The Show:
The final volume of Burst Angel ends the series on a high note.
The series really picks up pace and ramps up the action, all while telling
a intriguing story. Just about all of the mysteries that have popped
up in the series are finally answered as the Angels take on one last assignment.
A high-octane show that just doesn't stop.
Series recap:
In the not too distant future, Japan is a crime filled country where
it is legal to carry guns. In this violent future lives Tachibana Kyohei,
a young student who wants to earn some money so that he can go to France
to become a chef. He answers a want ad for a part time cook, and
finds himself working for four attractive, yet mysterious women who live
in a very large mobile trailer. There's Sei, the leader, Jo, the
grouchy fighter of the group, Meg, who doesn't seem to do much except become
a hostage, and the youngest, Amy, is a computer expert. They also
have Jango, a "cybot" the Jo pilots.
It turns out that these girls make their money by preforming hazardous
jobs for an unknown contract agent. They are good at what they do,
but it turns out that their mercenary lifestyle can also endanger their
domestic help. It isn't long before Kyohei is helping the Angels
out on their missions.
This volume:
Things are going from bad to worse in New Tokyo at a rapid pace.
When the Governor of this city-state is killed, the man who plotted his
assassination steps in and takes over. He then uses the violence
to give RAPT, the local police force, much more power and announced the
Tokyo Restoration Initiative a fancy name for martial law.
The Burst Angels have their share of trouble too. Their mysterious
employer calls up Sei and cancels their contract. Without backed,
Sei has no choice but to break the group up.
Soon after that happens, Sei gets a call from the new government.
A medical experiment, a very large and strong one, has been terrorizing
the subway system. They need the Burst Angels to capture or kill
it. Unfortunately, the whole scheme was just a ploy, one so that
Jo's creator's could recapture her. This they do with surprising
ease by utilizing Maria, Jo's counterpart whom she fought a disc or two
ago. But have they captured more than they bargained for?
This was a really good volume. The series really picks up and
gets interesting at the end, something that I never though would have happened.
Most of the questions that were raised by the series do get answered, including
how the Angels got together, why Jo is so powerful, and even some of Amy's
background is revealed.
After the average middle volumes, I was expecting more of the same for
the last couple of discs. It is a pleasant surprise that they pumped
up the action and really started to make the show interesting. The
last four part story that's presented on this disc made wading through
some of the more mediocre episodes worth it. My only complaint was that
Kyohei's story is dropped a bit at the end.
The DVD:
This DVD contains the final shows, episodes 21-24, of the series and
comes in a clear keepcase with reversible cover. There is also a
16 page booklet that has character profiles and art from the series.
It was a nice insert.
Like most of FUNimation's DVDs, this one starts off with an unskipable
trailer before the menu. You can't fast forward, chapter skip or
hit the menu button to get past it. This is really annoying.
Audio:
This disc comes with the original Japanese language track as well as
an English dub, both in 5.1. I preferred the Japanese track.
Some of the voices in the English dub had stupid accents that were pretty
irritating. Both make use of the full soundstage with a good amount
of directional effects. I thought that the voices that come from
the rear speakers were mixed a little high, but that wasn't a big deal.
There are optional English subtitles which sometimes overlap with text
on screen, but only very rarely.
Video:
This is a recent show, and the anamorphic widescreen image looks really
good. The colors are strong with a good amount of detail: Images
waver as they are seen through the rising heat of a fire, and the glow
of a CRT display lights up Amy's face. The lines are tight and the
picture is clean. As far as digital defects go, I notice some light
aliasing in the background, but it was very minor. A very good looking
show.
Extras:
This disc has a nice amount of extras included on it.
First off is a commentary track to the last episode with ADR Director
Chris Bevins, and all four actresses who voice the Angels. This is
one of those commentaries were everyone laughs and has a good time.
It sounds like it was a lot more fun to record than it is to listen to.
Then there are four more 'Bakuten (Burst Angel) Radio' selections included
on this disc, along with four more 'bonus tracks.' (Accessible by
highlighting the little eye at the bottom of the radio selection page and
pressing enter on your remote.) Each of these runs about 15
minutes. I'm not sure what to make of these. They two of the
Japanese voice actresses from the show (Jo and Meg) chatting about inconsequential
things; their names, how old they think they look, their favorite food,
and racing to say tongue twisters. I found them really dull.
They are in Japanese, of course, with English subtitles.
The most interesting bonus item was Mr. Stain on Junk Alley.
This 7-minute CGI short was pretty amusing. The series is going to
be released in 2006, and this is a great way to get the word out about
it. This episode is Vol. 6: Cassette Tape.
There is also alternate opening and closings, the Japanese trailer for
the series and trailers to other FUNimation series.
Final Thoughts:
Though my interest waned a bit in the middle, this show ended up being
pretty good. There was a lot of fun action and the fan service was
distracting and obnoxious. There was a nice overall story, though
they do lose sight of that in some volumes, they remember at the end and
wrap things up nicely. A fun series that I'm a little sad to see
completed, Burst Angels gets a strong Recommendation.
Buy: