 Angelique is one of those rare shows where I was able to find literally no
information about it before I watched it - I knew it was a fairly recent shoujo OVA
series, and that's all, so just for once I had no preconceptions about
what I was going to see. With hindsight, I figure if I had known, I may not have bothered at all...
Episode 1
For Angelique and the guardians of the cosmos, life is a pretty
uncomplicated affair - until Arios, once thought dead, re-appears. In a
previous incarnation, Arios had two 'sides' - Arios himself, a good
friend of Angelique and the others, and Emperor, who attempted to
destroy the cosmos. Now he's back - but without his memories. Which
'side' of Arios has returned, and is he still a threat?
Angelique is definitely shoujo - from the extensive selection
of bishounen protectors (that take about five minutes to introduce,
with an adoring "insertname-sama!!" for each one), to the royal women
in their flowing gowns and other paraphernalia, it's clear what
audience the shows creators were aiming for.
I'm definitely not in that audience, although I have a weak spot for good shoujo - the likes of Utena, Sailor Moon or Fushigi Yuugi. Angelique
most definitely doesn't fit into that category - for all that shoujo
generally relies on a fairly standard set of stereotypes for their
characters, most shows manage to do something with that 'template' to
give the show some character. Here, there simply is no
character - bland, lifeless, dull & uninteresting are four very
accurate words to describe it, once you get past the pretty pictures
(it is an OVA series, after all, and seems to have had a typically high
OVA budget spent on it).
All of which means I barely made it to the end of the first episode,
and have absolutely no desire to watch the rest of it. Eyecandy, but
nothing else - and with so many other shows available these days, it
takes really good eyecandy to save a show. Here, it doesn't. |
