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Steel Angel Kurumi - Angel on my Shoulders (Vol. 1)
ADV Films // Unrated // May 21, 2002
List Price: $29.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie
Steel Angel Kurumi was a surprisingly good entry into a series that I was not at all interested in at first. This series consists of 15 minute episodes, with this disc containing the first 6 episodes in the series. This is one of those animes that are based around maids or maid-like characters. Such series as Hand Maid May and Amazing Nurse Nanako are examples, both good and bad, of the sea of maid anime series that are coming out. I figured Kurumi would be one of those bad series, but boy was I wrong.
Glancing at the series, it seems to adhere to the "fanservice" area of anime. This area of anime usually has panty shots (in the second episode), the lead male accidentally doing something confused as flirtatious (happens a lot in these episodes) to a female and the female characters being in outwardly sexual costumes and having outwardly sexual feelings (every episode). If you look at the heart of Steel Angel Kurumi though, you will find something that is usually not seen in fanservice anime…a competent story with characters you can feel sympathetic toward. Watching the story in this series has made me look beyond the panty shots and outwardly sexual feelings expressed in this show and has therefore made me like this show a lot more.
Steel Angel Kurumi is about a robot girl created by Dr. Ayanakoji, who used to work for the Army, but is now working for himself. A young boy, Nakahito, and his friends happen upon the place where Dr. Ayanakoji is and Nakahito gets into the compound. The Army has decided it is going to take what Ayanakoji is working on and starts to attack his workplace. Nakahito ends up seeing Kurumi and thinks she is dead since she is not breathing or anything. The Army attacks and Kurumi is thrust forward and just happens to kiss Nakahito on the mouth. This awakens Kurumi and she immediately starts to call Nakahito "Master". She then protects Nakahito from the Army and ends up destroying the huge machine the Army has brought after her. She is obviously not a human girl since she can fly and has superhuman power.
Dr. Ayanakoji gets both Nakahito and Kurumi out of the area and brings them to Nakahito's brother's home. It seems Ayanakoji and Nakahito's brother have been working with each other, but their partnership is never fully explained. Both Nakahito and his brother are mystics and everyone believes that Nakahito woke Kurumi up with mysticism. Ayanakoji is angry because Kurumi does not follow his orders even though he made her. At one point Ayanakoji knocks on the door and Kurumi opens it, closes it, and says, "It's that guy who keeps bothering me". Pretty funny stuff. Nakahito is not too high on the fact of Kurumi calling him "Master" and following his every order. Kurumi believes she and Nakahito are in love, but Nakahito brushes it aside. They even sleep together and Kurumi loves to snuggle Nakahito into her ample breasts. Nevermind that it looks like she is naked under the covers while she is sleeping.
The Army, commanded by the perverted General, decides they need to kill Kurumi. So they send Kurumi's sister, Saki, out to destroy her. Since they do not know how to activate her they use electricity to momentarily awaken her. Kurumi will not fight Saki because Nakahito told her earlier that she "shouldn't be so rough" when she started beating up on Nakahito's friends that originally went with him to the compound. They want to know what happened and they start to rough Nakahito up and Kurumi takes care of them. Saki is beating up on Kurumi pretty well, but Saki eventually loses power. Kurumi wants Nakahito to activate Saki by kissing her. As Nakahito is going in, Kurumi knocks him aside and decides that she is the only one that will kiss Nakahito. So, Kurumi kisses Saki to awaken her while all the guys watch on with glee. Now of course Saki is subservient to Kurumi and there is a little lesbian tendencies going on that I am sure will manifest themselves later in the show.
That is the general overview of the episodes presented here. Now a word of warning, this is definitely an R+ rated show, even though it is unrated. There are panty shots, breast shots, underlying sexual tones and a little bit of violence here and there. This is definitely not a show for your children.
The DVD
Video: This series was done in 1999-2000. The quality of the full-frame video shown here is exquisite. The only blemish is that Kurumi's pink hair has a habit of doing some cross-colorization from time to time on the video. I will not knock it down for this knowing how hard it would be for a main character with pink hair to not have this problem. The quality of this show is OVA quality and it is hard to believe it was done on television. The animation was done by O.L.M., who are well known for doing Pokemon, but the animation presented here is far better than that.
Sound: Presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 and in English and Japanese language. The English track on this disc is wonderful. There are swear words, but the voice actors seem to have a handle on their characters. We even find out in the extras that there is a woman doing the voice of Nakahito, the male lead of the series. I spot checked the Japanese language track and found that to be entertaining as well, but I think the English track will make many dub watchers happy. The surround effects are also used quite well and overall this is a great sound presentation.
Menus: The disc begins with the voiced Onmyou prayer (talk more about this later). Then there is a well-animated menu with Kurumi as the centerpiece. When you choose a section the background with gears animates behind her.
Extras: There is a plethora of extras on this disc
Interview with Angels, Part I: A 32-minute interview with the female voice actresses and the writer/director Stephen Frost. They start by talking about Kurumi overall and then they delve into how the actresses were chosen. The most funny one is the one girl says she showed up and demanded that she be "the lesbian android" (referring to Saki). It is really cool to hear the voice actresses and what they bring to the characters. One of the voice actresses is very quiet about her part later in the series because they do not want to spoil the surprise. She also did the voice over for the Onmyou prayer.
Historical background on the Taisho Era (1912-1926): Since this series is based in the 1920s (evident by the episode Kurumi and Nakahito go to town), we are presented here with the history of the era in Japan. It is an interesting read and just adds to the information presented here.
The Onmyou Tradition: Talks about Nakahito and his brother, Karahito's, mystic way. The prayer accompanies the beginning of the disc. It talks about the tradition in text and it gives you a better sense of what Nakahito and Karahito are all about in mysticism.
Production Sketches: Different sketches of all of the characters.
Translator Notes: Notes for those that wish to know more about certain words in the Japanese language that are presented here. This is a lot like liner notes that most companies put into the insert.
Clean Opening Animation: No subtitles for the song and no credits. A totally textless opening for the show. Always a plus for anime series.
Extended Episode Previews: Longer previews of episodes 2-7, all in Japanese with English subtitles.
Kurumi Fortune Teller(DVD-ROM): A PDF file of the Kurumi Fortune Teller. Have not checked this yet.
ADV Previews: Excel Saga, Sakura Diaries, Dirty Pair Flash: Random Angels, Miyuki-Chan in Wonderland, Princess Nine and Burn Up Excess. I am really looking forward to Excel Saga.
Final Thoughts: The show itself and the vast amount of extras make this an easy recommendation. I went into this show expecting nothing but normal fanservice stuff. The cover made it look like it was straight fanservice and since I knew nothing about the overall series, I was very surprised by what I got out of it. Steel Angel Kurumi is highly recommended and I cannot wait for the next release. I have no clue how long this series is, but I certainly look forward to it.
Steel Angel Kurumi was a surprisingly good entry into a series that I was not at all interested in at first. This series consists of 15 minute episodes, with this disc containing the first 6 episodes in the series. This is one of those animes that are based around maids or maid-like characters. Such series as Hand Maid May and Amazing Nurse Nanako are examples, both good and bad, of the sea of maid anime series that are coming out. I figured Kurumi would be one of those bad series, but boy was I wrong.
Glancing at the series, it seems to adhere to the "fanservice" area of anime. This area of anime usually has panty shots (in the second episode), the lead male accidentally doing something confused as flirtatious (happens a lot in these episodes) to a female and the female characters being in outwardly sexual costumes and having outwardly sexual feelings (every episode). If you look at the heart of Steel Angel Kurumi though, you will find something that is usually not seen in fanservice anime…a competent story with characters you can feel sympathetic toward. Watching the story in this series has made me look beyond the panty shots and outwardly sexual feelings expressed in this show and has therefore made me like this show a lot more.
Steel Angel Kurumi is about a robot girl created by Dr. Ayanakoji, who used to work for the Army, but is now working for himself. A young boy, Nakahito, and his friends happen upon the place where Dr. Ayanakoji is and Nakahito gets into the compound. The Army has decided it is going to take what Ayanakoji is working on and starts to attack his workplace. Nakahito ends up seeing Kurumi and thinks she is dead since she is not breathing or anything. The Army attacks and Kurumi is thrust forward and just happens to kiss Nakahito on the mouth. This awakens Kurumi and she immediately starts to call Nakahito "Master". She then protects Nakahito from the Army and ends up destroying the huge machine the Army has brought after her. She is obviously not a human girl since she can fly and has superhuman power.
Dr. Ayanakoji gets both Nakahito and Kurumi out of the area and brings them to Nakahito's brother's home. It seems Ayanakoji and Nakahito's brother have been working with each other, but their partnership is never fully explained. Both Nakahito and his brother are mystics and everyone believes that Nakahito woke Kurumi up with mysticism. Ayanakoji is angry because Kurumi does not follow his orders even though he made her. At one point Ayanakoji knocks on the door and Kurumi opens it, closes it, and says, "It's that guy who keeps bothering me". Pretty funny stuff. Nakahito is not too high on the fact of Kurumi calling him "Master" and following his every order. Kurumi believes she and Nakahito are in love, but Nakahito brushes it aside. They even sleep together and Kurumi loves to snuggle Nakahito into her ample breasts. Nevermind that it looks like she is naked under the covers while she is sleeping.
The Army, commanded by the perverted General, decides they need to kill Kurumi. So they send Kurumi's sister, Saki, out to destroy her. Since they do not know how to activate her they use electricity to momentarily awaken her. Kurumi will not fight Saki because Nakahito told her earlier that she "shouldn't be so rough" when she started beating up on Nakahito's friends that originally went with him to the compound. They want to know what happened and they start to rough Nakahito up and Kurumi takes care of them. Saki is beating up on Kurumi pretty well, but Saki eventually loses power. Kurumi wants Nakahito to activate Saki by kissing her. As Nakahito is going in, Kurumi knocks him aside and decides that she is the only one that will kiss Nakahito. So, Kurumi kisses Saki to awaken her while all the guys watch on with glee. Now of course Saki is subservient to Kurumi and there is a little lesbian tendencies going on that I am sure will manifest themselves later in the show.
That is the general overview of the episodes presented here. Now a word of warning, this is definitely an R+ rated show, even though it is unrated. There are panty shots, breast shots, underlying sexual tones and a little bit of violence here and there. This is definitely not a show for your children.
The DVD
Video: This series was done in 1999-2000. The quality of the full-frame video shown here is exquisite. The only blemish is that Kurumi's pink hair has a habit of doing some cross-colorization from time to time on the video. I will not knock it down for this knowing how hard it would be for a main character with pink hair to not have this problem. The quality of this show is OVA quality and it is hard to believe it was done on television. The animation was done by O.L.M., who are well known for doing Pokemon, but the animation presented here is far better than that.
Sound: Presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 and in English and Japanese language. The English track on this disc is wonderful. There are swear words, but the voice actors seem to have a handle on their characters. We even find out in the extras that there is a woman doing the voice of Nakahito, the male lead of the series. I spot checked the Japanese language track and found that to be entertaining as well, but I think the English track will make many dub watchers happy. The surround effects are also used quite well and overall this is a great sound presentation.
Menus: The disc begins with the voiced Onmyou prayer (talk more about this later). Then there is a well-animated menu with Kurumi as the centerpiece. When you choose a section the background with gears animates behind her.
Extras: There is a plethora of extras on this disc
Interview with Angels, Part I: A 32-minute interview with the female voice actresses and the writer/director Stephen Frost. They start by talking about Kurumi overall and then they delve into how the actresses were chosen. The most funny one is the one girl says she showed up and demanded that she be "the lesbian android" (referring to Saki). It is really cool to hear the voice actresses and what they bring to the characters. One of the voice actresses is very quiet about her part later in the series because they do not want to spoil the surprise. She also did the voice over for the Onmyou prayer.
Historical background on the Taisho Era (1912-1926): Since this series is based in the 1920s (evident by the episode Kurumi and Nakahito go to town), we are presented here with the history of the era in Japan. It is an interesting read and just adds to the information presented here.
The Onmyou Tradition: Talks about Nakahito and his brother, Karahito's, mystic way. The prayer accompanies the beginning of the disc. It talks about the tradition in text and it gives you a better sense of what Nakahito and Karahito are all about in mysticism.
Production Sketches: Different sketches of all of the characters.
Translator Notes: Notes for those that wish to know more about certain words in the Japanese language that are presented here. This is a lot like liner notes that most companies put into the insert.
Clean Opening Animation: No subtitles for the song and no credits. A totally textless opening for the show. Always a plus for anime series.
Extended Episode Previews: Longer previews of episodes 2-7, all in Japanese with English subtitles.
Kurumi Fortune Teller(DVD-ROM): A PDF file of the Kurumi Fortune Teller. Have not checked this yet.
ADV Previews: Excel Saga, Sakura Diaries, Dirty Pair Flash: Random Angels, Miyuki-Chan in Wonderland, Princess Nine and Burn Up Excess. I am really looking forward to Excel Saga.
Final Thoughts: The show itself and the vast amount of extras make this an easy recommendation. I went into this show expecting nothing but normal fanservice stuff. The cover made it look like it was straight fanservice and since I knew nothing about the overall series, I was very surprised by what I got out of it. Steel Angel Kurumi is highly recommended and I cannot wait for the next release. I have no clue how long this series is, but I certainly look forward to it.
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