The show manages to meld a couple sub plots involving the supporting cast that not only get good treatment, but are resolved in a satisfactory manner as well. On the supporting cast, outside of a couple minor characters whose only purpose is to further Misaki, they each get a good amount of screen time so you get a sense of who they are. I did find Hatoko pushing my suspension of disbelief, though. It would have been much more believable if she were 8 or 9 years old, not 5, and I found it easier to pretend that she was.
The fights themselves are very well animated, and quite well choreographed. Unfortunately, this is often at the expense of the rest of the shows animation, as it can be quite choppy at times. But since the fights take up much of the show, this is not a major problem. A nitpick about the fights: The show is inconsistent about the HP and damage done by the angels. Sometimes a punch will layer out, yet at others a mighty kick will do nothing. This leads to some fights were you're thinking 'hang on, wasn't she screwed just then?' It doesn't detract from the enjoyment of the fights overall, but just something I noticed.
The dub acting was well done, for the most part. The main characters did a good job overall. There were some flat spots, and a number of occasions were the English script had a noticeable pause in the line to let the mouth flapping catch up. The biggest problem is the little children. Normally this wouldn't bother me so much as little children don't have big speaking roles, but this includes all of Hatokos spoken lines. She sounds in no way like a 5 year old, either in voice or script. Whilst her voice wasn't as grating as the other children, it wasn't....right.
The music was entirely appropriate for the show, if somewhat forgettable. Overall, Angelic Layer is a pretty solid title, both for it's dramatic elements and its fighting elements. I think it manages quite a bit of universal appeal despite being marketed mainly for girls.
On a side note, though I haven't read the manga in ages, I quite clearly remember the anime being a lot better than it. Not because the aciton sequneces make a whole lot more sense animated, but the story was made much more believable and I remember the animated postscript being much more satisfying.
