Burst Angel Collector’s Set (Disc One)
Hawkeye
Mechs with living minds, human experiments gone awry; this is only the beginning of the world that the series Burst Angel inhabits. In this crazy cyberpunk setting ,the future has taken a dangerous turn for the worse. A new law passed allowing everyone to carry firearms and as a result mercenary groups have been forming left and right. This is where the main characters come into the scene. Sei the confident commander, Amy the brilliant young computer ace, Meg the faithful side kick, and Jo the hard-core fighter who gets the job done, all work together to form one of the cities most talents merc groups.
Episode 1, Hell Comes Silently, starts at the beginning, and you meet the girls through the eyes of their new Chef, Kyohei. The story unfolds as the girls go to interrupt a deal, and everything goes wrong as a rogue Mech shows up to bust the deal. A third party captures poor confused Kyohei in the battle and uses him as leverage which ends with the capture of Meg. This episode throws you both feet first into the world.
Episode 2,The Heartless Gunfighter, is the continuation of episode 1. Jo tells Kyohei to be a man and forces him to help her save Meg. However, things are never simple, and they must travel into the no man’s land in the city to find their friends. Where, of course, they run into the rogue mech and meet with a horrifying surprise.
Episode 3, City Where the Beast Howls, Jo and Meg are on the prowl again, assigned to a new mission. However, complications arise when their target is snatched from under their feet by a government faction. The girls are determined to find out what exactly is going on, and follow the clues to a chilling mystery involving a Pharmacy corporation and human experiments.
The Brothers Die at Dawn is the conclusion of episode 3. Here the conspiracies are revealed and all becomes startlingly clear. The fate of twin brothers is decided, and Meg discovers some of the disgusting truths that the world has hidden away.
Burst Angel shows the world what a Mech battle can be with a brilliant blend of 2D and 3D animation. Anime fans have been waiting all their lives to see this mechanic artillery fight against each other without jerkiness or horrid 3D rendering, and Burst Angel delivers this in full. However, awesome fight scenes cannot hide the tribute to fan service that lies within the character designs. If you can get past the perma-hard nipples and the shirts that only cover the top half of the women’s boobs then you’ll enjoy this show.
The sound isn’t half bad in the series, but this of course means that the sound is only a bit better then half good. While I liked the voice acting and the battle sounds, there was just something missing, and that would be a stimulating sound track. The lack of good music can make or break the anime for me, and it almost ruined Burst Angel. However, a fairly good plot, excellent animation, and superb voice acting saved the day.
The Extras on the disc for the Burst Angel box set were lacking horribly. But at least the Artwork on the box was magnificent. The set also came with cute little charms of Jo and Meg, as well as an art book with character designs and pictures. I found this little insert quite helpful and anyone wishing to Cosplay as Jo should pick up the box set for the insert.
Burst Angel has a lot of potential. A spectacular setting, interesting armaments, but the characters could use a lot of work. Meg was your classic, stereotypical helpless girl, all she did throughout the episodes was get captured, speak at the wrong time and be utterly useless. While Jo wasn’t being a hard core kick ass fighter, she was acting like a bitter angst teenager trying to be an emo lesbian, and that was a bit too much to handle at once. I think this series ahs a lot of room to grow still, the first disc has perked my interest enough that I’ll be checking out the second disc to see where the creators take it.
Entertainment: 7.5
Like I said, a lot of potential but its going to need to kick things up a notch in the next disc to keep my attention.
Technical: 7
The disc itself could use some more love, but the extras including the box and the things within the box was a redeeming feature.
Overall: 7.5
Episodes: V.1 Death’s Angel- Ep.1 Hell Comes Silently -Ep.2 The Heartless Gunfighter -Ep.3 City Where The Beast Howls -Ep.4 The Borthers Die at Dawn
Extra Features: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, The Borthers Die at Dawn Commentary, Radio Drama Colume 1, Wide Screen 16:9, Textless Songs, Outtakes Collectors Box, Character Guide Insert
