Crawlspace Says: 2 feathers out of 5 overall
4 feathers out of 5 for the supporting cast
ADV, 1st volume out now, 3 volumes total (with box)
Notable Extras: Animated Character Shorts, hopefully Funi will retain these
Not only are the questions not worth repeating, but the only good thing about the journey Kuu finds herself on with her overly brooding and angsty boy-toy is the introduction of the side characters. If it weren’t for them, my voyeurism into Kuu finding herself would have ended with this first volume.
For those not already familiar with the show, Shattered Angels: Kyoshiro and the Eternal Sky is the ‘sort of’ sequel to Kannazuki no Miko. The big draw for a lot of people when the show was first announced was the possibility of getting more Chikane and Himeko, albeit less of them. Here, they are renamed Keon and Himiko, and they are two of the side characters that make the series bearable. Having now seen the first four episodes, I’d say this series is less direct sequel to KnM and more alternate universe. Characters from other series are brought in, renamed, and recreated as Absolute Angels. It’s kind of like the creators’ version of Tsubasa, but without all the bishounen. But what does Shattered Angels have Clamp’s epic crossover doesn’t?
Megumi Ogata.
Kinda blows your mind, doesn’t it.
Getting back to the show itself, the main premise is that ten years ago, some great disaster occurred, releasing into the world a handful of beings known as Absolute Angels. The Angels are near indestructible killing machines, though only because of the humans who control them. Apparently, they regenerate by kissing, so they need a human to stay alive and thus tend to be used in unscrupulous ways. Adding to their bad reputation is the destruction caused by the incident that brought them into the world. That destruction, however, led to the creation of a region known as Academia, which is broken into a kazillion different campuses. Our heroine, Kuu, is a student at one of the campuses when a transfer student named Kyoshiro appears, hailing from one of the upper echelon campuses. Apparently he’s very well known and girls fall over his indifferent self.
And he’s her prince.
Well, sort of. You see, Kuu as a small child had an ethereal vision of her prince coming to save her from some falderal, and since then has continued to write and mail him letters. How she knows where to send these letters is beyond me. Nonetheless, she continues to use him as her own personal diary, every episode starting out with her writing a letter. All of her internal dialog is also directed at her prince. I sense a tissue paper thin shade of Utena gone horribly wrong.
Anyway, enter Kyoshiro, and Kuu is astounded by his resemblance to her prince. By the end of the first disc its clear why, though Kuu herself is still clueless. Clueless and annoying. She now has the dubious honor of being the most annoying female character ever created. And Kyoshiro is perfect for her, wrapped up in himself and all his family angst that is supposed to be the driving plot behind the series. While his drama may give us some of the background we need on the Absolute Angels and the why of everything, it is far from the main draw.
The actual driving force in this series is the side characters and their individual storylines. It seems all the real effort and thought here went into developing them. They’re considerably more complex than the main characters, and I find myself actually looking forward to the next volume because of them. Will Setsuna be selfishly sacrificed? Will Keon and Himiko survive to escape to a better life? Will little catgirl become as annoying as Kuu or will her tie to her human provide enough balance so that she remains fun comic relief? I care about these characters, and ultimately, that’s the most important thing.
Plus I want to hear Megumi Ogata in a girly, fanservice role.
What it all comes down to is that this show is going to be a guilty pleasure type of series. The plot so far is standard and uninspiring, and the main characters are much the same with an added annoyance factor. However, if you enjoy shows like Burst Angel or Strawberry Panic, you should enjoy this. The mediocrity is saved by interesting supporting characters, and more Chikane and Himeko is a big plus. At only three volumes, it’s worth the price of the singles for KnM fans, though for everyone else I’d recommend waiting until next spring for the box set (though you’ll lose the great character shorts) or renting.
Update: It seems ADV lost the license, along with everything else they've picked up in the last two years. Funimation is the new license holder, but as of yet, we don't know how they're going to release it. With only one volume having made it to retailers, there's a possibility this will be released as a set rather than singles.
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