Anime: Bakuretsu Tenshi

Bakuretsu Tenshi appears to be a good case of not knowing what it wants to be. Some times it seems to be heading towards a harem set up, other times towards yuri. Some episodes, even quite late in the series, are light hearted fanservice, while others are darkly serious. You really get the feeling that they hadn't gotten beyond the conceptual stage for the story when production began.

The alternative explation is that they strung as many cool moments together as they could, with little regard for what it did to the story.

Animation:
The animation is where the series shines. Everything looks very good, and they do a fairly good job of combining CG and traditional animation. The fact that most of the basic designs are good helps.

Sound:
The sound is good. The opening isn't like anything I've seen for any other anime, and helps set the tone.

Story:
If you've seen Darker than BLACK, you'll recognize how the story is told. It's primarily a series of two-episode arcs that are only loosely connected to each other. Unfortunately, as with Darker than BLACK, this does not lead to a coherent storyline. There's a tendency for the arcs to tell information that had already been stated, and some of the more fillery ones are positioned fairly late in the series. The fact that the story appears to be fairly complex only makes this worse.

Character:
The characters aren't so much bad, as badly handled. Aside from Jo and Meg, most of the characters aren't really important. I suppose it may not be that bad if you can keep yourself from wanting to see any of the others do something interesting.

(Writers note: If you read this review, RATE this review. Authors thrive on feedback, whether it be a simple happy face, or an in-depth critique.)

This is one of my first reviews from way back. I'm still cursing too much, with too many elipses, and a rather scattered focus. Even so, I felt it got my feelings towards this series across rather well.

Bakuretsu Tenshi: Proof that even Gonzo can fuck up from time to time.

Tenshi is a goddamned mess. Big impressive opening, followed by 22 episodes of filler, followed by a rushed, unimpressive, unfulfilling ending.

Problems: Character Development. There wasn't any.

Jo: Main character. Shoots everything with her two sidearms, even if she's up against a mech which is completely and obviously impervious to bullets. This happens in basically every episode. Big mech badguy, Jo shoots at it, nothing happens. She summons her mech, then proceeds to kick its ass. Jo is the same in the first episode as she is in the last. I guess you have to admire the writer's consistency at least.

Meg: Jo's friend. Meg is the most pathetic and poorly drawn out main character I have (had, since this is an older review) ever seen in a series, and I've seen some bad ones. She is literally, and I mean LITERALLY... kidnapped and held hostage every other episode. Her personality? She eats alot, whines, and gets kidnapped so Jo can rescue her by shooting at mechs with what might as well be a BB Gun.

Amy: Little kid genius (Never seen that before! ho-ho!) who does nothing. She's supposed to be a hacker, but most of her screen time is spent whining about something. At least she doesn't get kidnapped every 10 minutes, so I guess she has that going for her. Like Jo and Meg, her personality is exactly the same in Episode 24 as it is in Episode 1.

Sei: Leader who doesn't lead. She comes around, tells them they have a job, which usually involves sending Meg out to scout around so that she can get kidnapped and Jo can come save her. Sei is the only character that has ANY development at all. She evolves from a by-the-numbers leader who spends most of her time in their trailer home, telling Jo to go kill people into a suicidal moron once she decides to (never seen this before!) "Live for herself". By the way, this drastic change in personality happens in the span of approximately 10 mins. She gets bonus points for her ridiculous Ecchi outfit showing the underside of her tits, which she wears all of the time, including during formal-wear events. No one seems to mind though...

The cook: I don't even remember his fucking name... wait, it's Kenichi or something. He's introduced in the opening, and comes to cook for them. Even though Jo threatens to kill him several times in the first few episodes, he keeps coming back. *double sigh* He is quite possibly anime's most boring main character. Meg wins the useless award, he wins the boring award. Can I call this series an award winner? The only character of any importance in the show, and he ends up being not important at all. *triple sigh*

Only reason to watch this show is for the fighting, which can be exhilarating or boring, depending on the episode. Very hit and miss.

Did I forget to mention the story? Oh wait, there isn't one. Purely episodic, usually consisting of two episodes. Meg gets captured in the first one. Guess what happens in the second? *triple Sigh*

Not even worth a once through. Don't be swayed by the cool title/pic and promise of mecha/ecchi. There's much better out there (I hope).

The following excerpts were added post-writing this review, such as the notes at the beginning.

The sound in this series is very well done. The animation is also top-notch; done by Gonzo, one of the current masters of anime CGI. Bakuretsu Tenshi reminds me very much of the last 3 Star Wars pictures. A visual treat, ruined by an excessively poor story, and run-of-the-mill boring characters. What good is perfect animation when all you see on the screen are boring characters that go nowhere and do nothing?

It needs to grow on you...

Bakuretsu Tenshi takes a good deal of longsuffering from a watcher to build up plot, but once the story is in place, there is plenty for it to work with.

In the future, Tokyo...

Well, like much other anime, becomes a battleground. A peaceful side, where the innocent sheep herd, and a turbid slum where only the strong can survive. Meg and Jo are some of these survivors, who work with Sei and Amy to track down a syndicate using cyberbrains to cause chaos.

This anime is complicated. While it's focus remains simple, and the content absorbs anyone who observes, the subject matter is futile to understand until the very end of the show. Focusing on the content that is in front of me was the best thing I could do to understand the series, since thinking ahead just leaves so many further matters in question.

The first 23 episodes all collectively work together as a sample of the life of Jo, and her progress as an angel of death. There are a multitude of flashbacks, and many of them without any warning. Therefore, It takes a bit of mercy as well as patience for this series to show it's true colors.
And when Bakuretsu Tenshi shows it's true colors, much more than a sketchy gungslinger mecha comes to mind. It's like watching a good ol' America Western, without pasting any "John Wayne" mudslinging in Jo's character.

This is a big step up, since I originally planned to give this series a foot in the ass for its lame theme.

The animation couldn't be any better. The music fits well, too.

Though somewhat sketchy, Bakuretsu Tenshi has a spectacular animation. It has the high-speed action and fast-paced massacring, but some original ideas are the cowboy, gunslinging fights. Jo's method of shooting the living hell out of any hostility proves how animes don't need giant guns to make gunslinging look cool. Of course she has to be an excellent martial artist as well, but there isn't anything in the action which drags interest away.

The mecha has a bit of taste in it as well. I am not picky about CG, like most anime watchers, so in saying that I like the mecha designs my opinion on this matter is useless to a CG critic. Besides that, the flow of the CG impresses me even more than Geneshaft. There aren't any recycled frames either.

I like the opening. Currently it is a nomination for Best of Anime Vol. 3 at Animereactor, so someone else besides me definitely likes it. The ending is cute, but I wouldn't download it either. If there is something I would get, it has to be the BGM. Some of the action scenes have great music that would be great to listen to and reminisce on the anime.

The seiyuu aren't anything special again. I don't recall any divine ones, but if there were I didn't feel any of the intensity they have given me before.

Like a Western. For the select few who like America entertainment.

I doubt I'll watch through it again - my only purpose would be to watch it with otakus. I don't think it'd be worth showing a newbie, since it wouldn't give them a concept of the more fulfilling, cultured side of anime.

If you could handle the classic American Western, such as The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, as well as a mecha like Gundam SEED, this might prove to be interesting. If you're openminded enough, it might be best to approach this series with a feeling that it'll be decent, not expecting too much from the characters; otherwise I can't guarantee any appeal.

Burst Angel is yet another modern action-mecha anime spiced up with many popular treats.

There, I said it. In despite of the cool looking CG graphics and splendid animation in general there really isn't anything new in Burst Angel. It's all been tried numerous times before, better tries I might add, this is just one of the latest packages.

Let me go into detail on the ratings:

Animation: Well I am not a fan of CG-animation, but since this anime is so action packed at times and this is hard to draw in hand, I'll just barely accept it for once. There are places where it doesn't work at all though. An example is the scenes where something catches fire. You can still easily see the buildings or whatever it is underneath, the CG-fire has just been added on top of the original drawings, so the fire is transparent and this looks silly.

The characters are drawn very nicely. Meg and Sei are probably among the cutest females I've seen to date in animes so this is really for the fanboys. Also there is alot of ecchi to support this. Meg and Sei have huge tits that bounce around with almost every movement they make; the mandatory beach visit episode is a treat for the eye in that department. I don't think I've seen waitstlines that were so low before, normal people would lose the pants when they get no support from the hips, but not here :)

The scenery in general is also nicely detailed and they haven't been shy on the color useage, it's actually close to overdone at times. Sometimes you feel as if there aren't 2 things in the world that have the same color; everyone has a different hair color, not 2 houses/buildings the same either- down to the smallest detail. That is why it's also very clear to the viewers when they wanna make a mood shift or when there is a flashback going on because then everything turns into shades of brown/grey.

Sound: WOW!! Almost a perfect 10 if it hadn't been for the OP and ED. The OP is some sort of funky rap where a japanese guy tries to rap in an american way, it doesn't sound particularly good, OK at best, and the ED is just plain mainstream I heard it once and skipped it from then on. No, the true force is in sound effects and background music, it's REALLY amazing. Sounds are clear and realistic in general but there are a few episodes that really stand out. One of them is the one with the ship that has the chinese theme, can't remember which episode.

The voice actors/actresses surely make an above average contribution, and I especially liked Amy. She did sound a bit older than her supposed age, and I can't talk japanese so I'm no expert, but she had some foreign maybe chinese dialect, this sounded very kawaii.

Story: Burst Angel is about a group of 4 girls who take on bounty jobs for an organization. They live in a big transport truck where they also have their mecha hidden. Sei is the leader, Amy the young computer geek, Jo is the strong fighter with skills way above normal, she always does the actual captures. Meg is Jo's sidekick and they seem to have a special bond. None of them seem to have any parents, and later on it's revealed how they came to be together. They hire a young guy as a cook and early on you're afraid this will turn into your standard harem flick, luckily it doesn't. At first it feels like he's going to be the main character, experiencing the wild life of these girls, but he actually fades into a supporting character with only an occasional appearance.

In this anime it's clear that the visuals are what's most important, and the story is by no means original. Bits and pieces have been taken from here and there then put into a huge pile, shuffled a bit and then presented a bit differently than in earlier animes. The show is very episodical, well the different jobs seem to typically fill out 2 episodes. As someone else mentioned, it's not until ep. 20 that the real plot starts to unfold, but it is by no means surprising, I expected MUCH more for sure. Maybe if they cut the show down to 13 eps and left out the fillers everything could have gotten much more interesting.

Because of the very slim story I was actually waiting to see what kind of silly ending they could come up with. Because even though alot happens towards the end, and the plot thickens, the viewers are spared for that final blow that is supposed to make us emotional. That's why I knew they had something in store for us. And I was right. The last 10 minutes are spent on concluding things in an awful hurry. The mandatory heart-breaking dialogues are exchanged, the final battle is fought and the lame-as-ever ending is executed. All this within 10 minutes! Then you can figure out yourself how satisfying it is. There is no real logic behind this ending from a storywise point on view, the only purpose is to deliver the mentioned "pow" so people can feel sad or become frustrated.

You may ask yourselves why I'm getting so worked up because of an ending- well that's because endings are extremely important. Endings are those that leave you with a feel after the show has finished and that's why it's important that it is done right. I was actually enjoying the show for the most part, light-hearted action and cute females is not the worst stuff to watch, but it doesn't really matter when you are left with this stupid unsatisfied feeling when it's all over. A happy ending is fine, sad ending is fine too, but it doesn't work when the characters start behaving totally opposite to what they have done so far. In this aspect it reminds me of chrno crusade, that ending is done in the same disastrous way even though Chrno Crusade is much more sad.

Character: All four girls are very differnt from each other and nice in their own way. I can't really decide which one I like the most, but it's probably Jo because of her coolness and the one explored the most. They are quite stereotypical though, they all fill the usual roles that modern animes have. As for the supporting characters, at times it's like GONZO didn't really know what to do with them. They tend to slip in and out of focus, someone you thought important (the cook) slips out of the story entirely for 5 or more episodes, and the Osaka police girl you thought had played her role suddenly becomes important again. Also the mecha engineer acts this way.

Value/enjoyment: Because of the things mentioned above there is a big leap between my value and enjoyment ratings, and I think I've given my reasons for these ratings already. One thing is certain however, I'm never going to rewatch this show.

To summarize: Burst Angel is almost completely stripped of a story, but GONZO has used all tools of the trade to make it popular. Nice CG animations, cute girls with booties, lots of action and the usual slap in the face in the end is all a part of this modern fanboy anime. So if you want some light-hearted mainstream action, this is for you. If you look for something with a deeper meaning and a thick ever-developing plot, go elsewhere.

Well I hope my novel wasn't too long, I just felt I had a few words to spill :)

bakuretsu tenshi – high budget little inspiration


now that i have finished watching this show i can´t help but think of it as a janus show.
on the one hand high quality animation on the other mediocre storyline and characters.
but let me describe it to you step by step.


animation
this is one the outstanding feature of this show. it has a lot of good cg nice designed mechas cute and sexy girls. the movement of both mechas and characters looks nice and fluent and the surroundings are also detailed sufficiantly. there are also a lot of well done action scenes that i really enjoyed. nothing that could be really criticized.
therefor i´ll give it a 9 in this category.

sound
the effects of this show were ok good work nothing really special though. the same goes for the voiceacting. fitting voices that supported the characters nice and expressed emotions in quite a nice way. the music was well made as too and underlined the athomsphere. for the opening and ending song it is really a matter of taste. i for my share didn´t really like them and skipped them, but thats just me.
so if i take all this into consideration and don´t give too much wight on the opening and ending i end upwith a 7 here

story
now to one of the weak points of this show.the basic idea is nice, even if it is not too original, and in the beginning it starts really interesting. some girls, a misterious mecha in a giant trailer some creepy shining brains of unknown origin and tokyo under the rule of a very strong police rule. and also a young cook makes his debut in this first ep. but as the story developes (or not developes) it becomes a little bit monsterbrain of the day like. everyone wants them and nobody gets to know something about them. ok that can happen if it stopps at some point and helps the plot a bit, but it doesn´t stop and instead of starting get the story going there are only fillers and moster of the day eps until ep 20 is reached. now they start to wrap things up to a quick and sloppy conclusion. i don´t realy mind if questions are left open, but some things are not really logical. also some other characters are introduced that are not really important for the story developement. not that they don´t play any part in it but it could have been done without them without a problem. (i just say osaka for the ones who have seen this show). other characters that are introduced with some effort in quite a nice way get the role of side characters with no real function and also some pointless apearences in the last episodes.
so all in all i can´t help myself but to give it a 5 for story even if the main idea was not really bad. the realisation was just very sloppy.

character
nearly the same as above. there are some promising characters in the beginning. but then some of the good ones that are introduced with some effort are discarded and others with not so much potential imo are introduced. also the main characters are lacking developement. they stay as they are. even after supassing critical situations nothing really changes until? yes you are right until the beginning of the rushed end in ep 20. at this point some conflicts surface and some of them become more alive. don´t get me wrong they are not bad at all, but if nothing really happens to them during the show it is quite boring imo.
i´ll give a 6 for the characters because of that.

value
since story and characters have serious flaws i won´t watch this show again. one time is enough to see the fighting scenes. therefor my vote is a 4

enjoyment
because of the action, the girls and some comedy elements a 7 seems to be fine with me.



all in all i´d say if you want to see some nice animation, have fun with some action and need something to pass the time without too much thinking, watch it it´s ok for that. but don´t expect a storydriven masterpice that makes you think about it again and again from time to time.

Bakuretsu Tenshi is set in a somewhat chaotic 20xx, where the use of firearms have been permitted to a select few. The story follows a group of girls who could best be described as rebels against a large, unknown syndicate. Plenty of action and heaping helps of fanservice fill each fun filled episode.

Let's get one thing straight, this is a shounen anime. In other words, it's a anime for guys. Being a GONZO title this should come as little surprise, but below all the fan service there's little depth. Action, guns, pseudo-yuri, cute, nearly naked girls, and tons of fan service is the main appeal. If this doesn't do it for you, then you're better off to avoid this one and move on.

For everyone else, Bakuretsu Tenshi is a dang good time and a lot of fun. The girls are all cute as heck, especially Jo and Meg. Jo is a tomboy do or die fighter, while Meg is the spunky sidekick. You've just got to love Meg's neo-cowgirl outfit and Jo's attitude. Tons of fan service camera angles and tiny battle torn outfits don't skimp on the visual goods.

The action is very exciting in GONZO's usual fashion. Zombies, monsters, mechs, guns, and Gonzo's typical 3D / 2D blend makes the battles something different from the usual crop. Everything looks very stylish and the widescreen camera only helps. Unfortunately though, there's a pretty thick layer of blur on top of everything that can get quite annoying at times. It can get somewhat hard to focus in the mix of 2D and 3D.

The opening theme kicks things off nicely with a good beat, impressive camera tricks, and a fast pace. -- It pretty much sums up the depth of the show. Bakuretsu Tenshi is an extremely good show, but not great. It's a lot of fun if you like quick action and cute gals, but don't expect anything deeper. If you're a fan of GONZO's other shounen series, then grab some popcorn and give Bakuretsu Tenshi a watch.