Review of Burst Angel: Complete Box Set

Introduction

Great Gonzos, it`s another anime show from, well, studio GONZO.

2004`s `Burst Angel` is set in a Tokyo of the future with major crime problems. In a move that`d make Charlie Heston weep manly tears of joy, the government repeals legislation that made it illegal for citizens to own and carry firearms. Of course, bringing with it more problems, a specialist task-force named R.A.P.T (Recently Armed Police Taskforce) is brought into effect to curb the increase in gun crime.

As the show begins, a young student chef named Kyohei is hired by a group of pretty, but somewhat slovenly, teens to cook and prepare their meals. After being kidnapped before he`s even started his new job, he discovers Meg, Jo, Amy and Sei form part of an international squad of mercenaries, and finds himself caught up in their never ending series of violent adventures on behalf of the Bai Lan group.

And yup, despite having never read the book, the `Little Women` allusion, assuming it isn`t a coincidence, is not lost on me. God knows why, though.

Video

Despite some significant artefacting and edge enhancement around objects, particularly in close-up, `Burst Angel` is treated to a decent anamorphic 1.78:1 transfer that improves as you work your way through the volumes. Underneath the digital flaws (the worst of it confined to the first disc, of which my copy, incidentally, caused my DVD player to start making a horrid grinding noise), it`s bright and vibrant, it uses plenty of primary colours and often applies a lustrous sunburst effect which washes the frame with light.

Audio

Dolby Digital 5.1 comes in its usual MVM flavours - English and Japanese. I preferred to watch it in its native tongue, although spot-checking the dub revealed that I didn`t want my head to explode from the usual California over-acting. They`re whooshing, effective surround tracks that make plenty of use from the whole soundstage during the frequent action scenes, and handle the directional implementation smoothly.

Features

As usual, you get your clean credits, your art galleries, your trailers and all that bunk. But spread across the discs are a selection of light-hearted, chatty commentaries with various members of the US team responsible for the voice acting and translation. There`s also several interviews with the Japanese cast and some of the artists responsible for the look of `Burst Angel`. Then there`s the radio dramas, which despite the name, have next to nothing in common with `The Archers`. They`re an audio accompaniment to the series where several of the original voice cast put on skits, chat, and play some games in a radio show format. They can be fairly lengthy and there`s plenty of them spread across the six discs in the set.

Conclusion

GONZO, love them or hate them, have always been one of the more productive studios in the anime industry, earning their reputation for the sheer mass of product they create and for a doctrine which adheres to an off-kilter, almost avant-garde sense of thematic creativity within the medium. So it`s a bit of a disappointment to come across the perfunctory `Burst Angel`, a series which undoubtedly subscribes to the well-trodden itinerary for success in the market - robots, guns, action and boobs - but does little to distinguish itself from the plethora of similarly-minded competition. If it looks, sounds and smells like a stereotypical anime series, then by gosh, surely it is.

Like a three-way cross between `Mission: Impossible`, `Charlie`s Angels` and `Bubblegum Crisis`, it`s an action show first and foremost, with little in the way of plot, either episode contained or arced across its length, to get excited about. But it does its action well, its balletic gunplay and mecha fervour slicker than a newly macadamised road in a thunderstorm. The characters, anime stalwarts with heaving bosoms and camera-friendly panty crotches, play their part well in maintaining the fanservice ethos, and nothing more. Yes, they`re a likeable bunch of tough, but vulnerable vixens, but doe-eyed anime dolls indistinct from one series to the next lack the gravitas to feel an investment in the show, that which forces you to keep coming back for more over the course of its two-dozen instalments.

Yet you will, if you find yourself at a loose end and that boxset is sitting there on your shelf, unfinished. It`s nonsense, but enjoyable nonsense. Easy on the eye, easier on the brain, you can switch yourself into neutral and enjoy it for what it is - anime by numbers. If you`re so inclined. Whether the show is worth an investment depends entirely on what you look for in an anime, but if you`re looking for something remotely unique, deep, diverse or trailblazing, you best look elsewhere.