Angel Tales is another entry in the long line of 'five-girls-and-a-guy' anime shows.  You know the type I'm talking about; shows like Tenchi Muyo where an unsuspecting guy, through circumstances beyond his control, comes to be living with five gorgeous women.  This is a show like that but is has a little twist:  There are more than five girls, and they aren't really girls; they are angels. And they were all his pets before they died.

Episode One – An Unforgettable Bond:  Goro is an unlucky fellow. He has no job, no girlfriend, and he even misses his train, which means that he has to walk home in the rain.  While drying off under an awning, Goro encounters a fortuneteller who knows all of the details of his life.  She predicts that his luck will soon change, as she secretly puts a spell on his cell phone.  When he gets home, Goro's phone rings while he is in the bath.  When he gets out, three young attractive ladies who claim to be angels sent to Earth greet him.  It turns out that these three used to be animals, pets to be exact, which died and have come back as guardian angels.  Ran (previously a goldfish,) Tsubasa (a parakeet,) and Kurumi (a hamster) try to take care of Goro the best that they can and are astonished when they realize that Goro was their master.  Happy to be reunited with his lost pets, even if they are in human form, Goro welcomes them into his home.

Episode Two – I'm Not Scared of My Trauma: The Goddess doesn't think that the three angels are doing a good enough job with Goro, so she sends Tamami (once a Cat.)  She arrives just in time to deflect a truck that is speeding toward him.  The truck wasn't an accident; it looks like someone wants Goro dead.

Episode Three – I Will Serve You Master:  The four angels are bickering quite a bit, so the Goddess sends two more angels:  Mika a former rabbit and Nana who was once a dog.  They bring with them a clock.  The Goddess wants the angels to split up the time that they are taking care of Goro, so that they won't fight anymore.  During her time, Tsubasa takes Goro to an amusement park.   While there, a stranger approaches Goro and hypnotizes him to get on a malfunctioning Ferris wheel.

Episode Four – No!  I Don't Want to Say Goodbye: All of the angels are still arguing among themselves, so the Goddess sends Ayumi (a turtle) and Akane (a fox) along with new instructions:  when the angels aren't taking care of Goro, they must turn themselves into dolls.  Unfortunately, Goro gets very sick with a fever, and four of the angels tend to him while the others obey the new instructions.  But can even four of them stop bickering long enough to make Goro well again?

This series started out strong, but fell into a slump soon after.  The first episode really had me hooked, and the mysterious stranger who tries to kill Goro is an interesting plot, but the bickering between the different girls gets dull really fast.  Another problem is that there are so many characters it is hard to keep them straight.  By the fourth show, Goro has eight women living with him, and he's supporting them all without having a job.  It is almost impossible to become attached to any one character since they each have so little screen time.  I can see why Tenchi, Happy Lesson, and Love, Hina, limited themselves to fewer girls.

This DVD has the original Japanese audio track in stereo and an English dub, also in stereo.  I preferred the Japanese track, though the English track was pretty good too.  The only thing I really disliked about the dub track was Kurumi's voice.  It was too high pitched, and she had the incredibly irritating habit of ended each sentence with the phrase "Na No."  I believe that she does the same thing in the Japanese track, but it is not translated in the subtitles.  Other than that, the dub is fine with talented voice actors.

The sound quality was very good in both tracks.  They were clean and clear with no hiss or distortion.  There was some nice use made of the soundstage, with the background music separated nicely.  The rain in the first episode sounded full and filled the room more than I would have expected from a stereo mix.

Video:

The full frame video has very good picture quality.  There was only a minimal amount of aliasing and no blocking, a common defect in animation DVDs.  This is a recent show, and the colors were bright and clear.  A great looking DVD.

The Extras:

Character Summary:  A text based feature that list all the angels and their attributes along with a brief biography.

Doku no Shippo – "Venomous Tails": A series of short animated parodies of the show.  They are pretty funny, and run five minute total.

Trailers:  Previews for Galaxy Angel, Junkers Come Home, and Dragon Drive.

Final Thoughts:

This show could go either way, the mysterious stranger who wants to kill Goro (but make it look like an accident,) is a good plot, and could hold my interest over the rest of the series.  But the main story with the angels taking care of Goro isn't totally working for me yet.  Their endless fighting (the pecking order based on the type of animal they were in their previous lives, of course) and the fact that they don't seem to be actually helping him at all makes me wonder a bit.  The transfer was good, and the audio fine.  The show does have its moments, and I really think it will improve, so I'm giving it a Recommended rating.