Angelic Layer is a manga/anime TV series by popular artist group Clamp. The manga has a total 5 volumes, and TV series has 26 episodes. Angelic Layer is a mixture of shonen (young boys) anime/manga (it is offically a shonen series, but I think it is closer to a shoujo (young girl) series then a shonen series), comedy and martial arts show. Despite lots of fighting scene, the show itself is non-violent (no blood at all); in a matter of fact, the fighting scene are very well animated (in the anime). The show/comic is good for people of all ages.
Suzuhara Misaki (main character/heroine) just arrived Tokyo from Wakayama for middle school. Outside the Tokyo train station, a big screen showing a fighting scene between two dolls. The dolls are called Angels - a popular toy among children and young adults in Japan. Misaki is immediately attracted to them, and out of nowhere a weird looking scientist called Icchan said he can Misaki to build her own angel...
Clamp is popular and highly acclaimed manga artist group in Japan. The group core is composed of four main artist (all female). Past famous works include X, Magic Knights Rayearth (魔法騎士レイアース), Card Captor Sakura (カードキャプターさくら), and RG Veda (聖伝).
Genres of Clamp works vary greatly. To the dark story in X and RG Veda, to cute and light paced shoujo anime Card Captor Sakura. Clamp has nearly done nearly one can imagine.
OK. Although Angelic Layer is mainly aims for a younger audience, I will be writing this review from a relative older person point of view (I will be 25 years old very soon).
I first the show in a public screening in Yama - an anime club based in York University in Toronto. I have always liked Clamp stuff, and so I am quickly attracted to Angelic Layer. I think the character designs are cute and well drawn, and the characters are very likeable. Animation quality is generally good. The Angels are animated with detail. Clamp twisted traditional martial arts anime with non-violent elements.
I especially like Icchan and Misaki. (Icchan rocks!!!)
Before I have even watched the animated version of Angelic Layer, I have read volume 1 - 3 of the manga. The drawing style of Angelic Layer manga is very simple, and the pace of the story is really fast (much faster than the anime). I personally like the animate version more than the manga version of Angelic Layer.
Click here to return the Angelic Layer main page