Angel Cop

Angel Cop at a surface level is in extremely poor taste; snuff p*rn of fanatical communists, mind r*ping, not so subtle Japanese nationalism, muscle woman tiddy and an infamous rant that would bring down the full wrath of a certain anti defamation group. Beyond all the crazy rants and nihilistic shock value however, are clearly the creative minds of very politically conscious and well informed people.

Sure the conspiracy thriller is ridiculous and utterly overshadowed by any Oshii political thriller. Like Oshii however, it is all tied to very very relevant and to use a meme; 'redpilled' geo/political discourse. No better example of this is seen ... in the closing monologue about Japan's true status in the world and relating it to 'being another Kuwait'. Genuinely intelligent and deep, far moreso than many acclaimed philisophical/art anime out there.
This is indeed the type of message too dangerous for societal elites and the commercial mainstream; the only way it could of slipped past the censors? You guessed it: by also being a hyperviolent retro anime ova. Angel Cop delivers amazingly on this front. In addition to the things already mentioned, we get:
- The infamous Angel Cop headshot
- Cool helicopter and powersuit designs, true staples of a cyberpunk diet
- Enough firepower to fill out a sweet IMFDB page
- Golgo 13 expy with even broader shoulders and somehow even less emotions (see:personality)
- Glam rock psykers
- The handcannon that breaks your arm and calls you banana
- The absolutely beautiful MangaUK dub.
- Last and not least, Angel is one SASSY action heroine!

Yes, Angel Cop is easily up there with 'terrible' ovas like MD Geist, Apocalypse Zero and Battle Royale Highschool as an unapologetic, absolutely badass and awesome action anime. Essential MANime viewing. Also a much more intelligent anime than it looks; quite a biting critique of the potential neo imperialist mechanisms of foreign investment capital and strong themes on state sponsored terrorism/destabilisations.

The golden era of the 'Original Video Animation' or 'Original Animated Video' is a time which is remembered fondly by many anime fans. Beginning in the early to mid nineteen eighties, the age of the OVA continued right until the end of the millennium, and throughout the years produced some of the finest animation to ever come out of Japan; from its earliest classics like 'Top wo Nerae!' to works like 'Rurouni Kenshin: Tsuiokuhen' and 'FLCL' in its twilight years. The format can even boast 'Legend of the Galactic Heroes' among its ranks, an anime that is often touted as the greatest ever made.

But none ... of that matters, because we don't remember OVA format for the less-commercialised or more creative and experimental nature it tended to produce. No, we remember the OVA for the veritable smorgasbord of ridiculous trash it spawned in the late eighties and early nineties, and then charitably brought to Western shores by companies like Manga Entertainment and Central Park Media and now providing entertainment for drunken anime fans the world over. Today we will be taking a closer look at one of the less terrible examples of this bygone era; the delightfully offensive (or just offensive) five episode spectacular that is 'Angel Cop'.

Angel Cop is the story of a special branch of Japanese police officers, known as 'Special Security Agents', remarkable because it is neither a contrived acronym nor a portmanteau. The role of the 'Special Security Agents' is somewhere between a police force, a counter-terrorism unit and a band of superheroes. They operate within the context of the Japanese police force, but without unnecessary burdens like the judicial system or human rights laws to weigh them down. Naturally, all their members have almost superhuman abilities. This is in contrast to some of the other characters, which I will discuss later.

Throughout the OVA, the Special Security Agents are involved battling against a conspiracy; the nature of which depends on the version you watch. If you choose to watch the dubbed version (which you would, since that is the whole point of watching bad 80s OVAs) then they are battling against the Red May, a communist terror organisation which is actually a front for a greedy capitalist government... as you can imagine, it makes absolutely no sense at all and clearly wasn't intended to be a work of political intrigue.

But not making any sense at all is hardly a surprise when you take a complete production and introduce radical changes to the storyline, just because you are worried that some people might be offended about a couple of offhand remarks that some could choose to interpret as 'anti-Semitic'.

If you choose to watch the fan subbed version of the original Japanese version, you'll find that the story of a communist terror organisation that is a front for a corrupt government is itself a front for a story about a Jewish Zionist domination conspiracy... This also goes some way to explaining the use of so many Judeo-Christian references and imagery in an anime without any clear connexion to religion whatsoever.

Naturally when the show was brought to the West, the licensing company decided that racist conspiracy theories and anti-Semitic tones would not go over well with audiences. Not wanting to waste this otherwise wholesome story filled with violence, gore and sexual imagery they decided to change the story completely for the dubbed version, and then, for good measure, inserted random swear words into every second line. The result is, to put it simply, so fucking stupid that I don't understand how the piss they come up with this fucking shit.

The title refers to the main character; a woman named 'Angel' but described as a 'total bitch' in her own terms. Naturally this aspect of her character changes over the course of the show and by the end her character has made the transition from cyberpunk feminist icon to bawling blob of moe; by which I mean she actually hesitates before blowing her own partner's brains out in order to kill a genetically enhanced psychic military experiment. Yes, you read that right.

Analysing most of the cast in any real depth would be a waste of time. With only a few exceptions, all of them are entirely one dimensional and completely uninspired. Furthermore, describing their qualities would involve investing more time into the characters than the time the creators invested in their screen time. Developing them is unnecessary because we've seen them all so many times before, and since they're not gonna last why even bother trying to give them any depth?

At the end of the day, Angel Cop is all about the action; and that's okay, because that is all we really wanted in the first place. It comes thick and fast, it comes in a variety of forms and it's never too repetitive or sporadic for us to ever really notice the ludicrousness of the actual story. It manages to delve between the reality of the relatively near future and the realms of science fiction and fantasy without seeming discontinuous or out of place. The animation, while not "good" by any means, is functional and only in the last episode does the shoddy workmanship start to become obtrusive.

The same cannot be said for the soundtrack, which is often so inappropriate it is a curiosity. The defining moment of this is the very first time the ending theme plays, which is so inappropriate that one cannot help but laugh. Additionally, on several occasions the action scenes -which are quite violent and bloody- will be supplemented with light hearted, optimistic music. The purpose of background music is to complement the image on screen without becoming a distraction, but in Angel Cop the contrast between the two can become so stark that it actually leaves you feeling puzzled.

However to be fair to Angel Cop this is not always the case; nor is the music exceptionally bad. It mainly uses a combination of harder sounding electronic music for action scenes, with more surreal sounding music to enhance the more paranormal or mysterious aspects of the show. The backing music for the action is fit for purpose but unremarkable, while the paranormal music is repetitive, clichéd and quickly becomes irritating. On all accounts, the soundtrack is the worst thing about Angel Cop, with the exception of the highly offensive original storyline.

Having explored every aspect of Angel Cop, we can conclude that it is not exactly a work of quality. The story is riddled with clichés, and the plot is a total mess. The cast consists entirely of hackneyed stereotypes. The animation is unexceptional, if not outright bad, and the soundtrack is so unsuitable for the task at hand that it's actually humorous. As a production, Angel Cop is completely uninspired and poorly made.

But to see it for what it really is, would be to miss the point entirely. You are not watching Angel Cop because you expect it to be good, but because you expect it to be bad. A very special kind of bad, to the point where it is almost self-conscious, where there is no other objective than producing trash lower than the level of the lowest common denominator, and doing it unreservedly and unashamedly. And from there, it is simply a matter of providing creative licence to the art of translation and making the cheapest voiceover possible, before you've transcended both bad and good; to produce something that is so bad... it is good.

Overview:

"If this is JUSTICE... then I am a banana!" Just try to imagine lines as stupid as that being read with a speech cadence that makes Christopher Walken's seem ordinary. Today I am revisiting and re-reviewing one of the worst anime I have ever tackled on MAL. Angel Cop is fairly famous in circles of older otaku for being one of the absolute worst anime of all time. I didn't adequately explain just how BAD this series is last time, so I hope to recitify that with this new review!

Plot: 1/10

The plot is that in the future, Japan has become a global superpower and ... the evil Americans wish to destroy Japan by bribing the Japanese government to turn Japan into a nuclear waste dump, which would sterilize and kill off the population. This level of extreme Japanese nationalism, terrible writing, and anti-American xenophobia is nothing new to anime and wasn't the reason Angel Cop failed. Code Geass was at least that bad and it actually became hugely popular! Angel Cop takes things one step further by stating America is controlled by evil Jews and launches into a massive anti-Semitic diatribe. Of course, extreme anti-Semitism is also not the reason Angel Cop failed. Code Geass turned the beloved Jewish scientist Albert Einstein into the evil, racist, cowardly, and reviled character Nina Einstein, and no one had a problem with that. Angel Cop failed because at every level of storytelling it is a complete mess. The characters are poorly written, the execution of the plot is terrible, the ending is terrible, pretty much everything is terrible! The story begins with a communist terrorist attack by the the Japanese Red Army, who was an actual terrorist group at the time this series was made. The government responds to this terrorist attack by creating Judge Dredd style super cops that act as "judge, jury, and executioner"! The main character Angel is of course one of these super cops. She must uncover the conspiracy while fighting the terrorists and even fight against elite psychic special forces sent by the Americans. The plot gets dumber and dumber as it goes on. You would think that this series was written by 1000 chimpanzees with type writers, yet the writer of this garbage later went on the write...Full Metal Alchemist! How is that even possible!? Of course knowing Japan's "good ol boy" system where seniority takes precedence over talent, it is quite possible that the FMA script was written by a young nameless intern and the credit was simply stolen by Sho Aikawa. That would actually make more sense than Aikawa writing this, Legend of the Overfiend, Violence Jack, then after 20 years suddenly resurfacing and is all of a sudden an amazing writer.

Edit: Sho Aikawa only wrote the dialogue for episodes 1-3. The scenario and plot was written by Ichiro Itano, who also wrote all the dialogue for episodes 4-6. I learned this from the special features of the Angel Cop Bluray I bought! I know this is 4 years late, but apologies to Aikawa. Oh, and BTW all the rabid Antisemitism was entirely Itano's doing.

Characters: 1/10

The main character is Angel, who is a generic 80s badass that blows away all the bad guys and doesn't give a fuck who she has to kill in order to accomplish the mission. Her main opponent is an agent sent by the evil American Jews named Lucifer, who is best described as a poor drawing of a drag queen attempting to impersonate Sharon Stone. Lucifer fights with her deadly fingernails and psychic powers, which Angel is only able to overcome at the very end. There are also some corrupt Japanese government officials, but no one cares about them. No characters in this pile of shit are interesting, well written, or likeable in any way!

Sound: 5/10

The one thing that "saved" Angel Cop and actually made it fun to watch was the HORRIBLE English dub provided by the incompetent buffoons at Central Park Media. In order to market their titles as more "mature", Central Park often added in a ridiculous level of swearing that often makes no sense and doesn't reflect the way ANY HUMAN actually swears. Characters will just randomly yell things like SHIITT....AANNNDDD PIIISSS! It is absolutely hilarious how bad this dub is. If you ever watch Angel Cop, the only reason should be the bad English dub. NEVER watch this series in the original Japanese! You will just get bored.

Entertainment: 4/10

It is fairly amusing simply because it is so bad. At least it isn't boring with the consistantly hysterical English dub!

Overall: 2/10

Angel Cop avoids a 1/10 only because it is entertainingly bad and not simply bad and boring. That makes it more like Plan 9 from Outer Space and not Manos the Hands of Fate, where 10 minutes are spent driving through the middle of nowhere because the director promised the crew that everyone would have thier name on screen for 5 seconds, and then forgot to add names in post production!

"Unless you want a .45 caliber lobotomy real fucking back, you better tell your friend over there to put the fucking knife down." - Angel

I have returned once again, from the gratuitously ultraviolent era of anime past... the 80s OVAs! For those who aren't yet in the know- the 80s are now famous for having produced some of the most outrageous, over the top bloody, gory, and violent anime ever. Back when you had to get anime on sketchy bootleg VHS tapes that cost $40 a pop just to see an animated titty. Back when blowing heads off and turning characters into meat fountains was ... chic. This turned a series of widely varying in quality and appeal anime into cult classics.

Titles like Violence Jack, Genocyber, Mad Bull 34, Wicked City, and our very own Angel Cop will forever be remembered for their contribution of an obscenely ridiculous plot with dubs to match.

This is not to say that Angel Cop is by any means a good anime, no matter what the underground following says.


Sound and Voice Acting: 6

The dub is not as hilariously bad as it was described to me, but decidedly hilariously average, and probably even a good quality production for the time. Sure, there's a few memorable one liners that sound like something someone from another planet who'd studied only extremely dated euphemisms and idioms from 20 years before this anime was even made would say... or just ad libbing. I did once read about the ADR director that worked for Central Park Media at the time- named "One Take" Tony Scorlietti. He had a thing for making every character have a thick NY accent and cursing as much as possible. SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT... PIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSS!

Sometimes it felt like Tourettes Guy was the scriptwriter for this series, no lie.


Artwork and Animation: 8

What was decidedly above average was the art in this OVA. Its contemporaries Violence Jack and Mad Bull look like ASS in the animation department. They're straight up terrible. Angel Cop, surprisingly, looks really nice. It's fluid for the most part, and the animation of the characters and their models are fleshed out and not recycled over and over, or with horrible drops in detail level. Angel Cop keeps the gore level high, and there are some pretty squishy, grotesque killings. Cool factor +2 for disgusting displays of viscera.


Characters and Story: 4

The characters are as follows: Robocop, Impossibly Badass Female Supercop, Steve Perry mixed with Steven Tyler, complete with an enormous 80s glam rockstar-do, Doll Girl, Dick Tracy, and Arnold Schwarzenegger with boobs and psychic powers.

Do with that as you will.

The story is a snoozer, and I didn't even care enough to go back and listen to what was supposed to be happening, and it didn't much matter. What matters is that a psychotic psychic bitch named Lucifer is going on a rampage for some suits who want to turn Japan into a nuclear waste pit, in the vein of Fallout. "When kids start growing two heads, you don't think people will notice that shit?" Dick Tracy says.

So, in order to stop the suits, their psycho test subject has to be subjugated to reveal the really poorly planned get rich quick scheme behind the murders. It's up to Angel and her partner Robocop to shut that shit down... and totally annihilate everyone in their way. Yay for drama. Yay for murder.


Enjoyment and Overall: 7, 6

While not nearly as crazy or funny as Mad Bull, nor as graphic as Violence Jack, Angel Cop falls somewhere in the middle. The dub is classic Central Park Media, and worth watching for that alone, but the actually decent visuals are a plus too. Imagine if Mad Bull had half the budget of Akira, and you've got something in the ballpark of Angel Cop.

There's also an unintentionally hilarious scene where a guy gets shot multiple times because another character can't aim with the other hand that basically makes the OVA.

This is must-see TV for 80's OVA fiends like me, or anyone who enjoys a short romp in the realm of the bloody ridiculous.

Angel Cop is not a great anime by any stretch of the imagination to me, nor is it anywhere near close to the worst anime has to offer either. I have heard many point of views on this anime, and for the most part it appears to be either a love it or hate it; I have heard legit reasons from both sides, but to be completely fair there is some room for gray area, and I mildly fall right into there.

Angel Cop definitely has a few good features and some really bad ones too. It's similar to Ninja Scroll in a way. It knows ... exactly what it is and doesn't try to deviate from it. Foremost, this is a very brutal action series with a very dark setting to compliment the serious nature of it.

When creating a series or a film with a truly dark atmosphere. It's not only important to create the character personalities that properly meshes with the environment. The film should also maintain its identity throughout. This is the main area Angel Cop truly excels in. You never forget you're watching a serious and violent series. There is no comedy relief or random jokes just tossed out there to lighten up the mood. Nor will you see the exaggerated big faces with the over sized tear drop. This for me is one of the biggest attractions to Angel Cop. I simply have a hatred for series and films that are suppose to be truly dark and serious, then you'll have random comedic segments that completely ruin the atmosphere. Hellsing: Ultimate is one series that falls victim to this clashing of genres.

The action and violence in Angel Cop can either be its strength or achilles heel all depending on the person. The death scenes are disturbing and well animated. The gore is in good detail from people taking bullets to the head on to being fried like lobsters. I was taken by surprise a little bit when I first saw this many years ago. There is one sick torture scene that truly brings out the cruelty in humanity to the fullest.

Angel Cop is an entertaining series in some ways but it definitely has its huge, glaring flaws. The writing definitely deserves a mention. The first half was pretty good and the story was a bit gripping. Later on, it takes a turn and becomes only a splatter fest and characters you already didn't care about are being taken out as if they were so important. One character even dies an undeserved dramatic death, and after learning next to nothing about them it was very hard to care about the person.

The animation is hit and miss. The visuals can be pretty good, and the gore isn't the only thing well done: character designs, landscapes, and the use of lights were well detailed and animated. However, by the last two episodes, you can see it suffered from budget restraints; resulting in the animation and artwork being inconsistent and downright dreadful.

I also have small issues with the setting. The series is suppose to take place somewhere in the future, and some of the technology concerning some weapons such as high powered guns, heavily armed motorcycles, and cyborg suits back up its futuristic claims; but the people's mannerisms such as taste in garments, hairstyles, and the fact disco is alive and well takes away that futuristic feel to me.

The series also suffers from some crude dialogue with a lot of forced cursing. I'm a fan of cursing toons but the profanity even grated on my nerves, and reached the dark realm of ultra annoying. There is also a lot of bad voice acting and cheesy lines too. The stand out line definitely has to be, "If this is justice, then I'm a banana". Seriously... Who the hell would say that?

Angel Cop does have a decent plot and it's not completely mindless. There is a slight bit of character development on the part of the main character Angel. She's also a likable character in some ways due to her fearless and cold demeanor. The series also touches on themes such as patriotism and government conspiracies. Plus, the death scenes can be imaginative as well. The series goes out of its way to keep trying to shock the viewer with the death.

Overall, Angel Cop is wasted potential to me. I feel it was wasted because of a low budget and questionable writing. The budget was definitely the issue because the series was finished over a five year period through 1989-90 & 94. The effort was there, Angel Cop had some very good ideas, plot twist, and characters introduced; but the six episode format along with its other flaws nearly dismantles it. It definitely needed a longer run time since it does feel rushed. Overall, I recommend this only to the action starved. If gore and action is your cup of blood then this will most likely quench your thirst. To others, I recommend skipping it completely.

Highs: Lots of bloody and gory action, good pacing, consistent theme

Lows: Crude and sometimes annoying dialogue, inconsistent animation, writing is sometimes questionable

Angel Cop. The title to a not so appreciated anime that could be really misinterpreted in various ways though I won't go into needless detail. However, no - the title doesn't revolve around a female that takes the shinigami (Angel of Death) role nor is she called 'Angel' because she portrays the angelic beauty.

No, what this anime is about is a political scenario much like those that one might expect from Ghost in the Shell; a terrorist organization, an anti terrorism organization and how they tackle a situation. Seems too similar to GitS perhaps but Angel Cop differs enough that the background being similar adds ... to the appeal since it doesn't feel like a rip-off - at least not to me. Yes - both have dominant female chars and similar organizations structure but the execution is very different.

We have the politicians, we have the organizations, and we see how the clashes between these three parties are sorted out, which side gains in on the other and so on. The anime does a fine job of giving details alongside that makes one understand the situation a little more - the six ep length does not allow for extremely intricate chemistry anyways. And inching to the last two episodes we do get a decent finale.

I like the anime. It is not one of the best, but certainly something I'd recommend to people knowing their interests. However, with its positives, there ARE certain negatives as well.

The story is more or less discussed above - I don't want to give spoilers so yes - no lengthy synopsis. Providing analysis: It is a fine paced story, with a definite and well defined plot that is suitably covered in six episodes. It doesn't have a lot of plot twists, scenes that make your mouth gape for seconds but it doesn't bore you and make you wonder "what the hell is happening?" either.

And that is what I feel as the reason people don't rate it decently. No, it is not going to give you a mouth watering twist, or a super suspense ending, or just bring things together so that they make your heart throb for the finale... no. It has a conclusion, yes. But will it make you jizz in your pants? No. That is not their purpose. Having said that, it is not as if they didn't work on the ending AT ALL. I'd say it is a matter of taste but people portray it as far too less.

The art is old. If you are expecting a combination of crisp art, vivid colors and perfectly fluid animation like Shigatsu wa Kimino Uso then sorry, you are looking in the wrong place. HOWEVER, no one is saying the animation is BAD. The color scheme is dull, yes - the backgrounds monotonous at times, but the character designs are good, the animation is fluid and detailed at times where it needs to be. Fighting sequences are not over the top and the over all anime doesn't irk you (as some people do when seeing the original "Berserk" after the remade movies). The best comparison to this animation would be '8 man after' another similar classic. So, keeping in mind the time it was released, I'd say the animation is really good.

And it is a little hard to put the sound category... it isn't outstanding, but it works well. The sound effects are good, the music is old school - which I really like and complementary to the scene playing. So over all fine music.

Now the main reason I kind of enjoy these kind of shows is how they managed the character development. The char's are good - those in the anti terrorism unit seem professionals, capable, each having their own personality, their own traits. They didn't give us the time to see much into their background, what coffee they like, had they trauma's in the past but the anime didn't fixate the personalities to 'muscle man' 'hacker' 'thief' which in my opinion is good! Angel especially is given time to develop from the typical bass ass female (that I don't honestly dislike) to a more considerate female; her personality changes perspectives which is good. However they did give Raiden - the other main char, a personality that was... erratic. Not a taboo, but it felt a little hard to digest in the start. That might make me not give it a perfect rating in the category perhaps but it did yea, the anime did have some good chars.

So good professional chars, a political story that is well wrapped up and starts well and ends well... an anime that I enjoyed watching and again, while not on the top of my recommendation list, it still has its place. If you don't like the 80's atmosphere, catch phrases that sound too funky or childish now (which were very acceptable in their time) and are expecting something very fresh, then this anime will disappoint you. HOWEVER, IF you are looking for an old school anime with entertainment through a mature plot line, and believable chars that captures the environment and ambiance of its time, then yea - I'd say you watch it.

Thank you for reading and feedback is always welcome!

Ah, the good old days... the 80s truly were a better time. One of the more infamous products of the 80s golden era of ultraviolent OVAs, Angel Cop's is a legacy permeated by controversy, and not for the reasons you might expect.

Sometime in the future, Japan has become a superpower. As such, it has no shortage of enemies that try to bring it down through various more or less conventional forms of terrorism. In order to combat this incessant threat, the Special Security Force is established, an incredibly selective and almost mythical special detachment of the Japanese police force. The elite of the elite, the ... best of the best, the cream of the crop, they are said to number only 10, though we only ever get to see 5 of them.

Angel Mikawa, our hot-blooded protagonist, is the deadliest one of them and the most aggressively focused on exacting justice on the enemies of her nation. She and her partner, Sakada Raiden, are tasked with taking down a conspiracy that reaches the highest levels of the Japanese government.

As far as the technical quality of the show is concerned, it features some really impressive animation in its action sequences. WhatCulture lists a death scene in episode 1 as one of the top 10 most brutal and graphic in anime history. I have to say, after watching that woman's brains be sprayed all over the wall by two bullets frame by frame, I must confess myself impressed. That being said, it would appear that most of the show's budget and production efforts were focused on said action shots, leaving the rest of the show feeling seriously lackluster at times. The resulting disconnect can be so jarring, that you will at times feel like you're watching Akira in one scene, and then Hanoka in the next.

Incidentally, the Akira comparison is not all coincidental given a particular scene involving Flare, a young girl bearing a striking resemblance to the protagonist of Angel's Egg. They even sound like they have the same voice actor - they don't. There is a shot of her face contorted in anger that is eerily reminiscent of Testuo's outbursts from Akira. As an additional layer of coincidence, her friend and guardian, Asura, is played by Nozomu Sasaki, the literal voice of Tetsuo, Akira's iconic berserker esper protagonist.

The 6th episode alone seems to be of uniquely subpar quality, though why, I couldn't tell you. The Blu-ray commentary claims that by the mid-90s, Angel Cop had suffered a 4 year delay after its third episode, due to the collapse of its key production house, Studio 88. Most of the major names from the first episodes left, leaving the director alone to write and direct the second half of the series. That said, until the very last episode, there is no significantly palpable dip in quality. The final 3 episodes were all released at once on the 20th of May, 1994, not long before yours truly was born. You would then expect all last 3 episodes to be substandard, not just the last one.

Strangely enough, MyAnimeList lists D.A.S.T. as the producing studio with no mention whatsoever of Studio 88. They've created nothing else of note other than maybe Battle Royal High School and being one of the collaborating studios that worked on the first Violence Jack episode.

By far the show's most remarkable credit is its director, Ichirou Itano. While he definitely has a propensity for violent action scenes and animation, as evidenced by his work on Angel Cop, the aforementioned Battle Royal High School, Fist of the North Star, and others, he is best known for his iconic work on mecha shows. Itano is the originator of a style of action scene that he developed, usually nicknamed "Itano circus" or "Macross missile massacre" by fans. It is so often copied and employed that if you've ever seen a mecha show where a robot (or some other flying target) is being chased by a swarm of snake-like missiles, you've undoubtedly seen it yourself. It refers to a highly stylized and acrobatic method of depicting aerial combat and dogfights in many anime, especially the Macross series.

The Itano Circus is characterized by detailed, fluid shading of the mecha, the close-range ballet-like moves the dueling fighters make in combat, as well as twisting contrails left by fighters and missiles. It is also commonly used in specific reference to an attack where a mecha or spaceship launches a large barrage of missiles with meticulously animated spiraling smoke trails and erratic trajectories.

One of my favorite pastime activities when watching old shows is seeing which voice actors from back then I still recognize in anime today. As it so happens, the show's deuteragonist, Raiden, is voiced by Masashi Ebara, the voice of Might Guy from Naruto. Angel herself is voiced by Mika Doi, the voice of Coby from One Piece and, weirdly enough, the narrator from Mushishi. Not at all surprising, one of the other members of the Special Security Force features the ever-present and always commanding voice of Akio Ootsuka. You might know him as Broskandar from Fate/Zero.

Truthfully, Angel Cop is nowhere near as brutal, graphic, or even pornographic as most critics may suggest, especially not when compared to something like Violence Jack, Wicked City, the original Devilman OVAs, or even shlock like Elfen Lied. Other than Angel's legendary headshot and 2 or 3 other throwaway scenes, there isn't much gore to speak of. The nudity, as well, is relegated to a handful of shots, where it's only the focal point in one.

No, the controversy surrounding the show comes from its political content. Without spoiling much, allow me to be quite transparent. The show heavily entertains anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. If that doesn't feel like your cup of tea, then feel free to skip it. The Blu-ray commentary in particular goes hard in the paint criticizing the show for its abhorrently racist themes. It goes to say that the show gets "lost in its own irony" for promoting "outlandish, offensive, laughable, xenophobic" theories in "its own vicious way". It's, without a doubt, a completely unhinged and emotionally charged rant through and through. Without spending too much time on it, it also gets lost in its own irony, not to put too fine a point on it. It claims that "[i]t was an age of prosperity that most embodied anti-Semitism" in the Japan of the 1980s. Then, it simultaneously claims that "[a]s the 1990s began and Japan's economic success faltered, anti-Semitic works gained still more traction". Confused? No wonder. Whoever wrote this effectively makes the point that both economic booms and recessions make people hate Jews for no reason whatsoever. What a mystery this is!

The commentary also goes on to say that, in contrast to Nazi Germany, Japan very much had a "noncommittal stance" towards its Jewish population that "permitted such humanitarians as Chiune Sugihara to aid thousands of Jews in escaping Nazi-controlled Europe through Japanese territories". However, again, they simultaneously claim that "this vague stance aided anti-Semitic undercurrents in postwar Japan" and that "the lack of domestic persecution made anti-Jewish opinion less controversial there than other developed nations". Again, somehow, both persecution and the lack thereof seem to cause people to completely irrationally hate Jews. What would constitute an acceptable stance, then? Presumably, nothing short of a totally shrill pro-Semitic stance that would definitively proclaim the Israelites as God's chosen people would conceivably be satisfactory. We may as well make it illegal to question whether they have any faults at all. Anything less than Benjamin "anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism" Shapiro would evidently not be good enough.

Personally, I find the conversation about the validity of anti-Semitism exhausting, and that's because it's nigh impossible to find an intellectually honest agent to converse with. On the one side, you've got Hannah Goldbergstein telling you that "the Jews are God's chosen people and have done nothing wrong, ever", while on the other, you've got Toothless Tommy Two-Fingers telling you that "the Holocaust never happened, but we wish it did". The former has an obvious vested interest, whereas the latter has transparent bad faith. Granted, I'm sure both sides would be quick to quip about these descriptions claiming that "that's not what we believe!" In all fairness, it's certainly true that there's always a tapestry of varying degrees of belief in every school of thought, and my descriptions were admittedly facetious oversimplifications. I would, however, wager that while most fervent defenders of either side would suggest that these descriptions are slanderous of their own positions, they would simultaneously pontificate that they are totally true for the other side. It is for this reason that it's difficult to deal in reliable fact.

That said, the lack of verifiable fact does not leave us empty-handed. Common sense is still a thing. We are never precluded from using it. And unfortunately, common sense dictates that there are several things about this whole affair that are self-evidently suspicious. A poignant analogy I like using when dealing with such muddled waters is the movie Straight Outta Compton. In case you're unfamiliar with it, the movie tells the story of the NWA rap group, and centers around its 3 main members, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, and Eazy-E. The group's success ultimately ends mired in conflict and drama. The controversy surrounding their downfall endures to this day. Funnily enough, in the film, Dr. Dre and even more so Ice Cube are effectively portrayed as saints. If the movie's version of events is to be believed, then all of the group's problems can in one way or another be traced back to Eazy-E and their (incidentally) Jewish producer, Jerry Heller. Cool story, bro. Wanna know what else is cool? The movie's script was written by Dre and Cube. You see, Eazy has been dead since '95. Funny how that worked out, isn't it?

I, myself, am a fan of their music, but I'm not intimately aware of their internal affairs. I'm only aware of them insofar as any regular member of the public can be expected to be. Predictably, after the release of the movie, loads of people came out of the woodwork claiming they have inside information, for they were involved in the events at the time, but they are not much help, for their information is contradictory and their evidence, hearsay. Their accounts have no more credibility than the movie. The same vested interest vs. bad faith conflict arises. As such, I cannot comment on the minute details and point my finger and say with absolute certainty that this is true, that's not, etc. Nevertheless, what I can do is employ my common sense and conclude that it's one hell of a coincidence that the two living members who were involved with writing the script are portrayed as innocent angels full of nothing but good intentions and get off virtually scot-free, whereas the one dead member who wasn't involved with writing the script is portrayed as a gullible, naive idiot who was too proud to admit his own mistakes and is practically made out to be the scapegoat for the whole ordeal. I don't need to be a forensic historian to call bullshit when I see it.

Accordingly, one needs look no further than the ADL's and other Jewish advocacy groups' track record. During their decades of activity, you would expect to see them debunk myths and lies on both sides. Yes, this anti-Semitic conspiracy is false, but also this, that, or the other Jewish-propagated story is a fabrication, that's an exaggeration, that's not true, etc. It might surprise you, then, to learn that what you in fact find is nothing of the sort. Are you suggesting that no pro-Semite has ever lied about historical events? None of them have ever embellished claims or made up fake connections to historical trauma? Listen, I'm Romanian, and let me tell you, I meet people who lie about having witnessed Soviet atrocities or having lost family and land in the occupation every God damn day. Alas, in the ADL's case, you are presented with an entirely lopsided account where literally every single criticism of Jewish practices or challenge of the Holocaust narrative is debunked, dismissed, and labeled as either false, fabricated, conspiratorial, hateful, bigoted, racist, malicious, anti-Semitic, defamatory, slanderous, or a combination of the above.

The political cartoonist StoneToss had the temerity to make a cartoon satirizing some of the more extraordinary claims of Holocaust historians and expressed doubt about, not the number of dead, but rather the manner of their death. The result? Nazi! StoneToss is a Nazi. Did you know StoneToss is a Nazi? StoneToss is a Nazi, by the way.

Even the term Holocaust denier is a dead giveaway. Apparently, there's no such thing as Holocaust skepticism. Nobody is a skeptic. No, it's all denial. Everyone is a denier. Look, I’ll extend an olive branch. Holocaust denialism is a real thing. There are many who flat out deny the Holocaust. That's fair. It is a majority of people around the world, however, who simply have doubts about some of the numbers that are touted and a select few of the more extraordinary claims. Right or wrong, that does not make them deniers and to label them all as such is absurd.

I'm sorry, maybe I'm just fucked in the head, but as far as I am concerned, when your narrative is this ridiculously allergic to skepticism, I'm just going to assume your narrative is bunk. Call me paranoid, but that's just how my mind works. As a rule of thumb, even if I don't have concrete proof in my hands – even if I don't, as Alex Jones would say, "have the papers right here" – when literally everyone who is so much as tangentially against you is immediately, publicly, and vociferously branded a racist, a conspiracy nut, a Nazi, a maniac who dreams of nothing but genocide, and when every criticism directed at you is either false, fabricated, conspiratorial, hateful, bigoted, racist, malicious, anti-Semitic, defamatory, slanderous, or a combination of the above – when it's all wrong without exception – I'm just going to assume you're hiding something.

Nobody is above reproach. Nothing is above question.

It follows, then, that I am not overly impressed with the cries of anti-Semitism relating to the show's controversial nature.

The show is also harshly criticized for its strong nationalistic overtones, not uncommonly described as jingoistic. Of all the dim-witted things to criticize Japanese media for, nationalism has to be the most petty and resentful. Japan is one of the most demoralized countries in the world. In a Pew poll from a couple of years ago that asked the populace of over 100 countries if they would volunteer to fight for their nation in the event of a war, to the best of my recollection, Japan ranked the 4th lowest. I believe they could use some measure nationalistic sentiment, don't you?

Besides, even if one looks past the nihilistic shock value and anti-Semitic ideas the show espouses, behind the production of the show are clearly the creative minds of very politically conscious and well-informed people. Sure, you might write off the conspiracy as ridiculous and allow it to utterly overshadow the astute geopolitical discourse, but that doesn't change the fact that it's there. No better example of this is seen than in the closing monologue about Japan's true status in the world comparing it to "being another Kuwait". Genuinely intelligent and deep, it delivers far more so than many acclaimed philosophical/political anime out there.

Naturally, the English dub removes any and all references to God's chosen people, which harkens back to my previous point about allergy to skepticism and challenge. I have heard many things about the dub, that it's hilariously bad, that it changes the story in a completely nonsensical way, that it contains top-shelf cringeworthy one-liners, and that it's laden with hysterical profanity. It seems to be the view of many critics that the dub is the only thing worth watching, given the excessive swearing, but most of their criticisms also seems to relate to the atrocious quality of the dub. The emergent feedback loop is not difficult to see. Seeing as I have not watched the dubbed version, myself, and nor do I intend to, there's not much I can comment on it.

In conclusion, Angel Cop is a 6 episode thrill ride loaded with high-octane action, car chases, superpowers, a cyberpunk aesthetic, glam rock, hair metal, conspiracies, and political discourse aplenty. It is indeed the type of message that is too dangerous for societal elites and the commercial mainstream. What's the only way it could be slipped past the censors? That's right, by also being a hyperviolent retro anime OVA.

Whether or not you watch it is up to you, but I would suggest there are worse ways of spending 2-3 hours of your life.

P.S.: The one thing to do with the show that is completely irredeemable is the ending theme. The ED is so tone-deaf, it beggars belief.

“Angel Cop” is a six-episode sci-fi action thriller OVA from the late ‘80s-early ‘90s. Its story has a strong anti-American and anti-Semitic slant, and the way in which it progresses is dull and confusing. Even the Japanese version is filled with redundant, cheesy dialogue, and while some of the characters stand out, it’s basically due to how they look and they are mostly one-dimensional personality-wise. This series is touted as having a lot of graphic violence, but I found that the violence pales in comparison to that of similar “ultra-violent” OVAs both in amount and quality.

The story is riddled with exposition dumps that consist ... of racist and xenophobic conspiracy-laden diatribes. There are also some inconsistencies in the writing, making it difficult to follow. Two of the characters have similar names (Ichihara and Tachihara), so I had trouble distinguishing which was which sometimes. Although this OVA is supposed to be full of action and violence, it plodded along at a snail’s pace in the earlier episodes, and it was kind of difficult to watch.

The violence itself is not as graphic as I thought it was going to be. There are maybe three or four truly graphic scenes, but the rest of it is mostly just characters getting shot, exploding, or getting their heads crushed in a split second. The most excruciating scenes are where people have been given truth serum and are being interrogated, with lots of torture to get them to talk (why do they need to be tortured if they’ve been given truth serum in the first place??).

The dialogue is supposed to be infamously bad in the dub, but the sub, which I watched, also has redundant and corny lines. One of the characters often says stuff like “what” and “don’t touch me!” in English, for instance. There’s also a scene where a Japanese cop asks a French cop if he speaks Japanese, and he just responds, “Oui.” There are a few silly exchanges like that throughout the OVA. Also, the long diatribes are exhausting to digest and sit through.

There is an attempt at character development for the main character, Angel, but it comes off feeling unnatural and forced. The rest of the characters don’t receive any development, unless you count the two “reformed” psychics, whose decision to help the protagonists all of a sudden doesn’t feel natural, either.

Regarding technical aspects, the animation is okay, but it declines in quality in the later episodes. There are frequent flashing lights. The character designs, while unusual, are decent and largely memorable. The voice acting is average. The background music consists mostly synthesized organ-type music, but it tends to fit the scenes that it’s in. The sound effects are okay, but I’ve definitely heard the same exact effects in other anime, so they’re not unique to this series. A good word to describe the ending theme is “discordant.” It caught me off guard, and it’s certainly unique, but I didn’t like it.

As for potentially objectionable content, the aforementioned racist and xenophobic streak in the plot will probably offend some viewers, as will of course the violence. There is some nudity and some revealing clothing as well, particularly towards the end.

Overall, while the plot does progress somewhat logically and gets from point A to point B, it doesn’t do a satisfactory job of it. All of the elements highlighted in this series — the violence, the cyberpunk aesthetics, the geopolitical conspiracies with corrupt politicians — are better handled in other anime. Not recommended.

First things first with this one. I was aware of this exact issue before I started and yet still I went along with it, walking straight into it with full understanding....the dub genuinely is horrendous, especially Freya. Freya's dub voice acting in particular is honestly one of the worst I have ever heard. It's not necessarily the scripts fault either. Has some decent parts of dialogue, some of them great in fact, a lot of the character acting is just really garbage. Despite this, I'm not going to hold it against the show. Long before Funimation was the dominant dubbing force it is today, we ... had stuff like this. So, I'm going to give it a break. Mainly because the show is genuinely pretty damn good, setting the dub aside.

Just like with all animation from the Golden Era, this is in the same vein. It's great. There some very well executed scenes here and, speaking retrospectively from a guy born in 91, ahead of its time (take that comment with a pinch of salt). I have zero complaints about how any of the animation was executed. Great colour pallet, excellently captured movement, excellently drawn characters, it's really great.

The story is pretty damn solid too. You may read the synopsis and think 'how could this go wrong' and well, you'd be right. It essentially set itself up to not fail. As I understand it, a lot of the sci-fi elements from the Manga were omitted, having not read the Manga, I have no issue with this as I don't know what I'm missing. Upon the shows conclusion, I didn't think anything was missing in fact. The show had great pacing, decent character development and a not dissatisfying conclusion. It did everything it needed to I guess. It certainly didn't blow me away but I'm not sure it needed to. It just needed to be solid. It delivers on that.

I normally stick to 3 key points of review when writing these; Animation, story and music. Not sure I can tell you much about the music to be completely honest. I've reached the end of this show and have no recollection of what I heard. So I can really review it. What I will say however is if it was incredible, I would have noticed. Equally, if it was garbage it would have noticed to. But I didn't, therefore, again, this anime did what it needed to on another front.

In summary I would recommed it. For those who haven't experienced much of the Golden Era, it's a good example of it outside of the obvious choices of Bebop and Trigun etc. For thos who have experience with the Golden Era, I would still recommend it as the more familiar one is with this era of anime, the better it is.

Do not let the ratings fool you, this Anime is criminally underrated. A lot of it could be considered by some to be "so bad it's good" but I disagree. The same people who praise Hellsing Ultimate for being over-the-top in its plot, action and dialogue use it as a point of contention with Angel Cop. Criticisms of its Plot are biased and mostly full of shit.
Hellsing Ultimate is about Nazi Vampires & Ghouls terrorizing Britain, Angel Cop is about Psychic Je- (I mean) Americans funded by the Deep State.

Plot-wise this Anime does pretty good, It's not crazy or anything but it's servicable for a ... Baddass Action Flick. The Political Aspect of it is actually somewhat intriguing. Communist Red-May, Big Business's Involment and the Deep State Conspiracy with the SSF trying to solve it all, it puts it miles above other Edgelord Gore OVAs from this time period.

One other criticism is that the characters are flat, but that's complete nonesense. I found Raiden's character to be exceptionally written, and a lot of it relied on show don't tell and his develepment happened quite quickly. Freya, Asura, Taki, Hacker and Reika were very good Side-Characters that significantly boosted the stakes for the conflict. For 6 Episode OVA, this was pretty good.
Angel is basically a badass trashy hypocritical bloodhound at the start but this makes sense because by the end of the OVA, there is an obvious change which also makes sense plot-wise. People criticise her character but I think a lot of that has to do with how the dub underplays the depth for the sake of humourous lines such as "If this is Justice then I'm a banana" - which although great on their own, do make the character feel a bit more shallow.
Even despite that the change is noticeable, tho subtle. The villian is cartoonishly insane although, she's more of a puppet for the deep state which is made even more interesting with the back-and-forth in the final episode with Taki confronting his Superiors.

So, if the Plot is Decent, the Characters are Good, the Dubbing is Fantastic, the Animation is Fluid, then why on Earth does this OVA get so much Hate? Does being over-the-top and campy make it bad somehow, or does the gore make it lose points, or could it perhaps be the Anti-Semitism in the Sub? A lot of it's detracters have such superficial reasons for disliking it, it's a shame I hadn't heard of this Anime before.
8.5/10 (Badass Action Sci-Fi Romp)

Just to clarify, I am not a huge anime or manga fan. Angel Cop is far from worst but it is not good, either. I watched it in original Japanese language; not the English dub, because it was laughably bad. It’s really hard to review this but I’ll try. The only thing I like about this anime is Angel herself, but not in terms of character (let’s not ignore the fact that she’s a heartless cop who does not care about killing baddies, although she did gained sympathies and showed concern towards the end, which is a good thing) but in terms of appearance: she’s ... hot, let’s admit that. Her blue armor was hot, too. Aside from that, this OVA was abysmal. It is wasted potential. I find the gore to be very unnecessary. There’s some good stuff like the fight scenes and the terrorists infiltration scenes was suspenseful. Would I recommend this to anyone? Yes, just for masturbating to Angel. I have not much positive things thing to say as I thought I just wasted my time on this abysmal OVA. Seriously, it is bad and a waste of time.

Watched a hardsub by unknown group

Angel Cop immediately felt like a dumbed-down poor man's Ghost in the shell in every way! I personally liked the drawing and animation and the closing theme music was actually really quite good. but the translation as well as some of the general presentation is atrocious.... Perhaps I have a bad translated sub (doubtful but always possible) but this is extremely tough to follow. The art itself is at times a bit odd in a way i can't describe. I think it's the color. It doesn't particularly have a dark gritty edge feel, but rather soft and warm (there is ... a bit of soft edges and out of focus type effects as well as brighter tones) which can seem a bit out of place with the juxtaposed violence and other stuff... (Plus in this era, you typically have anime themed like this with a classic dark noiry and glowy look and limited palette) and other times you have those classic PC-98 styled shots of some cigarette butts in a beer can next to an old ass laptop that is very on point!

the jist of this is very much like a Ghost in the Shell type police agency, however the story is a bit of concocted goofiness and there is this weird mystical element... Throw in what would seem to be a poor translated subtitled version (what i got anyway) and this falls apart kinda quickly. This is where the thing is a bit atrocious imo.

It's tough to really get a grasp of the characters. Yeah there is something there but it's not really distinct or much to mention. I could blame the translation but I kinda think the translation can only be blamed so much, the presentation doesn't hold a great case for the original source perhaps (Can't say i'd be interested from a watching of this one)

Overall, by the end of a second episode one can't help but think 'why don't i just stop this and watch solid state society or second gig?" lol. Still, it's short enough to wade through despite the confusion and there are actually some decent stills of various things here and there so I'd say it's worth while if you like to look at that stuff, but definitely not something i'd recommend to someone who perks up at the thought of "Ghost in the Shell." Still, it's interesting how this is quite a bit older than ghost in the shell but still seems a bit similar in many ways, such as storyboarding. I'd say both are a spirit of the times that they were made in, and reflect a lot of that in their discourse. If you think Ghost has aged badly get a load of this one! XD

Angel Cop is one of those 'classics' that has aged badly. I like stuff in this period but this isnt really one of them. If you like violent stuff there's plenty to pick from that both looks more gruesome and has nicer aesthetic. If you like noir/cop stuff there is def way more choices. If you like body horror/weird stuff there's plenty else and heck if you like Ghost in the Shell there is several versions of the show. I can't see why one might reccomend this one unless you were familiar with the source. It doesnt really excel at anything

I watched the English Dubbed Version and this is what my review is basically going to be about. Just recently hooked on the Police genre of anime from B the Beginning this is the one that has really given me the most amount of Conspiracy with Supernatural powers-clashing goodness sense B.

One of the things that really stood out to me about this show was the use of booby-traps and interesting misdirects to set them off as opposed to the standard formula in modern police raids by having a bunch of cops storm the place and either getting everyone apprehended or setting off an explosion ... trap as they rush in and end up just serving as fodder for the plot. Disarming the traps only to have them go off added an extra layer of tension to the story, and made the scenes where the police infiltrate enemy bases or places where they set up bombs all the more exciting and unpredictable.

The dub's voice acting was solid in a hilarious way (some voices are bad, and others are good for me but I am not an expert on acting here), the animation started off mostly slick (albeit with a few static moments), but once the OVAs continued production past the fall of the Japanese economy in the 90s the last two OVAs suffered from a dip and led to the climax feeling less intense than the buildup, but otherwise the story was still a stellar mix of conspiracy intrigue, raw violent battles of massive mayhem and unrestrained edgy characters (which I mean as a positive) that made this show an experience of rushing adrenaline and excitement balanced out with a look into what Japan's broader views were of the time on patriotism and communism and an interesting conspiracy plot not unlike FMA Brotherhood.


I can genuinely understand the hate and its no masterpiece, but I genuinely did like this OVA.

" Ah old gorey anime, the best kind of anime" - Cheng, Philip.

honestly, this is my cup of tea. C'mon guys, here we have all the elements for great entertainment: extremely well-crafted and mind-blowing action scenes, lots of blood, just right nudity and lots and lots of BLOOD!

The cyberpunk ambiance is very good, and the soundtrack is also very good.

I know the characters are pretty stereotyped, and the political plot is pretty shallow, but it doesn't really bother me, mainly when you have a perfect punch line like:

"Unless you want a .45 caliber lobotomy real fucking back, you better tell your friend over ... there to put the fucking knife down." - Angel

Story: 6/10
Art:10/10
Sound: 9/10
Character: 5/10
Enjoyment: 10/10
Overall: 8/10

So, give a chance to this anime!

To start off, the first thing I want to say about this anime is, the art style of this anime is amazing. And I so wished they would bring it back, but I guess the era of this art style of anime making is over. I loved the colorful language, because this anime was created during a time where people didn't give a fuck if they hurt someone's feelings or not. And that's how anime should be written and produced with zero fucks given. I love the eighties. And my other favorite part about this absolutely bad ass anime is the gore within it and ... I am a huge gore fan. And this anime certainly delievered plenty of that, I was so pleased with it, that I even had to rewind certain parts quite a few times so that I could see it over and over again ha ha. That was one of my favorite things about this anime, well the second detail if you will. And last but not least, female, a bad ass female lead in any anime just makes me want to watch it that much more. There's nothing like a gorgeous, strong, and brave woman who kicks ass and cusses like a sailor, but at the same time. Grows to care about her comrades and the people that she works with, but I didn't care much for the ending though. I am going to re-rate this anime.

Angel Cop’s got a pertinent title, it’s definitely about cops, and after watching it I was very compelled to go to Heaven and meet some angels, but I would struggle to find anything positive to say about it beyond the title.

The biggest issue is that Angel Cop is an action series without good action. The opening episode has a particularly profane death, but it's the only one of its kind, ignoring the fact a 9mm isn't even going to do that much damage, from that point onward, they incidentally throw in something to try and match the original one, but none of them have any ... impact to speak of. This particular death early on is notable on the grounds that it happens during the action, when some bloke is trying to clear a room (and not die while doing so), he sees someone gets blasted so hard there is no more skin on their face, a reminder of their mortality. Doesn’t come again, the only other instance you’ll get of gore is when someone’s got no reason to be at all worried, when the man’s got a cigarette in one hand, a cup of tea in another, and probably going to start playing Candy Crush on his phone once he’s finished his tea, he is not threatened in the slightest, point is, there is no impact, the gore has no impact, it doesn’t accentuate the action scenes, the parts where people are getting shot and killed, it only comes about when there is no tension to speak of, there are many ways to apply gore to a series, and this is probably the most flavourless one there is, feels like looking at product placement.
Still, I’m off target, I should speak about the actual action scenes themselves, wherein I’m not the only one who’s missing their target, these people aim more like child soldiers than elite soldiers, and it’s not made any better by the fact when people get shot they barely even notice half the time, it’s like watching a fight between video game NPCs who aren’t allowed to die unless the player shoots at them, either that or it’s a multiplayer game and someone forgot to turn off headshots only.

But, I suppose that’s not enough, you can’t have an action series with bad action scenes, they just had to make a story that’s bare gobshite on top of that. It starts off with a basic enough premise, far-left terrorists (who are under the command of Jewish bankers) are trying to cause the collapse of Japan, the greatest world power, so main character Angel, a motorcycle cop, is tasked with killing the terrorists, which she does via the Dirty Harry school of policing, which states that if anyone talks to you they are a terrorist and you get to kill them. Fine by me, terrorists are dickheads anyway, just make a show about some outlaw biker (that’s basically what she is) killing terrorists and stopping their plan to terrorise. But then they changed it.

Anachronisms are never good. In their most common form, they are a symptom of a writer not actually knowing their setting, or not caring, and the major anachronism in Angel Cop falls under the latter category, the anachronism in question being vampire-ghost-fire-people, with hairstyles that were too ostentatious even for the 1980s, and outfits that make Bram Stoker’s Dracula look contemporary. Wouldn’t be that big of a problem, if not for the fact the ghost people become main characters (and one of them’s named Lucifer, because I guess tacitness is overrated), and if the firefights between normal people is like watching video game NPCs fight, then watching the vampires do anything is like watching someone use god mode, someone stands near them and they just spontaneously have a heart attack and die, might as well go take a piss any time you see them appear, because you’re not going to miss anything of value, nothing interesting will happen. They’re not the only one, there’s some bloke who looks like some Lidl version of Golgo 13, and they put in cyborgs somewhere along the line, and some woman who absolutely insists on not wearing clothes, which was a very strange creative decision, with how hollow the plot is, and how lifeless all but a few action scenes are, you’d think this was targeted at children since they’re the only people they can bank on being stupid enough not to notice how bad it all is.

No need for further miscellanea, the main issue with this shit is just how plainly the story moves along, nothing interesting ever happens, the story’s a bungled “political thriller” in which the grandiose political conspiracy doesn’t make any actual sense (we want to commit terrorism to weaken Japan’s economic power so that it can be used to store nuclear waste, and we absolutely have to store it in Japan because idk lol), the dialogue is downright schizophrenic, with people going on unrelated monologues with zero provocation, sometimes it feels like the actors accidentally learned their lines for the wrong script, watching Angel Cop is like constipation, the process is very painful, and the end result is just a big load of shit you’ll want to get rid of immediately.

This show along with Urotsukidoji were responsible in the early 90's for the widespread belief that anime was "gore and porn," a stereotype that persisted for quite while. This OVA is the equivalent to those trashy over-the-top 80's action movie shlock that would have been produced by Cannon films.

It falls squarely into the cyberpunk genre but Ghost in the Shell, this is not.

What it lacks in originality and thematic content it mostly makes up for in gorgeously-detailed animation, kinetic action, and ridiculous amounts of gore.

To further enhance the viewing experience, the English dub produced by Manga Entertainment squarely falls into the category ... of so-bad-it's-good with it's assortment of cheesy lines (Ex. If this is justice, then I'm a banana), excessive use of profanity, and odd voice-acting (Ex. Freya and a redneck helicopter pilot).

It's jingoistic cyberpunk trash, but at least it's well-made and fun in a cheesy action movie way.

In the 80s and 90s there was a vein of ultra-violent, ultra-bad OVAs. Simple, hard to follow plots, mediocre animation that ranged from good to garbage, laughable English dubs, and all the gore you could ever want. Angel cop is one of those OVAs, and boy is it a fun one. This was one of the first anime I ever watched, and it is so objectively terrible that it's amazing. I'll leave my review scarce to avoid most spoilers and so that you can enjoy this series in all it's skull popping glory.

[plot: 3]
In this Japanese-nationalistic story where Japan is a world superpower Angel Cop ... and her partner Raiden fight a group of terrorist commies called the Red May. They also fight a group of evil American psychics. At the end of the series, the plot becomes rabidly anti-American and anti-Semitic, though the anti-Semitism is written out of the spectacular English dub. Most of the time watching this I found the story uninteresting or confusing, and it seemed to degrade as it went on. The plot was basic and not very engaging; the story never gripped me, and it doesn't do a good job of making the viewer care about what's happening on screen. The one good thing about Angel Cop's story is that, like the rest of this anime, it's unintentionally rediculous and comedic. That the plot sounds like something my conspiracy loving uncle would spout over thanksgiving dinner makes this all the more enjoyable to watch.

[art: 5]
Angel Cop has widely inconsistent animation. Most of the time the show looks poor and static. What saves this show in the art department is the gore. Boy oh boy. Chances are you've seen the infamous Angel Cop head-shot, it appears in episode one. if you haven't, check it out right away. When it comes to violence, the animation is smooth as hell and a treat to the eyes. Even outside of that this show has a few points where the art kicks up a notch and it almost tricks you into believing it's a good anime. I have a soft spot for scenes of uncensored gore, so for that alone it was worth watching.

[sound: 5]
If you are going to subject yourself to this show, you ought to watch the English dub. The English version of this show uses fifteening, which is where they cram in as much cussing as possible to bump up the rating. At the time anime was more likely to fly off the shelves if it was rated 16+ or mature, so many English dubs would do all they could to appear more 'adult'. This lead to some hilarious results. Most characters sound like children trying out swear words for the first time in a failed attempt to sound like their fathers, and besides the gratuitous language most of the lines are so ridiculous it's hard to believe they weren't written intentionally bad for kicks. An example of this is when Angel says 'if this is justice then I'm a banana'. Every line sounds forced and the screams sound impassionate and fake, which makes this show all the more fun. Besides that, I appreciate the English dub's use of 'the Americans' in place of 'the Jews'.

[character: 2]
Somehow I cared even less about the characters than I did about the story. Angel is a walking stereotype, and so is Raiden. Neither of them are interesting or likable. The cast entirely consists of forgettable lumps of soggy cardboard and blood. Most of the time I was more focused on how I hoped the characters would die (more gore please!) than the actual characters themselves- if you could even call them characters, that is.

[enjoyment: 8]
This show is a pile of flaming hot garbage and I love it for that. I've busted more guts and seen more guts busted watching this show than I have watching any comedy. If you are a fan of ultra-violence and shows so bad they're good, Angel Cop is a must watch.

[overall: 5]
If you want a good laugh, watch Angel Cop. If you want a good show, look elsewhere.

Angel Cop has a simple yet sometimes convoluted story line that leaves much to be desired.

I found Angel Cop hard to sit through. Despite being somewhat interesting, the early episodes seemed to drag on forever. They did little to keep my attention during those episodes. While it does pick up in both story and interest later on, it seems to be convoluted in how it gets there.

Art is average given the anime's age and sound was neither good nor bad.

I though character design and development was it's best feature, although they do some of the main characters dirty in my opinion.

Overall, Angel Cop is a ... good anime that is thankfully short, lasting only six episodes because although it has a simple story line, it can sometimes be convoluted, leaving much to be desired.

Haiku review:

It's old but still good
Needs the "Ghost Stories" treatment
Maybe a laugh track

Prose elaboration:

"Angel Cop" is a series that finds its way onto a lot of worst-anime lists, unfairly. As one of the older series for non-children, it came in an industry that was still finding its way. It's a milestone, an artifact in anime history.

It's decent but takes itself a little too seriously until the last episode, where they realized that they hadn't checked the tiddies box yet. They made up for it. The series contains some of the best and grittiest lines ever: "I'n not here to take you in, I'm here to ... take you out."

The ED, Crayon-sha's "Itami," is a driving classic. It's one of the best examples of perfect music for an anime scene.

That having been said, I think that "Angel Cop" would really benefit from two things. The first is to hand it over to an open-minded director and a batch of talented voice actors with instructions to make it up as they went along, in the fashion of "Ghost Stories." The other is, frankly, a laugh track.