Congo Gum

It was just a few minutes since Misaki left Tokyo train station before she was swept up into the world of Angelic Layer. Staring at the live fights on a huge outdoor screen Misaki quizzed the two kindergartners next to her, only to find that she really was out of her depth. With the help of her mysterious new friend Mr. Icchan, who looks like he’d be more at home as a university lecturer rather than a boffin behind Angelic, Misaki takes one more step into her new life with her aunt in Tokyo.

I started watching this show with no preconceptions at all. I didn’t know what it was about, what genre it was, how good it would be. All I knew was that it was 26 episodes long and had a cool name. After finishing episode 6 I’m happy enough watching it. There’s enough substance to keep you entertained for the 20 odd minutes it’s on for. To me it has this Pokemon feel to it. It’s predictable, yes, but it’s not boring to watch. The way the characters work is entertaining and the whole Angelic Layer tournament works fairly well as the centre of the show.

The animation has that mix of charm and technology that many shows from the turn of the millennium have. Clamp have taken the safe route with the design of this show. The backgrounds are decent enough and don’t draw from the show itself. The character designs are fine examples from the era. If you’ve seen Chobits you’ll know what I say when this show has that feel to it. The detail isn’t awe inspiring but it hits the blend of rustic charm and enough emotion to allow some attachment to the characters.

ADV have done a pretty good job on the dub, it’s one of the better ones they produced in this time period. The characters are believable and suited to their voices. All but Hotoko, who sounds like a husky barmaid instead of the 5 year old kindergartner. Jessica Boone conveys Misaki well and Andy McAvin pulls of the multiple personas of Icchan with ease.

What I’ve been impressed with most however is the soundtrack. This is a perfect blend of symphonic orchestra mixed with a bit of pop. The themes for the opening and ending are suited but not amazing; they are catchy enough to tie them to the show. The songs add character and emotion to the scenes and have a slight hint of playfulness that moves some of the dryer scenes along.

My only slight concern so far is with the actual fight scenes inside the stadium. They are bland and pretty repetitive in action. The dolls themselves also don’t look that amazing and for most of the time it’s them jumping around in a pretty empty space. It doesn’t make for exciting stuff but it’s bearable for the moment.

So far so good, let’s see if they can keep it going.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007 at 3:49 pm and is filed under Other Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.