Galaxy Angel Recommended

Publisher
Broccoli Books
Writer
Kanan
Artist
Kanan
Country of origin
Japan
Year
2002

Galaxy Angel GN 5

By David Rasmussen
25th Jun 05

It’s been awhile, hasn’t it.
I know, I know, I STILL need to review Galaxy Angel GN 3 & 4, but for now let us bask in the glow of the fifth (and final) book of the Galaxy Angel series… no, no, it’s not canceled. Considering the series lasted at LEAST four seasons (hopefully on it’s fifth season now if we’re lucky) I don’t think the manga is going to sputter out that fast, even if it’s based more on the dating sim style video games moreso than the Anime series…. But more on that, and the title that is having a harder time coming out than Tron 2.0 for the PS2, Galaxy Angel Party, later.

The manga is ending because after this manga there’s a switch in publisher (a toy company takes over the rights from that point forward) and the new series (coming soon) will be Galaxy Angel Beta.
But where are we now in this manga series?\

Previously
So far you know the score up to this point.
The Angel Troupe (a completely different entity than the one in the Anime, complete with a different homebase and a different “history” of “Lost Technology”) has been assigned to protect one Prince Shiva from death. It seems his evil relative Eonia, has gone and killed all the relatives of his kingdom except for the good Prince who is now on the run. They have to escort the Prince back to the White Moon, where the Goddess Shatoyan (who seems rather close to the Prince) awaits them.
Along the way they’ve tangled with Eonia’s forces both in the large scale, and one-on-one as Eonia has sent out “specialists” to bring the Prince back to him. But so far all the skirmishes to date have been rather low key, and not a major concern… until now.

Now bringing out their own “Death Star” in the form of a “Black Moon”, Eonia’s forces brings the spectre of death to those who oppose him, as the blood begins to flow across the very stars themselves.
Now confronted with a greater threat, the Angels are interrupted in battle against Eonia’s forces as the image of the Goddess Shatoyan appears and compels them to complete their journey to the White Moon.

Graphic Novel 5
Barely escaping the battle against the Black Moon, the Angels and their charge… oh, and the jerky guy Takuto whose SUPPOSED to be the character you play in the Galaxy Angel video games… though you’ll hate yourself if you play him since he’s such a weirdo (the kind you can’t stand looking at and would rather take to the back of that bar in Raccoon City from RE : Outbreak to beat to death with a zombie or three)!
Anyway at the end of Graphic Novel 4 all the Angel Frames sprouted glowing wings, and now they’re trying to decipher that as Takuto admits to the other Angels he wants to be with Milfeulle.
You go, Forte, shoot him.

Half of the story is the furthering of plots like Takuto/Milfeulle, and a story about hard working (and far more talkative than usual) Vanilla before we go to the strangest part of this Graphic Novel… the Prince!
It seems that between Graphic Novel 2 and now he’s become much more of a chatterbox (when he barely said anything the first two books of the series) and that seems to be important as he’ll be the only one who can get the Angel Troupe and their allies onto the White Moon.

Oh, and it seems a secret of the Angel Wings that sprouted from the Frames links to a bigger (and darker) secret hovering over the White Moon itself, as well as the existence of the Black Moon as everything heads to a major confrontation above the White Moon and a dance with evil dark versions of the Emblem Frames!

Oh, and one more thing… this book features the first appearance of newest Galaxy Angel member Chitose!
The sole survivor of a place trashed by the forces of Eonia, she is saved by the ship carrying the Angel Brigade and gets to meet them, where she tells them she’s been their biggest fan for who knows how long.
But don’t expect her to be a throwaway character, oh no, she’ll be hanging around when Galaxy Angel Beta comes out and becomes the 6th Angel! That’s right, they’ve picked up a brand new member… and while she won’t get her Emblem Frame right away (soon) she gets to know her new friends (soon to be new teammates) and has a run in with the “Extremely Fresh Beef“ cow… blame Forte.

Then there’s the extras and we wrap up the first part of the series, looking forward to the start of the second series (Beta) and all new adventures. Ok. Time for breakdown.

Galaxy Angel Breakdown the 5th
What’s Hot?
It’s still Galaxy Angel, and it’s still good. I mean really! It’s lasted for so long in Anime format (4 seasons hopefully rolling into 5) and has a few games, not to mention a nice manga series to boot! What is there not to like about this series? A solid series worth your time and effort to buy in my opinion.

What’s Not?
Yes, yes. I saw. They jacked the price up to $11. While I’m not a big fan of price raises I guess sometimes it’s necessary. Still it’s not as steep as Dark Horse’s asking price of $14-$16 or more dollars for one Graphic Novel. I love Dark Horse’s work, and praised quite abit of their titles, however (that being said) their titles are also abit too steep for my reviewing budget. I can’t shell out that much per title on a regular basis because it’d definitely pinch into my financial resources. I wish Dark Horse would make a second set of Graphic Novels with marked down prices for cheap bastards like me (yup, X-Play has me pegged but good) but I still like their works and recommend it even if it’s abit steep in price.

Another minus doesn’t necessarily link to this title as much as it does to the endlessly delayed Galaxy Angel Party. They’ve announced it’s release over, and over, and over, and over again only to reschedule it over, and over, and over, and over again. Why I don’t know, and attempts to learn the reasons behind that have left me with no answers and lots of questions. Still, for my own sake at least, I hope that eventually the title finally does roll out into print and we’ll see it come out at long last (after so many delays).

Too bad they’re charging a $1 more now but I guess I can live with that price raise.

Moments to Remember?
The first half has it’s moments. Milfeulle’s battle against carniverous chestnuts, which is also the only time you’ll hear such a line as “The chestnuts are coming!!”
The search for Vanilla and trying to make her take a break (after working for so long).
Chitose’s first appearance and her first interactons with the Angel Brigade (which leads to a flying sequence not seen since a certain episode of the Anime series) and more…
Ah, heck, if it revolves around the Angels and their newest friend (soon to be member) Chitose then it’s good. Very very good.

What to Ignore?
Hmm… I guess you can ignore ad in the back for Galaxy Angel Party.
Why? Because they’ve advertised that OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER again! And I for one am tired of seeing the endless hype for a book that doesn’t seem any closer to releasing than the first ads promoting it sometime back (when the first season of Galaxy Angel came out on DVD)!
So if you knew better you would not believe the hype until it’s out in stores and available for purchase! Because unless you can physically wrap your fingers about this book, hold it up to the light of day, and say that you finally have Galaxy Angel Party GN 1? Then don’t believe what you read until you have what they promised they’ll release. You know, just in case they push back the release date again.

Overall
Yes, yes, I know. The title jumped a $1 in price… and yet it’s still worth it.
I’m not a stickler for price raises in mangas, and kind of like the old $10 a pop rate, but I guess if the title is good enough then it’s worth the additional effort to pick up (and to me Galaxy Angel is most worthy of it).
So here’s to Galaxy Angel, the series. And whle I’m at it here’s to Galaxy Angel Beta (the sequel manga coming soon) and, yes, Galaxy Angel Party… whenever it finally sees the light of day.
Stay tuned to see what we review next from Broccoli!

-- David Rasmussen 25th Jun 05