Review by Josh

At the end of the 20th century, Japan is the leader of the global economy, controlling every market it steps foot in. Terrorist organizations have decided to put a stop to that, if they can get past a special team of elite soldiers, an anti-terrorist squad entitled S.S.F. (Special Security Force). Ok, so that’s about the entire plot line, I can’t thin it out anymore.

The story continues in a shroud of cliche disbelief, lacking much comprehension. The Japanese government is found to be corrupt, they try to cover it up, they fail, nothing is ever uncovered anyways. The sheer lack of substance to Angel Cop is unbelievable. The story had some potential and it probably would have had many spin offs if the real-life Japan hadn’t suffered an economic bubble burst mere months after this series was created.

The animation and artwork are great for its time (1989), and the male characters are even drawn like men! That’s right, before CLAMP became popular, men in anime were allowed to have at least some form of muscle mass. Unfortunately the women are also drawn like men… The frames per second was rather low, but that could have just been my copy.

The blood, oh the blood! There were only a few “graphic” scenes, but they were simply amazing (in that downright horrible way). The first came when a member of the SSF, Angel, killed a female terrorist. Two shots to the body, one to the head, brain matter already flowing out. Yeah, despite seeing brain matter you should really confirm your kill by shooting her in the head AGAIN and make the rest of her brain spew across the wall. The other great scene was when a man was blown to pure blood (literally, the only piece left was his head) with psychic power, more blood flowed out of the then non-existent body than humanly possible. At least I know where GANTZ got its inspiration now!

There are so many characters that come in and out of this short OVA that it can be difficult at times to figure out who’s who and what side they’re on. There is so little comprehension, you should really only pay attention to the characters that have psychic powers or drive motorcycles. And sometimes the psychic power users (Hunters) even have motorcycles! You know it’s going to get really good when a Hunter, aptly named Lucifer, uses her psychic powers to drive the motorcycle, sitting side saddle with her arms crossed with no wheels over an OCEAN. Oh yeah, you just have to know this character is that badass.

The final battle boils down to cyborg Raiden versus Lucifer. Then Asura vs. Lucifer. Angel vs. Lucifer. Asura vs. Lucifer. Raiden vs. Lucifer. Cyborg armor enhanced Angel vs. Raiden hugging Lucifer. Lucifer suddenly gains the ability to take over machines and “refuel” herself with electricity… So she dies multiple times, revives herself, constantly gets more and more muscular and loses more and more clothing. After one of her deaths she even has 400 times the gravity of Earth itself, and yet the most damaging weapon against her is a tiny hand-held laser, equivalent to a penlight.

There’s nothing to spoil about the ending other than NOTHING happens, nothing is solved. It’s discovered that the United States is secretly fronting Japan and turning it into a nuclear wasteland, but the public never finds out. Japan just still keeps on moving forward in a fallacious economy. An in-depth ending could have saved Angel Cop from being total crap, but they even failed at that.

A badly written review for a pointless anime. I recommend everyone stay clear of this anime unless you really really need to kill three hours of your life.