The Essentials
Name: Angelic Layer, Kidou Tenshi Angelic Layer
Genre: Action, Science Fiction
Tankoubon: 5
Serialized In: Shonen Ace
Released: July 1, 1999 - October 1, 2001
Story & Art: CLAMP
Published By (Japan): Kadokawa Shoten
Published By (US): Tokyopop
Scores
Story: 6/10 (x3 = 18 pts)
Art: 7/10 (x3 = 21 pts)
Gut Score: 7/10 (x4 = 28 pts)
Total: 67/100 (67%)
Review
Angelic Layer, just like most of the manga series I have read or are in the process of reading, I watched the anime based off the manga series first. In this case, it is a good thing I did, because I’m not sure if I would have watched the anime version of Angelic Layer had I read the manga first.
The first thing to note is it’s length. Angelic Layer is only 5 volumes long, yet a 26 episode anime series was spawned from it. However, this is mostly from the anime series adding to the story in the manga. The content in manga series itself may have been enough for a 12 episode half-season. Maybe.
The story is basically the same: Misaki Suzuhara discovers a new game called Angelic Layer while coming to Tokyo to live with her aunt. Her mother is also in Tokyo, but she doesn’t see her because, her mother claims, she is too busy with work. Misaki starts to play Angelic Layer and gets entered into the Kanto regional games and the bulk of the rest of the story is based on Misaki’s battles both there and in the national tournament.
The story and art are both geared much more for smaller children, I thought. Characters are often drawn more as blobs than as actual people. It is perhaps best described as erratic, especially compared against other CLAMP series I’ve read. It takes on a much more cartoonish look than most manga series.
Meanwhile, the story is very simplistic in nature, with almost no story beyond the fights themselves and Mistaki’s battle, both internal and externally, to win them. Also, some things in the story seem to “just happen” with little or no explanation and with little regard to how likely such an event is to occur, to the point of severely straining any suspension of disbelief.
One serious hit on the manga series is that Misaki’s mother is hardly a sympathetic character at all. Basically she ran away to play angelic layer, leaving her kid behind. The manga series doesn’t even give the somewhat plausible excuses of working on the angelic layer project herself or having an illness she wants to hide. She just apparently went off to win Angelic Layer national championships at the expense of her daughter, yet the manga series seems to think nothing of it. They meet at the end and everyone is happy. Misaki doesn’t seem a bit perturbed that her mother was off having fun for 7 years while Misaki was living with her grandparents and aunt.
To add insult to injury, at the end of the manga series, the relationships that people end up in are pretty much announced, since there is really no development of those relationships during the course of the series. The last chapter almost quite litereally goes “here is who everyone gets with! the end!”
I think if you’ve seen the anime and expect the manga to be fulfilling, you’ll be disappointed. Also, if you’ve read the manga and think it stinks, try the anime out anyway, it is much better. Angelic Layer may be a good book…for kids, but even then it has serious flaws. I was expecting much more of it.
First Read: January, 2006 - February 2006
Do I Own: No (I sold it)
Do I recommend: No, unless your young (maybe)
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