Search - Voogie's Angel on DVD

Passable filler anime

Nowhereman | Boston, MA USA | 08/30/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Did you like Saber Marionette J? If so, just go ahead and buy this without hesitation. Or, if you like Masami Obarii's character designs, go ahead and buy this without hesitation too (although the chest sized are certainly scaled down from something like Gowcaizer, there's still more fanservice than you can shake a stick at). For the rest of you, here's my opinion:Inspired by a set of radio dramas, Voogie's Angel is perfectly passable filler anime. It's one of those OVAs that you don't feel like you've wasted your time if you watch, but at the same time you can probably pass over it and not feel like youre missing too much either. The super-quickie plot summary is as follows - aliens show up, drive humans into underwater bases, humans build a 5-woman cyborg combat team (complete with strange ship thing with the brain of a dead taxi-driver) to go kick some alien tookas in ludicrously revealing outfits. Voogie is the leader of the team, and each team member has a "quirk", as one has psychic powers, one has reoccuring amnesia, etc. Each of the 5 main girls actually has a somewhat sad side story of how they originally died, and were eventually reborn as the cyborg fighters. You have your requisite mix of comedy, action, and pseudo-drama, and there is a climax of sorts that leaves the way open for a sequel. The DVD does get decent marks for having all 3 OVAs on the disc... standalone discs are pretty rare. The picture quality is fine. It looks a little soft, but that's probably more the fault of the original material. Colors are decently saturated and I noticed no major artifacts or encoding errors, and the menus are static and very fast in access speeds. No real extras to speak up, just 4 trailers."

More plot than expected

Joe | USA | 04/03/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Too bad this is the only vid' I can find of Voogie; it's another lost gem in my opinion. The basis is pretty plain: alien invaders are conquering Earth and a band of heros must defeat them. Nothing new on the fly, but the way the story plays out is quite interesting.Voogie and crew are another set of good looking anime gals (if you like 'em skinny and breasty and tall) in a rather serious situation with some humor to break the ice. But in the end this has some serious stuff. The main exploratory theme is what makes a person human; it doesn't get in the way of some good melodrama and decent graphics and action. There are kinks (same darn plot devices here and there) but overall I liked it.Perfect? No. Terrible? Only if you want to avoid some thinking and prefer ninjas, sex-only, non-violence, comedy only, kiddie shows, etc. If you like a good action-humor sci-fi plot with characters who are real and girls in skimpy duds and a talking intelligent space ship that can kick-butt (but OOPS! runs out of power doing so), at least rent it. I compare it to the quality (but not plot) of Outlaw Star, Cowboy Beebop, Tenamonya Voyagers, and most other ordinary Japanese anime.Sigh, only episodes availble. Indeed, it seems the popularity of many videos requires multiple episodes; few people want to watch one set and get a good pic' and then have no more to watch. I rate few movies as "****" four stars; they have to stand out for me.Money well spent to me."

Anime the old fashioned way

Alec Smart | 03/22/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is five stars because it was what I was looking for! There is no nudity (a PG film)and the story is well written with tragedy, comedy and hope. It deals with classic themes, specifically, what defines "human" and the ethics of revenge. If you are looking for three episodes of excellent entertainment for an inexpensive price with some shred of moral value...this is your anime."

"Voogie, when the time comes, we'll die together."

iansomniak | USA, Planet Earth | 04/06/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Sometime in the distant future--New Western Calendar Year 202, to be precise--a ruthless race of alien beings commonly referred to as The Space Emigrants (SE for short) unleashes a devastating attack on Planet Earth. The SE's unfathomably evil ultimate goal is to eradicate all human life. One hundred years after the catastrophic invasion, a remnant of the human species survives in a mobile city at the bottom of the ocean, while the earth's surface is ruled by a maniacal fiend called Master Teddy--who appears to be either a very young boy, or a female. Whatever Teddy is, he or she can strike fear into the cold hearts of underlings like Captain Cougar and the green-haired Lieutenant Burst simply by dropping a wineglass on the floor. "I want all that I find a nuisance to vanish just like that glass," explains the soft-voiced Teddy in a threatening tone. To accomplish Teddy's foul ambition to wipe out what's left of mankind, Captain Cougar has severed the humans' supply lines in hopes that the resulting shortage of life's necessities will force them to raise the Ocean Bottom Mobile City to the surface, where it can easily be obliterated by the SE's awesome Hypercannon.



Humankind's last hope against the diabolical machinations of the Space Emigrants is a team of scantily-clad biomechanically-engineered cyborg babes known as Voogie's Angel. Exactly why this candy-colored girl group is called Voogie's Angel is unclear. One of the Angels is named Voogie, but the actual commander of the team is a mysterious shadowy figure by the name of Dr. Crimt, and Crimt's orders are delivered directly to the imperturbable purple-haired Angel called Midi. Hence, one could argue that `Crimt's Angel(s)' or `Midi's Angel(s)' would be a more accurate appellation. Nevertheless, the sea-dwelling Earthlings' destiny rests in the Angels' lovely hands. Trouble is, Rebecca the leggy gunfighter seems to be the only member of the fab five who's actually capable of destroying enemy mechas without destroying everything else in the process. The annoyingly immature and intolerably whiney Merrybell stubbornly refuses to train for battle...furthermore, she has a bad habit of accidentally removing the pins from Rebecca's hand grenades. The crafty Shiori is a stitch diva who spends most of her time knitting sweaters when she should be practicing her Psycho Barrier projections. The hotheaded and occasionally gluttonous Voogie watches too much TV and often smashes through walls while trying to imitate the moves of the Lone Wolf Samurai with her blue light saber. And Midi just equipped the Angels' KITT-like talking air/sea vehicle, Mr. Strikemyer, with a Dimension Blaster that's only capable of firing one shot, and a ridiculously powerful new engine that makes it nearly impossible for Voogie to pilot the ship without crashing. Can these ditzy super heroines succeed in reclaiming Earth's surface from the merciless Space Emigrants, thereby saving the human race from certain extinction in less than three years? Well, anything's possible in anime.



Voogie's Angel is a stylishly animated three-episode OVA that seems like it should've been a much longer series. The first half is as upbeat and fun as the peppy opening song, "Motto Motto Radical Fight," with a generous helping of comedy mixed in with the apocalyptic plotline. Then, halfway through the second episode, the story takes a violent and dramatic turn. The gripping third act focuses on the Angels' former lives, years before their cybernetic transformations. This emotional conclusion to the short saga is exceptionally well done, but kind of disturbing at the same time. Finally, the ending is abrupt and open to interpretation.



This release from Anime Works includes all three half-hour-long episodes ("The Angel's Assault," "The Angel's Tears," and "The Angel's Past") on one bargain-priced disc...with no extras. Voogie's Angel is highly recommended to anime fans who like to ponder the familiar and always intriguing question of what it means to be human, as well as to fans of Masami Obari.



"Before we know it, time suddenly passes by...so there's no turning back.""