Anime Review: Shattered Angels Vol. 1

ANIME REVIEW:

Shattered Angels: Kyoshiro and the Eternal Sky

"Hello, my Prince..." - Kuu, said over and over and over and over and...

Synopsis

For years, Kuu Shiratori has been having the same dream: a handsome, red-haired prince beckons to her and saying "Let's go... together." Ever since, she has been writing letters to that mysterious prince, hoping to meet him one day. Kuu is now a high school student in the city of Academia. Her life is turned upside down when a new transfer student named Kyoshiro arrives, the spitting image of the man in her dreams. She barely has time to ponder this before she is pulled into a battle between living weapons calling themselves the Absolute Angels. After her school is destroyed, Kuu sets out on a journey with Kyoshiro and his attending Angel, hoping to meet her prince along the way.

My Thoughts

I have a confession to make: I'm not exactly sure why I decided to watch this series. I've had it on my Netflix queue for months, and it's just now come into the top slots, long after I've forgotten the reasons I added it in the first place. Shattered Angels (known originally as Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora, "Kyoshiro and the Eternal Sky" in Japanese) therefore had the benefit of a completely blank slate as I went into it. All I knew was that I had to have had some reason for selecting it.

Well, readers, I still can't tell you what exactly that reason was, but this certainly wasn't the kind of anime I was expecting to see. Aside from being one of the most girl-targeted anime I've ever seen in my life, Shattered Angels has a lot going for it: the music, art, and character designs are all gorgeous and the animation is wonderfully fluid (a welcome respite after Princess Resurrection last week). I'll go so far as to say that Kuu and her friends are some of the best-looking anime characters I've seen in a while, and that applies to the guys AND girls equally. So, all in all, it's a very pretty anime to look at and listen to.

The plot, however... well, it's not bad, per se. Overly melodramatic at times, and with no small amount of narm, but not bad. Kuu seems to be a bit of a dim bulb, taking several episodes to get it through her head that Kyoshiro's assigned Angel Setsuna isn't human... despite taking baths with her twice and hearing the explanation more than that. But on the plus side, she shows some surprising backbone in episode 4, and there are signs that in short order she'll have more to do than stand around pining for Kyoshiro and writing letters to her prince.

And that brings me to the letters, my biggest problem with the series. It's an important character trait that Kuu keeps writing to her prince of her experiences, I understand that. It gives her a chance to narrate for a bit and get her side on things. However, she does this at minimum five times an episode, to the point where if you're like me you'll cringe every time you hear her start with "Hello, my prince!" yet again.

So, Kuu's sort of a doormat and Kyoshiro is content to go off and fight and be angsty most of the time. Where does that leave the other characters? This is one of the rare series where I like the supporting cast better than the leads. Setsuna keeps insisting that Absolute Angels can't love or form attachments, that they're nothing more than weapons... but it's clear just by looking into her sparkly green eyes that she harbors unrequieted feelings for Kyoshiro, far beyond that of a mere weapon and her wielder. The Angels must feed on the mana of human beings by kissing them, with Kyoshiro being her main source of fuel. So in effect, we have a girl who's not supposed to be in love, frequently being kissed by the guy she loves, who sees her as a mere tool to be used.

There's a lot happening here under the surface. In addition to Kyoshiro's quest to avenge his slain brother, the story features the ongoing subplot of a secret relationship between another Absolute Angel and a timid attendant (both female, I might add). There's yet another Angel, a bratty, green-haired catgirl named Tarlotte, who travels around causing chaos with her long-suffering human partner, Soujiro. And, oh yeah, there's the crazy, over-the-top mecha fights that occur whenever two Angels meet each other... If you're confused by how suddenly that concept came up, you'll have some idea of how I felt when it first appeared out of nowhere in first episode.

What we have in Shattered Angels is a weird mix of several different genres. It's a romantic drama, it's a pseudo-mecha action show, it's a fairy-tale fantasy. How much you'll like it will likely depend on whether you decide to follow the plot or to just sit back and watch the very, very pretty characters fight and get naked, not necessarily in that order.

The Positives

• Absolutely beautiful art, animation, and music
• Lots and lots of gorgeous girls (and boys!)
• Frequent nudity and bath scenes for both genders
• Lesbian scenes, if you're into that sort of thing
• The mecha have very interesting, unique designs, and the fight scenes between them are lots of fun to watch
• Tarlotte the catgirl throws a china cake dish so hard that it slices through a tree branch. That is awesome.

The Negatives

• The art and music far outshine the plot
• Incredible amounts of romantic angst and melodrama
• Kuu often serves as either casual observer or doormat to the rest of the cast
• A bucketload of shojo manga cliches... there are floating flower petals everywhere!
• Too much nudity to be considered safe-for-work.

Buy, Rent, or Skip?

It depends. If you're a girl looking for a quality romance anime, this is a perfect match for you. If you're unsure whether Shattered Angels would appeal to you after reading the review, rent it first. If you're a male anime fan whose favorite series are along the lines of DBZ and Bleach, avoid Shattered Angels like the plague.

Shattered Angels is available on DVD from Amazon.com and other retailers. Distributed by Funimation with both Japanese subtitles and English language tracks. Recommended for ages 15 and up due to nudity and mature subject matter.

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