Disk 2 picks up the story in a state of complete chaos. Everything the Ayanokojis are attempting to do is falling apart. Their Angels are disobeying them because of crises brought on by personal feelings and Kyoshiro, the most idealistic of them, is falling in love with Kuu.For viewers, this means a lot of bouncing around between the Ayanokojis and lots of pointless fights and screaming. And sort-of love scenes. And talking. God, do they all talk.
Everything comes to a kind of climax when the missing Ayanokoji, Kazuya, returns, with his own Angel (voiced by Ogata Megumi, using her UFO Princess Valkyrie Val voice.) Everything Kyoshiro believed in is crushed under Kazuya's heel in a scene I love with all my heart. I absolutely, genuinely believe that the scene that makes me love this series best is the moment Kyoshiro greets his long-lost, thought-to-be-dead brother Kazuya once again...and has his head pounded into the ground for his efforts.
Kazuya turns out to indeed be as crazy as Mika and Sojiro had been saying from the beginning, as he co-opts the Angels for his own use. The climax is full of a lot of talking and we're still unclear as to what, exactly, Kazuya was going to do when he destroyed everything, but as there really was never any chance of him doing it, we weren't all that worried.
Kyoshiro and Setsuna head off into the sunset to find thought-to-be-dead-but-hey-we-have-to-look,right Kuu, Kaon and Himiko live happily every after, Sojiro and Tarlotte continue to annoy the piss out of one another and the series comes to a confusing, but less-unsatisfying than usual, end.
I watched this all with Bruce and spent a lot of time watching his reactions, because I already knew what mine were going to be. The fact that he laughed as Kazuya slammed Kyoshiro into the pavement sort of puts the period on that for me - it's a really funny scene.
My only complaint, really, is the lack of Kaon and Himiko extras. Guess I can't give up that one ADV disk after all...
Shattered Angels
, despite everything, is probably the best thing Kaishaku has ever created. Yes, the plot is full of holes, and yes, the world in which it takes place makes no sense and yes, it's full of handwaves and eye-rollingly dumb things, but...and this is a big but...it's funny and Kaon and Himiko have a happy ending. Which is all we ever wanted from it in the first place.Ratings:
Art - 7
Story - 7
Characters - 7, except for Mika, Kaon and Himiko, who are all 8
Yuri - 7
Loser FanBoy - 7
Overall - 7
Once more, thanks go to Okazu Superhero Amanda M. for her sponsorship of today's review!