Review: Steel Angel Kurumi

Doctor Ayanakoji, Kurumi's inventor, is being hunted, both by the Japanese army and by the Academy (of whom more is learnt in later episodes). To this end, two more Steel Angels, Saki and Kurinka, are awoken and sent after Kurumi and her master. Steel Angel is the story of what happens and why...

For further details please check the spoilers section...

There are a lot of series more finely crafted than Kurumi; Lain is (far) deeper, Oh! My Goddess certainly far more romantic. Kurumi makes up for it with bubbly good fun. As such it's a personal favourite.

The plot moves along at a rollicking pace, assisted by the brevity of the individual episodes. Even those brief times when the pace slows down it is only to explore the characterisation or background a little. It does not have the labyrinthine complexity of Perfect Blue, but such complexity would not particularly suit Kurumi anyway.

Basically Kurumi starts as a Romance/action title, moves towards something resembling a harem comedy (and road trip), and finally shifts towards something between action and mystery with an apocalyptic ending.

The details above indicate the series is 28 episodes on 5 DVDs; actually the main series has 24 episodes on 4 DVDs, plus there is a 4-episode "encore" DVD looking at the life of the characters after the main series, mainly Saki's career in the movies.

Characterisation is mostly paper thin. Each character can be summarised in a relative handful of words: Kurumi is faithful and bubbly, Karinka scheming, proud and (eventually) caring of Nakahito. Nakahito is shy, caring and gentle; Doctor Amagi is motherly, intelligent and wistful. But the characterisation isn't poor as such; the characters themselves are great fun, and the joy isn't in their depths but in how they interact.

Animation is quite good, with the only real lack being in the usual visual shorthand common in high-speed action in anime (such as streaks used to represent moving characters). Character designs are nicely varied and the personalities of the characters is expressed well in the animation. Explosions and special effects are somewhat simplistic but effective regardless.

Voice acting is pretty good for both the Japanese and English tracks. However, it's worth noting that there are significant differences between the two - the English dub broadly matches the subtitles, but comparing the details they are quite different. Kurumi seems much more childlike in the Japanese track than in the English track, but this is reflected in both the voice track and the script.

Other audio is also well used and appropriate; sounds are evocative of the period (between the first and second World Wars). The music title track is one of my favourite anime theme songs (and the final episode contains an extended version, although unfortunately there is no translation for the later verses.)

There's a fair bit of fan service in the series, but it's rarely very obtrusive. The focus in that respect is on the cute girls rather than on their bodies. There are occasional naked or partly naked shots, but they are treated incidentally rather than as a core component.

Packaging is fairly ordinary, with a yin-yang hub clip and attractive cover designs featuring Kurumi, Saki, Karinka and Dark Kurumi for the main series and a montage shot for the Encore volume.