Anime Pilgrimage RTT

Angel Heart preview

September 15, 2005 on 2:47 am | In Angel Heart | Comments Off on Angel Heart preview

Thanks to Garten, I procured the preview of Angel Heart, an anime that had me really upset one Friday night. I had thought it was starting many months ago, but it’s actually starting in October. The English internet fan reaction has been … subdued … to say the least, outright hostile to say the most. I really hope that someone will pick this up to sub it.

I was most surprised to see how closely the animation resembled that of City Hunter, considering both that it’s fourteen years since the last City Hunter TV series and Hojo Tsukasa’s aesthetic – at least his cover aesthetic – has vastly changed. Yet here we are again, with Kamiya Akira back in the saddle as Saeba Ryo. I can only hope that Genda Tessho has reprised his role as Umibozu, and that Ikura Kazue will be Kaori once more.
All of the important players from City Hunter still work in anime, so I can see no compelling reason for them not to converge here. Sure, Ikura may not have much of a role, but that’s not the point.

At only 3mb, the trailer reveals very little, but it gave me a good deal of hope. Angel Heart is directed by Hirano Toshiki, who worked on quite a lot of iconic eighties anime, as well as teaming up with his wife for the superlative Vampire Princess Miyu. Hirano is a sensitive director when he wants to be, and Angel Heart is billed as a drama. From what I understand, Ryo is still something of a playboy, but more than ever that’s a smoke screen and coping mechanism.

Please, friends of the internet: sub Angel Heart. I will thank you for it and shake you warmly by the hand.