Angelic Layer

The Phantom Zone Anime Review Site.

Angelic Layer

Distributor: ADV
Original Story: CLAMP
Volumes: 7
Rating: 13+ (robotic chick fight)
Anime Class: D

Twelve year old Misaki Suzuhara just arrived in Tokyo to live with her aunt. Once there, she's immediately caught up in the craze of Angelic Layer, a fighting game where people would put robotic dolls against each other. Upon the insistance of a mysterious (and somewhat crazy) man, Misaki develops her own doll named Hikaru and sets out to win the Angelic Layer championship.

Review: I only heard of Angelic Layer in bits and pieces at anime conventions. They told me it was from the same people who did Cardcaptor Sakura (and in fact, the main character kind of reminds me of Sakura). So I checked it out. It's very interesting. Nothing special about it and I believe anime fans would become interested if the retail price just went down a little. Some of the characters are a bit strange and some of the mysteries you solve right off the bat. But the fight scenes more than make up for the characters and plot. Seems to be aimed towards girls (there are more girl characters than boy characters) but I think it's for anybody.

Action Level: 5/5.
"Barbie goes ballistic."

Romance Level: 3/5
Kind of a sidebar to the fight scenes.

Comedy Level: 4/5
And that's just from Icchan.

Adult Level: 2/5
They show a twelve year old girl in the bath and a sort-of nude scene in the ending credits. That's pretty much as far as CLAMP's going to go.

Drama Level: 2/5
Could use some work, especially with the Mom. Maybe it will perk up in later volumes.

Overall Level: 3/5
My recommendation: rent or borrow it first to see if you like it, then buy it if you want to. Commentaries are very funny.