Hi there! Today’s review is a infamous piece of 90s shlock. I didn’t know it, but the show today was aired at Genericon this year. Given it’s reputation, it was only a matter of time that it would come my way, and also given that I like to jump over the edge from time to time.....well, you know what I mean. So, for your enjoyment, here’s a review for the hideous Angel Cop.
Story/Setup
Here’s the story in a nutshell, taken from a review on the anime news network:
“The Special Security Section, a top-secret anti-terrorism task force, gets a new deadly agent in Angel, a cold bringer of death who wouldn't hesitate to kill a child if it meant also taking out her target. Her new partner, Raiden (who inexplicably wears a leather jacket, no shirt, and carries around one of those 1988-era brick-sized cell phones in there somewhere) gets wounded while hunting down the Communist Red May, a group of communist extremists bent on turning Japan into the next communist state. Their leader, a dude named Suyama, is just getting out of prison when they launch a surprise attack on the American Embassy.
Angel happily leaves Raiden for dead to go after her target. But the war with the Red May is soon brought to an early and sudden end with the involvement of a group of ESPers, which include a little girl with the power of fire named Freya, her caretaker Asra (who has that gigantic Twisted Sister-esque poodle hairdo and a cape), and their ringleader, the American sexpot Lucifer, who looks like a drag queen trying to impersonate Sharon Stone. She turns into something resembling a demon that Angel spends much of the series trying to take out. The three ESPers have decided to declare war on pretty much every organized group in the world, starting with the Communist Red May. The Special Security Force is next.”
I will give Angel Cop one positive, and that’s it’s story. It’s definitely clever, and there’s some originality in there. Given what’s coming, however, that’s not saying much.
Setting
A big negative to Angel Cop is it’s setting. It feels to much like Tokyo from the 80s to mid-90s: the skyscrapers are obviously too big for there own good, the other building/areas are either too dirty or too clean, the cyberpunk (I’m using the term loosely) elements are bland and seem out of place in certain scenes, and the police/security forces look far too standard in an anime of it’s time. This really is disappointing, as the story manages to paint a an interesting picture.
Characters
I don’t like any of the characters. Nope, I don’t like any of them. There are the two reasons why:
1) They’re all scumbags. Everybody in this show is either a liar, murderer/terrorst, or all in all is just a douchebag. Even for the tiny....tiny few characters that have at least a shred of morality, they always act in a way that’s brushes that morality to the side. The only character that I barely give a damn about (emphasis on the word barely) is Angel, and even then she’s on the razor’s edge for me. She’s a strong female lead who can definitely hold her own, but more often than not makes dumb decisions (That somehow don’t always have consequences. Don’t ask.), or doesn’t take action when she needs to.
2) There’s not that many. Given the story of Angel Cop, you’d expect a relatively large cast of characters. Instead, we’re given just 13 main characters, and a host of secondary characters that get slaughtered. A tiny few of the secondary characters appear to be slightly interesting, but they aren’t given much time, or they get brutally murdered.
If you manage to like any of the characters, then I respect your taste. I don’t agree with you, but I’m not gonna call you out.
Animation
Angel Cop is uuuuugggly. Butt fucking uuuuugggly. It’s the kind of ugly that adds fuel to your nightmares. Everything seems kinda blurred, and the show relies heavily on dark colors and shadows to give this series a gritty feeling.....and fails! To round out the show’s ugliness, the various character models just look horrible. The female characters look okay, but not by much.
A quick comment about the violence in this show. Unlike Mad Bull 34, where the violence was depicted in a over-the-top comical style (Despite how graphic it got in the later episodes), the violence in Angel Cop went for a more visceral/real-ish look & feel. People bleed profusely, brains & skull matter spread out when someone gets shot in the head, and in one moment about halfway through, an interrogation victim has been tortured so badly, his arm has practically rotted, and is infested with maggots. Definitely vomit inducing for those with weak constitutions.
Voice Acting
Angel Cop’s voice acting is.....okay, at best. Everybody at most sound incredibly mediocre, and those few who do have alright voices are typically drowned out by how awful/bland everybody else is. Making this situation worse is that there are lines that are just hilarious. Lines like “Alright buttfuck, that’s enough speech for now!” and “If this is justice then I'm a banana” definitely made me laugh. If I did have one reason why people should watch this show, it would be for the incredibly goofy & over-the-top lines they chose.
Episodes & Episode Length
For such a shlock title, Angel Cop has a surprising amount of episodes to it. Composed of 6 episodes, each of which last from 24 minutes to just over a half-hour, this series has a surprising amount of weight to it as far as length is concerned. It’s a shame that just about everything else in this show sucks!
Availability & Pricing
Fortunately, Angel Cop has been out of print for some time. With that said, there are some copies over on Amazon still. At the time of me writing this, there’s 7 new copies and 22 used copies. The new copies are rather expensive, and start at close to 68 dollars. Fortunately (Or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), the first couple used DVDs start at 22 dollars. If you want to subject yourself to this torture, then I suggest you buy one of the used DVDs.
Extras/Other
Since I downloaded this show, I don’t know what extras the DVD contains.
Oh, here’s a good one! There’s a point within the first or second episode where they find out who’s been sponsoring the terrorists. In Japan, there’s a surprising amount of anti-Semitism (Whether it’s due to Germany’s influence from WW2, or there own culture, remains to been seen), enough to the point of shocking. Not wanting to offend viewers, the dub was changed from Jews to Americans, and the anti-Semitism was removed completely from the sub. It’s still offensive, but not quite as bad.
General Impression & Rating
Angel Cop is bad. Really, really, really bad. I’m glad this show is no longer in print, so it’s evil doesn’t spread any further than it already has. Having said that, I’m a fan of anime shlock, and this show is definitely close to the peak of shlock mountain (I got a couple others in my library). My suggestion: get a couple friends, some alcohol, drink said alcohol, watch this show, and laugh at how bad this show is.
Angel Cop gets a 3 to 3.5 out of 10.
See you all next week, when we’ll look at another cyberpunk masterpiece. Until then, stay Otaku!
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