sometime in the future, terrorism in Japan has become commonplace, and the police have become almost as brutal as criminals. One cop, known as Angel, is the best of the best, stopping at nothing in her fight for justice. Things get interesting for Angel Cop and her new partner when they begin investigating a series of murders in which the victims are other criminals, killed in very unpleasant ways. These criminals, a group of psychics that banded together to hunt down the lowest scum in the city, and bring them to justice. After a couple of encounters between the cops and the psychics, two of the psychics begin to think that maybe they're not the good guys after all, but the third prefers killing to morality. Augmented by cybernetics from a mysterious source, he heads out on a killing spree, with Angel as his first target. Even with help from the other two psychics and her newly cyborged partner (after an unfortunate accident), Angel is going to have her work cut out trying to find the rogue psychic and the organization behind him.

Review :

this would have to rank among the more disturbing animated films I've seen. It's not disturbing because it's the most graphic, or the most violent, or even the most inane. No, Angel Cop is disturbing because of the morality involved, and it makes you wonder what kind of individual could have come up with these characters. Things start out on somewhat shaky ground when the plot setup starts sounding unsettlingly like anti-Western isolationist propaganda, but the problem lies in the people that are supposed to be the good guys later on. Through the course of the three OAVs, we have the following: One of the main characters is initially put off by the idea of discarding his human body for a powerful cybernetic frame more suited for crime fighting, but he eventually comes around, and realizes that it's better to be really tough and ready to whup some criminals than completely human. But that's not so bad. How about this: in an effort to extract some information from a criminal, the cops take him, cut off the circulation to his arm until gangrene sets in and maggots start eating it, and then, just to be nice, pour boiling water on his (still attached) arm to kill some of the bugs. Now, this is the cops we're talking about. I don't know about you, but even by NYPD Blue standards, that probably qualifies as police brutality. The fact that someone apparently thought these people were the good guys honestly scares me.

If you put that aside, Angel Cop is a decent piece of violent action anime, with a bit of plot thrown in. The characters actually have a fair amount of depth, particularly by action flick standards, and the lack of a clear border between the "good guys" and the criminals they were after was handled relatively well--there was some interesting moralizing within the story about the border between criminal and cop (albeit seriously tainted by the story's own messed-up morality). The story itself is a half-decent detective yarn with a psychic twist and a lot of violence. Toward the end, things get a little weirder, and the mood moves into more of a desperate showdown/how far will you go to beat the bad guys kind of thing. (Don't take that to mean that the characters start questioning their own brutality--it's more along the lines of self sacrifice.) Had it not been for the ocassional serious problem with the characters we were supposed to root for, Angel Cop would have actually had a pretty interesting story.

On the technical end of things, Angel Cop was around average. The animation isn't spectacular, but holds its own, and the character designs are a passable variant of the "dark and angular" style. As for action, there's quite a bit, but less cyberpunk-cop shootouts and more psychic havoc than I was expecting--more Akira than AD Police Files. On the bright side, the psychic stuff was done well. I haven't seen the sub, but the dubbed version was passable--no particular standout performances, but they got the job done.

Overall, if you don't get put off by the supposed good guys (and you should be put off--you might just be able to ignore their "tactics"), and you enjoy a good bit of psychic mayhem and violent overkill, you will probably enjoy Angel Cop--but you've been warned.

Three OAVs, also available cut together into one movie-length video.

Rates :

-1.5- Not bad in terms of style and action, but hamstrung by some scary "good guys".

Genre :

Psychic Cyberpunk Action (Action)

In It :

Gunfights
Fistfights
Mass Destruction (relatively small scale)
Super Technology
Cyborgs
Psychics

Break Down :

Not For the Kiddies!

Violence:
4--Generally violent and bloody, with a few disturbing scenes.

Nudity:
1--Nothing of note.

Sex:
0--Not really.
Language:
3--Enough expletives.

Availability :

Available subtitled and dubbed on three VHS tapes, or as a compilation of the whole series on one VHS tape.

AnimeNation and RightStuf probably both have this video if you want to buy it.