Galaxy Angel Highly recommended

Publisher
Bandai
Director
Morio AsakaMorio Asaka, Yoshimitsu Ohashi
Production
Bandai, Broccoli, Madhouse
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
26 episodes
Year
2001

Galaxy Angel V. 1 (Platinum)

By David Rasmussen
24th Nov 04

Company - BANDAI
Rated - Age 13 and up.
Japanese/English Dialogue
Optional Extras - Promo clip, Textless opening and a special "section" (more below).
Time - 105 minutes
Subtitles - Off, set to English.
Planned/Created by Broccoli
Directors - Morio Asaka & Yoshimitsu Ohashi
Series Supervisor - Toshiki Inoue
Original Character Designs by Kanan
Music by Hikaru Nanase
Animation Production by Mad House
Produced by BROCOLLI and BANDAI VISUAL

Volume 1 - What's Cooking?

Before We Begin...
What is "Lost Technology"? And where does one go about finding "Lost Technology"? That's what the organization codenamed Angel Brigade has been organized to discover.

Too bad they seem to do everything BUT find "Lost Technology"!

They babysit, clean pig stalls, walk dogs, probably run bake sales and clean cars on weekends.
Angel Brigade -- Working to make something safe for something else -- eventually.

With a quirky bunch of female members what else could be better?
How about the inclusion of a brand new member?

Episode 1 - Resort-style Angel Preparation
Yeah. It sucks to be in a organization that's supposed to have such high ideals and aims so low.
For members Forte and Ranpha it just can't get any worse... oh, yeah, it can degrade even more.
Today they're assigned to recover a missing cat that's the heir of a big fortune. Now why the cat gets all this money I'm not too sure, but I guess it's big boss level owner was attached to the cat in some severe way.
But it's not so much the search for the cat as the discovery of a certain female with Longshot level good luck... Longshot... that guy who used to be an X-Man... that guy. Only her luck is WAY better than his.
How so? During the episode it seems some people are out to put that cat the ladies are looking for out to "pasture"... of course first they have to find said cat before the bad guys can try to do that, which isn't easy since it's a common breed -- as in the entire area is crawling with 10,001 lookalike cats (time to snatch and grab as many as possible) before the right one is found who happens to be in the possession of our good luck wielding gal (one Milfeulle Sakuraba).

How much good luck? She can stand in front of a rocket launcher as it's fired and survive... how? Well, you can find that out yourself. The mission? Accomplished, but not the way you may think.

Episode 2 - Gamble Milfeulle Sauce
Looks like that last mission with the cat yielded a great deal of cash for Forte and Ranpha, and vacation time is now so they're going to hang at a casino and make a fortune. However what happens when said casino owner turns out to be crooked and tricks them out of said money? Looks like they'll have to wrassle to get out of their debt -- that is until they run into good luck blessed Milfeulle who happens to be in the audience watching them wrassle, which leads to a plot to turn their luck about by having her win them out of debt. But can even her good luck beat a stacked deck in a cheating casino owner?
Yes. Even if the wrath of the heavens have to be invoked to insure she wins. What does that mean?
Well, you'll see.

Episode 3 - Vanilla Flavored Asteroid Trash Stir-Fry
While cleaning up a litter filled asteroid field the girl stumble onto something you don't see too often.
Sent there on a rumor that they'll discover "Lost Technology" they discover an old "smart bomb" missile. Smart? Smart as in artificial intelligence level smart. So is this "Lost Technology"?

Who cares. Apparently their find is an AI in need of serious therapy... so pull up the therapy couch and lose that joker Dr. Phil's celphone number because we're going to have a little quality time with the explosive missile which may result in an explosion if somebody pushes the wrong button and triggers it... too late.
Since it's only Episode 3 I'm sure nobody is going to die here, in fact they might even get a new member out of this missile's AI system. The missile? Long long name -- even longer than Radical Ed's "name" -- but for short we'll call it Normad... yeah. Long tube missile with an attitude named Normad...

I can't even pretend that the creators weren't gunning for a Star Trek slant here because they probably were.
Get it? Normad... Nomad... long talking tube thing... get it?You did see that episode of Star Trek, right?
No... well, it doesn't matter if you missed it. Never mind.
(Oh, and it looks like Normad has a bit of an attachment to one of the team -- find out who when you watch)

Episode 4 - Assorted Angel Fruits Shipped Direct
Sometimes things aren't always what they appear to be.
Take this mission to bodyguard a big corporate level dude from somebody who sent death threats.
Seems pretty straightforward. Guy's a corpo-suit so you figure the line of people out to ax him starts at the sliding doors, goes down the block, across town, and circles the city a few times -- but there's more to this assignment than meets the eye. What more? You'll have to see it for yourself. I can't spoil it for you...
It's just too weird how it ends! I have one question though -- but if I told you that question I'd have to do harm to you... still, I wonder... ah, never mind. Moving on.

Episode 5 - Pirate-style School Memory Terrine
Speaking of things that aren't always what they seem? This is yet another example but in a different way!
Simple mission to return an old elementary school ID to a school in a decaying space station in pirate controlled territory, easy squeezy right? So that's where things take a wrong turn. Very interesting episode.
The ending is very good with just that much of a twist to make it perfect.

Episode 6 - Forte's Ruinous Stew and a Dash of Trouble
On yet another wild goose chase for that so called "Lost Technology" (which does a pretty damn good job of being "lost") it looks like the trio of Milfeulle, Forte and Normad (in new "body") are about to have a close encounter of the mouse kind. Yeah, if you haven't guessed already it looks like somebody has a mouse phobia. Guess who! (And it looks like it's a well placed phobia since the mouse turns out to be more than meets the eye!)

So, how to deal with said problem WITHOUT killing? You'll just have to see it to believe it.

Episode 7 - Fun Park Specialties with Chicken Mint Compate
Ack. I can tell you all about it since it's nothing big or serious. Not like we're reviewing (dot)hack here.
Kids are disappearing from a big amusement park. Now, mind you, I'm guessing it's not that bad since they haven't sealed off the park and it isn't swarming with lynch mobs of parents and police and media... still, it's not a good thing, what's going on.

So when the Brigade is assigned to solve this case it looks like one of them has become seduced by the fowl side of the force... usually low key soft spoken team member Mint has become obsessed with the idea of WEARING THAT MR. ROOSTER COSTUME!! Must -- WEAR -- Mr. ROOSTER -- COSTUME!!
And to that she'll go to great lengths to plot the mission just so she has a chance to don said costume, even claim two of her teammates are DOA (when they're not)!

Oh, yes, the ending is just something you have to see as the bad guys finally show up which leads to one crazy insane chase sequence that has to be seen to be believed! But even then it's not over until -- well, you'll see when it's over -- when the ending credits roll, then it's over.
Now the extras and the breakdown.

Optional Extras
Now I Get It! Galaxy Angel Lectures - Starring the voice actress for main girl Milfeulle Sakuraba, Ryoko Shintani (yes you get to see the real woman behind the voice) you get your 4-1-1 on the series. Originally appearing before each episode these should have been linked to the show itself, but weren't.

Why? Well, with all respect to the young woman who did Milfeulle's voice? Her delivery of this section is par to a college lecture, and just as dry. Additionally she reads the whole thing off of a script in her hand which just screams as being so wrong on so many levels. She really needed to have some more life in her with her delivery because it just seems rather flat and far too much like a lecture and not something which should be enjoyed. Another point is that maybe she should not have had the whole thing in her hand (depending too much on it instead of her own memory or an off screen teleprompter) which is kinda boring because she is often glancing down at it and losing eye contact with the viewer (double negative here).

Of course it could be a prop, but the way she "uses" it it seems it's more than a prop. And if it is a prop? Then it's a poorly used one because it distracts too much and shouldn't have been used.

Promo Clip - It is exactly what it sounds like.

Textless Opening - Opening credits, only without the text.

Booklet - Whee! Screenshots of one of the girls (the often mentioned Milfeulle, she with the extremely good good luck)!

Galaxy Angel Breakdown the 1st
What's Hot? - I like it. I know what I like, and I know what I hate, but it is quite viewable.
Weird, strange, bizarre, odd, and just plain out there. And yet all that and more are the good points about the show, and not the bad points. Put all it's quirky strangeness together with engaging characters, fun stories and a nice easy viewing pace (15 minutes a pop is easily digestible viewing wise) you can't go wrong with this series!

What's Not? - Hmm -- how many episodes did this series last? Looking forward to Volume 2.

Moments to Remember? - If I told you all that it'd spoil it for you. Yup, there's even more to the DVD than what I told you so far, and thus it makes for quite abit in the Moments to Remember category.

What to Ignore? - ...for god's sake it's a rooster costume for a theme park! Must you scheme, plot and lie through your teeth to wear it, Mint? Scary...

Overall? For something abit different that has a nice twisted sensibility and is quite the fun viewing option? Go for it. You're collection could stand some fun stuff once in awhile. Heck, you can't go wrong with this DVD! It's highly watchable, it comes from good stock (the people at Mad House for starters), and it's quite a good piece of viewing. Now if it only would come out in Region 2 format...

-- David Rasmussen 24th Nov 04

Galaxy Angel Images