Galaxy Angel - Anime

Anime

The Galaxy Angel anime series, produced by BROCCOLI, Madhouse and Bandai Visual, premiered across Japan on Animax between 7 April 2001 to 29 September 2001, and was soon followed by numerous sequels, including a second series ("Z"), a third series ("A", "AA", and "S") and a fourth ("X"). Each broadcast is made up of two fifteen minute episodes, whose titles always contain references to food. The first series was broadcast by Animax, while later series have been broadcast by TV Osaka and other TXN stations. Internationally, the series has been broadcast by Animax and its respective networks worldwide, including its English language networks in Southeast Asia and South Asia, and its other networks in Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Latin America. In the US, this series is distributed in DVDs from Bandai Entertainment.

The story is about a group of women and girls who go on government-sponsored humanitarian missions as the Angel Troupe (Angel-tai) to search for Lost Technology, generally a plot device to set up amusing and absurd humor typical of the show, rife with obscure Japanese puns. Many of the devices look like extremely mundane objects like sticks or rice cookers, but have fantastic powers like mutating organisms or as destructive weapons.

Notes:

1: Series 1 had one 15 minute episode per program, while other series have two 15 minutes episodes per 30 minute program.

2: Some episodes were not broadcast in Japan. Those were later added as extra episodes (OVAs) released on DVD.

3: Ignoring extra episodes on DVD.

4: Galaxy Angel A and AA is actually considered to be the same series (Series 3) in Japan. They just decided to give it a different name in the middle of the series.

5: Galaxy Angel S is a single special episode, which also is considered to be a part of series 3.

The Galaxy Angel anime generally abandoned any sense of strict continuity or plot arcs after the first series, so they can be viewed in any order. The cast is frequently abandoned, killed, or transmogrified only to return completely normal in the next episode. However, the fourth series introduced a new character (see below) and occasional references are made to funny events in previous series (For example, references to the Bandit Corned Beef). Many episodes also parody aspects of Japanese culture, movies, and of course, anime, often compressing what would be expected to be multiple-episode long stories into a few minutes. Each series also contains one episode which is played straight - as a serious, non-parody episode. The animated series can also be cited as a fanservice series in the most basic (but non-sexual) sense: the show is self-promotional, with absurd humor, spontaneous musical numbers, and elaborate costumes.