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R2 DVD Reviews
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Written by maehara
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Friday, 31 March 2006 00:00 |
 The more I see of Burst Angel, the more I have to wonder just what Meg's point is, other than to be captured, kidnapped, attacked, threatened or otherwise put into potential harm, all in the name of giving Jo a reason to let loose. Oh, and she gets to look pretty, too, but quite how she came to be a member of an elite team of bounty-hunters is completely beyond me. This volume brings four episodes and two stories of Meg getting into trouble again...
5 - The Manor Where the Demon Lurks
Meg's under-cover at a private girls' school, the St Luciana Boarding Academy. Meg being Meg, she's finding the whole experience terminally boring, but before too long she manages to get an invite to the exclusive Ishtar club, led by one of the senior students. On the surface it's a prim and proper girls' club, but beneath the veneer it seems the Ishtar club are involved in some sort of devil-worship, and Meg looks set to be the next maiden sacrifice...
6 - Wash This Flower Garden with Blood!
Things are starting to fall into place - an examination of one of the girls from the school reveals that she's been fed on a daily diet of high-strength, hallucination-inducing drugs that seem to be being slipped into the students' food. While Sei's investigation's making progress, the Ishtar Club have been doing some investigating of their own, and have discovered that Meg isn't the transer student she appears to be. Fortunately, Meg has an ally amongst the schoool seniors, Nadeshiko-san - or is it all in her imagination?
7 - Black Skies
Kyouhei makes use of an international food festival to get himself a date with a normal girl, Kazami - after spending so much time with Meg and the others, a little bit of normality is good for the soul. Kazami tells him of the Man-Crow, a mysterious flying creature who has been attacking girls in Ikebukuro recently - and no sooner has she finished telling the tale than the Man-Crow appears and flies off with her. Kyouhei's efforts to get the police to do something come to nothing as they simply won't believe his story, and neither do Meg and Amy - but for some reason Jo takes an interest and offers to help him out...
8 - Scarred Fugitives / The Wounded Outlaw
Jo and Kyouhei are now on the run from Sei and Bailan - they want the NI=50 nanobot back, but Jo's not prepared to sacrifice the only bargaining ship she has that could help her save Meg. With less than 5 hours now left before the NI-50 is due to kill Kyouhei, time's rapidly running out. Back in the truck, Amy's caught in the middle and wondering who's judgement she should trust - Sei's or Jo's...
In amongst all the Meg & Jo fanservice in episodes 5 and 6, there are a few things to watch out for and a few parallels to the fate of the brothers back on volume one. Could it be there's an ongoing story beginning to bubble along under the surface, or am I getting my hopes up? Only time will tell. Either way, this story is the better of the two on the disc - not because it has any more depth or is in any way more sensible (Burst Angel seems to revel in its silliness), but because it's just presented in a much more enjoyable way. I deny any accusations that that's down to having Meg running around in nighties or less, or squeezing Jo into a highschool uniform. :)
The second two-parter just helps to remind me of what a waste of space Meg is when it comes to dealing with trouble, but it also points out a few things about Sei - in particular, how well her connections with the underworld are. Bailan, mentioned in a very hush-hush and secretive way up to now, suddenly breaks cover and throws off all pretentions of subtlety when it comes to finding Jo - which all feels a little bit dumb, really. You would wonder who was behind Bailan and what they were after, if you weren't too busy wondering how they could remain low-key when they apparently have hundreds of members running around the city in uniform. And don't get me started on the believability of the giant robotic crow.
After all that, you're probably expecting me to give Burst Angel a real savaging here, but I'm not going to - for all that it's silly, unbelievable, and more than a little predictable, it does exactly what it sets out to do: serve up a large does of eyecandy (both female and mechanical) and some fun stories, in a package that requires very little though & is just fun to watch. Sometimes simplicity and silliness is a virtue. Anyone looking for depth will need to go elsewhere, at least for this volume, but for passing the time with a smile this is worth a look.
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