MEDAMONTH: Angelic Layer(Manga)

Due to a silly coincidence that occurred while selecting what to review for the next little while, I decided I would pull out the good old "themed month" trick earlier than expected. Therefore, I declare this month to be MEDAMONTH!!!!!!!!!

That's MEDAMONTH (Totally not stealing this joke)

For MEDAMONTH, I will be reviewing things that are robot and/or AI related each week, though other than that, nothing will really change. So let's get the show on the road with this weeks choice: Angelic Layer!

Angelic Layer is a  three volume manga released by Clamp in 1999 and is what I like to call a "buddy bot" series. It revolves around a young girl named Misaki who just found out about Angelic Layer, a game where gir- I mean- people of all ages battle against each other using custom made little robots called Angels. With the help of a mysterious and a weird lab coat wearing dude she randomly meets while on her way home, the girl creates her own angel, Hikaru, and partakes in an Angelic Layer tournament conveniently happening in her local area. In all honesty, the plot is almost completely non-existent and literally comes back to having the main character play Angelic Layer, as well as limiting itself to the tournament the main character participates in. Not only that, nothing bad happens to anyone, there is no secret base under the stadium, the government is not secretly trying to create an army of super soldiers using pokemon and you will catch your toast before it touches the ground if you happen to drop it.

WHY MUST REAL LIFE BE SO CRUEL!!!!!!!!!

In other words, everything is so good and perfect that it can even get somewhat exhausting to read through the manga. However, even if it can get a bit hefty, the light-hearted mood works well overall and is part of charm the series has. It also serves as a reminder of what Angelic Layer is: a game. With series that are centered around games(ex: Yu-Gi-Oh! and Medabots), it's easy to get lost in just how seriously the game is taken by the characters. In Angelic Layer, the story pushes the concept that the game is just a game and that win or lose, the goal is to have fun while playing the game.

The characters, as far as they go, aren't really fleshed out due to the short span of the manga, which is a shame. The characters that are introduced as the story progressed appeared full of promise, but few characters even lasted more than one chapter, leaving me wanting to know more about them. This is even more aggravating with the lack of any depth in the details surrounding each of the concepts for each Angel Misaki and Hikaru have to fight. Each one is basically a reflection of the person who created them, which means that the way they are built, the reasons behind the way they look and move, is unique to their creator and offers a world of possibility as far as character development can go. Every single detail of their design is a clue as to what motivates and inspires the creator to play Angelic Layer and I find it's something they really should have focused on more.

Each angel is unique and personal to their creator, either being a complete opposite or sharing a close resemblance in some way.

Not only that, but the lack of any life in the Angels is another thing that really bothered me, especially when it came to Misaki's compassionate personality. Angels are sadly complete dolls and even though allot of the art depicts them as being alive and able to move on their own, they are completely incapable of anything in the like, thus making Misaki's excuses after her battles come off as childish and empty. As a comparison, take Medabots, another "buddy bot" series, where each robot in the series has a personality and at least a semblance of intelligence, thus making them feel alive. They talk, they have emotions, they feel pain and, most importantly, they can think and move on their own, which also creates a relationship between the characters and their "buddy bot", making cooperation and compassion the show in battle more natural and meaningful.  Angels can't do anything when outside that layer, and even then, they need to be controlled by a human to even be able to move, which makes for a very one sided type of relationship between the creator and their Angel, something which really bothered me at times.

On another note, as far as the art is concerned, I found myself really enjoying the designs that Clamp went with for each Angel, as well as the characters that control them. Something that caught my eye was how the designs for each character seems to reflect how they are seen while the design for their Angel reflects what they desire to be or what they want people to actually see. Hotako, the youngest competitor in the series, wanted people to see that size doesn't matter and that she was as skilled as any other player. Therefore, she created an angel that relies more on speed and that looks like a ninja, who are well known for using speed and stealth to compensate for their weaker builds. I would have loved to see the series go into more depth on the designs, but sadly, they're nothing more than eye candy as far as the manga is concerned. Although the battles are well drawn and the designs for the Angels and their creators are fantastic, the moment the main character is out of the arena, the manga becomes intensively prone to spaghetti art. Squiggly arms, deformed heads, emoticon like facial expressions and wacky situations happen during these segments and often flow quite poorly from one frame to the other. This is especially true when the crazy character known as Icchan appears, as well as whenever Misaki's friend Tomayo attacks Kotaro. However, other than the poor flow, I never really had a problem with the change in art style as it fit with the light hearted atmosphere of the manga.

.........No comment.

Overall, I found myself slightly dissapointed with the manga due to how it missed key elements that could have made it possibly the best "buddy bot" series out there. Although the designs for key characters and their Angels are top notch, the lack of any life within said Angels and the lack of character development bring down the manga. Even so, I can easily say it was still quite enjoyable and that I would not hesitate to read it again.
For those interested, there is a 26 episode anime produced by Bones that was released in 2001 and was received with mixed reactions. I, myself, will most likely be giving it a watch sometime in the near future as I find myself wanting more Angelic Layer after finishing the manga, which is a good thing, least in my book. 

Final Verdict: 7/10
Pros:
+Cute, enjoyable and great for a relaxed read.
+Great for a younger audience who is interested in manga.
+Great character designs and superb Angel designs.
+The colored art featured in the Omnibus volumes are simply beautiful.
Cons:
-The lack of any life within the Angels is quite jarring.
-The lack of any actual depth for the cast is quite disappointing.
-The manga barely expands on the reasons for each Angel's design.