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Reviewed by Lisa Anderson When Prince Shiva - the sole survivor of a vicious coup d’etat - is in trouble, what crack fighter group leaps to his defense? Step aside Gundams and move over Mashins, the Angel Troupe is on the job! Piloting their Emblem Frames, these five women aren’t about to let any evil lord or crazy adventure stand in their way. Creating as much chaos as they stop, Takuto Meyers certainly has his hands full…and the enemy hasn’t even arrived yet! Such is the basic background for Galaxy Angel. Five women - Forte, Milfeulle, Mint, Ranpha, and Vanilla - have been called back to duty in order to protect Prince Shiva, the only survivor of the Transbaal royal family. Each brings a unique skill to the group, from gun expertise to insane luck, making them a force to be reckoned with when they actually work together. Unfortunately for Takuto, who is put in charge of the Angels, the women have an uncanny talent for stirring up trouble. When they aren’t protecting the Prince or solving a problem elsewhere, several of them are caught up in a love triangle with him. Aside from the main threat of Lord Eonia, the Angels have several minor problems to deal with as well. Due to various reasons, Prince Shiva is slowly starving to death, and the Angels must find him some organic food before the person they’re protecting wastes away. Later the Angels visit a planet that has definite problems with technology, and for good reason. When one young boy gives in to his strong love of the stars, Milfeulle is there to provide a real trip into space…which just may force the planet to stop hiding from the future. Galaxy Angel was a pleasant surprise for me. A longtime fan of the anime, it was a nice change to see the manga following after the Playstation 2 video game. Instead of short adventures that have little overall plot connecting them, the manga carries the more serious feel of the game, with far more in the way of story and character development. While much of the humor is left behind in favor of serious plot, there is still enough there to delight any fan of the anime series. The manga also adds a batch of new characters, most notably Takuto and Shiva. While the two men are main characters, they definitely take a backseat to the Angels. Aside from the love triangle, Takuto feels more like a secondary character, appearing only when an extra person is needed. Though Prince Shiva appears more, he too is seen more in passing than through actual participation. One major exception is during one story, when the Angels must find food for the Prince to eat, lest he starve to death. The artwork behind Galaxy Angel should be rather familiar to some. Kanan is known for her work on Di Gi Charat, as well as much of the artwork on the Aquarian Age Trading Card Game. The style jumps around a bit, one minute smooth and detailed, the next sharp and chaotic. While the use of SD was a bit much for my taste, it still worked fine overall. In the end, Galaxy Angel is mostly a light read. The plot is mostly in the beginning stages, which is fitting for a first volume. At times the background info gets a bit cumbersome, though I generally prefer backstory to be spread out a bit more between volumes. To anyone that enjoys knowing much of the universe at the beginning, Galaxy Angel should satisfy. The characters differ greatly in personality and style, making it easier for any reader to find at least one Angel to like. It was hard to truly care about Prince Shiva’s problem, though I’ll reserve my final judgment until a later volume. I’d recommend this manga to anyone looking for sci-fi story that has both comedy and drama…or to any fan of humorous hi-jinks in space. Comment on this review of Galaxy Angel v1 on the Manga Life Forums. |
6 October 2009
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