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R2 DVD Reviews
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Written by maehara
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Tuesday, 26 August 2008 16:00 |
 Burst Angel returns for an OVA outing, and wouldn't you know it, Meg's in trouble and needs saving. Now where have we seen that storyline? It's not all same-old, same-old, though - Meg and Jo are back in America, while fans of Amy and Sei are going to be disappointed...
Despite vowing never to walk the streets of New York again, Meg and Jo have taken time out from fighting crime in Tokyo and returned to the city where they first met to celebrate the birthday of their young friend Shirley, one of the orphans they used to hang out with before their relocation to Japan. But their joyous mood is soon shattered by the news that Shirley has recently become the latest victim of a psychopathic freak conducting a bloody killing spree in and around one of the city's less affluent neighbourhoods. With their friend still fighting for her life in intensive care, and with little co-operation from the local police force, the duo set about hunting down the cowardly killer who preys on those weaker than himself. Their investigations unfortunately lead to Meg becoming the maniac's next target when it is revealed that the murders are being committed by a cyborg controlled by a crazed snuff movie addict who likes to film the killings. Never one to tolerate any kind of bully, particularly a homicidal one, Jo, as ever, is determined to exact her own brand of vengeance. The difference this time is it's very, very personal...
I love it when a show's press release provides a proper synopsis. Saves me the trouble of writing one myself - and for Infinity, the "official" blurb is pretty much spot-on. Meg & Jo's previous life was touched upon in one episode of the TV series, and now the OVA is taking them back to the world they left behind, and as you'd expect there are problems for them to face once they get there. In true OVA style, the girls have some new, fan-friendly outfits to show off (Meg's seems specifically designed to enhance her, uh, talents, if you catch my drift), while the animation quality in general takes a step up from the TV show's sometimes ropey standards. It's just a shame that the storytelling didn't get an equivalent upgrade.
Truth be told, I don't think anyone has ever watch Burst Angel for depth of dramatic storytelling - it's one of the most shallow shows around, nearly always relying on the charisma of its characters and its flash action scenes to draw you in. Unfortunately, Meg and Jo are hardly the most charismatic of people, and without Jango the battle scenes in this release just don't have the same sort of "Wow!" factor - meaning that the story is the only thing the OVA has left to try and impress us with. Unfortunately, it doesn't do a great job. I expect OVA episodes to provide something special - whether that's in terms of ramping up the fanservice, going to town on creating mind-blowing action scenes, or doing something different with the story, I don't much care. But this episode doesn't do any of that - it's just more of the same as the TV series, and on a fairly mediocre level at that. You could argue that moving the setting provides that "something different", but the way the story plays out it could just have easily been set in Tokyo anyway.
There's one other big issue with this release, and that's value for money: the disc costs the same as any other MVM release - £15.99 RRP - but that gets you one episode, run-time 25 minutes. Yes, there are a stack of extras that mean you're getting a full dual-layer DVD worth of content, but really, are you ever going to watch a compilation of all the battle scenes from the TV show? The OVA & TV series preview clips? Some of the other behind-the-scenes extras will be of more interest, but they're still watch-once films, and not - to me - worth charging full RRP for.
Overall, then, Infinity is a real disappointment. Real fans of the TV series will want it for completeness, but other than that there's no real reason to bother - it doesn't really add anything to the TV series or do anything different enough to make it stand out. If you must take a look, try before you buy.
Watch the trailer
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