Angel Tales Volume 01: Sweet Transformations (DVD) - Anime Reviews -The Armchair Empire


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Angel Tales Volume 01:

Sweet Transmigration (DVD)

Once upon a time, there was one very unlucky young man. No job, no girlfriend, not to mention losing his wallet and bumping into a road sign. But no matter how unlucky he might be, he never lost his love for animals. He has a soft spot for all animals and remembers every single pet he had in his childhood.

One day, just after failing a job interview, a street fortuneteller informs him his luck will change. After being accustomed to his unlucky life, he doesn’t believe a word she says. But soon enough, he finds out she was right! What single guy would object to having three pretty girls in his room unexpectedly?

Ahh… my favorite anime genre: Harem shows. It’s not an official genre per se, but you can’t discount all of the great comedy series that have been produced from this formula: Tenchi, Love Hina, Mahoromatic (to some extent), Mouse, and Steel Angel Kurumi (I’m sure I’m missing some, but that’s just off the top of my head).

Episode 01: An Unforgettable Bond

Goro is the anime version of Elmyra (from Tiny Toons), with a series of pets through his life that is both staggering and bewildering. His love for animals aside, Goro is one of the most unlucky people alive who remains unemployed, alone, and a frequent victim of Lady Luck.

Fate finally smiles on this poor guy by sending him three guardian angels – all former animals. Ran the Goldfish, Tsubasa the parakeet, and Kurumi the hamster all have agreed to look after Goro until they can find their original master. Each of

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the three girls had died under traumatic circumstances and their phobias remain on the surface.

Despite his insistence that they remain out of his life, the girls are insistent on helping so they can eventually find their master. After Goro finally lines up a part-time job at a restaurant, Kurumi

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runs into the kitchen and gets Goro fired minutes after he received the job. Now angry, Goro doesn’t want the girls around anymore; the girls decide to try and convince him to let them help but he is insistent. While walking around, the girls hear the same harmonica melody that reminds them of their masters; they then realize that they had the same master and when they run to find him, they find Goro playing the harmonica.

Episode 02: I’m Not Scared of My Trauma!

The goddess in charge of the guardian angels decides that the three already sent aren’t working quickly enough to turn around Goro’s life so she sends the next former pet: Tamami the kitten. Right away, Tamami saves Goro’s life from a runaway truck (being piloted by some strange man) using her cat-like powers. Ran, Tsubasa, and Kurumi aren’t happy about the affectionate Tamami but are scared of the girl because they can sense that she was a cat. The tensions between the girls start to increase because they each get to spend less time with Goro.

Episode 03: I Will Serve You Master

Apparently the goddess in charge of the guardian angel program works in a similar way to governments… no progress, so throw two more angels at the problem: namely Mika the rabbit and Nana the puppy. The two were sent with new orders: the girls will now work on a clock system that dictates which time period that they are to spend time with Goro. As you can imagine, the program works out about as well as one could expect with all of these girls dominating Goro’s time. During Tsubasa’s time, they visit an amusement park and Goro is confronted by the man who tried to run him over in the last episode. He hypnotizes Goro and convinces him to ride the Ferris Wheel which subsequently fails while he is on it. Tsubasa is forced to confront her fear of heights to save Goro.

Episode 04: No! I Don’t Want To Say Good-bye!

The time-sharing plan appears to have worn heavily on poor Goro and he contracts a fever. Now collapsed, the girls start fighting amongst themselves, which prompts the goddess to send new orders with two new angels: Akane the fox, and Ayumi the turtle. The new edict is to have half of the girls remain as inanimate dolls while the others serve Goro. Once Goro’s fever breaks, Mika and Ayumi go grocery shopping while Akane goes with Nana to find a herb that will help Goro recover. The bad pairing leads to animosity amongst the four active girls and they start fighting once again. With the fighting starting again, the other four girls activate and join in on the conflict. All of the fighting appears to have annoyed the goddess as she forcibly recalls all 8 girls, leaving Goro to wonder what happened.

So far, Angel Tails has been very entertaining by mixing comedy and mild drama. I’m looking forward to the next disc.

- Tazman

(June 16, 2004)

"There goes our ghetto-fabulous lifestyle, Mr. B."

- Principal Scudworth (Clone High)