Burst Angel

Summary: >

As lawlessness spiraled out of control, a law is passed in Tokyo which allows people to carry firearms. While the crime rate isn't exactly going down, the arrest rate is (since most criminals are dead). Recently the rise of the heavily armed Tokyo Police (known as RAPT) is starting to worry people. But with the rise of mutated monster attacks, there aren't any other options. Stuck in the middle of all this are a mercenary group of girls with various talents. For a guy taking a job as a cook, this is a tough entry point for an aspiring pastry chef...

Thoughts: >

Patience is a good virtue for watching anime. I've lost count of the number of titles that started shaky, but picked up by the end. Burst Angel started weak, so I kept waiting and waiting... wait, the shows over. Uh oh. I hope I'm not making it sound like time just flew by, because this show was a drag to watch.

The character designs are the best feature. Cheers to whoever did them, as the only person on the production staff of Burst Angel with any creativity. Characters are generic, weak, never develop, and I found annoying more than anything. Aside from Jo, everyone is a filler role for "the team". Yet for a team, they don't mesh well. Even with poor characters likely dooming the show, I gave it the benefit of the doubt.

But then the story sucks as well. In the beginning nothing is accomplished and it gets boring fast. Episode after episode I'd expect a pivotal story to draw me in, but it never happened. By the half way mark I felt like I was slogging through this show, and it became a chore to watch. It's predictable enough to say it's paint by numbers, but often skips the needed steps to properly follow the numbers. Instead it does a half ass job of stumbling from point A to point B through stupidity.

Other odds and ends: although the opening and end is nothing special, the background soundtrack is better than average. The character designs are nice, but often drawn crudely. I swear the breasts keep getting bigger and bigger as the show goes on. Or perhaps my attention kept gravitating to their nipples and I noticed them more. I have no idea why they felt the need to emphasize those. Burst Angel also features giant robots that serve no purpose aside from existing; something obviously grafted into a show which doesn't need them. While I'm not big on giant CGI robots, I have to admit that the few animated parts that weren't completely boring usually involved them. The dub falters with the bad tradition of giving people from Osaka southern accents (which could fit this show, but they didn't pull it off here).

I'm probably being generous rating this as weak. I can't think of any reason to recommend it, but it's not so deliberately distasteful that I hated it. It's a lame generic mess that's better to avoid.

Screen Caps: >