Review of Burst Angel: Vol. 2

Introduction

The second volume of Burst Angel arrives packed to the gills with more futuristic Charlie`s Angels style action. Gonzo puts together a series filled with characteristically scantily clad girls, brandishing powerful guns, and battling a dark demonic menace created in a secret lab.

It`s one of those futures where society has fallen to pieces. In Tokyo, the ownership of guns has been made legal, and as a result crime rates have skyrocketed. Arrests however are down, as for the new RAPT (Recently Armed Police of Tokyo) it cuts down on paperwork when there isn`t a living prisoner to process. When just stepping outside your front door means taking your life in your hands, someone needs to do something. Fortunately there are four girls willing to do what is necessary to ensure peace for the citizens of Tokyo. Operating from a hi-tech trailer and receiving their instructions from the faceless Bailan, Sei, Amy, Meg and the enigmatic Jo set forth, armed to the teeth and ready to battle the toughest of villains, aided by their trusty chef Kyohei. When it gets too tough, they can fall back on the services of the awesome Cybot Django, but there is more to Jo than meets the eye. She sports a strange tattoo that glows when she fights, and the rumour is that whoever sees it is destined for Hell.

This volume of Burst Angel has four episodes. Depending on which language you watch, the episodes have slightly different titles. I`ve quoted both, English version first.

Ep 5. Mansion Where Lurks The Demon / The Manor Where The Demon Lurks

Meg is back at school, St Luciana`s Academy for girls to be exact. She isn`t there for remedial education though, as there is something strange going on in the exclusive establishment. A daughter of the Bailan group succumbed to strange hallucinations and is now in critical condition in hospital. Meg is there undercover to seek out the truth, but being genteel, refined and ladylike may prove to be a bigger challenge. The upperclassmen have a secret society, the Ishtar Club, and its leader Angelique invites Meg to join. It`s an invitation to trouble.

Ep 6. Wash This Garden With Blood! / Wash This Flower Garden With Blood!

Meg needed rescuing yet again. Seeing as this is a trend, Jo decides to make life simple and become a student herself at Luciana`s. If Meg stands out, Jo is completely out of place in the elite school. But there are far darker deeds going on in the school that go beyond drugged students suffering from hallucinations, and the monster that haunts these girls is far too real.

Ep 7. Black Sky / Black Skies

A girl walking home at night is attacked by a giant bird and carried off. It isn`t a sole occurrence either, as one of Kyohei`s classmates Kazami tells him of a spate of abductions by a `man-crow`. He`s about to dismiss it as an urban legend, when a giant crow shows up and kidnaps Kazami. The RAPT aren`t willing to listen, so there is only one place he can turn. When Jo accompanies Kyohei back to where the crow attacked, Meg joins them. Guess who gets kidnapped again. It isn`t good timing, as they have a client to protect, who is carrying a secret weapon.

Ep 8. The Wounded Outlaw / Scarred Fugitives

The crow was after an experimental nano-weapon, one that got injected into Kyohei for safekeeping. Now Kyohei has six hours to live unless he gets surgery, the criminal mastermind will only exchange Meg for the weapon, and ignoring orders, Jo has kidnapped Kyohei and gone on the run. Jo is determined to rescue Meg, but first she has to evade the officers of the Bailan organisation, who at Sei`s order are hunting both her and the chef.

Video

Gonzo have created an elaborate future world for Burst Angel, and it comes across clearly on this anamorphic widescreen transfer. It is an elaborately designed future world that comes across well on this disc, and the anime blends traditional 2D animation with 3D CGI quite effectively. It`s a dynamically animated anime, with the action scenes impressively realised. The character designs are excellent, as you would expect from Gonzo. There is plenty of eye-candy to be had with this volume, and plenty of fan service too. In other words, given a cast of four scantily clad girls, performing athletic feats of bravado, there is enough flesh and pneumatic anatomy to satisfy many a teen.

My concerns with the first disc have been wholly addressed in this second volume. The edge enhancement is still there, albeit to a diminished degree, but I didn`t spot a single moment of pixellation or artefacting. All in all it is a splendid improvement over volume 1.

Audio

You get a choice of DD 5.1 soundtracks in English and Japanese, and you can choose to have just the signs translated, the translated English subtitles or the dubtitles that match the English dub, or indeed no captions at all. This is an action heavy show, and that is reflected in the dynamism of the soundtracks, however the English dub seemed to place any sound that appeared off screen firmly in the rears. It was an either-or situation that sounds pretty unrealistic. Admittedly the Japanese track also suffered from this, but to a lesser extent. Other than that, the Burst Angel audio experience is quite explosive, with plenty of action and some toe tapping tunes, along with some incidental music that owes a fair bit to Ennio Moriccone. The dialogue is clear throughout, and it`s an enjoyable experience on the whole. That is with the exception of one pop in the Japanese track that occurs at 1:09:55. Since this brief burst of static happens during the end credits, it`s not really worth complaint, and I just mention it for the sake of completion.

Features

The previous volume impressed in terms of extras, and the only downside was that it was lacking compared to the Region 1 release. This time there isn`t even that complaint, as all the extras make it to the Region 2 release of volume 2, with the exception of the different trailers on this disc.

You can see the Textless songs, complete with optional translated subtitles, and there are trailers for Samurai 7 and Ikki Tousen, as well as the usual attractive menus and jacket picture.

The radio dramas make a return for the second volume, although there are fewer this time around, with Akeno Watanabe (Jo) and Megumi Toyoguchi (Meg) once again doing the honours.

The regular Bakuten Radio On Air Selection gets up to the 4th instalment, which lasts 16 minutes, with another tongue twister showdown, as well as the actors recreating the shows title sequence solely through the power of the human voice. It degenerates into mayhem quite quickly. There are also two 4-minute bonus segments, which continue the pandemonium with a couple of helium voiced characters. These are audio tracks presented against a static caption card and with subtitles throughout. These are fast paced segments and the subtitles are hard pressed to keep up, but they are entertaining and frivolous pieces that make a nice accompaniment to the show.

The commentary track on volume 1 didn`t make it to Region 2, but that loss has been addressed with this volume. Voice director Chris Bevins, and actors Monica Rial (Meg) and Clarine Harp (Sei) supply the commentary track for Wounded Outlaw. It`s a light-hearted track that is entertaining to listen to. They talk about the story and the translation, although often with tongue in cheek.

Conclusion

I`m quickly finding my feet with Burst Angel, it is a light and enjoyable series that is heavy on the eye-candy and action and none too taxing on the intellect. These stories are ideally structured, taking two episodes each to unfold and with a nicely placed cliffhanger in between. The characters start off just as clichéd and lacking in dimension as they were in the first volume, but by the end of this disc, the story begins to explore the relationships between them. The stories are fun too, with plenty of action, strange unexplained monsters, and girls with guns in skimpy costumes.

This could so easily be one of those `deep` storylines, set in a dystopian future, filled with brooding characters and angst filled plots. But in a refreshing way, Burst Angel doesn`t really take itself seriously, presenting a beautifully designed world filled with bright primary colours. Jo is obviously a character with a secret, but her morose nature is at odds with everything around her, and her sardonic quips serve as a charming counterpoint to the fun loving Meg or the wimpy Kyohei. The tongue in cheek attitude is illustrated strongest with Meg, who finds herself kidnapped in every episode, requiring rescue from Jo. She`s like Kenny in South Park, and I keep expecting someone to say, "Oh my God! They kidnapped Meg… The bastards!"

Burst Angel is the kind of anime that will have you marvelling at the sheer prettiness of its world, as well as the, ahem attributes of its lead characters. The 2D animation blends seamlessly with the 3D CGI, and is a joy to watch. This episode`s climactic duel between the giant crow and Django is a case in point, stunningly accomplished and wholly effective.

The show is a blast that doesn`t tax the brain, and is fun from beginning to end. I`m quite fond of its frivolous nature, and the clichéd characters are done with such verve and energy that they feel quite refreshing. This disc is good for extra features, and any problems that may have been apparent in the opening volume have been addressed with this second disc. Burst Angel is simply fun, and there is something to be said for that.