angel Cop is special to me. I own it on Bluray and I’ve seen it 6 times now. I’ve watched it 3 times dubbed, twice with the original uncensored subs, and once with both the dub and subs at the same time so I could directly compare the two. There are plenty of anime where I initially disliked it either because I was in a foul mood, or I didn’t really appreciate what it was trying to do. Then I watch it again a few years later and it’s amazing. This list includes shows like Kuchuu Buranko, Samurai Champloo, Gurren Lagann, Princess Tutu, Kaiji, Evangelion, and Lain. Angel Cop is not on this list. This anime is still terrible no matter how many times I rewatch it. However, it is compellingly terrible in a way that I feel I must share with others. They certainly don’t make them like this anymore!
Angel Cop was not based on a manga, novel or anything else. It was a completely original IP created by legendary animator Ichiro Itano, who you may remember for creating the “Itano Missile Circus”. That thing in every mecha anime where a thousand missiles are fired at once and spiral all over the place. Trust me, you’ve seen it before. Angel Cop had a very troubled production history. It began in 1989 and didn’t finish until 1994 despite only being 6 episodes long. The manga that was supposed to accompany the OVA got canned after a single volume in 1989. Veteran script writer Sho Aikawa was originally attached to the project but left after the first couple episodes. Yasuomi Umetsu, who would go on to found Studio Arms, was the key animator on episode 1 but also bailed. The last 3 episodes were written, directed, and mostly animated entirely by Itano with everyone else of note having abandoned the project. Angel Cop began its life as a Judge Dredd inspired gorefest that’s violent, gritty, and consistently mean-spirited and nasty. Sort of a love letter to the schlockiest of bad 80s action movies. Bakemonogatari gets endlessly praised online for lifting shots directly from French New Wave films like “Breathless” and Cleo from 5 to 7”. Angel Cop directly lifts a scene from "Invasion USA" by Cannon Films. It’s the shot where Angel casually looks over her shoulder while firing a missile from the back of her motorcycle. It’s kind of ironic as you’ll later realize that Angel Cop would shamelessly rip-off an Israeli action film, but Itano did it for whatever reason.
Everything changed for Angel Cop from its writing to its production cycle with the Japanese economic crash that started in late 1990 and continued throughout the 90s decade. A lot of people lost a lot of money, including Mr. Itano himself. Whenever unforeseen disaster strikes, everyone looks to place the blame on someone. In reality, it was a complex issue caused by decades of monetary easing by the Japanese government and reckless speculation by Japanese banks and credit companies who thought the good times would never end. However, conspiracy authors were quick to blame the United States for sabotaging the Japanese economy in order to prevent Japan from overtaking America. Anti-Semitic conspiracy novels including the 9001st reprinting of Protocols of the Elders of Zion quickly reached the top of the Japanese bestseller list. So, if you’re wondering why the animation quality nosedives in the 2nd half and the plot goes completely off the rails to instead focus on delivering a 7-minute racist diatribe…that’s why. Itano was not exactly in a healthy mental space during the last half of this OVA. Dude was hauled up in an animation studio with empty bottles of whiskey, piss jars, and Protocols finishing this piece of shit mostly out of pure spite. You have to love the crazy old bastard. Against all the odds, he somehow got this shit made.
Angel Cop was not a successful OVA in Japan by any means. So how did it even reach the West? Why isn’t it stuck on Japanese VHS and doomed to utmost obscurity? The answer to those questions is a little company called Manga UK. During the 1990s, the British saw an opportunity to market anime as violent, sexy cartoons for adults. They would license the cheapest, shittiest OVAs that no Japanese companies wanted and sell them to British audiences with highly “spiced up” scripts that feature swear words in virtually every sentence. Enter John Wolskel, who is secretly the hero of this whole story. As a young college graduate, Wolskel was trying to break into television and film writing. Some of his first projects were for Manga UK. After the disastrous failures of “The Dark Myth” and “Sword for Truth”, his boss threatened to fire him if the next anime he was assigned to didn’t fly off the shelves. Wolskel stopped even remotely trying to follow the Japanese scripts and completely threw caution to the wind. This led to such AMAZING dubs as Mad Bull 34, Devil Man, Cyber City Oedo, and of course Angel Cop. Wolskel’s script manages to transform Angel Cop into a profanity laden dark comedy in which an elite team of utterly unlikeable asshole cops must crush a plot by American communists. Oddly enough, the joke dub even manages to fix some plot holes from the original, such as the Japanese government allowing Jews to somehow buy the entire island of Hokkaido and turn it into the world’s nuclear waste dump to sterilize the entire Japanese population. The dub explains that they don’t intend to keep this a secret for long, but the sterilization will happen quickly and by the time the rest of Japan finds out, they’ll all be on a beach overseas using new identities. The original script literally never explains what the motives of the Japanese government are to go along with this plan or how they intend to keep it hidden. They just say that if they don’t do it, the Jews will force Japan to become the 51st state, which is a fate somehow worse than sterilizing the entire population. Then it goes on a tangent about how America lost over 500,000 soldiers in the Vietnam War which was entirely orchestrated by American Jews in order to test out chemical weapons on Vietnamese civilians. Yeah…even the most unhinged of terminally online /pol/ lurkers look at the Angel Cop script and think…what?!! Anyways, back to my man John. The dude made a heroic effort to salvage this project and is the only reason that anyone outside of Japan knows about this anime.
Angel Cop’s reputation in the 90s made it out to be one of the single worst anime of all time, but is it really that bad? The answer to this is…not really. Of the scant selection of anime that Americans could purchase dubbed in 1995, it was definitely among the worst. However, America wasn’t getting the type of shit that people like Kenny Lauderdale cover. We weren’t getting Chargeman Ken, Twinkle Nora Rock Me, Kentoushi, Kennel Tokorozawa, and shit like that. I can personally list over 100 anime that are worse than Angel Cop. Ichiro Itano may not be the greatest script writer, but he’s an animation genius. Even flying solo while drunk off his ass, Itano insured that Angel Cop has a few scenes that look good even in the last couple episodes. Angel’s brutal execution of a communist terrorist in the first episode looks spectacular and is possibly the best-looking gore that Umetsu has ever done. What I can’t say anything nice about is the OST. Angel Cop’s soundtrack has never been released even in Japan and there is a good reason for this. It was composed entirely using a Casio synthesizer and just sounds like garbage. Combined with one of the worst ending themes in the history of anime, Angel Cop’s soundtrack is just the drizzling shits.
So, if I love this anime and keep making my friends and family watch it, then why am I only giving it a 2? While the dub does its absolute best, Angel Cop doesn’t work as a “so bad it’s hilarious” comedy in the way that something like Mad Bull 34 does. Angel Cop probably has around 6-7 minutes of gut busting comedy spread over a 3-hour run time. Even if you’re an edgelord and are looking for the anti-PC shock value, it doesn’t really do that consistently either. That’s pretty much all in the last 2 episodes. If you're a gorehound, you'll also be disappointed. The majority of Angel Cop’s run time is actually just boring as FUCK. My girlfriend almost fell asleep watching this. There are long gaps of utterly unenjoyable downtime between the peaks of gleeful ultra violence, hilarious dub lines, and deranged conspiracy theories. Instead of being “so bad it’s good”, Angel Cop at the end of the day is just…bad. Really fucking bad. However, it’s such a time capsule of OVA insanity that I find it endlessly fascinating. Despite my morbid fascination though, I can’t earnestly give this a higher rating.
NotenSMSK
Angel Cop. The title to a not so appreciated anime that could be really misinterpreted in various ways though I won't go into needless detail. However, no - the title doesn't revolve around a female that takes the shinigami (Angel of Death) role nor is she called 'Angel' because she portrays the angelic beauty. No, what this anime is about is a political scenario much like those that one might expect from Ghost in the Shell; a terrorist organization, an anti terrorism organization and how they tackle a situation. Seems too similar to GitS perhaps but Angel Cop differs enough that the background being similar addsto the appeal since it doesn't feel like a rip-off - at least not to me. Yes - both have dominant female chars and similar organizations structure but the execution is very different.
We have the politicians, we have the organizations, and we see how the clashes between these three parties are sorted out, which side gains in on the other and so on. The anime does a fine job of giving details alongside that makes one understand the situation a little more - the six ep length does not allow for extremely intricate chemistry anyways. And inching to the last two episodes we do get a decent finale.
I like the anime. It is not one of the best, but certainly something I'd recommend to people knowing their interests. However, with its positives, there ARE certain negatives as well.
The story is more or less discussed above - I don't want to give spoilers so yes - no lengthy synopsis. Providing analysis: It is a fine paced story, with a definite and well defined plot that is suitably covered in six episodes. It doesn't have a lot of plot twists, scenes that make your mouth gape for seconds but it doesn't bore you and make you wonder "what the hell is happening?" either.
And that is what I feel as the reason people don't rate it decently. No, it is not going to give you a mouth watering twist, or a super suspense ending, or just bring things together so that they make your heart throb for the finale... no. It has a conclusion, yes. But will it make you jizz in your pants? No. That is not their purpose. Having said that, it is not as if they didn't work on the ending AT ALL. I'd say it is a matter of taste but people portray it as far too less.
The art is old. If you are expecting a combination of crisp art, vivid colors and perfectly fluid animation like Shigatsu wa Kimino Uso then sorry, you are looking in the wrong place. HOWEVER, no one is saying the animation is BAD. The color scheme is dull, yes - the backgrounds monotonous at times, but the character designs are good, the animation is fluid and detailed at times where it needs to be. Fighting sequences are not over the top and the over all anime doesn't irk you (as some people do when seeing the original "Berserk" after the remade movies). The best comparison to this animation would be '8 man after' another similar classic. So, keeping in mind the time it was released, I'd say the animation is really good.
And it is a little hard to put the sound category... it isn't outstanding, but it works well. The sound effects are good, the music is old school - which I really like and complementary to the scene playing. So over all fine music.
Now the main reason I kind of enjoy these kind of shows is how they managed the character development. The char's are good - those in the anti terrorism unit seem professionals, capable, each having their own personality, their own traits. They didn't give us the time to see much into their background, what coffee they like, had they trauma's in the past but the anime didn't fixate the personalities to 'muscle man' 'hacker' 'thief' which in my opinion is good! Angel especially is given time to develop from the typical bass ass female (that I don't honestly dislike) to a more considerate female; her personality changes perspectives which is good. However they did give Raiden - the other main char, a personality that was... erratic. Not a taboo, but it felt a little hard to digest in the start. That might make me not give it a perfect rating in the category perhaps but it did yea, the anime did have some good chars.
So good professional chars, a political story that is well wrapped up and starts well and ends well... an anime that I enjoyed watching and again, while not on the top of my recommendation list, it still has its place. If you don't like the 80's atmosphere, catch phrases that sound too funky or childish now (which were very acceptable in their time) and are expecting something very fresh, then this anime will disappoint you. HOWEVER, IF you are looking for an old school anime with entertainment through a mature plot line, and believable chars that captures the environment and ambiance of its time, then yea - I'd say you watch it.
Thank you for reading and feedback is always welcome!
Bensonas
First things first with this one. I was aware of this exact issue before I started and yet still I went along with it, walking straight into it with full understanding....the dub genuinely is horrendous, especially Freya. Freya's dub voice acting in particular is honestly one of the worst I have ever heard. It's not necessarily the scripts fault either. Has some decent parts of dialogue, some of them great in fact, a lot of the character acting is just really garbage. Despite this, I'm not going to hold it against the show. Long before Funimation was the dominant dubbing force it is today, wehad stuff like this. So, I'm going to give it a break. Mainly because the show is genuinely pretty damn good, setting the dub aside.
Just like with all animation from the Golden Era, this is in the same vein. It's great. There some very well executed scenes here and, speaking retrospectively from a guy born in 91, ahead of its time (take that comment with a pinch of salt). I have zero complaints about how any of the animation was executed. Great colour pallet, excellently captured movement, excellently drawn characters, it's really great.
The story is pretty damn solid too. You may read the synopsis and think 'how could this go wrong' and well, you'd be right. It essentially set itself up to not fail. As I understand it, a lot of the sci-fi elements from the Manga were omitted, having not read the Manga, I have no issue with this as I don't know what I'm missing. Upon the shows conclusion, I didn't think anything was missing in fact. The show had great pacing, decent character development and a not dissatisfying conclusion. It did everything it needed to I guess. It certainly didn't blow me away but I'm not sure it needed to. It just needed to be solid. It delivers on that.
I normally stick to 3 key points of review when writing these; Animation, story and music. Not sure I can tell you much about the music to be completely honest. I've reached the end of this show and have no recollection of what I heard. So I can really review it. What I will say however is if it was incredible, I would have noticed. Equally, if it was garbage it would have noticed to. But I didn't, therefore, again, this anime did what it needed to on another front.
In summary I would recommed it. For those who haven't experienced much of the Golden Era, it's a good example of it outside of the obvious choices of Bebop and Trigun etc. For thos who have experience with the Golden Era, I would still recommend it as the more familiar one is with this era of anime, the better it is.
Luquillo
Angel Cop is not a great anime by any stretch of the imagination to me, nor is it anywhere near close to the worst anime has to offer either. I have heard many point of views on this anime, and for the most part it appears to be either a love it or hate it; I have heard legit reasons from both sides, but to be completely fair there is some room for gray area, and I mildly fall right into there. Angel Cop definitely has a few good features and some really bad ones too. It's similar to Ninja Scroll in a way. It knowsexactly what it is and doesn't try to deviate from it. Foremost, this is a very brutal action series with a very dark setting to compliment the serious nature of it.
When creating a series or a film with a truly dark atmosphere. It's not only important to create the character personalities that properly meshes with the environment. The film should also maintain its identity throughout. This is the main area Angel Cop truly excels in. You never forget you're watching a serious and violent series. There is no comedy relief or random jokes just tossed out there to lighten up the mood. Nor will you see the exaggerated big faces with the over sized tear drop. This for me is one of the biggest attractions to Angel Cop. I simply have a hatred for series and films that are suppose to be truly dark and serious, then you'll have random comedic segments that completely ruin the atmosphere. Hellsing: Ultimate is one series that falls victim to this clashing of genres.
The action and violence in Angel Cop can either be its strength or achilles heel all depending on the person. The death scenes are disturbing and well animated. The gore is in good detail from people taking bullets to the head on to being fried like lobsters. I was taken by surprise a little bit when I first saw this many years ago. There is one sick torture scene that truly brings out the cruelty in humanity to the fullest.
Angel Cop is an entertaining series in some ways but it definitely has its huge, glaring flaws. The writing definitely deserves a mention. The first half was pretty good and the story was a bit gripping. Later on, it takes a turn and becomes only a splatter fest and characters you already didn't care about are being taken out as if they were so important. One character even dies an undeserved dramatic death, and after learning next to nothing about them it was very hard to care about the person.
The animation is hit and miss. The visuals can be pretty good, and the gore isn't the only thing well done: character designs, landscapes, and the use of lights were well detailed and animated. However, by the last two episodes, you can see it suffered from budget restraints; resulting in the animation and artwork being inconsistent and downright dreadful.
I also have small issues with the setting. The series is suppose to take place somewhere in the future, and some of the technology concerning some weapons such as high powered guns, heavily armed motorcycles, and cyborg suits back up its futuristic claims; but the people's mannerisms such as taste in garments, hairstyles, and the fact disco is alive and well takes away that futuristic feel to me.
The series also suffers from some crude dialogue with a lot of forced cursing. I'm a fan of cursing toons but the profanity even grated on my nerves, and reached the dark realm of ultra annoying. There is also a lot of bad voice acting and cheesy lines too. The stand out line definitely has to be, "If this is justice, then I'm a banana". Seriously... Who the hell would say that?
Angel Cop does have a decent plot and it's not completely mindless. There is a slight bit of character development on the part of the main character Angel. She's also a likable character in some ways due to her fearless and cold demeanor. The series also touches on themes such as patriotism and government conspiracies. Plus, the death scenes can be imaginative as well. The series goes out of its way to keep trying to shock the viewer with the death.
Overall, Angel Cop is wasted potential to me. I feel it was wasted because of a low budget and questionable writing. The budget was definitely the issue because the series was finished over a five year period through 1989-90 & 94. The effort was there, Angel Cop had some very good ideas, plot twist, and characters introduced; but the six episode format along with its other flaws nearly dismantles it. It definitely needed a longer run time since it does feel rushed. Overall, I recommend this only to the action starved. If gore and action is your cup of blood then this will most likely quench your thirst. To others, I recommend skipping it completely.
Highs: Lots of bloody and gory action, good pacing, consistent theme
Lows: Crude and sometimes annoying dialogue, inconsistent animation, writing is sometimes questionable
BalaoCoon
I watched the English Dubbed Version and this is what my review is basically going to be about. Just recently hooked on the Police genre of anime from B the Beginning this is the one that has really given me the most amount of Conspiracy with Supernatural powers-clashing goodness sense B. One of the things that really stood out to me about this show was the use of booby-traps and interesting misdirects to set them off as opposed to the standard formula in modern police raids by having a bunch of cops storm the place and either getting everyone apprehended or setting off an explosiontrap as they rush in and end up just serving as fodder for the plot. Disarming the traps only to have them go off added an extra layer of tension to the story, and made the scenes where the police infiltrate enemy bases or places where they set up bombs all the more exciting and unpredictable.
The dub's voice acting was solid in a hilarious way (some voices are bad, and others are good for me but I am not an expert on acting here), the animation started off mostly slick (albeit with a few static moments), but once the OVAs continued production past the fall of the Japanese economy in the 90s the last two OVAs suffered from a dip and led to the climax feeling less intense than the buildup, but otherwise the story was still a stellar mix of conspiracy intrigue, raw violent battles of massive mayhem and unrestrained edgy characters (which I mean as a positive) that made this show an experience of rushing adrenaline and excitement balanced out with a look into what Japan's broader views were of the time on patriotism and communism and an interesting conspiracy plot not unlike FMA Brotherhood.
I can genuinely understand the hate and its no masterpiece, but I genuinely did like this OVA.
Hat_guy
In the 80s and 90s there was a vein of ultra-violent, ultra-bad OVAs. Simple, hard to follow plots, mediocre animation that ranged from good to garbage, laughable English dubs, and all the gore you could ever want. Angel cop is one of those OVAs, and boy is it a fun one. This was one of the first anime I ever watched, and it is so objectively terrible that it's amazing. I'll leave my review scarce to avoid most spoilers and so that you can enjoy this series in all it's skull popping glory. [plot: 3] In this Japanese-nationalistic story where Japan is a world superpower Angel Copand her partner Raiden fight a group of terrorist commies called the Red May. They also fight a group of evil American psychics. At the end of the series, the plot becomes rabidly anti-American and anti-Semitic, though the anti-Semitism is written out of the spectacular English dub. Most of the time watching this I found the story uninteresting or confusing, and it seemed to degrade as it went on. The plot was basic and not very engaging; the story never gripped me, and it doesn't do a good job of making the viewer care about what's happening on screen. The one good thing about Angel Cop's story is that, like the rest of this anime, it's unintentionally rediculous and comedic. That the plot sounds like something my conspiracy loving uncle would spout over thanksgiving dinner makes this all the more enjoyable to watch.
[art: 5]
Angel Cop has widely inconsistent animation. Most of the time the show looks poor and static. What saves this show in the art department is the gore. Boy oh boy. Chances are you've seen the infamous Angel Cop head-shot, it appears in episode one. if you haven't, check it out right away. When it comes to violence, the animation is smooth as hell and a treat to the eyes. Even outside of that this show has a few points where the art kicks up a notch and it almost tricks you into believing it's a good anime. I have a soft spot for scenes of uncensored gore, so for that alone it was worth watching.
[sound: 5]
If you are going to subject yourself to this show, you ought to watch the English dub. The English version of this show uses fifteening, which is where they cram in as much cussing as possible to bump up the rating. At the time anime was more likely to fly off the shelves if it was rated 16+ or mature, so many English dubs would do all they could to appear more 'adult'. This lead to some hilarious results. Most characters sound like children trying out swear words for the first time in a failed attempt to sound like their fathers, and besides the gratuitous language most of the lines are so ridiculous it's hard to believe they weren't written intentionally bad for kicks. An example of this is when Angel says 'if this is justice then I'm a banana'. Every line sounds forced and the screams sound impassionate and fake, which makes this show all the more fun. Besides that, I appreciate the English dub's use of 'the Americans' in place of 'the Jews'.
[character: 2]
Somehow I cared even less about the characters than I did about the story. Angel is a walking stereotype, and so is Raiden. Neither of them are interesting or likable. The cast entirely consists of forgettable lumps of soggy cardboard and blood. Most of the time I was more focused on how I hoped the characters would die (more gore please!) than the actual characters themselves- if you could even call them characters, that is.
[enjoyment: 8]
This show is a pile of flaming hot garbage and I love it for that. I've busted more guts and seen more guts busted watching this show than I have watching any comedy. If you are a fan of ultra-violence and shows so bad they're good, Angel Cop is a must watch.
[overall: 5]
If you want a good laugh, watch Angel Cop. If you want a good show, look elsewhere.
iruleatgames
People will say this anime is anti-semitic and if you like it, you hate Jews. I guess I must be a self-hating Jew, because I like it. That aside, the art is literally movie quality, with the amount of detail in each frame. The soundtrack has very unique tracks that do not just fade into the background. Their sometimes funky tone puts you off-kilter, as it should, when the events that are happening on screen are supposed to be very disorienting for the characters. The ED is interesting, because it adds layers upon layer of sound until it reaches an absolute crescendo with other voices joining in.The sound effects are punchy and nice, something most shows take for granted, as guns always sound like popcorn makers now (that's even assuming a show has guns, and everyone isn't just using fists, magic, or other "super powers" (did I mention every show is an isekai?)).
The stakes are high, and it's an absolute spectacle to watch. The show makes you care, with all of the bonds between the SSF being the emotional anchor for the series, not to mention all the bigger machinations at play. The show isn't afraid to kill main characters, watch to see which ones. It's also not afraid to show gore and mild nudity, which is also highly appreciated given current anime being extremely sanitized. The characters are adult and mature, and there are zero, repeat, zero shonen tropes in the show, something that can not be said for "modern seinen" (remember when seinen was about adult things, and not the struggle to even become an adult ala RELife?).
For a bunch of the reasons listed above, it is genuinely surprising that this show is on Crunchyroll. As it is legally available, none of you have an excuse. Watch it, and rate it, so we can get the show to at least a 7, and out of the shadow realm.
P.S. Even if you don't agree with "that specific part", this show is super based. You watching this show will make the ADL mad. If nothing else, watch it for that alone.
Kryptonot_7471
Do not let the ratings fool you, this Anime is criminally underrated. A lot of it could be considered by some to be "so bad it's good" but I disagree. The same people who praise Hellsing Ultimate for being over-the-top in its plot, action and dialogue use it as a point of contention with Angel Cop. Criticisms of its Plot are biased and mostly full of shit. Hellsing Ultimate is about Nazi Vampires & Ghouls terrorizing Britain, Angel Cop is about Psychic Je- (I mean) Americans funded by the Deep State. Plot-wise this Anime does pretty good, It's not crazy or anything but it's servicable for aBaddass Action Flick. The Political Aspect of it is actually somewhat intriguing. Communist Red-May, Big Business's Involment and the Deep State Conspiracy with the SSF trying to solve it all, it puts it miles above other Edgelord Gore OVAs from this time period.
One other criticism is that the characters are flat, but that's complete nonesense. I found Raiden's character to be exceptionally written, and a lot of it relied on show don't tell and his develepment happened quite quickly. Freya, Asura, Taki, Hacker and Reika were very good Side-Characters that significantly boosted the stakes for the conflict. For 6 Episode OVA, this was pretty good.
Angel is basically a badass trashy hypocritical bloodhound at the start but this makes sense because by the end of the OVA, there is an obvious change which also makes sense plot-wise. People criticise her character but I think a lot of that has to do with how the dub underplays the depth for the sake of humourous lines such as "If this is Justice then I'm a banana" - which although great on their own, do make the character feel a bit more shallow.
Even despite that the change is noticeable, tho subtle. The villian is cartoonishly insane although, she's more of a puppet for the deep state which is made even more interesting with the back-and-forth in the final episode with Taki confronting his Superiors.
So, if the Plot is Decent, the Characters are Good, the Dubbing is Fantastic, the Animation is Fluid, then why on Earth does this OVA get so much Hate? Does being over-the-top and campy make it bad somehow, or does the gore make it lose points, or could it perhaps be the Anti-Semitism in the Sub? A lot of it's detracters have such superficial reasons for disliking it, it's a shame I hadn't heard of this Anime before.
8.5/10 (Badass Action Sci-Fi Romp)
George_Miller
Just to clarify, I am not a huge anime or manga fan. Angel Cop is far from worst but it is not good, either. I watched it in original Japanese language; not the English dub, because it was laughably bad. It’s really hard to review this but I’ll try. The only thing I like about this anime is Angel herself, but not in terms of character (let’s not ignore the fact that she’s a heartless cop who does not care about killing baddies, although she did gained sympathies and showed concern towards the end, which is a good thing) but in terms of appearance: she’shot, let’s admit that. Her blue armor was hot, too. Aside from that, this OVA was abysmal. It is wasted potential. I find the gore to be very unnecessary. There’s some good stuff like the fight scenes and the terrorists infiltration scenes was suspenseful. Would I recommend this to anyone? Yes, just for masturbating to Angel. I have not much positive things thing to say as I thought I just wasted my time on this abysmal OVA. Seriously, it is bad and a waste of time.
nullgolem
Watched a hardsub by unknown group Angel Cop immediately felt like a dumbed-down poor man's Ghost in the shell in every way! I personally liked the drawing and animation and the closing theme music was actually really quite good. but the translation as well as some of the general presentation is atrocious.... Perhaps I have a bad translated sub (doubtful but always possible) but this is extremely tough to follow. The art itself is at times a bit odd in a way i can't describe. I think it's the color. It doesn't particularly have a dark gritty edge feel, but rather soft and warm (there isa bit of soft edges and out of focus type effects as well as brighter tones) which can seem a bit out of place with the juxtaposed violence and other stuff... (Plus in this era, you typically have anime themed like this with a classic dark noiry and glowy look and limited palette) and other times you have those classic PC-98 styled shots of some cigarette butts in a beer can next to an old ass laptop that is very on point!
the jist of this is very much like a Ghost in the Shell type police agency, however the story is a bit of concocted goofiness and there is this weird mystical element... Throw in what would seem to be a poor translated subtitled version (what i got anyway) and this falls apart kinda quickly. This is where the thing is a bit atrocious imo.
It's tough to really get a grasp of the characters. Yeah there is something there but it's not really distinct or much to mention. I could blame the translation but I kinda think the translation can only be blamed so much, the presentation doesn't hold a great case for the original source perhaps (Can't say i'd be interested from a watching of this one)
Overall, by the end of a second episode one can't help but think 'why don't i just stop this and watch solid state society or second gig?" lol. Still, it's short enough to wade through despite the confusion and there are actually some decent stills of various things here and there so I'd say it's worth while if you like to look at that stuff, but definitely not something i'd recommend to someone who perks up at the thought of "Ghost in the Shell." Still, it's interesting how this is quite a bit older than ghost in the shell but still seems a bit similar in many ways, such as storyboarding. I'd say both are a spirit of the times that they were made in, and reflect a lot of that in their discourse. If you think Ghost has aged badly get a load of this one! XD
Angel Cop is one of those 'classics' that has aged badly. I like stuff in this period but this isnt really one of them. If you like violent stuff there's plenty to pick from that both looks more gruesome and has nicer aesthetic. If you like noir/cop stuff there is def way more choices. If you like body horror/weird stuff there's plenty else and heck if you like Ghost in the Shell there is several versions of the show. I can't see why one might reccomend this one unless you were familiar with the source. It doesnt really excel at anything
SCLFI
Angel Cop’s got a pertinent title, it’s definitely about cops, and after watching it I was very compelled to go to Heaven and meet some angels, but I would struggle to find anything positive to say about it beyond the title. The biggest issue is that Angel Cop is an action series without good action. The opening episode has a particularly profane death, but it's the only one of its kind, ignoring the fact a 9mm isn't even going to do that much damage, from that point onward, they incidentally throw in something to try and match the original one, but none of them have anyimpact to speak of. This particular death early on is notable on the grounds that it happens during the action, when some bloke is trying to clear a room (and not die while doing so), he sees someone gets blasted so hard there is no more skin on their face, a reminder of their mortality. Doesn’t come again, the only other instance you’ll get of gore is when someone’s got no reason to be at all worried, when the man’s got a cigarette in one hand, a cup of tea in another, and probably going to start playing Candy Crush on his phone once he’s finished his tea, he is not threatened in the slightest, point is, there is no impact, the gore has no impact, it doesn’t accentuate the action scenes, the parts where people are getting shot and killed, it only comes about when there is no tension to speak of, there are many ways to apply gore to a series, and this is probably the most flavourless one there is, feels like looking at product placement.
Still, I’m off target, I should speak about the actual action scenes themselves, wherein I’m not the only one who’s missing their target, these people aim more like child soldiers than elite soldiers, and it’s not made any better by the fact when people get shot they barely even notice half the time, it’s like watching a fight between video game NPCs who aren’t allowed to die unless the player shoots at them, either that or it’s a multiplayer game and someone forgot to turn off headshots only.
But, I suppose that’s not enough, you can’t have an action series with bad action scenes, they just had to make a story that’s bare gobshite on top of that. It starts off with a basic enough premise, far-left terrorists (who are under the command of Jewish bankers) are trying to cause the collapse of Japan, the greatest world power, so main character Angel, a motorcycle cop, is tasked with killing the terrorists, which she does via the Dirty Harry school of policing, which states that if anyone talks to you they are a terrorist and you get to kill them. Fine by me, terrorists are dickheads anyway, just make a show about some outlaw biker (that’s basically what she is) killing terrorists and stopping their plan to terrorise. But then they changed it.
Anachronisms are never good. In their most common form, they are a symptom of a writer not actually knowing their setting, or not caring, and the major anachronism in Angel Cop falls under the latter category, the anachronism in question being vampire-ghost-fire-people, with hairstyles that were too ostentatious even for the 1980s, and outfits that make Bram Stoker’s Dracula look contemporary. Wouldn’t be that big of a problem, if not for the fact the ghost people become main characters (and one of them’s named Lucifer, because I guess tacitness is overrated), and if the firefights between normal people is like watching video game NPCs fight, then watching the vampires do anything is like watching someone use god mode, someone stands near them and they just spontaneously have a heart attack and die, might as well go take a piss any time you see them appear, because you’re not going to miss anything of value, nothing interesting will happen. They’re not the only one, there’s some bloke who looks like some Lidl version of Golgo 13, and they put in cyborgs somewhere along the line, and some woman who absolutely insists on not wearing clothes, which was a very strange creative decision, with how hollow the plot is, and how lifeless all but a few action scenes are, you’d think this was targeted at children since they’re the only people they can bank on being stupid enough not to notice how bad it all is.
No need for further miscellanea, the main issue with this shit is just how plainly the story moves along, nothing interesting ever happens, the story’s a bungled “political thriller” in which the grandiose political conspiracy doesn’t make any actual sense (we want to commit terrorism to weaken Japan’s economic power so that it can be used to store nuclear waste, and we absolutely have to store it in Japan because idk lol), the dialogue is downright schizophrenic, with people going on unrelated monologues with zero provocation, sometimes it feels like the actors accidentally learned their lines for the wrong script, watching Angel Cop is like constipation, the process is very painful, and the end result is just a big load of shit you’ll want to get rid of immediately.
Norris_Packard
This show along with Urotsukidoji were responsible in the early 90's for the widespread belief that anime was "gore and porn," a stereotype that persisted for quite while. This OVA is the equivalent to those trashy over-the-top 80's action movie shlock that would have been produced by Cannon films. It falls squarely into the cyberpunk genre but Ghost in the Shell, this is not. What it lacks in originality and thematic content it mostly makes up for in gorgeously-detailed animation, kinetic action, and ridiculous amounts of gore. To further enhance the viewing experience, the English dub produced by Manga Entertainment squarely falls into the categoryof so-bad-it's-good with it's assortment of cheesy lines (Ex. If this is justice, then I'm a banana), excessive use of profanity, and odd voice-acting (Ex. Freya and a redneck helicopter pilot).
It's jingoistic cyberpunk trash, but at least it's well-made and fun in a cheesy action movie way.
RauLeCreuset
To start off, the first thing I want to say about this anime is, the art style of this anime is amazing. And I so wished they would bring it back, but I guess the era of this art style of anime making is over. I loved the colorful language, because this anime was created during a time where people didn't give a fuck if they hurt someone's feelings or not. And that's how anime should be written and produced with zero fucks given. I love the eighties. And my other favorite part about this absolutely bad ass anime is the gore within it andI am a huge gore fan. And this anime certainly delievered plenty of that, I was so pleased with it, that I even had to rewind certain parts quite a few times so that I could see it over and over again ha ha. That was one of my favorite things about this anime, well the second detail if you will. And last but not least, female, a bad ass female lead in any anime just makes me want to watch it that much more. There's nothing like a gorgeous, strong, and brave woman who kicks ass and cusses like a sailor, but at the same time. Grows to care about her comrades and the people that she works with, but I didn't care much for the ending though. I am going to re-rate this anime.
Kwrenai13
" Ah old gorey anime, the best kind of anime" - Cheng, Philip. honestly, this is my cup of tea. C'mon guys, here we have all the elements for great entertainment: extremely well-crafted and mind-blowing action scenes, lots of blood, just right nudity and lots and lots of BLOOD! The cyberpunk ambiance is very good, and the soundtrack is also very good. I know the characters are pretty stereotyped, and the political plot is pretty shallow, but it doesn't really bother me, mainly when you have a perfect punch line like: "Unless you want a .45 caliber lobotomy real fucking back, you better tell your friend overthere to put the fucking knife down." - Angel
Story: 6/10
Art:10/10
Sound: 9/10
Character: 5/10
Enjoyment: 10/10
Overall: 8/10
So, give a chance to this anime!
Selty_Void
Angel Cop is a mixed bag of used magnum shells and overfilled blood squibs. Taking place in an imperial Japan the show takes on the normal terrorist issues most cop shows face. Staring some fair Dub actors it goes up and down depending on the script and aside from that the overall quality of the dub is a 7/10. Owning a cel myself the quality is fair and the animation stays steady until its last episode, which mysteriously halted production for a fair while before restarting again losing its lead animation director, and the quality assurance manager on that matter. Blood effects are top notchbeing unbeaten in my opinion for gun fights along with some great explosions and effects that I haven't seen done outside of this OVA. The only thing I don't like is how the anime is called out for being anti-Jewish, since COD and just about any other American show out there demonizes half of the world as being helpless and or evil and unorganized. *Cough* cod *cough* cough*
Character development is rough, with Angel having a change of heart late into the show despite being cold for the rest as you'll see.
The show also is a hypocrite at times busting a independent Japan that also relies on other countries weapons along with advertising here and there that definitive isn't Japanese.
English Dub 8/10
The Jap dub is something else though, its bland, boring, and lacks the spirit of its English counterpart. I admit, most Jap audio with subs can be fun and interesting, but this version just doesn't cut it, everyone mumbles their lines, with the translations being boring and uneventful along with entire dialog missing that the English Dub later added on. I consider the English Dub superior period and I give the original audio a 4/10 end of story.
Do note that funny enough the art style will change here and there which can be fun and annoying but you'll see as the episodes go on, it gets just worse at episode 6 but outside of that its all a fun experiment.
Although,
The show isn't Akira or Alita Battle Angel, but it sure does hit the spot for anyone looking for a fun 6 part series to dive into.
