al review
1. I watched Angelic Layer with the intention of paying very close attention to Fukuyama Jun's Kotaro, but I was so distracted by how fantastically pretty Misaki's voice was that my plan failed completely. (Though I tried to make some notes re: Kotaro, mainly that Fukuyama is very good at these kinds of roles, it sounds gruff but gentle, not like Albert, different, etc.) IMO, Misaki stole the show. Her voice was so childish and yet mature and high and pretty that I'm liking it more than I liked even Tomoyo's voice or Sakura's voice of CCS. But the anime storyline is very different from the manga. I didn't notice it until now. Misaki's mother is stupid and selfish, the battles are so much more vivid than I could have hoped for... and they changed the pairings in the end. In the manga, I never knew Tamayo had feelings for Kotaro, much less that they end up together in the anime. Thus, Misaki sort of ends up with Ohjirou, who I like immensely, but.
Truth is, anime!Kotaro is retarded. It's his sister Hatoko that I love the most. She's so desperate. Kotaro does nothing. I was at least expecting him to run after Misaki in the rain, but he doesn't budge. It's Hatoko that runs after Misaki. She really cares for her a lot.
As for the angels, I loved Blanche and Suzuka the best. Blanche moves in such a floaty way. She just... drifts. Suzuka, of course, requires no explanation.
I thought the art was better suited for the manga (IMO, I think CLAMP's best works re: art are CCS, AL, and SDS, in that order; I especially like AL's art because it's so brash), but the anime made up for it with the battle scenes and Misaki's voice. The last episode was clearly rushed, though. I wanted the Hikaru vs. Athena battle to be something like the Shirahime vs. Athena battle or the Hikaru vs. Wizard battle, but no such luck.
The ending made me so sad. I turned around and reached in my cabinet for my AL manga volumes and they weren't there. Did I re-sell them for cash? Sometimes I do this but not frequently and in the past couple of years I haven't done it at all. I lost them, probably. I remember having them before I moved house, so they might be in the attic but... I'm not sure. I'm also missing two volumes of Clover and one of Angel Sanctuary. I walked around the rest of the night feeling even sadder.
2. I still have time to visit this. But I wonder if I can even go.
3. Rereading NANA. I do love Nana immensely, she's so unbelievably strong. But I have a lot of respect for Hachi too: It was really that scene where Shouji wanted to ask her out to the movies, but Hachi refuses.
She likes to go the movies alone.
Truth is, anime!Kotaro is retarded. It's his sister Hatoko that I love the most. She's so desperate. Kotaro does nothing. I was at least expecting him to run after Misaki in the rain, but he doesn't budge. It's Hatoko that runs after Misaki. She really cares for her a lot.
As for the angels, I loved Blanche and Suzuka the best. Blanche moves in such a floaty way. She just... drifts. Suzuka, of course, requires no explanation.
I thought the art was better suited for the manga (IMO, I think CLAMP's best works re: art are CCS, AL, and SDS, in that order; I especially like AL's art because it's so brash), but the anime made up for it with the battle scenes and Misaki's voice. The last episode was clearly rushed, though. I wanted the Hikaru vs. Athena battle to be something like the Shirahime vs. Athena battle or the Hikaru vs. Wizard battle, but no such luck.
The ending made me so sad. I turned around and reached in my cabinet for my AL manga volumes and they weren't there. Did I re-sell them for cash? Sometimes I do this but not frequently and in the past couple of years I haven't done it at all. I lost them, probably. I remember having them before I moved house, so they might be in the attic but... I'm not sure. I'm also missing two volumes of Clover and one of Angel Sanctuary. I walked around the rest of the night feeling even sadder.
2. I still have time to visit this. But I wonder if I can even go.
3. Rereading NANA. I do love Nana immensely, she's so unbelievably strong. But I have a lot of respect for Hachi too: It was really that scene where Shouji wanted to ask her out to the movies, but Hachi refuses.
She likes to go the movies alone.