Angel Cop

Publisher
Manga Entertainment
Director
Ichiro Itano
Production
Studio 88, DAST Corporation, Soei
Country of origin
Japan
Format
OVA
Running time
207 mins
Year
1989

Angel Cop VHS

By John Huxley
26th Apr 04

In a nightmare future, violence is the only law. Well, that's what it says on the back of the case anyhow. To be fair, the cheesy tag-line doesn't describe Angel Cop accurately at all - it isn't set in much of a nightmare future and violence isn't the only law, but we do get an entertaining anime and lots of it. See, Angel Cop is spread over 6 episodes, which translates as over 3 hours of entertainment. And the fact that it managed to keep me entertained throughout, getting better with every episode is quite an achievement.

The story is the usual spiel about terrorists and special police units, with physic-powers thrown in for good measure. The Red May terrorist organization is wrecking havoc all over Japan to destroy the world's economy (I thought Wall Street would have been a better target) and generally annoy the leading class populace. However, when the Special Security Force and it's new recruit Angel start to investigate it appears that the Red May are nothing more than a front for a much bigger kettle of fish. Before long, Angel's partner is turned into a half-human half-cyborg super cop, the Red May are dropping like flies for no good reason and a group with powerful physic powers keep turning up to ruin the party.

For all it's 'flash-bang-pow' plot lines, Angel Cop really isn't all that crazy or unrealistic. Yeah, we've got a Robocop style android and the occasional futuristic gadget, but the weapons, settings and vehicles are all potentially within our grasp. This trend is carried on throughout the film and lends it a feeling and atmosphere not unlike watching a Tom Clancey thriller starring Harrison Ford and some American doing a dodgy Irish impression. Angel herself is an interesting character, and definitely not you're a-typical manga hero. She's pushy, unfriendly and, well, not a very nice person. The other characters predictably play back-up to Angel, but there are a few notable cases, especially the little girl who can encase herself in flames and her leather-clad rock guardian who has the ability to warp time and space. These abilities play host to some cool fight sequences and nice spurts of violence, but as mentioned before, things never get too out of hand or unrealistic (if you can say that paranormal abilities are realistic).

The animation is neat enough, and seemingly improves as the episodes progress, delivering some nicely realized moments, although the overall quality of animation just isn't quite good enough. This is a passable deficiency, however, as the plot, characters and atmosphere of Angel Cop raise it above the average bar and just below the 'decent' category. Nice.

-- John Huxley 26th Apr 04

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