Angelic Layer
| Angelic Layer | |
| File:Angelic-Layer.jpg Volume 1 manga cover | |
| Genre | Action, Comedy, Drama, Science Fiction |
|---|---|
| Manga | |
| Angelic Layer | |
| Written by | Clamp |
| Published by |  Kadokawa Shoten Tokyopop |
| Anime | |
| Battle Dolls Angelic Layer | |
| Directed by | Hiroshi Nishikiori |
| Studio | BONES, Dentsu |
Angelic Layer (エンジェリックレイヤー, Enjerikku Reiyā) is a manga series released by Clamp. The manga is published in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten, and in English by Tokyopop.[2]
The manga was adapted into a 26-episode anime series titled Battle Doll Angelic Layer (機動天使エンジェリックレイヤー, Kidō Tenshi Enjerikku Reiyā, lit. Mobile Angel Angelic Layer) which aired on TV Tokyo from April 1, 2001- September 23, 2001.[3] Seven volumes of videos were released by ADV Films on VHS and DVD in 2003. It was re-released in 2005 as a five volume box set.[4]
Angelic Layer is related to Clamp's later work Chobits, and like it, deals with the relationship between humans, human-created devices, toys, and godlike power. Several characters also appear in Clamp's Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle including most of the main characters as well as the angel Blanche.
Plot summary
The primary protagonist of Angelic Layer is Misaki Suzuhara, a seventh grader who just moved in 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 the amazingly popular toy called Angelic Layer, a 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, and most people pay to use them by the hour in establishments resembling cybercafes.
An eccentric man wearing a white lab coat and glasses, calling himself "Icchan", encourages Misaki to purchase and create her own angel. She names the angel Hikaru, after Hikaru Shidō from Clamp's Magic Knight Rayearth 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 (Rayearth is a manga in Angelic Layer's world, and Misaki identifies herself with Hikaru).
Even though she's clueless about the game, Misaki soon begins to compete in tournament, 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 in the Eriol Academy, an educational institution which includes grades from kindergarten through high school. There she becomes friends with Hatoko Kobayashi, a very intelligent kindergarten girl who is also a famous Deus and an expert about Angelic Layer. 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.
Misaki pursues her ultimate goal of finding her mother, whom she has not seen since pre-school. Eventually she learns that her mother assisted in the development of Angelic Layer in her quest 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.
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 Chobits' storyline, but this connection was reduced to a single scene in the anime. Icchan has a brief cameo but is not mentioned by name in the Chobits anime. Kaede's younger brother Minoru is also a Chobits character.
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.
Characters
Production
Staff
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For music, voice actor and books information, see Angelic Layer media information.
Reception
The anime won the Animation Kobe Award for TV Feature in 2001.
Other Clamp series
- Hikaru is named after the main character in "Magic Knight Rayearth". She also looks somewhat like her. However, in the anime version, Misaki says that Hikaru is named after her favorite doll, which she left at her grandparents' home in Wakayama when she moved to Tokyo.[5]
- Piffle Princess is the store where Misaki buys supplies for Hikaru. This store is also found in other Clamp creations such as Cardcaptor Sakura, "Legal Drug", xxxHolic, and Chobits.[6]
- Just like how Sakura in CCS uses the word "hoe!", Misaki likes using "na!" or "eeks!"[7]
- In the manga, if you look in the manga pre-story pages you can see faux newspaper articles that bring tidbits up from other series.
- Ringo Seto's Angel Ranga looks very much like the characters of Magic Knight Rayearth, Princesses Tarta and Tatra. With the nearly same dress design and moves, Ranga and Tarta/Tatra were dance warriors
- Hatoko looks rather similar to Tomoyo Daidouji, Sakura's friend in Cardcaptor Sakura.[8]
- Mihara is a known last name to be used by two popular Clamp characters. Chiharu Mihara of Cardcaptor Sakura and Icchan Mihara. Chiharu's last name Mihara is used (or possibly is related to) by Icchan Mihara also suspected to be the late husband of Chitose Hibiya of Chobits. Chitose used the Mihara last name in another Clamp work Kobato.
- In volume 7 of Chobits, on page 16, Kaede Saito's story of her death was told by her brother Minoru. We can see in the background Misaki, Sai, and Ohjiro standing by her bed in one panel and crying with her back turned when she died.
- Also, Kaede seems to be similar in appearance to Fuu Hououji, a character from Magic Knight Rayearth, another Clamp work.
- In volume 7 of Chobits, the legendary Angelic Layer dolls (Shirahime, Blanche, Wizard, Suzuka, and Hikaru) or what is a sillohuette of them is shown as Chitose tells Motosuwa the truth about her husband's earlier works Angelic Layer.
- In the fifth and final volume of Angelic Layer, Misaki sings cheerfully to herself as she is making breakfast, and the words are, "A field of peony pink..." She is singing the theme song to "Clamp School Detectives," Peony Pink.
- In episode three, the song that Icchan is playing while Misaki is training is "Catch You, Catch Me", the first theme to another Clamp creation and popular TV Series, "Cardcaptor Sakura".[9]
Clamp's crossovers
Besides Angelic Layer being the prequel to the Chobits manga, many of its characters and establishments are shown in other Clamp works
- In volume 9 of Cardcaptor Sakura, Kero-chan is reading an Angelic Layer book, which appears to be one for a computer game (though some have thought he's reading the Angelic Layer manga).
- Tamayo, Oujiro, Shouko Asami, and the Angelic Layer announcer appears in Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle as well in Piffle Country while Kaede and Sai appeared in Rekord Country.
- In the country of Infinity in Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, there is a tournament similar in style to the battles of Angelic Layer where the Deus sits on an egg shaped chair and telekinetically controls the players (in Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle they are called chess pieces instead of "Angels," however, and often normal people are the pieces.)
- Hikaru is introduced in Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle Chapter 144 as an "automata" one of the Chess pieces Eagle (who is a crossover character form Magic Knight Rayearth) uses in an one on one battle with Sakura and the real Syaoran.
References
- ^ "Anime News Network - Angelic Layer (TV) (episode listing)". Retrieved 2006-10-24.
- ^ Angelic Layer Manga, Anime News Network
- ^ Angelic Layer Anime, Anime News Network
- ^ Angelic Layer Complete Collection, ADV Films
- ^ Battle 01 – How Do You Do? My Very Own Angel!, ADV Angelic Layer DVD Website
- ^ Battle 03 – Who Are You? Misaki’s Nervous Lesson, ADV Angelic Layer DVD Website
- ^ Battle 04 – The Day An Angel Flew Down, ADV Angelic Layer DVD Website
- ^ Battle 02 – Do Your Best, Hikaru! It’s Your First Fight!, ADV Angelic Layer DVD Website
- ^ Battle 03 – Who Are You? Misaki’s Nervous Lesson, ADV Angelic Layer DVD Website
External links
- Angelic Layer DVD official web site
- Animetric's Review of Angelic Layer
- TOKYOPOP's Angelic Layer web site
- The Angelic Layer Base