ANIME REVIEW
Angelic Layer
Plot
The primary protagonist of Angelic Layer is Misaki Suzuhara, a seventh grader who just moved to Tokyo to live with her aunt, Shouko Asami. After arriving in the city, she watches the battle doll Athena on a big screen television outside of Tokyo Station and becomes interested in learning about Angelic Layer, a highly popular game in which players (called Deus) buy and custom-design dolls known as Angels. Angels can move by mental control when on a field called the "layer." Layers are very expensive; most users rent them by the hour in establishments resembling cybercafes.
An eccentric man wearing a white lab coat and glasses, calling himself "Icchan" (いっちゃん), encourages Misaki to purchase and create her own angel. She names the angel Hikaru, after Hikaru Shidō from Clamp's Magic Knight Rayearth (a manga in Angelic Layer's world), which she was reading on the train to Tokyo, because she wants the angel to be "a short girl, but strong and happy" like Hikaru and herself. In the anime, Misaki names her Hikaru after her favorite doll from her childhood. Even though she's clueless about the game, Misaki soon competes in tournaments and is assisted and watched carefully by Icchan. Later, Icchan's identity is revealed as Ichiro Mihara, the co-creator of Angelic Layer.
Misaki also begins studying at the Eriol Academy, an educational institution which includes grades from kindergarten through high school. There she becomes friends with Hatoko Kobayashi, a very intelligent and mature kindergarten girl who is a famous Deus and an Angelic Layer expert. Her incredibly fast angel Suzuka is a favourite contender in tournaments. Misaki also befriends Hatoko's older brother Kōtarō Kobayashi and his friend Tamayo Kizaki, a girl fascinated by martial arts. Both turn out to be Misaki's classmates.
While adjusting to her new surroundings, Misaki is also gripped by her past. Her thoughts often dwell on her mother, whom she has not seen since pre-school. Eventually Misaki learns that her mother was key in the development of Angelic Layer, which she worked on an attempt to develop a perfect prosthesis for her multiple sclerosis, which has confined her to a wheelchair. Her mother is also the Deus of Athena and the champion of Angelic Layer.
In the manga series, Misaki's mother does not have multiple sclerosis, nor is she depicted in a wheelchair. The ending to the manga also has different couplings.
The manga series is set a few years before Chobits, a Clamp work in the same universe as Angelic Layer. In the manga, Icchan plays an important role in the Chobits storyline, but this connection was reduced to a single scene in the anime; the Chobits anime was also made by a different company. Likewise, in the Chobits anime, Icchan has a brief cameo but is not mentioned by name for the same reason. Kaede's younger brother Minoru (a common Japanese name) is also a Chobits character.
MAIN CHARACTERS
- Misaki Suzuhara (鈴原 みさき Suzuhara Misaki)
- Misaki is a very timid, sweet-tempered, and kind (although shown in the manga to be more overreactive and easily excited) 12-year-old girl who has just moved to Tokyo to live with her aunt. She had been living with her grandparents in Wakayama while she went to elementary school, but saved up money that her mother had been sending her while she was away so she could afford to go to middle school in Tokyo. She also worries about the fact that she is small and unathletic, and is sometimes mistaken to be in elementary school, but sees Angelic Layer as a way to prove to others and herself that there is nothing wrong with being small. She started playing Angelic Layer after seeing the white angel Athena on a video screen outside of Tokyo Station (unaware that she was seeing her own mother's Angel). Her angel is Hikaru and she is known as the "Miracle Rookie". She is nicknamed Misakichi (みさきち) by her friend Tamayo to make her name sound cute.
- Angel:
- Hikaru (ヒカル Hikaru) - Deus: Misaki Suzuhara
- Though small and lightweight compared to most Angels, Hikaru possesses very strong attacks, most which are speed based. Her small stature makes her aerodynamically quick and agile. She was created by Misaki in order to show others that there was nothing wrong with being small through Angelic Layer. Her basic appearance is a bit tomboyish, since Misaki had accidentally cut her hair short, and has a less mature physique than other Angels. Hikaru also appears as a crossover character in Chapter 144 of Clamp's manga Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle. Hikaru's name can also mean 'glowing' or 'shining' in Japanese. In the manga, Misaki bases Hikaru's appearance on a character from a manga she read which is Rayearth.
PICS
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