Angel Links

[Johnny]

Came across this title while looking at the upcoming releases list and, after a bit of research, it's got my attention.
It's very cheap online so does anyone have any opinions on whether to buy or avoid?

[Magic_Knight]

Edit - If you haven't seen Outlaw Star, get that first. It's much much better.

The first bunch of episodes are medicore. The stories it tells are pretty basic stuff in the beginning. The Angel Links and its crew protect ships from space pirates. There are also some character episodes that develop the main crew of the Angel Links, but I didn't think they were all that great. I think the show started getting interesting at episode seven. Some very interesting things about Meifon's past begin to surface and I thought the way things developed from there on was fantastic.

There is a mixture of spaceship battles and hand-to-hand combat. Watching the Angel Links in action isn't all that exciting. Meifon usually just uses the Links Cannon to destroy the competition. Also, the same animation is used in many of the episodes for its launching and attack sequences. The hand-to-hand combat ranges from decent to awesome. The animation really shines in some of the more important episodes, but during some of the others it just looks average.

One of the better aspects of the show is the main character, Meifon. Not only is she hot, but she has a fun personality that helps to make the show more enjoyable. Unfortunately, I can't really say that's true for some of the other characters aboard the Angel Links, most of which are average.

Angel Links is a mixed bag. The show doesn't have the greatest start, but it redeems itself later on. In the end, I was pleased with Angel Links and would say that it's a worthwhile series.

[Puppet Master]

Skip it and get Outlaw Star if you haven't seen that or just save your $ for something good.

[ADC]

I found the whole premise to be more interesting than that of Outlaw Star, and there were some outstanding stories to be had (particularly on discs 2 and 4). There's also, unfortunately, a fair amount of dead space, especially when the creators move the story away from the main character. I say buy it, especially if it's dirt cheap — but have a bit of patience when the story meanders. It'll prove its worth before the end.

[Hayate Kurogane]

As noted by others, the show, though only 13 episodes, does somehow manage to waste time with standalone episodes that do little to advance the plot or give depth to the main cast, and just aren't very interesting in their own right. The central story being told, however, is fairly compelling, even if it's not particularly original in a number of ways, and I thought the ending was done very well.

The cast is interesting, but again, time that could've been spent letting us get to know them better was instead spent on unnecessary "we're suddenly in a pinch, so let's get out of it in the next 22 minutes or so" stuff. Even so, the most important few of the main characters do get their own moments, and we also get a "this is what happened back then, and how we got from there to here" episode that's one of the strongest episodes in the show.

The animation is decent, though the occasional bits of CG and computer-assisted animation that show up are less-than-great, which isn't that surprising considering when the show was made.

The music is actually of rather high quality, and the opening and ending themes, while not the greatest ever, are quite catchy, each in their own way. (The soundtracks, unfortunately, seem to be immensely difficult to find, but my search continues.)

All in all, I think the show would have been better as a 6-episode OAV series. As it is now, a compilation movie version with some minor alterations to the existing story plus a couple of new key scenes would make for a much better presentation. It won't happen, of course, but it's nice to think about it. /images/graemlins/happy.gif

At the price it's being offered for these days, I'd say it'd be worth your time and money to give it a shot. Just be prepared for a few episodes of filler that you may or may not find entertaining.

[touma]

If you can get it for $30 (TRSI) or less I think that it would be worth it. It was to me when I bought it about two years ago.
I like Angel Links enough that I am going to watch it again. The only reason that I have not rewatched it yet is that I have not seen Outlaw Star and I want to watch that before I watch Angel Links again.
When I saw where the ending was going I thought that I would hate it, but I ended up liking the ending quite a bit.

[Ryos]

I'm going to repeat the suggestion of Outlaw Star first and then if you enjoy that, go with Angel Links. It's not that the latter is bad per se, it's just not as good as Outlaw Star.