Angel Tales

Publisher
Bandai
Director
Kazuhiro Ochi
Production
Project Tail of Angel, Wonder Farm, WOWOW
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
13 episodes
Year
2001

Angel Tales V.1

By David Rasmussen
4th Nov 04

Rated - 13+
Studio – BANDAI
Planning - Kei Arisugawa
Original Story and Series Planner - Juzo Mutsuki
Screenplay by Mari Okada
Character Designer & General Animation Director - Takashi Kobayashi
Animation Directors - Makoto Furuta, Yoshiko Sasaki, Hideaki Matsuoka, Kouji Iwai & Yuji Ushijima.
Art Director - Seiji Sugawara
Producers - Hisanori Kunizaki (BANDAI Visual), Shinjiro Yokoyama (DENTSU), Kouki Shibata (Movic) and Shunji Inoue (Lantis)
Director - Kazuhiro Ochi.
Produced by "Angel Tales" Project.

Before We Begin...
Eh? You say this hasn't come out yet in your area? No Region 2 DVD yet?
Maybe it's time it did come out where you are. One way or another.
During the coming weeks I'll be reviewing stuff that might not yet have come across to the UK, and along the way we'll ask ourselves whether or not this is something worth voting for... voting for?

Besides the weekly reviews I'll also have a poll set up. I want to hear from all of you as to what BANDAI should be bringing to your neck of the woods. I didn't know BANDAI was abit understocked over there, considering the quality work they did I thought they were well represented all over... still don't know why this isn't the case but it's not from a lack of quality workmanship because they do a good job.

So, then, read the reviews, vote on titles, and I'll start pitching your votes (Top Five out of 10) starting December 1st and once every two months of voting, okay?
With that said let's open the first week of titles for review, in this case Angel Tales.

Angel Tales Volume 1
Sweet Transmigration

Episode 1 - An Unforgettable Bond
What does the passing of a fish, a boy playing a harmonica, and an empty tank have to do with anything?
Congratulations. You're about to step out of the world we know and into... the Animal Twilight Zone!
If this was to be measured by theme? It'd be a typical one at the start... but don't let that fool you because what starts as typical doesn't stay that way for long.

We find a boy, a young man who seems to have the gene of loser-dom on him. Damn.
He's been blacklisted so he can't even get a simple part time job. He's two months behind on the rent and his family doesn't want anything to do with him. Yup, loser-loser-loser.

So what does a chance encounter with a fortuneteller (who just pops out of nowhere in front of a pet shop) have to do with changing his life? She brings luck to his life in the form of angels... yes, female angels... and the first "miracle" is that it stops raining (because you see it was a Snoopy style set-up beginning with it being a "dark & stormy night").

It goes right back to his apartment where he begins to reflect on what the fortuneteller told him. Reflect and think -- oh, and then take a bath while the summoning spell cast on his cell phone kicks in. Yeah. He'd HAVE to be in the bath the minute the summoning spell kicked in.

So the minute he comes out he finds himself plus three female companions. In a towel, naked, no less.
Yeah. That's no good way to meet your new female companions. And he takes it wrong.

Yeah. Wrong. Two scene shots of him looking at their legs -- yes, there -- and now he's doing wrong.
Who are they? Guardian Angels sent to him at this time to be with him.
Yeah. Two of them are down on him... some Guardian Angels.

Oh, and when I say to "be with him" I mean they're about to change job descriptions from Guardian Angels, to Guardian Angel Maid Services... Guardian Angel Maid Services?!? You're kidding me.
Sorry. I'm not. And he just has to be the kind of character who isn't cool with this. Yeah, I know most of anyone I know would take this opportunity without question, but not him.

Oh, and after he runs away from the girls we find out Ran (the red haired girl of the trio) was in fact our loser boy's goldfish (the one who passed away at the start of the episode)! So that's why she's so dedicated to him... and yes, that means the OTHER two are former pets now female humans... go figure.

Oh, they do find him (after figuring out they have these fears associated with their past lives... and he just had to take the high ground, which is no good since girl #3 is scared of heights (once again due to her previous "existence" in life).

Somehow they'll get over it and start living together. Somehow.

Episode 2 - I'm Not Scared of My Trauma!
Looks like life is about to turn around for the boy who was a loser, but just not the way he thinks.
Once unable to get a job he's now got himself a job... oh, wait, he just LOST said job because of one of new female companions (the last one who used to be a hamster in life once before).

No, she wasn't a former cast member of Hamtaro, get over it.

Ok. By now you're beginning to figure out that Goro is a huge animal lover, right? So it stands to reason that not just Ran is his former pet turned girl, but maybe ALL THREE are? Oh, yeah, that's established already back in Episode 1 with the playing of a harmonica (which he plays a tune they all remember, and which will no doubt be the way we'll figure out who his former pets are).

So now that we established this whole true identity thing as fact, where do we go from here? After he gets over his shock that is. How about the appearance of Guardian Angel #4? Sheesh, did he have a large menagerie to look over during time or what!

Looks like the three girls who are present at this time are not getting their job done according to their angelic leader (who was the fortuneteller last episode)... what? It's only Episode 2 and already they're assigning a pinch hitter angel? Way too soon to start worrying about Team #1's job performance! At least wait until Episode 7 or so before hammering away on the angelic panic button calling for reinforcements!
It doesn't show much confidence in your staff if you have to call in a pinch hitter!

Oh, as for our man Goro? Yeah. He's up for another job interview, and he looks like he's progressing, but one pinch hitting angel is coming regardless. Which is in fact a good thing because evil has finally decided to stop it's "holiday" and check in by making Goro it's target. Evil (in the form of a guy who looks like a spare bad guy from Sailor Moon) tries to run Goro over with a huge truck. Yeah, apparently pedestrian evil is good. Go figure. Anyway it's a good thing he had his cell phone because at the last second the summoning spell triggers and the fourth angel comes in to save him, protecting him from the truck.

Oh, and there's more! Looks like Girl #4 (Tamami) wants the Guardian job all to herself, much to the chagrin of the other three. Who is Girl #4? She used to be a cat... and if you're a former fish, parakeet and hamster that's just no good (you're past life kind of gave you a poor impression of cats if your past life was as a goldfish, hamster or parakeet).

This is most definitely no good at all. But it seems the new girl has her own fears to overcome.
Let's see how the girls overcome their fears. Maybe Dr. Phil will guest star? I hope not.

Episode 3 - I Will Serve You, Master!
Looks like he's already into Episode 3, got four Guardian Angel girls, and one evil nemesis who seems to think secondhand death (death by large truck) is a good way to properly handle your assignment.

Yeah. Why the forces of light and darkness are taking such an interest in him is unclear.
Maybe the forces of darkness just don't have anything to do and they're bored.
So what are we up to now? After all NOW that there's four girls there should be no more need for pinch hitting angels to come onto the job, right? Even if evil has finally appeared to oppose them.

Tensions are bad enough without MORE trouble. Anyway Goro and Ran seem to be handling things fine.
Uh? ANOTHER SUMMONING SPELL? And with that comes... TWO MORE ANGELS?!?
Oh-kay... apparently FOUR wasn't enough, now we have SIX... would someone please pick up that phone and ask for NO MORE REINFORCEMENTS slash PINCH HITTING ANGELS!! Please!

Anyway it looks like the two new angels are going to be referees to stop the fighting in the Goro household.
And to that end a mystical time piece is brought in to keep things in order... yeah, who else thinks that things will NOT be so easy once everyone is "on the clock"? (six angels divided by 24 hours means an angel every 4 hours, even during graveyard shift).

Yeah. This plan is so doomed to fail. It'll never ever work.
Especially since the evil dude from last episode takes this chance to pop in and have some one-on-one talking with Goro... but to what end? Oh, mostly to attack and hypnotize him, probably in another attempt to finish him off. This week's flavor is "death by falling". Not good.

However as the whole episode split the time between angel/Goro up it allows each one to have some quality alone time with him, the highlight being our girl/parakeet's one-on-one time with him which is the time evil takes another shot at him (which is bad because heights are involved and she hates heights).

Nice episode if I do say so myself.

Episode 4 - No! I don't Want to Say Good-bye!
Eh? We're at the end of Volume 1 and already we're having separation anxiety?
And my review is closing right now too! Damn!

Ok. Hoping when we tune in next time that this isn't a bad thing, this episode I mean.
Better stop now before I reveal anymore about this one.

So it's optional extras slash breakdown time! Move along, nothing to see here, move on.

Optional Extras
Character Summary (listed on box as Illustration Gallery) - Think this goes without saying what it is, right? Right. Check it out for yourself.

"Doku no Shippo" aka "Venomous Tails" (Subtitled Clips) - Eh? Now there's a new one I haven't heard of before... what is it? I checked it out for you and... you've taken a wrong turn into the SD Animal Twilight Zone. Where everything is just plain wrong (dammit)!

Awww... Super Deformed Rod Sterling is so... wait, there is no Super Deformed Rod Sterling.
Super Deformed Crocodile Hunter? No, wait, that's disturbing.

This is a promotion of the Japanese version of the Angel Tales website... won't do you a bit of good unless you have a program that converts Japanese to English or your computer doesn't post Kanji as gibberish.
Yeah. There's a good reason why they call these "Venomous Tails"... it makes the antics of Ryvius Illusion (Infinite Ryvius) look tame and normal by comparison, if that was humanly possible.

Angel Tales Breakdown the 1st
What's Hot?
It's a damn good view if I do say so myself. It looked as if it might be cliché at the start but it's actually very interesting to watch. Cute, fun, and it's got legs in both story and animation. I'd have to definitely recommend this one as a nice solid view, and well worth seeking out for your collection.

What's Not?
The thought that this guy had TOO MANY PETS, hence TOO MANY GIRLS! After awhile if the story is oversaturated with too many Guardian Angel girls you'll get less and less time with the core girls, or the new girls will lose out and not get enough time to shine on their own. Either way somebody is going to lose out if the cast becomes as big as, or bigger than, the female cast of... say... Love Hina or Negima... though I don't think anyone's cast could get THAT big! (But I'll bet this show is out to prove me wrong.)

Moments to Remember?
There's a ton of great moments here. The girls interactions with each other sparks some of the best scenes. And of course how they interact with Goro works for me too.

What to Ignore?
Why must EVERY plot have a nemesis from the dark? For once can't evil take a day off?

Overall?
It's a nicely done little series that did it's job nicely. Animation, story, characters, and overall feel is quite nice. A nice addition to your collection without question. Give it a shot! You'll approve, I'm sure.

-- David Rasmussen 4th Nov 04

Angel Tales Images