Forum - View topicREVIEW: Angel Sanctuary DVD
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fighterholic
Posts: 9193 |
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This review could not have been put any better. But I have to agree, this touches upon some taboo subjects. You would have to read the manga/watch the anime with an open mind to really enjoy what the series has to offer. When I watched the anime I got what I expected, and for what they covered I think that they did a good job anyways, even if it was just to introduce the series.
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nooneofconsequence
Posts: 57 Location: WV |
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Watched this one many years ago, and still would not hesitate to put it on my personal worst anime list. When you've finally had enough of guessing all of the characters' genders, putting up with Setsuna, and subjecting yourself to enough crassly utilized pop-theology and philosophy to make something like Spriggan look like a theological masterpiece, you realize there are three general types of audiences sitting through this. The yaoi camp who adore it , disaffected teens and college students who look to this and stuff like the Matrix as profound material, and the rest of us who think, and I'll borrow a quote from the Angry Video Game Nerd, of this as "Total F'ing Gar-b!tch".
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geishageek
 Posts: 571 Location: Pleasant Valley, NY |
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I really dont know why you would say this works with the yaoi group. It really has nothing to do with that. I've read the manga as well as watched the OVA and never got that feeling, and I'm a huge fan of Yaoi. And please do not say its because of the "all yaoi" trailers.
The OVA was nice and looked pretty but it did lack the same awesomeness of its manga counterpart. I have yet to pick up this re-release (I have the original CPM version) but the new extras seems nice. I hope it pick it up in the near future. |
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posterior_praiser
 Posts: 296 |
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oh! I might have to pick up the new re-release then
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Um well the ovas are alright. They touch on the general themes of the manga, but this is a manga series. I've bought all 20 volumes of the viz release, and do not regret it. It's a beautiful, and at times very complicated story. The incest is something that I think can be overlooked for those uncomfortable with it, because spoiler[for most of the manga, sara and setsuna are on their own, and not togther. Most of the manga revolves around things that have nothing to do with their relationship par say, but rather things that happen during their journey in finding one another again.] And I understand how it could be offensive to some, but it's hardly to be taken as a serious critique of Christian faith, given that most Japanese people only have a superficial understanding of Christianity in the first place. The one weakness of the manga, and of the ova is that there are just too many characters, all of whom have their part to play. The bunch featured in the ova are just the tip of the iceberg. The ova only touches on some of these stories, so its hard to get a real feel for what the manga is like based on it alone. The ova is quite good though, and has a killer soundtrack. It can stand alone for someone with a passing interest, but the manga is the way to go if you want to get into this series. |
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Jadress
 Posts: 807 Location: Seattle. It purdy and nerdy! |
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I'm surprised this got as high of a rating as it did. I'd say I generally forgot about it, but I saw this anime a long time ago and thought it was terrible and fairly incomprehensible. There are a lot of people who really like it, but I figured they are the people who have read the manga. (I haven't, so perhaps it was all just lost on me).
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Mylene
 Posts: 2792 Location: Indiana |
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I watched the OAV well before I started the manga, and I found it at least interesting. Sure, I was completely confused and had no idea what was going on, but it certainly wasn't any worse than the Rayearth OAV. Then again, I tend to enjoy short stories where you only get a snippit and get left wanting more, so maybe that's why it worked okay for me. I didn't just love it, but I didn't dislike either. It piqued my interest enough to start the manga this past year, now that's frustrating me since I can't tell half the characters apart yet, let alone their gender, who/what they're supposed to be, etc. As for nooneofconsequence's assertion that there are only 3 types of people who watch it, I'm not a disaffected teen/college student, I have no interest in yaoi (yuri on the other hand...), and I didn't think it was absolute garbage. 
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Goodpenguin
Posts: 457 Location: Hunt Valley, MD |
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I'll toss my hat in with this and the similar sentiments in the thread. On the good side, I thought the animation itself was very eye-catching, and note-worthy in it's fluidity. On the story, it's a classic anime case of spending a lot of effort towards 'looking deep', instead of actually achieving 'being deep'. The major spice as noted is 'evil God/Angels', but it carries a definitive 'High-school Heretic' vibe, and as another poster noted doesn't display any type of grasp on Christianity beyond the most superficial of concepts. The 'evil God/Angels' storyline isn't exactly ground-breaking in fiction either (heck, it's not even new to children's literature- as recent as the popular 'Dark Materials' trilogy featured golden-hearted magical pagans vs. decaying Christian God), so it doesn't get any 'bump' from novelty to cover for the superficiality. If you polish away the Junior High-ish pop-philosophy, I thought the 'core' of the show was pretty trite/redundant: Anti-social pretty-boy teen (who turns out to be powerful/special!) gets caught up in magical warfare as he deals with ultra-angsty emotional problems. |
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cool3865
 Posts: 770 Location: Austin, TX |
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wasnt there a VHS release also or is that something different, i know the place i goto has Angel Sanctuary on VHS.
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fighterholic
Posts: 9193 |
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I don't think this really classifies as Yaoi to begin with, I never saw the theme of two men sleeping together come out in this anime. Or just falling in love with each other. Even though Setsuna might be the reincarnation of the other significant person, he has his own mind as well. One of the themes presented in the anime was incest. Hardly qualifies as yaoi or even yuri.
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Raoh
 Posts: 357 Location: Florence, OR |
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Yeah, I am pretty sure the original release had a VHS release, as well. I bought the original DVD, and saw this one Monday while browsing around Best Buy (they have it for $14.99), but I didn't see the need to purchase it. The only thing I really liked better was this DVD's cover. Still, my old DVD is pretty old (got it when it was originally released), and I may pick this one up as a back-up. I've read the entire series, and this OVA doesn't begin to do it justice. I've always wished to see an actual tv series based on this, or the Count Cain series. |
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Wyvern
 Posts: 1599 |
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The purpose of the OAV always seemed to be to sell copies of the manga. It ends with an in-joke only manga readers will get, but otherwise it feels like a teaser to me, especially the last scene spoiler[where everyone is standing around and shouting at the sky and basically going "Hey God! We're coming to kick your butt, you jerkwad! No time to explain how someone could even do that, bye!"]
Nothing wrong with that, of course, as some of the best OAV's ever have basically been highlight reels of their respective manga (Here is Greenwood, I'm looking at you.) |
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nooneofconsequence
Posts: 57 Location: WV |
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I was kinda over generalizing for comedic effect, but I think you knew that. I still consider Angel Sanctuary OVA to be awful. |
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nightmaregenie
 Posts: 167 Location: Palmy, NZ - student central |
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If anyone's actually interested in this, I'd say go with the manga.
Barring the occasional overdoses of angst and cheese, the story itself is fairly complex and intriguing plot/drama wise but the OAV only portrays the beginning of it (and what in my opinion is the least well done arc in the series). The majority of the cast (60% at least?) are still absent at this point and it's only later that the story's scope would expand beyond the average Tokyo high school setup. I'm glad that I've read the manga first before watching the anime 'cause otherwise I might have been put off Angel Sanctuary altogether. The soundtrack's really quite good though, even when listened to on its own. |
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UKfan
 Posts: 280 Location: Manchester UK |
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For what it's intended for (to advertise the manga) it does it's job brilliantly, I bought a 20 volume manga series on the back of this DVD, and I'm very happy I did.
As a stand alone OVA it is lacking in some areas and for people who don't know about the manga I imagine it can be quite dissapointing. I have to say though that if any manga deserved being made into a full blown TV series Angel Sanctuary does, (although it would likely never get a UK/US release due to the content) as the OVA does a pretty decent job of covering the first story arc, looks very nice and makes me wish the whole thing was animated too. (If you can't tell I'm a big fan after seeing my avatar then  )
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Stefnick
 Posts: 48 |
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I started with the manga series first, I LOVED it.I heard it had an anime to it and check out the japanese verison. I thought it was okay, I probably be confused if I hadn't already read the manga. Then I saw the dubbed and dislike it. I mean I usually like dubs but I can't deny a bad one when I hear it. I dislike Setsuna, Sara, and Adam Kadmon(he sounded like a chiched ghost) voice, but whatever. I do agree that the art and animation looked awesome, I loved it. It seem that the anime really turned people off Angel Sanctuary. So yeah I so reccommend reading the manga before you watch the anime.
Yeah it took me awhile to get everyone's genders striaght and who's the reincration of who, and I was initially afraid of where the story was going, but I also started to collect Ceres at that time...so, yeah..I no longer cared. I'm glad I stuck to it. Though I did at times felt like a heretic for reading it. Another bad thing about the manga is that at time you can't make out some of the objects in the panel. The Incest thing, if you can last past the first 3 volume of the series, the story will quickly lose emphasis on the subject so much so that I forgot that Setsuna and Sara were siblings until the brought it up again like 10 volumes later. All in all it's a good series, the only thing that looks like yoai in that series is the suggestive relationship between Rosiel and Katan, sort of...I guess. |
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