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REVIEW: Burst Angel Blu-ray


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nobahn
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Joined: 14 Dec 2006
Posts: 5175
PostPosted: Wed May 08, 2019 11:32 am Reply with quote
I adored the OP (Japanese Hip Hop has to be heard to be believed!), but I always wondered about Meg's seeming lack of agency....
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Minos_Kurumada



Joined: 04 Nov 2015
Posts: 1217
PostPosted: Wed May 08, 2019 11:35 am Reply with quote
I remember this one, the OP was pretty good.

The fanservice aspect was weird on the means that it wasn't there on the first chapters, and the girls had normal sized boobs.

Then, literally between chapters each girl grows boobs bigger than their heads to the point of being creepy, and and they start sexing all of them, even the minor and that make it really uncomfortable to watch.
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Takkun4343



Joined: 19 Jul 2007
Posts: 1605
Location: Englewood, Ohio
PostPosted: Wed May 08, 2019 12:09 pm Reply with quote
I only saw one episode as a test watch (and don't remember being too impressed) but by lord that opening theme is lit in the best meaning of the word.
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ultimatehaki



Joined: 27 Oct 2012
Posts: 1090
PostPosted: Wed May 08, 2019 12:33 pm Reply with quote
I remember watching this during my "awakening" stage into my anime life and enjoying it.
I tried watching it recently and could only get past 2 episodes Laughing it was so bad Laughing Laughing
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Hao-sama



Joined: 23 Feb 2004
Posts: 22
PostPosted: Wed May 08, 2019 1:32 pm Reply with quote
Question: I already have the classic edition, is it that much of an upgrade for the essentials?

Love the art, music and wackiness of the show, but yeah, the show shines when it is silly and over the top. The more serious episode on the second half are so not that engaging...
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Greed1914



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
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PostPosted: Wed May 08, 2019 1:34 pm Reply with quote
I don't doubt that much of the animation budget went into the CG parts. Burst Angel came along at a time when integrating CG was a big thing for Gonzo, for better or worse.
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Kicksville



Joined: 20 Nov 2010
Posts: 1267
PostPosted: Wed May 08, 2019 1:52 pm Reply with quote
This seems very representative of a specific era in anime, at least to me, where action/adventure shows (seemingly) being the main centerpiece of all anime were really falling off. People complained about moe and all starting especially around 2008, but in retrospect, it's easy to see how "pure moe" shows would fill in the void after so many frustrating action duds. (Yes yes, I know moe itself has a much longer history)

And I feel kinda bad saying that even, since I really wanted to like Burst Angel super bad. Although that's basically because I thought it would be The Jo and Meg Show, and I kinda wonder if it was originally supposed to be, considering the very tacked on feeling male harem protagonist set up they went with. And it's got all the other bad hallmarks of early digital anime, of looking "too clean" as opposed to the then-recent warmth of cel animation, 3D robot animation that looked bad even at the time, etc.

Last edited by Kicksville on Wed May 08, 2019 1:52 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Key
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003
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Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Wed May 08, 2019 1:52 pm Reply with quote
Hao-sama wrote:
Question: I already have the classic edition, is it that much of an upgrade for the essentials?

Love the art, music and wackiness of the show, but yeah, the show shines when it is silly and over the top. The more serious episode on the second half are so not that engaging...

If you have the previous Blu-Ray release then you don't gain anything by getting this. If you have the DVDs then there's probably a bit of an upgrade, though I don't have this one on DVD to compare.
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One-Eye



Joined: 08 Mar 2011
Posts: 2269
PostPosted: Wed May 08, 2019 2:11 pm Reply with quote
Theron's review is spot on. Its a C+ for me whether in sub or dub. It may work if you are brand spanking new to anime and you have a big budget or you are having a serious nostalgia trip, but otherwise there's better stuff to own.

Hao-sama wrote:
Question: I already have the classic edition, is it that much of an upgrade for the essentials?
Essentials is basically taking the place of Funimation's old SAVE budget line. This is usually a marked down line of products that have already been selling for a while or they did not sell well to begin with and skipped the classics line. In the old days it usually went something like this Initial Release-->Viridian-->Classics-->SAVE. Nowadays it seems to be Initial Release-->Classics-->Essentials. However, it isn't a hard rule as Funi has a well earned reputation as being inconsistent, so sometimes you'd get a repackage of the initial release and at least once even an LE (Black Lagoon is an example).

As far as upgrade in quality from BD Classics to BD Essentials? I wouldn't expect any. Its not something that Funi normally does when moving a property from Classics to the budget label. In some cases moving to the budget category has meant losing quality, I believe Princess Jellyfish went from initial BD release to DVD only budget SAVE release skipping the Classics line because it sold poorly.
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scriver058



Joined: 21 May 2006
Posts: 127
Location: NY
PostPosted: Wed May 08, 2019 2:13 pm Reply with quote
Yeah, this review is on the money. This was one of the first anime I bought on BD, it took me a while to get through it, and I got rid of it shortly after. I definitely don't mind mindless fanservicey action stuff, but this was really lacking, and the ending was just... I get what they were getting at, but poorly done. Pretty much an irrelevant series.
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pachy_boy



Joined: 09 Mar 2006
Posts: 1343
PostPosted: Wed May 08, 2019 2:57 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
it delights in putting Jo, Meg, and Sei into skimpy outfits that clearly don't allow for bras; nipples visible under clothing or exposed underboob are regular features of the series, especially for Meg. Thankfully the much-younger Amy is not given this treatment

Just aside from the fact her get-up still gives attention to her navel.
Quote:
Jo is Meg's more aloof counterpart, as well as her best and most loyal friend; romance can easily be read into their relationship but nothing overt is ever shown.

The 3-volume prequel manga removes the 'sub' from the word 'subtext' in their relationship--there's no way to not read any romance into it (as well as Meg's sexual lusting after Jo) unless you're blindly desperate to see it that way.
Quote:
but I have to question the wisdom of making everyone in the Osaka episodes sound like a country hick. Granted, that's probably the most comparable thing in English to how Tokyo denizens regard the Osaka accent, but the effort quickly becomes obnoxious.

Both Azumanga Diaoh and Abenobashi have been criticized for giving Osaka characters American southern accents as well, but it keeps making me ask this same question--what kind of accents should the Osaka characters have, if not what we got? From what I understand, Osaka people talk differently from "normal" Tokyo Japanese people, so what kind of accents should they do in English dubs that is the equivalent and somehow doesn't put off English listeners? To this day I still don't understand the "controversy" behind southern accents. And in Burst Angel's case, doesn't "country hick" fit at least close to the wild-west theme of the show anyway?
Quote:
and something called a Character Designer Special, which looks like a promo for a sequel series (set at least a couple of years after the original) that was proposed but never made.

And that should explain why the series proper had an ambiguous ending. We can only imagine the intriguing what-could-have-beens should Burst Angel had gotten a continuation based on what we saw in the special, including Meg rising up as an actual heroine.

Believe it or not, I'm still a fan of this series. Both it and its OP/ED songs are old favorites, and whenever I revisit it it remains a fun watch, both despite and because of how over-the-top, ludicrous, and entertainingly/creatively bizarre it gets. Even if nobody else remembers it, I certainly will.

Last edited by pachy_boy on Wed May 08, 2019 3:01 pm; edited 1 time in total
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maximilianjenus



Joined: 29 Apr 2013
Posts: 2926
PostPosted: Wed May 08, 2019 2:58 pm Reply with quote
Well, we yuri fans back then had ot take whatever we got. then moe-yuri subtext happened.

was this the show that had the nipple counter special vido or ami I confusing it with something else ( Not aika's pantsu count video.)
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Angel M Cazares



Joined: 23 Sep 2010
Posts: 5524
Location: Iscandar
PostPosted: Wed May 08, 2019 3:44 pm Reply with quote
Burst Angel is one of the shows I watched when I was really getting into anime about 10 years ago. I liked the premise and genuinely enjoyed some moments, but the ending was a big letdown. Most Gonzo animes seem plagued by bad endings.
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fuuma_monou



Joined: 26 Dec 2005
Posts: 1875
Location: Quezon City, Philippines
PostPosted: Wed May 08, 2019 8:19 pm Reply with quote
Despite my choice of avatar pic, I still haven't watched the Anime Classics DVD set I have of the show I bought years ago. Given the series' vintage, I'm assuming the video for the Blu-ray is upscaled from SD masters. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
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tintor2



Joined: 11 Aug 2010
Posts: 2234
PostPosted: Wed May 08, 2019 8:45 pm Reply with quote
angelmcazares wrote:
Burst Angel is one of the shows I watched when I was really getting into anime about 10 years ago. I liked the premise and genuinely enjoyed some moments, but the ending was a big letdown. Most Gonzo animes seem plagued by bad endings.


Wait, Black Cat went into an original ending completely ignoring the manga material while Hellsing had come up with something since the manga's serialization still was ongoing. What's Burst Angel's original format? A series of novels?
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