Angel Cop

This year has certainly been the year where I'm visiting some retro shows to mix in with the recent stuff, huh? We've been binging a good chunk of Galaxy Express 999 (which we're close to over eighty) and the 1989 version of Ranma 1/2 (as we're currently on the sixth season right now during my Sunday binge sessions) along with other shows as well as catching up on new episodes of the most recent. Already completed a few adaptations of Dirty Pair yet I still have to get into the movies sooner or later. I love how we're expanding our horizons not only in genre, but by when they were released, too. Of course, this anime is pretty special, given how it's a six-episode show that kinda feels like a three hour movie. Not that it's a bad thing, but something that feels pretty American when you dive deep into its premise. Wait... Is that odd timing given the time we're currently at in the states? I think it's time we move onto the reveal before I'm rambling on too long on what's on my mind. Angel Cop starts off involving the 20th century dealing with terrorism, including this communist radical group called Red May, who are working to bring down Japan's economy and take over the government. In response, a new state agency dubbed the Special Security Force is formed with the ability to act outside the law. It consists of its leader Chief Taki Haishyo, voiced by Bob Sessions; his second-in-command Masumi "Kuwata" Hirakawa, voiced by Garrick Hagon; a technician/support specialist Reika "Peace" Yogawa, voiced by Barbara Barnes; a computer specialist/digital infiltrator Yuuji "Hacker" Fuse, voiced by John Bull; and two main field operatives Isamu "Raiden" Sakada, voiced by Jeff Harding, and Yo "Angel" Mikawa, voiced by Sharon Holm. As the Special Security Force have been taking down terrorist operatives one-by-one, they're suddenly noticing that the Red May find themselves being wiped out, and it's due to a third faction taking them out in the name of "justice." That third faction calls themselves the Hunters, who are gifted with psychic abilities. The Hunters consist of a little girl named Freya, voiced by Barbara Barnes, who possesses pyrotechnics and telepathy. Asura, voiced by Jay Benedict, who possesses teleportation and telekinesis who was the first Hunter Angel encountered. And the leader Lucifer, voiced by Lorelei King, who possesses telekinesis, telepathy, and can increase her physical and psychic powers by absorbing electricity. The story is pretty straightforward when it started off by stopping terrorism until the Hunters all-of-a-sudden turn their backs on their creators to dispense "justice." Not to mention, Chief Taki was growing suspicious about what the Japanese government was hiding. As I can share what the themes are, it's all about the blurring lines between justice and fascism when we look deep into political corruption and moral ambiguity. Safe to say that this is pretty pro-nationalism as it reflects the late-80s involving the economy and global power. However, those aren't explored much since you'll be witnessing violence left and right. A few times, they'll take a breather. It might sound like the story goes a little all over up to borderline nihilistic. Which is actually true since we're not short on theses here in the states. You know how in the 2000s when there isn't much of a story where the characters barely develop while they let the violence do most of the work? This is easily one of them. But say that you're not really here for the story. You're only here for the violence. That's entirely fine for what it's worth. The problem is that the story in this movie has two things that were going on the first idea was scrapped by the second. Some of the explanations that were shared around the end don't really make sense as it takes place in a dire position for both Angel and Raiden. Let alone one of them was given cybernetic enhancements off-screen. It doesn't help that most of the characters are unforgettable. The only characters that I'll remember are Raiden, Angel and Lucifer since they stand out the most. As for most of the others, they die in the middle of such. Gruesomely, too. The Hunters were hard to believe as there was a moment when one of them switches sides instantly in the midway point. Then we have the voice acting, which is honestly the most hilarious of them all. Yes, I have seen this in English. I could watch the Japanese version on YouTube. Except that I don't have much in me to see this again due to a messy story and forgettable characters. Especially for how the show just ends in an instant. No aftermath whatsoever. Back to the voice acting at hand, it is unrealistically bad for how they were speaking. The worst one, unfortunately, was Freya. Barbara Barnes did better as Peace. As Freya, however, is rough with how shallow her character was. There were some moments when the voice acting was good. Except I couldn't help but laugh. Like the dubbing is trying hard to be American at best when this is a pro-nationalist series. Well, a movie, to be honest. You would find this on YouTube and a video with every episode turns this into a three hour film. You wanna know what's funny? There were changes as to compare between the manga and this, there is no English version of it. Not even an English translation anywhere on the internet. The best example I can give with differences is that in the manga, Angel gets cybernetic enhancements, Raiden gets them here in the anime. The deaths are also different. But I won't spoil who dies by whose hands. What interests me the most was that half of this series had a different writer and producer. Kazufumi Nomura and Sho Aikawa for episodes one to three. Meanwhile, you have Yoshio Nakamura and Ichiri Itano who worked on episodes four to six. Production for this kinda represents what Japan had gone through economically as the first half began in 1989 and then the final episodes didn't come out until 1994. If that were the case, it kinda answers my question on why it felt like two stories were written within this and one of them was scrapped in the process. Ironic that we are tackling economics when we might head into a Global Great Depression. The production could be said the same for the animation as Studio 88 has done the first three episodes while D.A.S.T. was also there. It's not that bad for how the animation looks as far as characters, background, and action sequences go. It is gorey, of course. It's mostly gun play from here to how these Hunters use their psychic powers. The final couple of episodes reminds me a bit of Akira, oddly enough, when it comes to Lucifer. Again, she's pretty much a standoff compared to Asura and Freya. Now, that's odd for me to think of this as a more pro-nationalist version when there is better science fiction related content such as Akira, Ghost in the Shell and Battle Angel Alita. It may sound like I'm being biased when I go and say that when it comes to the story and characters. Times were different. I will be fair. I just see myself remembering this. There was also this controversial talk of antisemitism in the dubbing. I'm not Jewish, so I didn't think of it that much when I'm laughing at this more than I take offense. Nothing offended me or anything. This show just felt like how you'd listen to the English dub of Ghost Stories. I know I'm oddly bringing that up. The dialogue just had me thinking about that infamous show of all things except that they wanted to make this as edgy as possible to scare commies. Don't worry. I'm not one. This anime was a time back in the late 80s/early 90s, that's for sure. Now, I've seen worse shows. I wouldn't say this is a bad show. It's not that good, either, if y'all want my honest opinion. At the end of the day, I've expanded my horizons, even in retrospect of when they were released. It was on Amazon. So I might as well watch what I can as the deal is up. I mainly recommend this if you want some science fiction despit…

Angel Cop is a gloriously nasty slice of late-80s OVA excess, with gore doing most of the sleazy heavy lifting. Very enjoyable stuff. The earlier episodes in particular look fantastic, with gorgeous late-80s animation, aggressive camera movement and action that has far more visual energy than straight-to-video exploitation often has. The characters are fun and the violence is excellent. There’s a bit of nudity, but this one is far more interested in gore than sex. The big caveat is the plot’s conspiracy, which in the original Japanese version incorporates genuinely antisemitic ideas. The old Manga Entertainment dub rewrites this into an American corporate conspiracy instead, while also supplying the full VHS-era experience of ludicrously enthusiastic profanity. So you basically have two versions: Japanese with accurate subtitles for the actual, nastier Angel Cop, or the English dub for pure Manga Entertainment-era trash-video nostalgia. Either way, it’s a hell of a good time.

Angel Cop is a science fiction anime set in a Japan that has become a major economic power but is regularly targeted by terrorist attacks carried out by far-left groups. To deal with this threat, the government relies on the Special Security Force (SSF), an elite unit that includes the protagonist, Angel. After watching this adaptation, one conclusion stands out: stopping at the manga would probably have been the better choice. Like the original work, the story is simple, straightforward, and easy to follow. The real problem comes from the way it is told. The anime takes a very different direction from the manga. Changing an adaptation is not necessarily a bad thing when it is done well. Unfortunately, that is not the case here, and the OVA suffers from several flaws that hurt the overall experience. One of the first issues concerns the antagonists. Several factions are involved throughout the story, including Red May, a far-left terrorist group, and an anti-communist organization that also uses terrorism. The lines between these groups and their respective leaders sometimes become unclear, making certain parts more confusing than they should be. The pacing is decent, although some episodes could have benefited from moving a little faster. However, the main problem is that the anime almost completely abandons the theme of justice, which was central to the manga. Instead, it focuses on political corruption and shadowy figures manipulating events from behind the scenes. This change ends up taking too much attention away from the characters and their motivations. The action itself is not very exciting and mostly consists of gunfights and explosions. As for the ending, it is probably the OVA’s biggest weakness. While the manga offered a simple but functional conclusion, the anime leaves many questions unanswered and feels incomplete. As for the characters, it would already be difficult to expect deep characterization from this type of story. Even so, the anime somehow makes them less interesting than they were in the original work. In general, their character designs were also better in the manga. Angel perfectly represents this problem. In the manga, she has a strong personality, a tough attitude, and her own view of justice. In the anime, she is reduced to a cold soldier who simply carries out her mission. This approach could have worked with stronger writing, but too little time is spent developing her character. The supporting cast is just as forgettable and mainly exists as cannon fodder. The members of the SSF feel even more distant than they did in the manga. The relationship between Angel and Raiden suffers the most from this change. Instead of being a friendly duo with some chemistry, they come across as little more than coworkers with no real emotional connection. The Hunters are not handled much better. Some designs, especially Asura and Lucifer, are more appealing than their manga counterparts. However, the changes made to Freya feel questionable, as her original design was far more interesting. Lucifer's motivations are also quite vague. In the manga, she and her allies genuinely believed they were fighting for a just cause. In the anime, her goals become unclear and eventually lead to explanations that fail to give her actions much coherence. The soundtrack is equally forgettable. It accompanies the events on screen but rarely leaves a lasting impression. The animation is acceptable for its time, but there is nothing particularly remarkable about it. In the end, Angel Cop is an adaptation that does not really justify its existence when compared to a manga that was already far from exceptional. The overall impression is that of a work more interested in delivering a specific message than in telling a solid story or developing compelling characters. Unless someone is a fan of retro science fiction or cyberpunk aesthetics, the manga is probably the better way to experience this series. In short: Angel Cop wanted to deliver justice, but ended up sentencing its own story instead.

Angel Cop is an overhated anime within the wokesphere, but some of the criticisms it faces are quite valid. The problem with Angel Cop is lack of contuinity, character development, and depth of the plot. But not because the skeletal idea is poor, it's the lack of space to get comfortable what kills this anime. It's often criticized for it's "antisemitism" but I found it to be quite an interesting plot point, that unfortunately never went deep enough. Plus, the character design most of the time is just so cool, the animation is very good too. The only problem is that characters don't have enough time to naturally go from one thing to another, everything feels sped up due to the lack of budget. 24 episodes would have done the original idea some justice. And a 2nd season where Angel blows up the Wall of Lamentations? Don't get me started. It's very short, so if you want something cool to watch while you play guitar, 100% would recommend.

“Angel Cop” is what happens when the 80s hit hard and I do mean HARD! Before we start I would like to explain something. I will be talking about “plot” and “story”. Many people use those terms interchangeably. I’m not one of those people, so to make sure everyone is on the same page… I use the definitions for “plot” and “story” as Lisa Cron describes them: “What happens in the story is the PLOT, the surface events.” “STORY is about how the things that happen affect someone in pursuit of a difficult goal, and how that person changes internally as a result”. That said, this show has little to no story at all, it’s all plot driven. The very little story there is, is wasted on the absolute atrocities pretend to be characters. A lot and I do mean A LOT of things happened not because it makes logical sense or is internally coherent with the characters, but because the almighty plot demands it. Especially the titular Angel, but I’ll get to that. This show is as 80s as it gets. You get a lot of cliches and tackiness that defined that era. I’m not sure You can truly understand how “special” that time was if You haven’t lived through it. Most things were over the top and that includes using violence and eroticism in movies, shows and animations. Unfortunately it’s also the time when animations were a lot of things, but well written wasn’t something that happened often and this show is the perfect example of that. For starters it doesn't really know what it wants to be. Is it a futuristic cop show? Is it a political drama? Is it an action flick? Is it a supernatural sci-fi? Each and everyone of those questions have the same answer: “Yes and No”. It mashes all of those themes and subjects together but does so half-assed. The most obvious reason why the show doesn’t stick the landing is the fact that it’s only 6 episodes. The show sets up a lot of things. Some of them being cyborg modifications, understanding of justice and morality and on top of that some pretty heavy handed politics. In 6 episodes it wants to cover material for at least 24 (and that’s only if we are talking about mediocre writing and not something logical and using any kind of cause and effect structure). As a result most things are hasted and the passing of the show suffers greatly. In just one episode we have a pretty slow and methodical investigation, supernatural killings and a setup to a full blown urban combat encounter. None of those have the time to breathe and mature to fully utilise them. As a consequence this show doesn’t have a proper structure of “And because of that” and instead uses “and then that happened”. Needless to say it butchers any kind of logic. The second thing that makes this show pretty bad is the main cast. It’s too big. We are introduced to a lot of characters in episode one and the list just get’s bigger as the show continues. Unfortunately almost all characters have just one trait that pretends to be their personality. We don’t even get proper introductions to them, they are just there. The show puts them in some plot elements but because it’s just plot and not story or even proper character introduction You really don’t care if they live or die. Ok… I delayed it long enough. Let’s talk about my bane of the show… Angel - Despite giving her name to the title she is by far the most incoherent character in the show. I almost feel glad that she doesn’t have a lot of screen time in the first 4 episodes. She’s partnered with Raiden, the only character that I would say is morally sound. She’s what a 14 year old would consider cool and her design is pretty standard for the 80s, with the hair, jacked and bike. She has a very twisted view on morality and justice. She’s ok with killing terrorists, she doesn’t even pretend to shoot to incapacitate them. Her introduction is the killing of one of the suspects in a rather brutal way. You could say that she wanted to save Raiden’s life but that’s just an excuse. It’s proven she’s an excellent shot so shooting the gun out the terrorist's hands or injuring the limbs would be easy for her. No, she went for the kill. But when someone else wants to do it she suddenly acts like a proper cop should, and that's the moment after she tried to shoot one who used a child as a hostage. It’s pretty clear in the first episode that she’s probably a sociopath that is lying to herself that she’s the good guy. What’s more idiotic with her writing is her change of heart, I think it was in episode 5, where she acts almost like she cares about civilians and actual justice and not just the “Kill them all and let god sort them out” kind. Suddenly she shows competitions towards two psychers (yes, this show has psychic powers) and even Raiden, hell, she even kisses the man… when he’s unconscious but it still counts. There is no progression to her new state. There is no story here. One episode she likes to kill, the other she decided that maybe protecting others is a better way to do her job. It happens only because the plot demands it to make her final fight more impactful. If we’re on the subject of morality then the “good” guys aren’t so morally sound (except Raiden). They are not above torturing the subject in some pretty original and gruesome ways to get the information they need. Interestingly the show doesn’t make excuses for them. It doesn’t play the “It’s for the greater good” card. Those cops are doing this because it’s their job and probably the fastest way to achieve their goals. One of the members is even stated to have some (but not much) doubts. I like it. I hate when shows justify immoral actions by trying to make the lesser evil good. This time everyone knows they are assholes and they accept it. Someone has to do it so it might as well be them. If I had a choice I would give more screen time to the psychers, they actually pretend to have an arc with all the internal squabble and desertion. The three Hunters (as they are called) are a pretty interesting bunch. A kid wielding something of a pyrokinesis, a teeager with teleportation and psychokinesis and a blond, probably 30-something called Lucifer using psychokinesis, energy drain and mind reading. This bunch is more interesting than the main cast. The investigative parts of the show are what really bummed me out. I love proper detective mysteries. I love the whole shabang: gathering clues, interviewing suspects, putting things together, it's awesome… if done right. Unfortunately this show rushes everything. It has to, it only has 6 episodes. Thanks to that the investigations of the terrorist attacks from the very start of the show is done before the halfway mark and the political drama is revealed an episode later and on a silver platter. The reason why the investigation went so fast is because the plot demanded it, it had no time to set up something logical so it made circumstantial evidence lead to the only proper solution. The final part is actually the one that I enjoyed and I call it “The 80s fluff” in this category the show serves us all the things You would expect, blood, gore, some naked breasts, shootouts and even a robocop ripoff. If for nothing else the final fight with Lucifer is an entertaining watch and actually properly shows her determination and faith in her cause. She’s not evil for evil’s sake and she doesn’t just take everything lying down. When she’s down, she gets up like a proper villain should (something today's anime writers don't have a damn clue about). She wants to achieve her goal by any means necessary and will stop at nothing to do so. She’s shown as a serious threat and actually defeating her feels earned and not given by some deus ex machina fuckery. At the end of the day this show is badly written in almost all aspects. It’s a shame because it had a lot of potential. The world was solid, the atmosphere of violence, corruption and distrust was there. I would even say that Angel, Raiden and Lucifer had potential as characters. All that w…

Angel Cop has a simple yet sometimes convoluted story line that leaves much to be desired. I found Angel Cop hard to sit through. Despite being somewhat interesting, the early episodes seemed to drag on forever. They did little to keep my attention during those episodes. While it does pick up in both story and interest later on, it seems to be convoluted in how it gets there. Art is average given the anime's age and sound was neither good nor bad. I though character design and development was it's best feature, although they do some of the main characters dirty in my opinion. Overall, Angel Cop is a good anime that is thankfully short, lasting only six episodes because although it has a simple story line, it can sometimes be convoluted, leaving much to be desired.

Haiku review: It's old but still good Needs the "Ghost Stories" treatment Maybe a laugh track Prose elaboration: "Angel Cop" is a series that finds its way onto a lot of worst-anime lists, unfairly. As one of the older series for non-children, it came in an industry that was still finding its way. It's a milestone, an artifact in anime history. It's decent but takes itself a little too seriously until the last episode, where they realized that they hadn't checked the tiddies box yet. They made up for it. The series contains some of the best and grittiest lines ever: "I'n not here to take you in, I'm here to take you out." The ED, Crayon-sha's "Itami," is a driving classic. It's one of the best examples of perfect music for an anime scene. That having been said, I think that "Angel Cop" would really benefit from two things. The first is to hand it over to an open-minded director and a batch of talented voice actors with instructions to make it up as they went along, in the fashion of "Ghost Stories." The other is, frankly, a laugh track.